Friday, June 29, 2007

The Problems of Hawaii Seem Endless

But really they are only one -- the will and desire to think clearly. The culture is one of endless distraction, diversions and entertainment -- beginning with the usual sources of “information,” which serve largely to propagate misinformation, rumor and innuendo. With the wrong information, people invariably have to make the wrong choices -- that they wouldn’t make if they simply had the right information. So the whole battle is getting the right information in the first place -- which information and communications officers’ job is to insure that we don’t.

The simple,unvarnished truth seems to be the one thing information officers cannot allow -- or they think they wouldn’t be doing their jobs, which is to spin it so that it is no longer comprehensible to the average person. And then, where would that leave them -- if information was easily intelligible and accessible to everyone? Certainly there would be no need for information specialists. So this function of the middle man, moves closer to the source -- before they are reverse-spun by the larger mainstream media editors. What comes out is the familiar garble that is unintelligible to anyone -- which they hope creates an even greater need for information and their own job security.

There is the insistence by bureaucrats and technocrats that the “public” has to learn their jargon, rather than that they should have to learn to communicate effectively with everyone else -- and in fact, they are encouraged in their specialties, to be as incomprehensible as possible, as proof of their intelligence and great intellect. Many are intimidated and coerced in this way -- not having the confidence to think for themselves and trust in their own judgment that what is unclear, is deliberately made so -- and not that they are incapable of grasping it.

I guess that is what people like most about my writing -- that it is so simple and clear that even a fool can understand it, and if that is the case, what is the need for teachers and other intermediaries of learning? Undoubtedly, a lot of functions that might have been helpful in the past become hindrances when there is an insistence that the aid now becomes the objective -- and meaning and purpose for that activity.

So in education, the problem is job security for teachers, rather than what is learned by the student. In fact, they are now appalled and offended that that should have to be a consideration. Don’t we realize that “teachers” have more important things to do?

1 Comments:

At June 29, 2007 7:33 AM, Blogger Mike Hu said...

Not only in Hawaii, but everywhere in the mainstream (mass) media now, there seems to be the kind of convulsions and paroxysms that signal the end of an era -- with even the least discriminating readers and viewers complain about its irrelevance and insensibilities that has now taken on a life of its own.

They find themselves powerlessly and uncontrollably reporting on that which they feel foolish reporting on. More and more, it is only about the small world of their own celebrity.

The significant has been made trivial -- even contemptible, while the trivial has been elevated to icon status -- just to display that power to do so. It is the ultimate abuse of power -- their arbitrariness to see if anyone is even paying attention and can notice the difference anymore.

The fear is what happens when that institution of mass society collapses; will there be a resulting chaos in the world because of its vaporization?

The surprising answer is that something always fills a vacuum.

 

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