In the past, like an academic I felt it was necessary to explain and defend every position in detail .Leaders don't think like that - they present their ideas and then wait for you to shoot them down, if you can.
In any even the academic style basically generated no response probably because the people it disconcerted knew better then to get into a contest of ideas and the rest didn't understand what was being said.
You, know by golly friends it's beginning to make sense. The tragedy of life is how many good things are wasted away because small minded people want to retain control. It was Einstein who said that there had never been a signifigent advance in the history of science without signifigent opposition.
Therefore far then finish the thread on quantum aspects of market research ( which I promise I get around to sooner or later) I'd like to point out that historical the powers that be have done everything possible to maintain and increasee ignorance in thier subordinates and that in particular, in the battles presently going down t attain for users of the internet basic human rights we must not be surprised to see the same thing happening.
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Once, in the late 1980’s I found myself spending some time on the Island nation of Jamaica. I was recovering from an auto accident, that had left my hands unable to play piano, my head ringing and my legal status undetermined thanks to the then usual Nassau district Attorney and the usual political adversary, in this case Nelson Doubleday, owner of a publishing company, a ball team ( the NY METS) and my neighbor on the Gold coast of Long Island. I’ll spare you the details they are not really germane but in retrospect they offer a curious parallel to Jamaica at that time.
Jamaica had long been a British Colony, dating back to the days when real pirates sailed the Caribbean and lived very short lives. I’m not clear on the dates but Jamaica became an independent nation after World War Two. This was part of a deal between Roosevelt and Churchill whereby America agreed to enter the war against Germany if England on her part agreed to after the war relinquish the Empire which was mostly meant for India.
Roosevelt's reasoning, which was not incorrect, was that as long as Britain was allowed to keep the Empire that empire would prove too promising a target for other nations international aspirations. It had already led to two world wars as Germany did not see why it, with it’s larger economic output, should not have an empire at least as great as Britains. To the extent that it quelled the movement to colonialism Roosevelt was right . Churchill was furious but lest there be any doubt – he hated Hitler and would sign a pact with the Devil if it brought him closer to victory.
What happened with many former colonies in the third world is they, upon attaining independence sought to be like industrialized nations – which was nonsense. They also found they could play off the US and Russia in terms of funding - which tended to lead to the vast majority of the money going to only a few people.
( I know that in the US this idea is controversial but in the rest of the world when 99% of the money is held by onepercent of the population it is believed to be a bad thing.)
It’s important to realize how pervasive colonialism was. All of Africa, southern Asia and scattered island all over the world existed in very near slave status. With Jamaica when the Brits moved out, first there wa a brief semi stasis, then a flirtation with communism and for the past few decades it has stabilized and works in unity with the surrounding nations. When I visited it it was just coming out of the time of quasi socialism. As in many cases socialism was not able to provide the daily goods that the people wanted – plus the cars broke down almost immediately.
Suffice to say though Jamacias not a bad place to live. The food is great and the economy is not dominated by the tourist industry. As I indicated I was recovering from an auto crash and just basically hanging out with the locals. This is not the time or place to go into detail about things but one person in particular had a more serious demeanor and we got on to the question as to why there was so little remaining British influence, as opposed to some of the smaller nations. We spoke, walking along the beach at Ocho Rios.
He surprised me by saying his main complaint was “They kept us in ignorance.” It was the vehemence of his reply that stunned me. These many years later I can still feel the justified anger. Here was this man, in the prime of life, of undoubted intelligence spending his time walking on the beach and arranging divertissements for tourists. Since that Day I have never thought of England quite the same way again.
That was the key thing. Enough “Yellow Bird” and Tally Me banana, I didn’t see many old schools around. But let’s consider that in order to justify keeping people in servitude we must establish that on their own they cannot survive. What is more we must convince them of our notions even if we don’t ourselves believe them. One hardly knows whether to pity or praise the empire builders, both of yesterday and today – they especially who can only succeed by crushing the hopes and dreams of others.
One of the major issues, if not the determining one, of the European Reformation is exactly the same. The governments of the day felt it was not a good idea to allow people to read. Consider this. It was understood by all governments and not just the policy of one or two. This led to extended periods of war.
By the time of the American Slavery most of the world had outgrown it, slavery as a necessary part of their economic order, but an important part of the system of slavery along with the necessity that if one mans slave runs off, all the nearby slavers must join in the hunt, is the notion that to teach a slave how to read is a crime.
It is not difficult to suggest that through the empowerment of the few via technology we are regressing to such conditions as to forbid access to knowledge.
Those things, those arts that we once considered part of our cultural heritage are now available only with a price tag.
That forbidding people the knowledge and skills needed to gain employment is quite logical from the stand point of their competitors we can understand - but do we really want to do this?
Are we suicidal or just plain stupid?
We know that there will always be a segment of the population that will entrust their lives and futures to others – to others with mysterious incantations- but if you don’t happen to think that way
You might want to look into alternatives.
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