This is not about what a great musician I am. The level of my musicianship has nothing to do with the philosophy behind why I should be a rockstar. The reason I should be a rockstar is because it is one of the only ways to come out "on top" without having to go through the educational system.
An important question to ask is why certain types of people are accorded more respect and importance than others in society. Broadly, I think these people can be divided into two types: those who go through the educational system and, because they are harder-working or genetically endowed with more IQ, manage to make it; and those who do not have to suffer the educational system and all the inequalities it promotes and still make it. Of these two categories, the second is far more respected by the general public than the first: many more people aspire to be sports stars or musicians or actors than to be politicians or CEOs. I think this is because, innately, everyone knows that the system promotes inequalities and that, in every case, there is someone who is smarter or more hard-working than you, who, by following the educational system, will inevitably do better in life than you will.
It would be naive to assume that being a rockstar would help one escape these inequalities. One's success as a rockstar would, for a large part, depend on how creative one is and how good a musician one is. The world of rockstars and sportspeople is based on its own, alternative, set of inequalities. However, these inequalities are preferable to the inequalities that the educational system is based on, if only because they provide alternatives to the traits that the "mainstream" world values.
The educational system is forced upon everyone. Regardless of one's aptitude for mathematics, one must study mathematics, at least till the beginning of high school. This is not only unfair because it is imposed on a student, but also because it highlights only one set of inequalities and not others. It would be far more just, albeit very optimistic, to allow each person to do what they want and to let them succeed in it. Each person should be able to carve out their own niche and do what they are good at.
My thoughts on this matter are not every developed at all. I found it quite an odd coincidence that we had to read the Chomsky article for class just as I was thinking all these things that he touches upon. Anyway, I've decided that my niche is rockstardom.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Why We Shouldn't Study
I had a sort of a revelation two weeks ago. As with almost all somewhat meaningful revelations I've had, it turned out a lot of people have already had this revelation a long time ago. I've researched what other people have thought about it a bit, but what I'm writing here is strictly stuff I've thought of all by myself.
Basically, I realised that education is much more than meets the eye. I realised that there exists a hidden agenda, that society has an ulterior motive. My earlier view was that we go to school to learn, to be educated. I wasn't naive enough to believe that we are educated for our own benefit. I could see that society is a self-propagating thing, and for this it requires us to be educated. However, I hadn't understood the reason why we are rewarded for working harder. This is something that lies at the very foundation of the meritocratic world we live in. We have touched upon this in class while discussing equality, the concept of libertarian equality in particular. Anyway, my point is that our educational system is just a huge machine that is designed to separate people into different social strata depending on how well they do. This separation is done on the basis of how hard someone works and their natural endowment of grey cells.
This system does not exist everywhere, but as the world becomes more and more developed it will spread. When people no longer need to worry about subsistence, then they will become a part of the global educational conspiracy. The fact that I was born into a middle-class family means that from birth I was consigned to one day being a part of this system. This global educational conspiracy feeds directly into all parts of society. The criminals in society are dropouts. The factory workers are those who did not make it as far as university. The executives working in the corporations are those who made it to the top. It is a machine that will always benefit those who are born with higher than average intelligence and, to a lesser extent, those who are born rich. It works on the basis that we are born unequal.
My gut feeling would be to fight this system, even though I am so deeply embroiled in it. Since the system is based on grades, the smartest way to do this, in my opinion, would be to abolish grading. We might achieve this by not studying. That would be one method, but it would not be the method I'd choose. Along with pretty much everyone who's reading this, I'm going to have to slog my way through the system, and hopefully I'll beat it by coming out on top. Or I could become a rockstar. Yes, I think I'll do that.
Basically, I realised that education is much more than meets the eye. I realised that there exists a hidden agenda, that society has an ulterior motive. My earlier view was that we go to school to learn, to be educated. I wasn't naive enough to believe that we are educated for our own benefit. I could see that society is a self-propagating thing, and for this it requires us to be educated. However, I hadn't understood the reason why we are rewarded for working harder. This is something that lies at the very foundation of the meritocratic world we live in. We have touched upon this in class while discussing equality, the concept of libertarian equality in particular. Anyway, my point is that our educational system is just a huge machine that is designed to separate people into different social strata depending on how well they do. This separation is done on the basis of how hard someone works and their natural endowment of grey cells.
This system does not exist everywhere, but as the world becomes more and more developed it will spread. When people no longer need to worry about subsistence, then they will become a part of the global educational conspiracy. The fact that I was born into a middle-class family means that from birth I was consigned to one day being a part of this system. This global educational conspiracy feeds directly into all parts of society. The criminals in society are dropouts. The factory workers are those who did not make it as far as university. The executives working in the corporations are those who made it to the top. It is a machine that will always benefit those who are born with higher than average intelligence and, to a lesser extent, those who are born rich. It works on the basis that we are born unequal.
My gut feeling would be to fight this system, even though I am so deeply embroiled in it. Since the system is based on grades, the smartest way to do this, in my opinion, would be to abolish grading. We might achieve this by not studying. That would be one method, but it would not be the method I'd choose. Along with pretty much everyone who's reading this, I'm going to have to slog my way through the system, and hopefully I'll beat it by coming out on top. Or I could become a rockstar. Yes, I think I'll do that.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Why We Should Blog
Everyone has heard of the Great Firewall of China. If you were in MUWCI last year, maybe you went to the Chinese students' presentation on it. They told us about how restrictive it is and how it functions. This was very interesting. Apparently the Great Firewall is not so incredibly effective because of the advanced technology that it uses but because of the fear that it creates in the Chinese population, a "Big Brother factor". In fact it is quite easy to get through, and this post is about circumventing the Great Firewall.
The Great Firewall is one of the Chinese government's most effective methods of insulating their country. In the Internet age, it is probably the only way to even attempt to brainwash the whole population of a country. It allows the government to filter what it wants its citizens to know about the outside world. The converse is also true, for it ensures that the outside does not communicate with the Chinese people, either.
The Internet is supposed to be a free domain, outside the jurisdiction of any one body. It is supposed to be uncensored and accessible to all. The Great Firewall is against the philosophy on which the Internet is based. And this is for a good reason, for the Internet is one of the most powerful tools activists have today. It is incredibly useful for "the Multitude" that Michael talked about in his super-cool Global Affairs session (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitude). Separatists and anti-government activists used to have secret meetings in sewers or some other such dark, dingy places. Now they meet in the vast, unwatched underbelly of the Internet. If the Chinese government didn't block access to the Internet, it would be in deep trouble. Historically, the only reason most totalitarian regimes lasted as long as they did was because of propaganda and a tight control of channels of communication.
There are a brave few who do regularly subvert the Chinese government's total control and bypass the Great Firewall. They risk a lot by doing so, but they hope the importance of what they are doing merits the risks they take. Primarily, these people are bloggers. By putting their blogs out on the Internet, they expose the injustice of the Chinese government to the whole world. Not that this helps a great deal with the situation in China. The outside world has virtually no say on what goes on in China, especially in this economic crisis in which China is basically supporting the world. This is a very sad situation, for it either means that the vast majority of people and governments do not care about the basic rights of others, or that they are content to let others suffer as long as they do not have to experience the same suffering. Blogging is a way out of this, however, for it creates the possibility of free speech within China. This possibility is all it takes. I believe that as long as there is the slightest possibility, it is only a matter of time for people to seize it. And once that happens, there is no way the Chinese government can keep subjugating over a billion Chinese people.
Perhaps the title of my post is a bit of a misnomer. This post had nothing to do with why we should blog. The reason we should blog is because Mark tells us we should. The reason people in China should blog is much more intense and scary and important. I'm not really sure how philosophical this post was, either. Hopefully it will engender introspection (no I'm not kidding) and after all, introspection is basically what we do in philosophy (not really). This was not very funny either. It was a serious post. If it was interesting, you might want to go and read some of the blogs coming out of Tibet here: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/. Personally, I think it's very interesting; I'm doing my EE on it.
The Great Firewall is one of the Chinese government's most effective methods of insulating their country. In the Internet age, it is probably the only way to even attempt to brainwash the whole population of a country. It allows the government to filter what it wants its citizens to know about the outside world. The converse is also true, for it ensures that the outside does not communicate with the Chinese people, either.
The Internet is supposed to be a free domain, outside the jurisdiction of any one body. It is supposed to be uncensored and accessible to all. The Great Firewall is against the philosophy on which the Internet is based. And this is for a good reason, for the Internet is one of the most powerful tools activists have today. It is incredibly useful for "the Multitude" that Michael talked about in his super-cool Global Affairs session (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitude). Separatists and anti-government activists used to have secret meetings in sewers or some other such dark, dingy places. Now they meet in the vast, unwatched underbelly of the Internet. If the Chinese government didn't block access to the Internet, it would be in deep trouble. Historically, the only reason most totalitarian regimes lasted as long as they did was because of propaganda and a tight control of channels of communication.
There are a brave few who do regularly subvert the Chinese government's total control and bypass the Great Firewall. They risk a lot by doing so, but they hope the importance of what they are doing merits the risks they take. Primarily, these people are bloggers. By putting their blogs out on the Internet, they expose the injustice of the Chinese government to the whole world. Not that this helps a great deal with the situation in China. The outside world has virtually no say on what goes on in China, especially in this economic crisis in which China is basically supporting the world. This is a very sad situation, for it either means that the vast majority of people and governments do not care about the basic rights of others, or that they are content to let others suffer as long as they do not have to experience the same suffering. Blogging is a way out of this, however, for it creates the possibility of free speech within China. This possibility is all it takes. I believe that as long as there is the slightest possibility, it is only a matter of time for people to seize it. And once that happens, there is no way the Chinese government can keep subjugating over a billion Chinese people.
Perhaps the title of my post is a bit of a misnomer. This post had nothing to do with why we should blog. The reason we should blog is because Mark tells us we should. The reason people in China should blog is much more intense and scary and important. I'm not really sure how philosophical this post was, either. Hopefully it will engender introspection (no I'm not kidding) and after all, introspection is basically what we do in philosophy (not really). This was not very funny either. It was a serious post. If it was interesting, you might want to go and read some of the blogs coming out of Tibet here: http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/. Personally, I think it's very interesting; I'm doing my EE on it.
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