Are We Getting and Dumber?
Note: I just had an epiphany! I now know why so many support Donald Trump. It's because when I was in school, we learned didactically; now, education has become a dialectic experience. WHAAT! Read on to find the truth. Enjoy! (Previous installments of all my blogs can be found on my website at https://stevemarshallassociates.com/blog)
The following is a snippet of a FaceBook conversation with a friend that has powerful anti-Trump feelings.
“....it’s simple dialectic physics man. You can’t travel out in space and land on fractions. You either hit or you miss. You either love someone, or you hate ‘em!” My friend goes on to say, 'Well, I can definitively say I hate Trump. I hate him more than I have ever hated anyone. Daily reminded what a complete coward and piece of s*#t he is. He will go down in history as the most pathetic American politician we have ever seen.'
My response to him was as follows:
"Dennis Hopper had it wrong. I think it's didactic physics, John, if you want to land on fractions in space. For instance, in education, we think that people are educated growing up in how to reason using logic. Not so."
- Didactic analysis involves facts and deduction. It’s what most people understand to be "logic."
- Dialectic analysis involves consensus and discussion to arrive at a conclusion.
Philosophical summary question for you, John, (and Dennis Hopper)? Can you have a dialectic discussion with didactics, is it vice-versa, or both?
John's response was equally as impressive:
"Well, given that Dennis Hopper was high on peyote when he recited those lines....does it matter!!! I think maybe he actually said dialectical physics, and I like the idea of the battle between opposing forces; what’s in between yin and yang? Either way, there is no gray matter in my complete hatred of the orange moron mother trucker!"
My train of thought was sparked by this informal exchange, and I expanded my thinking to wonder if, indeed, we are genuinely getting dumb and dumber? Early on in his presidential campaign, perhaps Donald Trump (unknowingly) tuned into a phenomenon that Adolf Hitler used very effectively 80 years ago to mobilize his nation toward "Making Germany Great Again." He effectively influenced his country and its people to hate the very same people that he hated! I call those dialectics, and didactics be damned.
Your thoughts?
Next Week: How to Balance Dialectic and Didactical Approaches in Learning
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Comments
Steven Marshall
3 years ago #2
Well said, Zacharias. I agree with your first bullet (*) wholeheartedly, in that having a difficult discussion with someone is very trying these days. I prefer to stay civil and conduct a conversation with grace and humility, but, if we reach a point of disagreement, while I stay on the high road, others can dip quickly into name-calling and anger. It seems like, as a society, (in the US) that the anti-intellectual movement that started in the 80's actually succeeded and facts don't matter anymore; it is more akin to how one feels at the moment that dictates their response. I am saddened by this, especially because I am not learning much anymore by listening to other people. However, when I do happen upon an engaging conversation, it is so refreshing, mainly because it is so infrequent. Thank you for your thoughts.
Zacharias 🐝 Voulgaris
3 years ago #1