{"id":31529,"date":"2019-02-04T11:44:29","date_gmt":"2019-02-04T17:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/?p=31529"},"modified":"2019-02-04T11:44:29","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T17:44:29","slug":"why-is-knowledge-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregladen.com\/blog\/2019\/02\/04\/why-is-knowledge-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Why is knowledge power?"},"content":{"rendered":"

And freedom? And why is education power and freedom?<\/p>\n

The whole point of the enlightenment is that knowledge sets us free. “Wherever the people are well informed,” Thomas Jefferson wrote, “they can be trusted with their own government.” That we are less free than we can, and should, be is the point of Shawn Otto’s book The War on Science: Who’s Waging It, Why It Matters, What We Can Do About It<\/a>\"\". If you’ve not read it, please do so.<\/p>\n

It is also the point of, let’s see … the First Amendment of the United States Constitution<\/a>\"\".<\/p>\n

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.<\/em><\/p>\n

Under Trump, these freedoms are threatened daily. We are at a tipping point. A Trump is possible when the politicians and elected officials of this country have taken enough power from the voters that they can make voting itself a non-democratic act. A Trump is possible when ignorance becomes the willed objective of a large portion of the thought leaders of our society. Once a certain point of institutionalized repression of democracy, and a certain point of culturally determined ignorance, are reached, someone like Trump can become president and then, imperialized by whichever powers control him, push us the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

That is the point of the best of this year’s Super Bowl commercials. The only one worth watching. In fact, better than the game turned out to be. This is it, from the Washington Post:<\/p>\n