Illegeracy

What is it about our political culture that causes everyone to be so damn polarized? Or maybe most people really aren’t so polarized and it’s the media that makes it seem so. I can only imagine that is in fact the pop cultured Inquireresque media, that is tearing away the moral fabric from this once honorable American culture. The American public is everyday, driven farther and farther away from the core values of this nation. We can blame only ourselves for letting this happen. It’s not capitalism, conservatism, or liberalism that might be to blame. No, capitalism is necessary for our way of life, or should I say essential; and liberalism is also an important element which exists to keep the conservatives in check and v/v. They aren’t the issue, what is the issue is education. We are obligated as Americans to educate our neighbors. We owe it to the future of this nation to actively be involved in our communities. How many of us criticize everything we don’t agree with and then look in the mirror and realize that we had never actually tried to be part of a solution? So many of us go about our mundane lives and complain about the democrats and the republicans… How about we quit our bitching and become part of a solution.. Have you ever heard of illegeracy? Well here you go.. read on
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An illegerate person is a person who feels like they cannot make a difference in society. They ultimately give up and worry only about themselves. They bitch and bitch about the world around them but never really do anything to change it. Illegeracy is the failure of an individual to realize that as a citizen it is their duty to get involved and help society progress into the future. It is the individual’s failure to see the condition of their life as open to choices. Illegeracy can also be described as exiting the political system. A person who is illegerate is incapable of making sense of his cultural situation or is culturally confused.

The main factor or characteristic involved in this political-social-cultural phenomenon is aliteracy. Aliteracy is the act of not reading. An aliterate individual is someone who is capable of reading yet chooses not to. The development of the American political cultural is now in constant competition with the popular mass culture. The popular culture often negatively influences people’s values, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors. This negative influence along with the simultaneous failure of the media and the American education system promotes and motivates Illegeracy in our society. The popular culture of America is defeating the very important political culture by causing apathy, cynicism, and empty if not non-existent political discourse. Illegeracy is seen more in the lower socioeconomic class, than in the higher socioeconomic classes. Higher levels of education almost ensure that an individual is involved in their political culture. As the levels of education drop we see that Illegeracy increases.

One of the consequences that follows Illegeracy is called cultural confusion. Cultural confusion is the constant misperception of reality and being unable to identify. Cultural confusion leads to false consciousness. False consciousness in Marxist theory is a failure to recognize the instruments of one's oppression or exploitation as one's own creation, as when members of an oppressed class unwittingly adopt views of the oppressor class. Illegeracy promotes the abdication of ones political power to help choose the direction of society. Exercising our political power that we have as citizens is not only a right but also a duty. Illegerate people don’t understand that duty or they never new it from the beginning.

Illegeracy’s impact on politics in America is severe. It leads a citizen to the feeling that his or her life is not open to choice. After a person decides that they have no choices, they give up any political power to influence the direction of society. It reduces political participation, it undermines political discourse, and it leads to a depoliticized society. The illegerate people of our society express passivity, which reinforces political avoidance, and ultimately contributes to anti intellectualism.

It is clear that the media and education systems, are failing us. The media, which is supposed to educate us, has become an entertainment and consumer based industry. News programs, magazines, and even newspapers are neglecting to focus on the important news and opting to focus on entertaining us rather then informing us. The media is at partial fault, but our public education system should take most of the blame. Public education has become a system that thoughtlessly ignores subjects such as politics, provokes anti-intellectualism and widely accepts mediocrity. Therefore, the simultaneous failure of the media and education will continue to produce a society of illegerate citizens.

Fitzy

I made no presumption about you or democrats in general . I simply said " for all of Bill Clinton fans/Anti Bush people WHO are upset.. and have no problem with Clinton's pardons... I did presume however, that there were people who fit that criteria but not that all democrats did. It is those people who I directed the comment to. If you are a Clinton fan and not a bush fan yet still see the obvious , that Clinton pardoned more dirty rotten scumbags that made scooter Libby look like a girl scout, then you have no worries.. You were not my intended audience. It's the others who are blinded by the light reflecting off the (democratic) Ass that I meant to attract.

Somebody tell me why the Scooter Libby issue is even worthy of debate.. It's like the Paris Hilton drama. It is stupid and irrelevant. Why am I even blogging about these issues? Maybe BK has an answer for me...

Attention Huffington Post readers/crazed libs....

I feel I must comment on this, even on the day of our independence.......for the 976 columnists on the huffington post writing about Scooter Libby.......(throat clearing noises)........NOBODY FREAKING CARES ABOUT SCOOTER LIBBY!!!!!!! Whew, I feel a lot better. I don't know what it is about that site. Not a peep about illegal immigration/amnesty. Not a word about the london terror plot, or even Islamic extremists in general. Here, I'll even help them out. You know what people care about, huffington post people? They care about getting t boned by a truck load of illegals with no insurance. They care about getting blown up by crazed jihadists. Surely, you must realize this, even with your limited contact with persons with a dissenting opinion. So why the deafning silence? Partially, I think they are scared of putting up articles about illegals since even the good liberals comment in droves disagreeing with them. I mean, you can only phrase "what we owe illegals" so many ways to try to disguise your agenda before people see with their own two eyes what the hell is going on. Maybe that explains the silence. But, by god, they will write about Scooter Libby and/or valerie plame for DAYS. By not even discussing the two biggest issues that Americans care about, according to most of the polling data that I've seen, Huffington continues to establish her irrelevancy, along with most of her columnists. They'll write the shit out of some global warming columns, though.....

Reader Scott sent this........

Reader Scott sent this........

Scott had this to say.............discuss......

I believe Luttrell and those with similar views represent the flip side of the Taliban coin. They are America's Taliban: ultra conservative, xenophobic, national/tribalistic, quick to violence and threats of violence with a black and white, good verses evil simplistic world view.

I believe that societal change is an exponential process. For most of human history we have plotted quietly along the gentle grade of the curve. The new arrival of global instantaneous communication, combined with prior milestones such as the development of the nuclear bomb and a willingness to use it, the AK-47, oil and combustion based economies, the birth of the 6.6 billionth person (to name a few just off the top of my head) indicate we have arrived at the mountain, the walking is over and its time to get out the climbing gear. To deign it is to deign the shear granite face before you.

If Jesus lived to be 75 he would have seen the population change from (very roughly) 200 million to 300 million. If I live to be 75, I will have seen the population change from 4 billion to 9 billion.
That's a change of 5,000,000,000 verses 100,000,000, 50 to 1. In addition to the thousands of nuclear bombs and millions of AK-47's, my world has 30 times the number of people as Jesus's.

The old dogmas and narrow views which got us this far, are no longer sufficient. To react with anger and ignorance to change and problems before us is to try to climb a mountain with hate and intolerance.

Here, put on this harness and tie into this rope, I know a better way.

Interesting. Meanwhile, C. T. says, "Box 8 is all the way up there?.... Guy............We're running that shit, bro........."