The War Against Education

Okay, the article in yesterday's newspaper ties into what I've been thinking a lot about lately. The other day on another discussion list I said that "education is the great antidote of fundamentalism."

Well, this has become evident by a newspaper article titled, "New Taliban Rules Target Teachers, Aid Workers, Schools." So, the point being is that the religious fundamentalist types are killing teachers. Why? Because education is a threat to their stupid and ridiculous dogma.

"The Taliban gunmen who killed two teachers in eastern Afghanistan early Saturday were only following their rules: Teachers receive a warning, then a beating, and if they continue to teach must be killed."

Yep. Apparently the Taliban have put out a list of 30 rules that must be followed, and killing teachers is one of them. Some of the other rules include no smoking, and no use of jihad equipment for personal use. Yep, MAKES PERFECT SENSE TO ME!

"Taliban militants early Saturday broke into a house in the eastern province of Kunar, killing a family of five, including two sisters who were teachers."

Of course, teachers are also getting killed in Iraq. Usually it's religious freaks who try to kill teachers, but other times its rouge governments as well. For instance, the old Khmer Rouge regime of Cambodia put teachers on their lengthy killing list.

"Hundreds of thousands of the new people, and later the depositees, were taken out, shackled, to dig their own mass graves. Then the Khmer Rouge soldiers beat them to death with iron bars and hoes or buried them alive. A Khmer Rouge extermination prison directive ordered, "Bullets are not to be wasted."

So, killing teachers is a nice strategy for two of our powerful institutions -- Religion and Government. But what about Corporations?

It's quite a problem in the Western world because Corporations need smart, educated people, but the religious fundamentalists and politicians would prefer to keep everyone dumbed down. The solution? Selective education.

In the U.S., The Machine wants you to be smart to serve the Corporate Masters, but they don't want you to be too political or scientific -- because then you could be a threat to the status quo.

A few years ago an industrialist I was talking to was blaming environmentalists for the brownouts in California. "The problem is that California has too many over educated people with too much time on their hands," he said.

Even three years later, this statement continues to piss me off. From the eyes of The Machine, an environmentalist is merely a troublemaker. But from my eyes, these are progressive individuals who are fighting for justice.

Let's examine this twisted statement:

"Too many over educated people" -- Well, who else is going to take on the corrupt, money-grubbing, air polluting power companies? People with no education? Nope, it's the EDUCATED people that Corporations need, but at the same time, they despise.

"With too much time on their hands" -- Again, who's going to take on these coal-burning, greedy companies? The people who are just trying to exist from day-to-day? The poor people flipping burgers? Nope. It's the enlightened and progressive people that are going to take on corporate polluters. Yes, those "bad" people.

So, in conclusion, education is one of the best tools for fighting The Machine and its supporting institutions. Education is critical to long-term sustainability, and that's what this blog is all about.

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER