Page 89 - Šolsko polje, XXVIII, 2017, no. 3-4: Education and the American Dream, ed. Mitja Sardoč
P. 89
p. mclaren ■ from a city on the hill to the dungheap of history
tive of an alternative to capitalism, grounded in Marx’s Critique of the Go-
tha Program. I am also examining the Christian gospels and the teachings
of Jesus as an expression of communism. This has stirred up quite a con-
troversy here and I won’t digress into that debate for lack of space. What I
feel deserves emphasis today is public pedagogy, a term developed by Hen-
ry Giroux. By that I mean actions by public representatives in public ven-
ues—that includes reporters, professors, and intellectuals of various stripe
and sundry—mustered by political courage and steered by critical analy-
sis on behalf of the oppressed majority. For me, the purpose of such public
pedagogy would be, as the saying goes, “to speak truth to power,” that is,
to challenge political orthodoxy when such orthodoxy is used as a weapon
to stifle dissent and reproduce policies and practices that keep the ruling
class in power at the expense of the popular masses. “In a time of univer-
sal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act” is a phrase attributed to
George Orwell. Paulo Freire has said that there is no true word that is not
at the same time a praxis. Thus, to speak a true word is, as Freire notes, to
transform the word. Orwell also said that “freedom is the right to tell peo-
ple what they don’t want to hear.” At this particular historical juncture,
it’s important that we re-tread our habit-sodden pedagogies and start to
develop activist pedagogical approaches to challenge the lies and deceit of
the Trump administration. This can be accomplished in many ways: cre-
ating blogs, and publishing policy critiques through social media and, to
the extent that it is possible, publishing through the mainstream media,
and joining and/or forming revolutionary social movements. To the ex-
tent that some news outlets are challenging the Trump agenda, he tries to
shut them down by ridiculing their reports as “fake news” and polls have
shown that vast numbers of Americans who support Trump tend to in-
crease that support the more that Trump is attacked in the mainstream
media. In other words, his followers haven’t thought very carefully about
how he has rationalized his policy proposals. He has also threatened to
change existing laws on libel, so that he will have the ability to sue media
outlets who publish stories critical of him, his acolytes or his administra-
tion. And he is seeking to institute harsh penalties for government whis-
tleblowers. Trumpsters see the mainstream media as supporting the views
of the elite Washington political establishment and the views of “Holly-
wood” which they loathe because they see Hollywood as one of the sword
arms of cultural degeneracy and anti-Christian bias.
With its crises of overaccumulation and declining rate of prof-
it, capitalism feeds global destruction, through war, through ecocide,
through genocide, and epistemicide that follows the most brutal forms
87
tive of an alternative to capitalism, grounded in Marx’s Critique of the Go-
tha Program. I am also examining the Christian gospels and the teachings
of Jesus as an expression of communism. This has stirred up quite a con-
troversy here and I won’t digress into that debate for lack of space. What I
feel deserves emphasis today is public pedagogy, a term developed by Hen-
ry Giroux. By that I mean actions by public representatives in public ven-
ues—that includes reporters, professors, and intellectuals of various stripe
and sundry—mustered by political courage and steered by critical analy-
sis on behalf of the oppressed majority. For me, the purpose of such public
pedagogy would be, as the saying goes, “to speak truth to power,” that is,
to challenge political orthodoxy when such orthodoxy is used as a weapon
to stifle dissent and reproduce policies and practices that keep the ruling
class in power at the expense of the popular masses. “In a time of univer-
sal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act” is a phrase attributed to
George Orwell. Paulo Freire has said that there is no true word that is not
at the same time a praxis. Thus, to speak a true word is, as Freire notes, to
transform the word. Orwell also said that “freedom is the right to tell peo-
ple what they don’t want to hear.” At this particular historical juncture,
it’s important that we re-tread our habit-sodden pedagogies and start to
develop activist pedagogical approaches to challenge the lies and deceit of
the Trump administration. This can be accomplished in many ways: cre-
ating blogs, and publishing policy critiques through social media and, to
the extent that it is possible, publishing through the mainstream media,
and joining and/or forming revolutionary social movements. To the ex-
tent that some news outlets are challenging the Trump agenda, he tries to
shut them down by ridiculing their reports as “fake news” and polls have
shown that vast numbers of Americans who support Trump tend to in-
crease that support the more that Trump is attacked in the mainstream
media. In other words, his followers haven’t thought very carefully about
how he has rationalized his policy proposals. He has also threatened to
change existing laws on libel, so that he will have the ability to sue media
outlets who publish stories critical of him, his acolytes or his administra-
tion. And he is seeking to institute harsh penalties for government whis-
tleblowers. Trumpsters see the mainstream media as supporting the views
of the elite Washington political establishment and the views of “Holly-
wood” which they loathe because they see Hollywood as one of the sword
arms of cultural degeneracy and anti-Christian bias.
With its crises of overaccumulation and declining rate of prof-
it, capitalism feeds global destruction, through war, through ecocide,
through genocide, and epistemicide that follows the most brutal forms
87
