As a child, I believed that all educated people were wise. In particular, I placed educators and authorities on a high pedestal and I entered the academy both to seek their wisdom and to become one of them. Unfortunately, eleven years of higher education has taught me that parts of the academy is rife with many of the same problems that plague society as a whole: greed, self-absorbtion, addiction to power, and an overwhelming desire to be validated, praised, and rewarded. As Dr. Gorman laments the ills of contemporary society, I find myself nodding along. Doing ethnographic work in the United States often leaves me feeling disillusioned and numb. It breaks my heart every time a teenager tells me that s/he is more talented than Sanjaya and thus is guaranteed a slot on the next “American Idol.”
The pervasive view that American society is a meritocracy makes me want to scream, but I fear as though my screams fall on deaf ears.
To cope with my frustration, I often return to my bubble. My friends all seem to come from Lake Wobegon where “the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all of the children are above average.” I have consciously surrounded myself with people who think like me, share my values, and are generally quite overeducated. I feel very privileged to live in such an environment, but like all intellectuals who were educated in the era of identity politics, I am regularly racked with guilt over said privilege.
The Internet is a funny thing, especially now that those online are not just the connected elite. It mirrors and magnifies the offline world - all of the good, bad, and ugly. I don’t need to travel to Idaho to face neo-Nazis. I don’t need to go to Colorado Springs to hear religious views that contradict my worldivew. And I don’t need to go to Capitol Hill to witness the costs of power for power’s sake.
If I am willing to look, there are places on the Internet that will expose me to every view on this planet, even those that I’d prefer to pretend did not exist. Most of the privileged people that I know prefer to live like ostriches, ignoring the realities of everyday life in order to sustain their privileges. I am trying not to be that person, although I find it to be a challenge.
The pervasive view that American society is a meritocracy makes me want to scream, but I fear as though my screams fall on deaf ears.
To cope with my frustration, I often return to my bubble. My friends all seem to come from Lake Wobegon where “the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all of the children are above average.” I have consciously surrounded myself with people who think like me, share my values, and are generally quite overeducated. I feel very privileged to live in such an environment, but like all intellectuals who were educated in the era of identity politics, I am regularly racked with guilt over said privilege.
The Internet is a funny thing, especially now that those online are not just the connected elite. It mirrors and magnifies the offline world - all of the good, bad, and ugly. I don’t need to travel to Idaho to face neo-Nazis. I don’t need to go to Colorado Springs to hear religious views that contradict my worldivew. And I don’t need to go to Capitol Hill to witness the costs of power for power’s sake.
If I am willing to look, there are places on the Internet that will expose me to every view on this planet, even those that I’d prefer to pretend did not exist. Most of the privileged people that I know prefer to live like ostriches, ignoring the realities of everyday life in order to sustain their privileges. I am trying not to be that person, although I find it to be a challenge.
