At every level of the US federal government, we see the emergence of leaders who appear to be swimming upstream against the current, against history, against science, against reason itself, to implant the fundaments of a false, elusive, imaginary yesteryear of the 1950s, if not the 1850s. We’re seeing the beginnings of a war against all experts, doctors, scientists, military officials, teachers, professors, lawyers and others. For, at its base, this is a war against education, a war against knowing.
At the same time, we see the rise of AI, non-human intelligence, thus an attack from technology which will spell the end of millions of middle class jobs. One wonders, why? This is so because it is a part of an eruption from below, from the working small business and managerial classes who want to supplant the knowledge class, the intelligentsia. In the late 19th century and early years of the 20th century, we saw the emergence of a nativist movement known as The Know Nothings, not because they knew nothing, but because they responded to press inquiries by saying they knew nothing after they left political meetings. So, the press gave them this nickname that stuck.
This is not that. The newly minted leaders of the federal government, pulled from cable TV shows for their opinions and good looks, were tossed into power on the whim of Donald Trump, and they look like a deer in headlights. Like kids at a camp, they rip and run and destroy all they touch for the sheer hell of it, simply because they can. In fact, they rip asunder their own government, as shown by the rushed firings of tens of thousands of federal workers, many of whom were actually experts in their fields. The CDC – shattered. Department of Education – shuttered. Why? Because they could.
Science cannot battle ambition. This is government by mood swings, government by opinion, government by anxiety, government by blind fear of the growing, Brown, immigrant population. The only thing worse than a government by fear is a government ruled by ignorance. With love, not fear, this is Mumia Abu-Jamal.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of prison radio.
