In general, I find politics to be juvenile and irritating. But recently this sense of irritation has spread to the thing I spend my days most involved in, typing away on a laptop: Academia and education. At times it feels very hollow and incomplete. What do I mean? I mean that the message it generally promotes is either to make money or serve the lofty aim of being a valuable 'thing in itself''.
Sometimes I think of the rise of Trump as being the product of the utter failure of western education to have any significant impact upon the 'real' lives of 'real' people.
I do not mean in terms of subject material, either. It is the process of education as much as the result of it that is important. Education should broaden the mind to allow you to view the world from multiple perspectives and understand where other people are coming from. Not only from a rationalistic standpoint but also in terms of human empathy.
This should be its purpose, and whilst obviously no system can account for all the quirks of human beings, it should at the very least bring to attention the ridiculousness of brazen extremes. It should, at the very least, teach you that the world is a complex place which requires a degree of caution before you are convinced of your own rightness or are persuaded by slogans. Apologies for the dismissive arrogance of my tone.
Academics in the humanities and social sciences thrive on writing about issues that are self-contained to the extent that not only do normal people have no idea what they are talking about but that only a select few in their subject area do either. There is too often no relationship with other areas of thought and no attempt to make that jump to consider how to improve society or even to attempt to understand it better or even to dwell upon how a given topic relates to themselves as human beings.
The ultimate sign of intelligence remains financial success or the ability to express yourself unclearly. 'Truth' and 'facts' are just word games.
Take Richard Dawkins, for example; brilliant mind who regularly makes crude and hysterical statements that do not even attempt to understand a perspective beyond his own. To avoid accusations of religious prejudice I have often extended the same accusation to people involved in the rabbinate.
I had an entertaining example of this the other week, where a Frum guest spoke in Brighton synagogue about the great evils of women dressing inappropriately and how this is the worst spiritual generation that there has ever been. Yes, in Brighton. Laughing at the ridiculousness of his inability to ahem read his audience and also by the fact that such a scripted line remains compelling to a man in his fifties, I remembered that these exact sentiments could be communicated in a Yeshiva environment and no-one would bad an eyelid.
There are many people out there, hiding in their broom cupboards with a wealth of knowledge and deep understanding to share; and yet, like the volumes they pore over, they fade into the dust and most people don't know any better. Instead, the headlines are dominated by the boorish statements of a rich tycoon and the angry prattle of indignant people on twitter, feeling very offended.
Ah well, the sabbath beckons, off to return to my commune.
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