July 3, 2014
Two Quotations, Two Derivative
Propositions, a Story
“Good teachers know that now,
in what's called the civilized world, the great enemy of knowledge isn't
ignorance, though ignorance will do in a pinch. The great enemy of
knowledge is knowingness.” —
Mark
Edmundson, Why Teach? In Defense of a Real Education
“The
most troubling assumption in the McCullen ruling is not that anti-choice
protesters have a right to speak — no one contests that they have this right —
but that they have the right to an audience that can’t escape them.”
— Katie McDonough, “Scotus gives women the middle finger”
***
What do I know, but the two propositions and the story:
1.
Knowingness
is a form of fanaticism, a preacher declaring “I don’t have to listen to
you, but you have to listen to me” — because I know.
you, but you have to listen to me” — because I know.
2. Knowingness says, “Because I
know, you have to listen.” Knowingness will not only
seek an audience; whenever it can, it will, like a fifth grade teacher, coerce one.
seek an audience; whenever it can, it will, like a fifth grade teacher, coerce one.
 |
| Hyde Park |
A wiry, wire-haired man in a black
suit, a white shirt, a black tie, unbalanced on an overturned orange crate, dancing
like a marionette, orating. He can say anything he wants — anything at all; he can dance
it on the edge of his box; he sing it at the top of his lungs; he can sign it
as if we were deaf, also as loud as he can.
Dad points him out: “Let’s go over
there, okay?” I take his hand, because
if we’re going, I want “over there" to know I am with him. We join five or six
others (all grown-ups) that have stopped to listen. Some talk back. I hold onto Dad’s hand. After a few minutes, he looks down at
me. “Enough?” he says quietly, so I can
hear but not to disturb anyone else. He
reads my face, and says, “Enough.” We
move on.
As I remember, he buys me an ice cream
cone, because ice cream cones help you remember.
f
