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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

It's About Time

I've been in Natalie Munroe's shoes more times than I can count. After putting up with endless bullshit from the youth of America, she finally cracked and let loose a spiel on her blog that has ended with her suspension. Her analysis of the youth of America is, in some ways, correct.

Yet her mistake was putting too much of the blame on the students and not enough where most of the problem truly lies...the parents. I suspect that's why she got in trouble. I'm willing to be that it wasn't a student that ratted her out but a parent who got called on their lazy bullshit and, rather than take responsibility for their child's horse shit attitude, turned to Munroe as a scapegoat. Until more parents take responsibility and actually fucking parent, this malaise is going to grow. Nikto wrote about his very problem recently and so have I.  Can we all say Michael Jordan Generation?

After all, I can only do so much if they don't want to do their work. If they decide that they know they are going to make it as an athlete or recording artist and don't think they need a back up plan, there's only so much I can do. Remember, it's what they see as success defined, within the functionality of our society, that's the real problem. I'm going up against the onslaught of the images of corporate America which their parents buy into as well. Ms. Munroe and I are only one fifth of the primary agencies of socialization. As I will continue to say (probably forever), the mass media is the 400 pound gorilla in the room. They have smothered the other four agencies just like BP oil all over the Gulf.

The other side to all of this is Munroe's lack of reflection. This was also part of her undoing. Certain people become teachers for all the wrong reasons. They think they can connect with the youth of America but they really can't. They also don't have the thick skin that one needs (as I do) to let insults bounce right off and go into oblivion. I've had students hurl insult after insult at me and I just laugh. That just pisses them off even more. Clearly, Munroe couldn't handle this and part of me thinks that she lacked that coolnees with which kids can connect. The youth of today can smell "DORK" a mile away and woe be to anyone who has this built into their personality. This would also be where the lazy teacher rag that I sing quite often chimes in. If you aren't a very creative person to begin with and lack width of vision, you will not intrinsically motivate your students.

So, it was probably a combination of all of these things that caused this mini mushroom cloud in Pennsylvania. It's my hope that this incident acts as a catalyst for change. Kevin Baker is fond of saying, "Let's take off...nuke the site from orbit...it's the only way to be sure" when it comes to our education system. What he fails to see is that our education system is one small reflection in the extrinsically motivated cesspool that is our entire culture.

The reason why we are seeing more and more stories like Ms. Munroe's has to do with the giant flaw in the entire system. We have allowed the mass media to dictate our behavior and socialize our children as well as....everyone else. There are pockets of success here and there but you'll have to pardon my cynicism when I say that as long as we continue to function like this, President Obama's call for our country to out innovate the rest of the world will be pure folly.

In the final analysis, it's going to take a mass effort on the part of all of us to change the paradigm of how our culture operates. Parents, teachers, communities, and peer groups are going to have to regain control of socialization from the mass media. They need to take responsibility for themselves and actually dedicate their time to achieve this goal. It's going to take patience coupled with the willingness to manage complexities in order to shift the way our culture works.

Anyone out there think our ADD society can do it?

10 comments:

juris imprudent said...

Until more parents take responsibility and actually fucking parent, this malaise is going to grow.

Other than the obscenity, that line is pure Palin/Beck/Dr Laura.

Now, you could assume I am insulting you, or you might realize that this is something that transcends conservative/liberal encampment - it is not simply a matter of partisan politics.

Considering how rarely you discuss something outside the bounds of party, I'm guessing you will react as though I insulted you.

Santa said...

I don't think it's an insult when we find common ground. I've heard many liberals like Bill Cosby say the same thing. Barack Obama says it all the time. Funny, no one commented on Mark's Proud to Be An American posts in which he cheered tolerance of homosexuals in a small town and complimented John Boehner. He's not the ogre you make him out to be, juris.

juris imprudent said...

He's not the ogre you make him out to be, juris.

I base my opinion on what he says, and the vast majority of it is very divisive and condescending.

Others that actually know him personally have an advantage over me.

daniel said...

I don't know him personally but he seems to be striving continually for common ground only to be met by a giant wall made up of completely outdated and non working ideas. Compromise works when both sides change. One side clearly won't bend, juris, and you know very well which side that is.

I know plenty of people that listen to Glenn Beck and don't parent their kids. I know plenty of people that listen to Stephanie Miller and don't parent their kids. This isn't a political issue. It's societal malaise that knows no political stripe. I agree with Mark and Natalie Munroe. We are like the lazy asses in "Idiocracy." Go away-'batin!

juris imprudent said...

One side clearly won't bend, juris, and you know very well which side that is.

Yes, of course, "conservatives are evil, m'kay".

There is a big difference between common ground, where we see things the same - without gratuitous partisan hackery [ehem] - and compromise.

sasquatch said...

he seems to be striving continually for common ground only to be met by a giant wall made up of completely outdated and non working ideas.

True dat. The wall is a completely immovable object. Rather than concerning yourself with Mark, juris, how about you turn the eye inward and try to find out where you think you could compromise.

Last in line said...

Indeed mass entertainment has become our defining cultural trope. With the advent of television, radio, cinema, phonographs, and, more recently, CDs and the internet, we passed from a culture of the written word to a culture of the visual and aural electronic image (a shift that has been subtle). Nowadays, we no longer rely on written texts to transmit ideas, but on pictures and sounds. As an unavoidable result, a lot of people have become conditioned to the use of sensory images rather than reasoned, verbal discourse and in turn, folks base their opinions and value judgments not on reason, but on these sensory impressions and the emotions they trigger.

I don't entirely agree with the notion that the current trends in entertainment are completely terrible. While the internet has provided us with an easy avenue to smut, it also is a tool that facilitates education and information. The idea that the "good old days" were better is probably an idea that has persisted throughout many generations. People fed their vices in the 19th century just as they do now.

Is violence and sex prominent in our culture, particularly in the media? Sure. But hey, we don't have public executions anymore. There is nothing wrong with gangster rap itself (I used to listen to it back in the day). The problem lies in allowing it to be a guide for one's life. That is a decision left to the individual. Indeed there are a lot of crap movies nowadays, but there were crap novels in the past. It's the really good stories that will endure.

sasquatch said...

A reasonable response from the only reasonable right winger on here. I agree with you, last. Not all of the mass media is that awful. In fact, in many ways it's helpful but we don't see those ways. Mark is a bit over the top perhaps because he is overwhelmed by it at school. So how do we not let it be a guide to their lives, as last so aptly put it?

Anonymous said...

...how about you turn the eye inward and try to find out where you think you could compromise.

What possible point could there be in compromising with people who have shown, time and time again for decades, that they have no intention of honoring their side of any agreement they disagree with once a compromise is reached?

As an example of this, consider the last time Democrats looked at "immigration reform". They agreed to tackle it on condition they got an amnesty first. Once they got the amnesty, they blew off the reform. So "compromise" amounted to "give us what we want, and then we'll give you a big FUCK YOU in return for what you wanted."

But no, it's your opponents' fault for finally realizing the uselessness of compromising with such people.

juris imprudent said...

Rather than concerning yourself with Mark, juris, how about you turn the eye inward and try to find out where you think you could compromise.

I can pretty much guarantee that I've been more critical of my self than I have ever been of you, M or anyone else here. Trust me, I don't hold you to the standard I hold myself to, and that you don't measure up even at that isn't really my fault. You can do as I do, and strive to be better, or you can just retreat to the comfort of mindless zealotry.