The Cult of the Amateur! IS POP CULTURE CLOGGING UP THE WEB?

[Suki]

What do you think? Do you think real scholarship, and real education with analysis and experts in their field should be valued above the opinion of non-expert and average joes? Or do all of us have something good to contribute?

How does one distinguish between decent research and truth and fact from opinion? Do we need more efforts at learning the differences between objectivity, and subjectivity? It looks like we might need some serious discussions about how to distinguish substance, from fluff, and hard facts, from opinion. Too many people don't know the differences. I thought we all learned this in the last years of elementary school? Am I wrong?

Check this out. I got this emailed to me by a PuertoRico.com member interested in this theme:

The Cult of the Amateur - Andrew Keen - Books - Review - New York Times

[Yujike]

El bochinche has defeated truth and facts. Look at the TV programming in PR, the most watched shows have to do with "La Comay" type of bochinche and celebrity ogling. Same is true in the good USA with Fox and the "Entertainment News", Paris Hilton and the murdering crowd. People want everything neatly served in their TV dish, no deep stuff please. Hence a world lead by morons and automatons for morons and automatons.

[L_F_Miranda]

Yes, The Rabble is not always wise. They were the first on line to back slavery, Jim Crow laws, the killing of that gay kid in Montana and the war in Iraq. They don't need a strong shove to go after those who dare expose certain truths. An example, Michael Moore's exposé of George Bush and now his movie, SICKO. A large portion of Gringos hate him for saying what he said.

In Puerto Rico its no different. The majority goes after those who criticize the colonial system and the gringos. A large portion of islanders get upset at those who want to stop the the island from becoming an island city, and brand as a traitors and communists, those who want to cut off welfare and put us to all to work. I bet there is not much of an outcry against crime or drugs, is there? Ricans just talk and talk about how crime makes them miserable. They even prefer to move out of the island. But when it comes to criticizing Gringos, one better watch out, that's a whole different story.

MMMMMMMMMMMMM, has it always been like this? Yes!

Since I was young the rabble has always been manipulated to believe what the media and/or system tells them. As long as they can have "Baile, Baraja y botella", and since the 70's, welfare, we'll let the world cave in and won't peep. LOL

However with the web, everybody believes they can have their five minutes of fame, an opinion worth expressing and still keep their contradictory ideas, even though these ideas came from The Enquirer or Bill O'Reily. It makes everyone feel important.

However, If it weren't like this, then what are we all doing here?

[Suki]

Miranda, are you going to tell me that you can't tell the difference between an 'educated' person with reason and fine debating skills and a person that is full of unsubstantiated argumentation without any kind of skill?

Most media is built around time limitations and certain formats. In journalism school they teach you some rules that gives you a sense of what the definition of relevancy and irrelevancy is all about. It is a small window to human 'thinking' but in reality it is all about who directs themes and so on? Who says what goes? Again we are dealing with a hiearchical structure.

Does anyone think people with absolutely no education are going to have the same development of ideas as someone with education? I don't think so. It sometimes it is about training, education and experiences. Also, no one can be an expert about all the topics and subjects in the world. That is impossible. There are thousands of things and subjects I am completely ignorant in. Others I know a little about. And others I know a lot about. MOST people are like that. That is why having a lot of reputable sources of information with credible experts in their field of study or endeavor is critical.

For example, I am not any good at decorating. I am not. There are people that you can give them ten dollars and tell them to fix a room up and make it look different and pretty etc. and they can do it with their 'talents' only. It aint me. I have no idea how to cope with that at all. I am no good at selling anything. I really am not. Sales and selling bores me to tears and if I had to sell something I would be abysmally bad at it. Mechanics for cars etc. I don't know anything about it and am likely to never know.

Ask me though about what I am good at and have a talent for and I will engage with you on that. How many things in life are you good at Miranda? Not too good at? Yujike? Only really foolish people believe they can do it all. Be good at everything or anything. That is just a myth.

But people choose what they want to dedicate themselves to and others become good at things they never really chose just to survive. It all is a matter of life circumstances.

Suki

[L_F_Miranda]

Suki said:

Miranda, are you going to tell me that you can't tell the difference between an 'educated' person with reason and fine debating skills and a person that is full of unsubstantiated argumentation without any kind of skill?

The above is all in the eye of the beholder. Most people in the U.S. and in P.R. swear that if they have a diploma they are "educated."

A degree from " La Universidad Mundial (now demised, Thank God) and one from the U.P.R. was once held on an equal footing when looking for a job educating children. The difference was that the U.P.R. had vigorous educational standards and "La Mundial" was intellectually a joke.

Same goes in the U.S. A degree from Boondock University is the same as one from a State University, but not so from a highly prestigious private one. Bottomline, a diploma from almost anywhere gives the holder a sense of having entered the world of the "EDUCATED." Try to argue with that one Suki. LOL

Reason is a more difficult to tackle. One can have varying degrees of reason and no common sense. I bet we all know many people who have a lot of reason but no common sense. The ideal would be to have both. However, Common sense is the most difficult to acquire, and its more difficult to mesh with reason. Therefore an answer to understanding what we have in the media and the horror that is developing on the web.

[Suki]

Miranda, the problem is that 'education' especially beyond high school has become very, very competitive. And it is a business now. IHEs have become diploma mills in which you have the dough, you can pass. They create a standard curriculum that is geared to serving the interest of employers who clamor for technical skills in students. Not critical thinking. Not analysis, and the creative people don't need the diploma mills to market their creativity as assets.

What it is now, is about being a consumer and middle class. If you get a degree from a rinky dink university that makes you middle class. What you are is instructed in some field to be a good and obedient worker and get into consumer debt and make the banks and the credit card companies rich. To believe in the stock market and to believe in private accumulation of wealth and all the rest.

Most workers don't have any time for 'self reflection' and gee am I educated? They are too busy with the burden of going to some bad job that pays peanuts for salary and juggling their bills every month. They work hard at the bad job and take home inadequate pay, and worry about what to do for car repairs and emergency bills they can't cover. They worry about not staying awake at home when their kids clamor for their attention. Down to earth, practical stuff like that. They are not going to be thinking of pie in the sky diplomas from private universities, they see that as accessible and probable in their lives as winning some powerball lotto ticket. And to many it is not feasible. This society is not oriented towards helping support the vast majority of working class people. It is oriented to make the banks rich and live off the average person trying to make ends meet.

The rest of the time, they cater to the wealthy consumer. The wealthy consumer lives in their bubble protected from the issues of the working people. And the system chugs along without much change. That is what it is all about.

It is all about what one has to work with in terms of circumstances Miranda. People respond to their circumstances and to their responsibilities. The average student graduating with a BA in some field of study even from a regular inexpensive college or university, has an average debt of $13,000 to $30,000. Imagine the interest and fees involved in late payments? People are starting off in deep debt? WHY? It is systemic Miranda. They want to have the label of middle class, but they don't have the economic acquisitive power to realize a true middle class life. What the schools and universities are doing is making some cash and some profit from the need of the lower classes in this society to become middle class or to at least say they are in equal footing with those who have attained middle class status. The children of the working stiffs don't have that much savings and disposable income left over that they can say they leave a clean and supportive legacy to their kids without the burden of debt. The only way they can make it through the university years is with loans and grants. And the free grants are very, very competitive. I should know I had to deal with that for some low income students. And it is VERY COMPETITIVE. Loans are sometimes the only way a kid can keep going to college when they come from a family in which the single mom makes $8 an hour. Asi es la cosa.

[Yujike]

OK, Suk, I'm very good at languages, playing latin and African drums, golf, historical trivia games and at cooking. Decorating, I leave to my wife and my daughters, they are really good at it. I'm also good at napping while surrounded by noise and reading under the same circumstances. I don't do well with organization type of things or collecting and separating into categories (you should see my desk!!) I'm not into long winding explanations, extrapolations, remembrances or discussions, brevity and to the point are my hallmarks. Soy tan feo como tan franco. I truly enjoy my three grandsons. I did graduate from UPR and never, never was there any doubt that I was getting a superior education compared with the junior colleges, especialmente la Universidad Mundial. I competed for scholarships and played music in clubs and hotels in San Juan while attending UPR and paid all my tuition by myself, and left with no debts.