Here is what I struggle with.
I think in the United States we have two ‘streams’ or ideologies that feed off of each other and they work together to keep us in chains. The first stream (or ethos) is that there is a deep suspicion of the ‘intellectual’ life among many ‘regular folks’. I think this is somewhat well founded by the fact that there is frequently a deep ‘disconnect’ between the ‘intellectual class’ and the proletariat, particularly the ‘blue collar’ type. I sometimes see this in how certain people speak of how my ‘education’ has somehow taken me away from ‘living’ or not really ‘living’ this thing called the ‘real life’. Again, I am very aware of how education can also ‘form’ (deform) our connection with various ‘struggles’. I am especially aware of how education has been used by the Neoliberal project to create a group of people that ultimately do the bidding of the owning class to screw over the rest of the world! That includes the myth of a ‘well informed’ community based on some sort of ‘meritocracy’ which included going to the ‘right schools’ etc. However, sometimes the solution becomes articulated in an ‘unintentional’ anti-intellectualism that is the mirror image of the arrogance and elitism of the intellectual class.
What ends up happening is that any analysis or intellectual “labor” is treated with contempt or minimally, as suspicious. The classic ‘what do you think you’re better than us’ thinking. I have taught for many years and one of my most striking memories is of an event that illustrated my response to an event in my class. When I look at it now, I sometimes view it as my responding from a place of wanting to be ‘radical egalitarian’ about all knowledge. I think this is good but I realized that I didn’t intervene in a way that could have made a much more important point and even more importantly brought a degree of ‘consciousness’ to the situation.
I was teaching a class on Social Justice. As part of the curriculum each student was to do a research project and come to a moral position on a moral issue of their choice. They were to present their findings and their conclusion to the entire class in an oral report. A young woman gave a report on the issue of Capital Punishment. What was most striking about her report was that she spoke about how she began by being ‘for Capital Punishment’ prior to beginning the research paper. At the end she spoke of how she had moved to being against Capital Punishment. A young man who spoke up in class said, that he still believed in Capital Punishment no matter what she said. I, trying to create a sense of reconciliation, spoke of both parties having equally validity in their perspectives. But the reality is that they were not equally ‘valid’! She had actually done ‘intellectual work’ he had not! She had actually thought about this issue and analyzed the various issues and perspectives. I am not talking here about the conclusion. I am talking about the actual quality of the opinion. She had explored various aspects of this issue. He had not. This included interrogating some of the common ‘myths’ that are part of the defense for Capital Punishment (deterrence, ‘eye for an eye’, cost effectiveness for the community etc.). The reality is that a more honest answer that I could have given would have been something like: “Sorry, she has a better informed opinion. She knows more about this issue than you do. You are absolutely entitled to your opinion. But don’t mistake the ‘quality’ of your opinion as equal to her. She is, on this issue, more informed. Now we can have an honest debate about it but to somehow to ‘pretend’ that your opinion is equally as reflective of reality and worthy of equal consideration is really not a good idea’. “
I wish to say, that this is about a specific issue. I remind my students that I have a Ph.D. in theological ethics, part of what this means is that in one sense my ‘understanding’ of this topic is very strong. No, not perfect, but very strong. If you are seeking an ‘opinion’ on how to transport a large amount of chemicals from one state to another, I am not your man! :o( If you want to know about how to paint your house, I am certainly not ‘an expert’. Have I painted some homes in my life, yes. Would I match my ‘knowledge base’ with someone who has been doing this for their entire professional life. Of course not! Knowledge matters! It is super important to actually have people that are good at social analysis, and understanding the ‘inner working’ of systems. This requires a deep commitment to the intellectual life. I think we do a tremendous disservice to many people when we don’t honor the ‘experts’. Now again, I am not naïve, I don’t believe that knowledge automatically makes you a ‘good person’ or even a ‘virtuous person. But there has to be a place for life that does not rely solely on just having a lot of ‘experience’ (whatever that actually means!?).
I would like to give one more example of where this desire to place ‘experience’ over analysis is very detrimental. I sometimes remind my student’s that WWI was called by some ‘The War to End All Wars”. We as a species have a helluva lot of ‘experience’ at war, but we sure as hell haven’t done much to ‘analyze’ properly the real causes of war, prevention of war, the manner by which we can seek actual alternatives to war. I would suggest that one of the reasons is because anyone that seeks to move outside of certain epistemological categories gets accused of ‘not knowing what the fuck they are talking about’. Somehow ‘experiencing’ war gives you some intimate knowledge that allows you to see the larger (and deeper) picture to the issue of war. So ‘peace loving hippie’ or ‘pacifist’ types don’t fully ‘understand’ what is involved in war.
I remember years ago a very popular bumper sticker was one that simply said HONOR LABOR. My point is not to deny the absolute importance of some degree of experience or exposure to the real life conditions that one is talking about in any situation. What I wish to suggest is that we can not be ‘simplistic’ or parochial in our placing this distorted concept of ‘experience as the be all and end all of true revolutionary work. It can not replace analysis and actual intellectual labor. I do believe that ‘book learning’ has a place in revolutionary work. I think it is dangerous to diminish its value precisely because it plays right into the hands of the ruling elite and their agenda of creating an atmosphere of ‘anti-intellectualism’. Intellectual labor really is a kind of labor. All I am saying is HONOR LABOR.
Prophetic Ruminations 