Democracy in a Dystopian (or lack thereof)

I preface this with a disclaimer: you said we could write anything we wanted (I assume within reason) in our blogs as long as it related to democracy. Since this is my "issue of the week" weighing on me, I am devoting some time to discussing inequality in dystopian novels.

As a person who adores reading, I have my favorite genres. Among them is the dystopian novel: I enjoy it because each series or book represents what an author believes is the ideal society and yet everything goes horribly wrong. The series I just finished, the Divergent series by Veronica Roth, illustrates this example quite clearly. (I finished the series on Monday, but that counts as recent, even if I have another book I finished right after that). Although the Divergent series is but one of many dystopian novels to come out, it has prevalence to our current society.

In the Divergent series, people belong to factions based upon their dominant personality trait. People who consider themselves intellectuals above all choose Erudite, people who believe truth is the ultimate ideal choose Candor, and so on and so on. In doing so, the theory is that people wind up performing the tasks for which they are uniquely suited and each faction supports society and contributes equally to it. Those who cannot complete the initiation into a faction or drop out for whatever reason are deemed "factionless" and complete the tasks no one else wants to do. They scramble for food and resources in a world where the factions are privileged.

Such a system might work better if people were so linear. As we discover in the first book, Tris, along with Four, possesses attributes that mark her as a potential candidate for Abnegation (the selfless faction), Amity (friendship), and Dauntless (fearless). Rather than embrace these people for their uniqueness, people like Jeanine Matthews, the head of the Erudite faction, condemn them and they must hide their talents. Here the system breaks down, as dystopian novels usually do. Later on in the series, the excuse for sorting people is given that these people are genetically damaged and thus, enter into the faction that supports the particular attribute that is stronger to the exclusion of others.

Arbitrary selection like this bears a strong resemblance to our society. Rather than people selecting their lifelong associations through a ceremony and initiation...people are placed in certain areas and unable to move. The group that the factions had originally nominated to decide for them, the Abnegation (decided because power belongs to those who do not want to wield it), lose their power because of a hostile takeover. This type of action occurs all the time in real life when militants and zealots consume the political system.

I find it fascinating how perfect worlds break down. When I first started reading Divergent, I had fun imagining which faction I would choose. (I decided on Erudite). To discover the actual reasoning behind the factions, as well as discovering that the faction system was flawed, was a shock I enjoyed. It is akin to learning about democracy as a child and thinking it functions perfectly...until an injustice occurs. I believe that is a key lesson that children do not really receive. They find out how democracy works...but not what happens when it ceases doing what it should.

Did children learn why the government shut down? Or is this too intricate for children to conceive? It was once said that children's books hold more weighty concepts than adults' books (I cannot for the life of me remember the exact quote, so I beg your pardon). If that is so, and Divergent and other dystopian books like it are quantified as young adult, then why should we try to sugarcoat the way our country does and does not work? Why teach blind patriotism or that the system works only to discover that it does not work as well as one hopes?

I feel as though history and democracy represent inequality. History is written by the victors. Is democracy written by the champions? If so, who is the true winner in this? The child who blindly believes in the factions in Divergent and in the government in real life? The adult who discovers the factions' flaws in Divergent and the difficulties in real life? The two do not need to be so separate. Children learn a lot more than adults give them credit for.

Perhaps they too can see the representation of reality within the dystopian books set in worlds and times far removed from ours and perhaps they too can take away that no system is perfect. It is simply a matter of being able to handle one that is perfectly imperfect.

Turn the other cheek

This week, on Masterpiece Theatre…

We discuss mutual experiences of democracy or lack thereof in the classroom. After last night’s class, while I believe some people were galvanized and ready to discuss things…I was completely drained. It is depressing to consider how often democracy and representation falls short in school because administrators do not care or teachers misuse their power. I had a teacher in fourth grade that berated the students and another in eighth grade who told us we were all going to fail the GEPA. Until last night, I had no idea how common cruelty and abuse of power can be. Incompetent teachers, it seems, are universal.

Then, what, perhaps, is the product of this? Have they lost their way in a democracy? Have they grown accustomed to abusing the students and thinking that this is permissible? Is it because they believe no one will stand in their way? It bothers me to think about the teachers I had and that other endured who subjected their students to misery simply because they could. It seems so petty, for one thing. How, exactly, does picking on a child make you a better person? Or superior?

For that matter, how does standing aside while one child bullies another make a teacher better? Almost all of the class experienced bullying. In my case, the teachers never noticed it or never stepped in to help. How does this emphasize the idea that, as my school proposed, “all encounters in our school are based upon mutual cooperation, respect, and courtesy”? It does not, really. All it does is emphasize the emptiness of such pursuits.

Yet, there are examples that show how exemplary a school can be if they try. One of the people in my group had a school that supported him and helped him to participate within society. It gave him the tools he needed to become a social justice crusader rather than someone who was personally responsible (if that). When the school makes a concentrated effort, good things can happen. Why, then, do schools choose not to do so?

It seems to me that schools believe that only lessons learned in class are life lessons. Only lessons should be taken as examples of democracy and even then, teachers can demonstrate the wrong ideas. The lessons I learned outside of class taught me more about democracy, sadly, than most of what I encountered within class. When a bunch of boys ganged up on me in gym class and threw basketballs at my head, my guidance counselor’s response was, “Boys will be boys.” (My parents had to spend the extra money to get frames that were flexible, because people kept breaking my classes in gym class). So, then, is democracy really composed of the greater and the lesser? It seems like it is…and then, no encounters are based upon equal anything. Some people are entitled to more because they fit the dominant culture of being white Anglo-Saxon males.

It upsets me to think that students and teachers who committed abuse upon each other could have “gotten away with it”. To what end, then, does our democracy start and stop? Does democracy within the schools really mean, “We’ll protect our own and to hell with everyone else?” This is a concept I will struggle with throughout the semester. Everything I learned in my formative years taught me that democracy is a failed concept within schooling. Yet we are expected to teach it.

It reminds me of an argument I had on a completely unrelated matter last night. An acquaintance and I were discussing Regina Mills from Once Upon a Time and her parenting practices. I commented that Regina, having a bad mother growing up, has no idea how to be a good mother. It is like that with democracy in the classroom. Having had no good examples for it, how am I supposed to know how to set a good example myself?

Perhaps, as the term goes on, I will figure this out. Or perhaps I will always grope for it; it will lurk there, just beyond the horizon.

http://antibullyingblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/17-anti-bullying-pictures-for-classroom.html

The Yes Men (and Women)

By not giving us a specific topic to blog about, I have decided to blog about something that has bothered me for some time. I speak of the politics that people espouse because their friends and family have. Politics are very local, particularly to the extent that some people absorb them like a sponge because of where they live or because of where they go to school. As a result, people tend to not want to hear what they dislike because they are indoctrinated by whatever side they give favor. I say this and admit that I am part of this problem. Until someone can learn to think independently, the person is bound by whatever politics he or she has encountered.

I present for comparison and contrast two of my best friends. One of them is attending grad school here and identifies as a strong liberal. Her parents are both conservatives and basically watch Fox News whenever they watch any news. Her friends are all liberal and voted for Obama in the last election. (My other best friend is not a mutual friend of ours, to clarify the matter).

We gravitate toward people who share our views. She openly admitted to me that she could not be friends with a conservative. To me, this represents inflexibility. While I admit that I do not agree with certain conservative ideas (can we please give up on Obama coming from Kenya? Pretty please?), I think certain ideas need more research before discarding them entirely. To be so set within one’s ways as to completely disregard the other point of view does your views a disservice.

I admit that hearing point of views that I dislike makes me uncomfortable. I also admit that there is a lot I know nothing about. Take Obamacare, for instance. The little I know about it came from trying to disprove my other best friend’s misinformation about it. However, I remain neutral on the subject because like everything else, it has its pitfalls. I feel a lot of people do not recognize that nothing is universally negative or positive.

My other best friend, the one whom I have known for nine years, has finished her nursing degree and works as a nurse in Jacksonville, Florida. She does not really identify as anything. On the one hand, she dislikes Obama intensely, hates Obamacare, and leans toward conservatism. On the other, she is pro-abortion, pro-animal rights, and pro-environment. Her parents are both conservatives and watch Fox News. She also lives in a predominantly red state. (Her parents are also both racist).

Where she works, everyone at the office declaims Obamacare. The doctor she assists believes in the death panels and the idea that Obamacare will ruin this country. She thinks that people are better off without it and will go on rants about Obama. Although she is friends with people who voted for Obama (myself included), she will not listen to the other point of view. She even rejected a Snopes article I presented debunking the death panels and invading people’s homes under Obamacare. Like my other friend, she exhibits inflexibility.

Right or left, it does not matter if you refuse to listen to the other side. By refusing to compromise, you end up hurting your beliefs. There are equally valid ways to see things. Unless, of course, you believe things that are blatantly false, like Obama being born in Kenya. Aside from that, compromise and being able to accept different beliefs should be a hallmark of a good society. Unfortunately, our society perfectly mirrors our internal disorganization.

As I write this, unless some great miraculous event has taken place between my typing this sentence and the next, our government remains shut down. This may change before Monday or Tuesday, but right now, the Republicans refuse to compromise. Hopefully, one can expect that eventually both sides will reach some sort of agreement. As the shutdown continues, real people suffer. I believe that people seem to forget this. Ideology can hurt. Sticking to one’s principals may lead to anguish and unhappiness.

Politics may be personal, but people take them and exhibit them on a national and sometimes global scale. When your politics do not match up, you should rethink your position and try to negotiate. Or, you could do what my friends do and avoid thinking of anything different at all. After all, it is not as though the real life ramifications could possibly have harmed anyone…