Dumbed Down
By Mitch Berg
One of the things that makes a conservative a conservative is opposition to the relentless dumbing-down of our culture.
Authoritarians need a dumb, compliant population, focused purely on their own material wants and needs – people who value punctual trains over liberty – to succeed.
Our education system has been failing for at least a generation to try to produce anything but that.
Jay Reding notes that even the Chinese are getting this:
The Asia Times talks about the value of classical music in forming a strong and supple mind:
Any activity that requires discipline and deferred gratification benefits children, but classical music does more than sports or crafts. Playing tennis at a high level requires great concentration, but nothing like the concentration required to perform the major repertoire of classical music. Perhaps the only pursuit with comparable benefits is the study of classical languages. It is not just concentration as such, but its content that makes classical music such a formative tool.
I’m not one of those people who dings on “rap” music strictly for its own sake – but there’s a great point here.
Classical music ties a lot of highfalutin’ concepts – meter, melody, harmony, counterpoint – together simultaneously. Not only does playing it require a lot of concentration, years of practice and long-delayed gratification, but listening to it takes time and effort to really appreciate – which was why colleges used to teach “music appreciation”. For people who don’t grow up around classical music (and I didn’t, although I played cello from ages 10 to 22, and can still crank out a tune, so I like to think I’m a fairly literate listener) some of those concepts are not things that jump out and grab you by the hypothalamus. It takes time, practice…education to really get it.
As contrast, I present hip-hop. No, this is not the standard-issue social conservative attack on the form; indeed, I used to be a rap DJ. There is a skill to taking a rhythm apart; there is a certain art to the wordplay that a really, really good rapper brings to the table. But hip-hop is about rhythm, which is the most immediately obvious aspect of music; even babies can perceive and completely enjoy rhythm and simple melody.
And there was a time when the goal was to master things that babies couldn’t do.
Jay writes:
The problem is that the concepts of “discipline” and “delayed gratification” are practically foreign to Americans these days. We’ve become a nation that has begun to systematically rout out the qualities that make us strong. Instead of allowing children to explore, we coddle them. Instead of teaching the classics, we teach drivel. We teach “self esteem” instead of formal logic. A classical education trained young minds to think critically, appreciate culture, and inculcated them with the values necessary for life in a democratic society. Now, thanks to the relentless dumbing-down of society, that sort of education has been cast out as being “patriarchal,” “ethnocentric” and even just plain “racist.” It is any irony that the Chinese seem to have a finer appreciation for our culture than we do.
Yes, it is.
There’s a parallel, of course.
Like classical music, conservatism is not intuitive to most people. Toddlers have a hard time with Hayek and Mahler, but can fully wrap their minds around “make people happy” and banging on pots. To embrace conservatism – the conservatism of Hayek and Buckley and Goldwater moreso than most of your single-issue varieties – takes some of the same attributes.
Anyone can figure out the First Amendment. The Tenth Amendment? That’s complicated.
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:43 am
gotta quibble a bit with this nice analysis. Experience is showing that the First Amendment is tough to understand for a lot of people, including US Senators who were war heroes.
December 23rd, 2008 at 8:51 am
Dumbed Down?
Hmmm…
That Rhymes with Dumb….Frown?
No. That’s not it.
Dumb….Town?
It’s escaping me right now.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:23 am
Mitch, that you’d even attempt this silliness after having had:
1. George Bush as President – “fool me once.. fool me once, .. you, you don’t get fooled again’
and
2. Sarah “God put Dinosaurs on earth to be turned into Oil for us (4000 years ago)’ and ‘Africa is a Country’ Palin
is rather laughable, well no, it’s hilarious
If you love the 10th – then try sometime explaining the 9th too, or the 6th, or the 5th, I assume ALL of them mean something to you. Then, explain the 14th.
Conservativism fails to be intuitive because it doesn’t work, it is counter-intuitive because taking from the lower and middle class and trusting the upper class to do the right thing has been tried, and it was proven to be a failure, we called it Monarchy, or maybe feudalism, but it no less relies upon actions which must, by definition, run counter to normal human conduct than did communism.
But.. dumbing down.. HA! – Sorry Mitch, given that you neo-cons have shown time and again you are incapable of routinely parusing the ACTUAL news, but instead get it from your little echo chamber – I’m sorry, but that one is going to keep me laughing all day long.
Governor Palin, which papers, specifically, do you read?
“You know, I read em all” – yep, sure.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:26 am
BTW Mitch, I’m assuming you caught that violent crime fell double digits in “Crime Ravaged” Minneapolis? It seems you missed it – given this was among your personal causes last year, I’m SURE we’ll see your retraction – and your hyperventilating will cease? Violent crime in MPLS, especially murder, is down what, 65% since 1995? Overrun was the word I think you used last summer – yeah, sure is – like we’re all overrun with the facts and news and education and stuff you neo-cons evince daily.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:29 am
Oh dear. Mitch is going all “the music kids listen to nowadays is nothing but noise!” Thought you used to be punk.
And before you get all high falutin’, maybe stop defending creationism, Jesus-centric magical thinking and the mispronunciation of “nuclear.” And decide whether you’re pro- or anti-elitist.
Mahler. Please.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:30 am
Mitch writes a post about classical music and Peev goes on an auto-pilot rant.
In musical terms, Peev is a one-note samba.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:38 am
Today we find the anti-elitist wingnut listening to Mahler, reading William F. Buckley and raising his pinkie whilst sipping a nice Chardonnay and being sodomized by his manservant, Horst.
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:58 am
The key to creating a class of underachievers is to make certain they maintain their self-esteem when they become all they cannot be. Our public school system is the perfect Petri dish for this experiment.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
Ahhh. There it is.
Dumb Clown.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:15 am
anti-elitist wingnut listening to Mahler
While Clown goes back to his Walmart-shoppin’, NASCAR-watchin’, Toby-Keithin’ South Jersey roots.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
“it is counter-intuitive because taking from the lower and middle class and trusting the upper class to do the right thing…”
So why does government do it? It is one thing if those who have built businesses and obtained financial success have done so by accepting money from people who VOLUNTARILY exchange it for goods and services. It is quite another when the filthy rich members of government TAKE it, by force, to give to its own favorite constituency groups, providing them nothing of value. Surely it is counter-intuitive to believe that government can create wealth by destroying the wealthy and rewarding the indolent.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 am
Angryclown doesn’t pretend to be anti-elitist. Angryclown is happy in the knowledge that he’s better than other people.
Perhaps JRoosh will be so kind as to don his reproduction Versailles court dress, circa 1725, and favor us with a few selections on the harpsichord?
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:28 am
Peev, didn’t ya know Palin is president of Joe Sixpack Hockey Moms for Chamber Music?
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:31 am
Peev, didn’t ya know Palin is president of Joe Sixpack Hockey Moms for Chamber Music?
Well, we don’t know what Palin listens to. But I’d guess it isn’t Peev.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:34 am
Jesus, Mr. D. Dontcha know she listens to Jesus H. Christ, her Lord and Savior?
Also the consultants who bought her all those fancy clothes.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 am
AC, you have no more original comments left do you? Same crap, different day. Even I’m starting to feel sorry for you.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:53 am
Dontcha know she listens to Jesus H. Christ, her Lord and Savior?
So she’s a Depeche Mode fan, then.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:56 am
That’s “Freedom Mode” to us Amurcan patriots, Mr. D.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:00 am
Getting lamer by the comment…. Are you drinking already?
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:07 am
The fact that Peni can only recite what hes been told by others rather than synthesizing his own thoughts based on facts…
Makes me think Peni likes the cars, the cars that go BOOM!
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 am
They’re Peni & Clownie and they like the BOOM!
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:25 am
“Angryclown is happy in the knowledge that he’s better than other people.”
Have to give AC his props…word on the street is that he give the best BJ in NYC.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:33 am
Again Penigma/Peev/PB/whats-his-name-this-week says something without establishing it as fact:
“…taking from the lower and middle class and trusting the upper class to do the right thing has been tried, and it was proven to be a failure…”
Who is taking from the lower and middle classes, Penigma? Who is giving “it” to the upper class? I assume you mean “it” to be money. When was this, if it actually occurred, when did it fail, and why?
This reminds me of something someone said recently, “It is always easier to be the challenger than the champion…”
😆
Very well, Penigma/LeftOut/Pernicous-Little-Sweetheart-My-Darling… your challenge was easy.
December 23rd, 2008 at 11:44 am
Speaking of dumbed down….anyone else notice that the worlds scientists have finally sobered up?
U. S. Senate Minority Report: More Than 650 International Scientists Dissent Over Man-Made Global Warming Claims – Scientists Continue to Debunk “Consensus” in 2008 – Released: December 11, 2008
A few juicy excerpts…..
Internationally renowned scientist Dr. Antonio Zichichi, president of the World Federation of Scientists and a retired Professor of Advanced Physics at the University of Bologna in Italy, who has published over 800 scientific papers:
“Significant new peer-reviewed research has cast even more doubt on the hypothesis of dangerous human-caused global warming.”
Climatologist Robert Durrenberger, past president of the American Association of State Climatologists, and one of the climatologists who gathered at Woods Hole to review the National Climate Program Plan in July, 1979:
“Al Gore brought me back to the battle and prompted me to do renewed research in the field of climatology. And because of all the misinformation that Gore and his army have been spreading about climate change I have decided that ‘real’ climatologists should try to help the public understand the nature of the problem.”
What these hundreds of scientists are saying is that global temperatures MAY be rising, but no one is in a position to make a determination of fact that it is, or if it is, why it is.
Several have quit positions that put them in the position of having to trade their integrity for funding, and are starting to tell everyone just how ignorant one has to be to follow a dolt like ALGORE into the abyss.
Expect dolts to complain vigorously…..(cue peevee)
Since Mitch’s spam filter shreds links, google “senate report global warming” to read the report for yourselves.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Is this clown guy supposed to be something? Is it some sort of joke on your readers?
Anyway, as a side note, the mention of simple melodies made me think of a Bach fugue – a composition of four simultaneous variations on the same simple melody – and in turn the book “Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid.” It’s a book that looks at the fundamental patterns that underly classical music, geometry, and mathematics; and if you are imaginitive, you can apply it to everything from art to turbulent flow in viscous fluids. If you see a kid who is interested in things like this, it’s a tough read, but a very inspiring one.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
He’s a joke alright. Problem is, he thinks he’s clever & funny too.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Actually, the user known as Angry Clown is a shared logon that about seven of us use when we want to parody the Left.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Swiftee- Are you doing research?
There are definitely a few cracks showing in the AGW edifice. I’ll repeat what I’ve said before: People in the industrialized world, especially Americans, are not going to sacrifice their economic future for the hypothetical benefit of third-worlders generations from now.
Not. Going. To. Happen.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Peevish wrote:
2. Sarah “God put Dinosaurs on earth to be turned into Oil for us (4000 years ago)’ and ‘Africa is a Country’ Palin
Peev, what is your source for these quotes? You are just making them up, aren’t you?
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Americans aren’t going to sacrifice *anything* on the alter of the UN’s “one world” socialism, which is what is fueling the global warming scam.
Take a look at the leftist “movements” that are associated with GW: “New urbanism”, in which we are all supposed to level our suburban houses and re-locate to “sustainable”, centrally located gerbil cages where we can be watched and controlled; Public transportation, which will limit our freedom of movement and our ability to pick up our toys and find greener pastures if we don’t like what we see; The plethora of anti-corporate, anti-capitalist initiatives which will limit our choices of profession.
The people behind these agendas aren’t stupid (well most aren’t), but they count on stupid people to gain support and momentum.
Ever since the left glommed onto “global warming” it has had to continually re-define the perameters of it’s message….how do you explain record cold? Well you tell people that cold is “weather”, not “climate”. What do you say when record cold sustains itself over a period of decades? Why you change the problem’s name to “Climate change” which gives you the latitude to encompass anything that comes along into your agenda.
Remember “global cooling”?? What happened to the “holes” in the ozone??
Real science doesn’t re-define the *terms* of the hypothesis when the facts don’t fit it. Real science dictates that the hypothesis itself change to fit the facts.
The minute a kook like ALGORE stands before us and says anyone that questions a largely incomplete theory believes the Earth is flat, you know you’re being scammed.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Not to hijack the thread back to the original topic, but it’s interesting that the Chinese find transcendence in classical music, instead of a foreign, culturally-specific style that can’t possibly mean anything to their youth. And they buy the notion of a hierarchy of arts based on complexity and skill. It’s possible to agree with Duke Ellington – “if it sounds good, it is good” – and still hold Duke over the works of Blind Lemon Willie “Cigar-Box” Johnson, who spent thirty years of his blues career on the same chord progressions devoted to laments over a series of women who’d repaid his kindness with infidelity.
Even when most Americans had limited exposure to classical music aside from the music of the Lone Ranger or the Green Hornet, they still paid lip-service to the idea of the hierarchy. Composers and classical musicians were up there with Scientists and Professors and other white-beareded pince-nez-wearing Guardians of the Culture. The amusing part is that our own pop music was almost as dense and complex as Classical, and had the added kick of improvisation. But that all faded when rock and roll took hold, and the boomers, with their endless skill at auto-fellation, decided everything was just one big egalitarian smear
There’s that great moment in “Long-Haired Hare,” where Bugs ascends the podium to torment an opera singer who’d annoyed him with his practicing. (“Fiiiigaro,” of course.) Bugs smoothes his ears back into a Stokowski coif, and all the orchestra members whisper Leopold! as he walks to the podium. Can’t quite think of a contemporary example. Simon Crowell, maybe.
Then again, I remember Homer being chased by Yo-Yo Ma in that episode of Homer vs. PBS, so I’m probably full of it again.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:38 pm
“Not. Going. To. Happen.”
Maybe not voluntarily:
“Obama picks global warming
expertnutcase as science adviser”“WASHINGTON — President-elect Barack Obama’s choice of John P. Holdren as his science adviser sends a strong signal that Obama sees global warming as an urgent problem and wants bold suggestions for action.”
“The Harvard University environmental policy professor has argued that the world already is experiencing dangerous climate change as a result of fossil fuel combustion. He’s said there’s still time to avert catastrophe, but only with a strong and rapid global effort.”
“Holdren has said he thinks that if the United States leads with emission reduction requirements, China and the rest of the world will follow, because their countries already are suffering from water and agricultural problems.”
Holdren is a kook.
He works for a group that calls itself “the Woods Hole Research Center” which is a deliberate attempt to connect a pack of lefty enviro-wackos with “the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution” which does research.
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:43 pm
There must be some middle-brow culture left. An autographed copy of the Pelican Brief goes for $299!
http://www.alibris.com/booksearch.detail?S=R&bid=8625860463&cm_mmc=shopcompare-_-base-_-signed-_-na
December 23rd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Actually, the user known as Angry Clown is a shared logon that about seven of us use when we want to parody the Left.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
If this is true, I’ll be more disappointed than my 6 year old was when he figured out there was no Santa Claus.
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Hmm, this topic certainly puts a different spin on that catchphrase of the 90’s:
All I ever needed to know, I learned in Kindergarten.
December 23rd, 2008 at 2:34 pm
Seriously, what am I going to do with this bag of reindeer crap!
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Swiftee-
I agree that Holdren is an ass — but Obama is driven by politics, as are his dem allies in the senate and especially in the house. Nobody is going to volunteer to lose an election by kowtowing to some kind of AGW czar. It is simply not going to happen.
December 23rd, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Well written Mitch.
We can only hope that some of the most recent stats showing an improvement in school test scores, especially math, might indicate a change in direction from dumbing down. There are occasional bright spots in MN schools, despite the overall disappointing results of what passes for education.
I’d be delighted if the US could regain our position as number 1 in the international education rankings.
One can hope…. It wouldn’t be a proper Christmas without Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite.
Doesn’t that view make us “eletists”? (Do I care?)
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Godel Escher Bach — still on my bookshelf and pretty well worn out. Got that back in High School and thought it was a fun read. Godel’s Incompleteness Theorems kind of blew apart my ideas of the Truth of math. But the underlying patterns stuff kind of explained why I liked Bach so much even before I read the book.
The hard part to teaching kids piano is finding a teacher who doesn’t insist on a piano and will allow one of the newer electronic pianos. We usually argued until I pointed out that nearly all the touring pianists use electronic “guts” inside their grands — no tuning, better sound, etc. And for use at home in a northern climate like we’ve got, not having to hire a tuner every 3 months is a plus.
December 23rd, 2008 at 10:47 pm
I work with a lot PhD’s in the hard sciences, American and European.
Financing grad school is, I think, easier in Europe than it is in the US. On the other hand in Europe if you can’t compete successfully for a limited number of slots your education is over. In the US you can always find a college that will take your money.
December 24th, 2008 at 9:08 am
I’ve heard that about both Japanese and Europe; they pay their dues before their 18. College in Japan is pretty much party time after the ordeal of high school.
It’s where we make up a lot of ground – provided that the kids know anything when they get to college.