Sir Keir Ladycock Starmer has been trying to make political capital out of his father’s occupation. Despite living and operating in circles that have next to nothing to do with the ‘common man’, he’s trying to say (or at least infer) that because his dad was a (presumably lowly) toolmaker, he’s in touch with the man on the street
It is perplexing to me that two things seem to be occurring simultaneously:
1. The idea that human brains are completely interchangeable, and thus the accomplishments of Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, etc are a result of “privilege” alone. Thus, the most important quality in candidate is their physical appearance; anybody can learn anything as long as they’re in the right place at the right time.
(And)
2. The idea that human brains are so wildly and uniformly incapable of learning and reasoning (with the exception of those with the right credentials) that much more energy has been devoted to psychologically manipulating us than to persuading us. In the field of public health, I first became aware of it when I tried to have a conversation with my children’s physician about vaccines. She was using the strategies advertisers use, not talking like a scientist.
Can’t we meet somewhere in the middle? I wish I’d told my child’s doctor: I’m not denying that you have far more expertise than I in the field of medicine. Moving forward, I hope you won’t deny that my natural intellect is far greater than yours. Now maybe we can have an interesting conversation.
My parents encouraged my siblings and I to develop critical thinking skills, objectivism, questioning, inquisitiveness, etc. These are all things actively DIScouraged in children today. Children who are strong-willed are often medicated. Along with the diminishing of these traits and skills has come the sloth and weak mindedness of the group think masses. It’s all planned. COVID was a worldwide test to see just how easily the masses could be controlled. And it was a resounding success.
Where individuality, resourcefulness and independence were once highly regarded, the hive mind seems to have taken over 90% of the world. It does not bode well for the future.
We might be more intelligent than the aliens (hence their curiosity about our recta), it’s just we haven’t had enough time to work out how to escape the space time trap. Yet. Naturally they’re worried.
I think many minds like simplicity because they haven't been developed for complexity. Our schools in the US don't teach you how to think, I learned that much later in life. The mind does put things into simple categories (types of birds, chairs, people). At first I thought maybe that was natural, but that might be learned as well. We lose the newness of all things.
Racial characteristics is one of the most visible categories. I was talking to someone who was Japanese American (born in the US with one Japanese parent) and who experienced regular derogatory stereotypes and racism from US children all throughout her childhood. It was very painful for her. I told her I had learned those stereotypes too as a child, they were regularly in the cartoons I and other children watched. The cartoons implicitly and explicitly taught children to put anyone with Asian eyes into a derogatory category. In this regard, the current focus on the white race I think is a good thing. Most people of the white race in the US have been conditioned to feel they are the "normal" race and even a little better than other races. Sometimes you need to swing the other end of the pendulum a little too far, pointing out also that white people have caused tremendous suffering on this Earth, to then be able to come to a middle ground.
Times tables is one of those things where rote learning is the way to go.
"The history of Spain from 12th century to 17th century" isn't.
The problem in schools/schooling stems from trying to force both math and history to use the same pedagogy/didactics.
It is perplexing to me that two things seem to be occurring simultaneously:
1. The idea that human brains are completely interchangeable, and thus the accomplishments of Aristotle, Galileo, Newton, etc are a result of “privilege” alone. Thus, the most important quality in candidate is their physical appearance; anybody can learn anything as long as they’re in the right place at the right time.
(And)
2. The idea that human brains are so wildly and uniformly incapable of learning and reasoning (with the exception of those with the right credentials) that much more energy has been devoted to psychologically manipulating us than to persuading us. In the field of public health, I first became aware of it when I tried to have a conversation with my children’s physician about vaccines. She was using the strategies advertisers use, not talking like a scientist.
Can’t we meet somewhere in the middle? I wish I’d told my child’s doctor: I’m not denying that you have far more expertise than I in the field of medicine. Moving forward, I hope you won’t deny that my natural intellect is far greater than yours. Now maybe we can have an interesting conversation.
My parents encouraged my siblings and I to develop critical thinking skills, objectivism, questioning, inquisitiveness, etc. These are all things actively DIScouraged in children today. Children who are strong-willed are often medicated. Along with the diminishing of these traits and skills has come the sloth and weak mindedness of the group think masses. It’s all planned. COVID was a worldwide test to see just how easily the masses could be controlled. And it was a resounding success.
Where individuality, resourcefulness and independence were once highly regarded, the hive mind seems to have taken over 90% of the world. It does not bode well for the future.
We might be more intelligent than the aliens (hence their curiosity about our recta), it’s just we haven’t had enough time to work out how to escape the space time trap. Yet. Naturally they’re worried.
I think many minds like simplicity because they haven't been developed for complexity. Our schools in the US don't teach you how to think, I learned that much later in life. The mind does put things into simple categories (types of birds, chairs, people). At first I thought maybe that was natural, but that might be learned as well. We lose the newness of all things.
Racial characteristics is one of the most visible categories. I was talking to someone who was Japanese American (born in the US with one Japanese parent) and who experienced regular derogatory stereotypes and racism from US children all throughout her childhood. It was very painful for her. I told her I had learned those stereotypes too as a child, they were regularly in the cartoons I and other children watched. The cartoons implicitly and explicitly taught children to put anyone with Asian eyes into a derogatory category. In this regard, the current focus on the white race I think is a good thing. Most people of the white race in the US have been conditioned to feel they are the "normal" race and even a little better than other races. Sometimes you need to swing the other end of the pendulum a little too far, pointing out also that white people have caused tremendous suffering on this Earth, to then be able to come to a middle ground.