If You Ask Me (And. You. Didn't.)

A friend asked why our country lost respect for science and innovation.  I told him it's complex but it boils down to this:

 The very wealthy and the leaders of authoritarian religious denominations support one another's efforts to undermine education and critical thinking.  They have different motives for doing so, but since they share the same objective they reinforce one another.

 The very wealthy don't want an educated workforce.  A trained workforce, yes, in the sense of higher primates being trained, but not educated in how to think and analyze problems.

  That leads to those who do the work asking those who make the money "Why are you making so much money and we're making so little?"  (Note:  An educated workforce doesn't automatically lead to communism or socialism, but it sure leads to workplaces where unfair exploitation is held to a minimum.)

 Likewise, various religious denominations -- all the way from fringe beliefs to major mainstream denominations -- need an unquestioning and accepting congregation in order to stay in business (and they are businesses, don't let 'em fool ya; tell 'em they have to zero out their income by year's end and that all employees inc. pastors get paid only minimum wage and see how they react).

 The better educated a congregation is, the less likely they are to show up every week for the same message.  I'm a Christian, and I tell you all we really need is a copy of the Beatitudes, not theological hair-splitting on every single syllable in the Bible.  Most theologians are just puffing nonsense that doesn't amount to anything.  You wanna believe this particular thing or that particular thing, fine, so long as you start with the Beatitudes.

 The problem is most Christians -- in particular most American Christians -- reject the teachings of Christ and adhere to some form of the prosperity gospel (i.e., God will reward you if He likes you, ergo if you're rich, you're a good person whom God likes, and if you're poor, you're a bad person who better get right with God by donating money to the pastor telling you this).

 So basically the wealthy and the "church of power" (to use historian Rodney Stark's terminology) need people who don't know enough to ask questions, at least questions that can't be glossed over with a smooth answer.  They need simple narratives in their lives, nothing that will challenge their prejudices (here to mean both good and bad beliefs.

 So the wealthy seek to undermine public education, in particular civics and economics, and the religious leaders seek to undermine everything that can't be twisted around to support their particular set of doctrines.

The average person seeks to get through life with a minimum amount of effort.  It's one thing when that means buying a roomba and TV dinners, it's another when it means giving support to leaders and movements that offer pat answers that reinforce your prejudices.  Without adequate education, people can fall prey to all sorts of bad theological / philosophical / ethical / economic ideas.

The wealthy and the corrupt religious leaders do not want change; they want things to stay exactly the way they are now since it benefits them.  Hence they oppose all efforts to enlighten people.

© Buzz Dixon