This is a story that is buzzing in my former home state of Montana. The newly elected Commissioner of Public Education is barely able to construct and utter a complete sentence. She might be, like so many Americans, functionally illiterate.
Read about Elsie Arntzen here.
I call it “delicious irony” because even our best and brightest students come out of our school system in a functionally disabled state, unable to tell truth from fiction, sorely lacking in the necessary tools to understand the basics of life and living. They cannot see through politics, cannot resist advertising and propaganda, and imagine that everything they are told on news is real. They lack critical thinking skills.
Don’t kid yourself. It is no accident. Our leaders do not wanted an educated citizenry. They want workers, spenders, consumers, voters, but people who know how to think and question both perceived reality and authority are not useful. So the schools grill them in memorization. Our best and brightest might survive and develop, but most don’t. They might make good Jeopardy contestants, but they can’t see through 9/11 or the Trump “election” to office.
Arntzen serves as the poster child of the American education system. Please don’t recall her! Please!
Piece of Mindful 
Reading the text of what she said, it almost seems like she was on drugs.
I started watching this and everything she says is scripted. Her “dense” vibe radiates off her regardless. I’m pretty shocked she was voted in. Are these kind of elections faked in Montana too?
LikeLike
There is the possibility that votes are not counted. I just don’t know with down ballot candidates and issues. I know that recounts are not done, and could be quite easily – that is, scientifically, so that spot checking of results would be done from an auditor’s standpoint, randomly selecting precincts for a thorough count, expanding if trouble was spotted. I suggested this to my representative in Helena one time, and his answer was more or less “not gonna happen.”
I think far more likely is that voters are aware of several major races, but not the down ballot ones, and reflexively pull the party lever. This is part of the reason why elections are held in such low regard by the elite – they know that they represent the public mind, and the public mind is not well informed or thoughtful.
LikeLike
This is the most important fact that Americans need to deal with, and it is hardly ever mentioned. Students in this country are not taught critical thinking. It makes us easy to deceive, and the best market to buy crap ideas and products.
People in America think ideas have to be “believed in” instead of just considered and discussed; even though facts don’t require belief – concepts do.
These are tendencies that I see in myself, and constantly make an effort to remove them from my behavior. It’s impossible to convince someone else that they aren’t a critical thinker.
I’ve had about as much success convincing friends that America hour the president that it deserves.
The entertainment we take in is so degenerative and contentious that a figure like Trump ruling this country follows logically. The lack of contextualized and nuanced discussion on supposedly factual news shows, just insures that we’ll poorly informed and suspicious of one another.
Not to pull the race card (as I pull the race card), but people rarely stick around to hear an unexpected and nuanced opinion from a black guy. People usually supply me with an opinion, and defend it on my behalf like I’m some sort of idiot. This isn’t actually race specific.
We are in a constant state of re-processing the “reality” that we experience to minimize the constant background buzz of cognitive dissonance.
Sorry for the rant, but your piece hit dead center of all of our biggest problems. We have major problems discussing and discerning truth.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Thank you Kevin. I liked the self-reflective qualities in your words – I try to do that too, but it is hard, ain’t it?
LikeLike
It’s hard, but I come by it honestly. Years of being a judgemental dick, and a group of friends that got tired of dealing with my bad attitude made me start to reflect. Can’t beat having good people in your life.
LikeLike
I’ve always said the public schools are largely responsible (the media being the remaining part) for the stunning ignorance of the public. People give me a blank stare whenever I tell them the schools were design to make compliant sheep-like citizens. Its all very well documented but considering I find most people unable to read past a paragraph I don’t even bother with it anymore.
Actually the dumbing down has been so successful its now starting to undermine their own bullshit. The breads and circuses are overwhelming. One day they will start a war and nobody will bother to look up.
LikeLike
“The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America” is now a free download from this site:
http://deliberatedumbingdown.com/
LikeLiked by 1 person
Most local politicians don’t know much and they don’t have to as their power is mostly ceremonial. A “good” mayor now is one who can accommodate corporate interests the most- as in give them huge tax breaks- tell whatever gutted public unions that remain to shut up- and otherwise put city services at the disposal of concentrated wealth. State legislatures may as well rent themselves out for functions as they actually don’t do anything but the occasional theater issue as if to demonstrate that they are still around. I’ve been involved in local politics on the town level and the state level. At the town level- the most ill suited self important and imbalanced people seem to get involved. And the state level are careerists and hacks who literally have no interest other than securing their next election and thus pay and benefits.
And besides that- state politicians are regularly terrorized by federal investigations that target them on “corruption”. Any state politician that shows the slightest trace of independence or actually defends his legal and statutory turf is assailed and brought down.
LikeLike
And . . . in light of what I know now . . . Forced busing, the Boston Priest scandals, and the whole “Whitey” saga make sense to me. It’s was the revenge of the Yankees (Massachusetts old Yankee spook families) toward the Irish (and Italians) who took over their “Shining City on a Hill”. Well- they took it back in a generation with a sustained effort to undermine and destroy ethnic neighborhoods and their centers of power- unions, political spoils systems, party machines, catholic schools. In the span of 30 years I have seen the total cultural destruction of the Massachusetts Irish American culture. There were money jars for the Irish Republican Army in bars all over Boston- not just South Boston up until the early 90’s. Nowadays you can’t even get Irish pub bands to play traditional anti british songs. A couple years ago? A celebration for the Queen’s birthday was held at the sight of the Boston Massacre- literally on top of it. No one noticed or said boo.
LikeLike
I remember seeing a poster for a fundraiser for Sinn Fein in a Boston pub in the early 90’s. Guess it’s similar to how they’ve almost eliminated the Confederate flag in the south.
LikeLike
Yeah, it’s funny how Irish immigration to the US was and is limited. Irish accents today in Boston are almost all illegals and they fill laborer jobs. While you can’t swing a cat now in Boston without hitting some White collar British guy/gal.
LikeLike