staying informed is our patriotic duty (ignorance) 5.31.02

There is a meanness in the air today, I can feel it. It could just be me, but I doubt it. Just as the atmosphere of love and peace around the holidays demands our respect, so too does that ornery spirit some days take on. No time to bury one's head in the sand, but let's face it, sometimes it's nice to stay out of sight until the bad mojo passes. To do otherwise is foolhardy.
Speaking of mean-spirited humors, ever watch these spots on "The Tonight Show" where Jay Leno asks people on the street or college campuses a few obvious questions like "who was Louis Armstrong?" Answers range from "the first man to walk on the moon" to "the king of France."
Jay rolls his eyes and we laugh at how stupid these people are. But last time I checked, Leno wasn't exactly the Noam Chomsky of Late Night talk show hosts - that honor went to Bob Costas years ago.
Leno is still doing Bill Clinton jokes over a year after the fact. George Carlin he is not. Luckily the Robert Blake case came along so he could dust off those O.J. jokes, but I hear he has some good material on Teapot Dome and what a lard butt President Taft is.
Leno is not doing "Nightline" and that's OK when Carrot Top is on to plug his latest failure, but when Dick Cheney shows up for a quick boost to his approval rating, I think we can do better than heart attack jokes, can't we?
Commentary on the American intellect from a man whose show is almost as challenging as the TV Guide crossword puzzle does serve as a great example of the intellectual rift in American culture.
We hate smart people as much as we hate dumb people. We don't trust people who come off too smart. What do they know they we don't? Why do they know things we don't? Who says what they know is better than what we know?
Since Noam Chomsky is already on the table, a CNN interview with Chomsky, a professor of linguistics and prolific social critic, and William Bennett, former drug czar and co-founder of Empower America, this week served as a great demonstration for why this gulf exists. It's nurtured.
These two discussed 9-11 and what it means. Bennett platitudes and perspectives typically rally us all in a patriotic fervor, while Chomsky and his book "9-11" are typically critical of American political policy, something akin to treason these days.
No matter where one stands on the political spectrum or geopolitical affairs, it helps to take note when people like Bennett try to get a man like Chomsky dismissed out-of-hand because he is one of the dirtiest words going: an intellectual.
Anyone watching would get the impression that intellectuals are inherently unpatriotic and while Chomsky does not aspire to patriotism, I would submit there is nothing inherently unpatriotic about being informed, asking questions, pointing the finger squarely at ourselves occasionally and correcting our course.
Tell that to the powers that be.
No, I would assert that knowing what is going on in the world, reading a book on complex subjects occasionally, keeping up with the news - understanding it not just staring at the spectacle of it all - is our patriotic duty.
Our forebears wanted public education because only in a country where the average person is educated can the sweet bud of democracy flourish. You cannot oust someone with your vote if you don't know who he is, what he stands for and what he has done while in office. I mean the boring stuff like how he voted not just how many interns he bedded or killed.
Patriots come in many sizes and forms.
A patriot does not have to be a booster for his country 24-7 nor does a patriot have to support his country's government, foreign policy, wars, laws or popular mind set.
Thomas Jefferson would likely be arrested as a terrorist were he alive today, because he advocated violent revolution on a regular basis just to keep our elected leaders in line. Since he obviously had the gumption to make it happen once, there is no telling what he would get up to today.
Of course, all of this gets spun in the retelling.
Chomsky's whole gig is about words ultimately. He understands language in a way most of us don't and aren't likely to any time soon, but words are at the heart of not just American politics, but politics as far back as politics go.
It serves the ends of the powerful to keep us all ignorant and since most Americans are so put off by smart folks, the chances of the masses ever listening to well-heeled social critics with a point to make is so slim it makes Calista Flockhardt look like Mama Cass.
It is our all-too-common pride of ignorance that is the real danger to America, but here is the first step to getting back on track. Listen to people you wouldn't normally, read people you're told to dismiss and trust no one - right, left or in-between - who tries to convince you it's your patriotic duty to keep the blinders on.
- Greg Jerrett is a Nonpareil staff writer. His column runs on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He may be contacted at 328-1811, Ext. 279, or by e-mail at gjerrett@nonpareilonline.com.