@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Date: Wed, 18 Oct 1995 01:13:23 -0700 Sender: "G.S. Aikens" <•••@••.•••> Subject: Re: cj#273> re: Generation X & NWO ~--<snip of quoted material>--~ > So one aspect of reaching Generation X comes down simply to vocabulary and > writing style. I know that isn't what you were getting at, but it's part > of that picture. > As a 29 year old studying political theory at the University of Cambridge - UK - I find such generalizations mildly offensive and highly irritating. Maybe you're talking about an effort to reach a certain socio-economic stratum within a particular generation rather then an effort to reach an entire generation? Please, get a little more real about this generation X balderdash. G Scott Aikens Tel: 01223-571-170 WWW: http://www.dar.cam.ac.uk/www/gsa1001.htm @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Date: Thu, 19 Oct 1995 00:00:20 -0700 Sender: •••@••.••• (John Lowry) Subject: Re: cj#273> re: Generation X & NWO Richard, One of the questions that comes-up for me is why is it, when, for hundreds of years, virtually everyone with any power in this world has been educated in the classical tradition, do we stand on the brink of so many kinds of catastrophe? I conclude there is a serious and basic flaw in our concept of education. This flaw goes beyond the silly notion that lecturing plays a usefull role in learning. Lecturing reflects the flaw of confusing abstract representations of reality for reality itself. This is the gap that separates the generations now. We spent a minimum of twenty years primarilly engaged in the activity of reading and writing -- following abstract characters in linear sequense -- as our "education," as our preparation for being in this world and having power over it. The trouble is, this world is not black and white or linear, and our "preparation" was not very usefull. Generation X is somewhat luckier, in that their education was done with more television and less reading and writing, and their minds have not been forged into complete linearity. On the other hand, they lack authoritative references and are quite unlucky in that regard. I certainly do not mean to say that reading and writing are not usefull. That's what I do and I do not think I am not usefull. I do mean to say that facility with language is not a measure of intelligence, it is a measure of dominance, and dominance is not necessarilly smart. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Indeed, a phrase like "Generation X" is a gross generalization. My two kids are a tech writer and lawyer, and they have plenty of "linear skills". Maybe some of you folks in this age group can tell the rest of us something about your _individual_ world view? On the subject of education, and why it doesn't seem solve our problems: Bucky Fuller, in Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth, talks about some of the origins of this problem. When technology began to emerge as a force in its own right, _somewhere_ around the beginning of the 19th century, those who had political power needed to find a way to contain technology -- to ensure that they continued to hold the reigns of power, and that power wouldn't pass to inventors and scientists. According to Bucky's account, they formed the Admiralty College and invented the modern notion of academic specializaton -- a scientist is only considered to be an expert in his own narrow field of study, outside that field his opinions are to be discounted. My point is not that scientists should be given broader individual credibility, but that the definition of truth was partitioned up into specialized fields. In this paradigm no one can know the whole truth -- scientist or otherwise -- instead we are forced to look to experts for truth in each separate area. No one can get a grasp on the overall issues of the day, because they can't be at the same time an expert on economics, technology, finance, politics, communication, current events, population trends, etc. etc. Thus the overall issues are left in confusion, and the power-wielding establishment continues to run things according to their own desires and goals. There's no useful accumulation of human wisdom and understanding, just a lot of specialized research that the establishment applies to its own enrichment. The field of speaking-about-the-whole-picture is left to populist demagogues like Newt Gingrich, so-called religious leaders, and their ilk. More specifically, the establishment picks out generalists whose philosophies serve establishment interests and gives them public soapbox time. When they no longer serve establishment interests they are discredited and discarded, as with Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, or Jimmy Bakker. -rkm @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~ Posted by Richard K. Moore <•••@••.•••> Wexford, Ireland (USA citizen) Editor: The Cyberjournal (@CPSR.ORG) World Wide Web (shared with cyber-rights): http://jasper.ora.com/andyo/cyber-rights/cyber-rights.html http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~hwh6k/public/cyber-rights.html FTP: ftp://jasper.ora.com/pub/andyo/cyber-rights You are encouraged to forward and cross-post messages and online materials, pursuant to any contained copyright & redistribution restrictions. For commercial re-use, contact the appropriate author. ~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~--~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=~
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