Why Johnny can’t read

(Via The Smallest Minority)

Why can’t Johnny read–or write, or carry on an intelligent conversation, or build a proper English sentence?  Hell, why can’t Johnny even think for himself?  Why does Johnny have to have assistance with the most mundane tasks of daily life?  Why is Johnny so upset about the death of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe but so oblivious to a myriad of critical problems washing up on his front doorstep?

Because Johnny has been educated in the state schools to be a proper drone in the service of the state, that’s why.

I work in private higher education now, and I see it in our incoming freshman class every year.  They are not stupid–they are intelligent and capable of learning–but they are ignorant.  They know nothing of history, of literature, of the arts or of science.  Their idea of culture is a 24 pack of Bud Light and all the porn they can watch on the weekend.  They don’t have bad morals or poor morals–they have no morals.

When confronted with the fact that they are ignorant–when their noses are rubbed into the smelly puddle of their own lack of knowledge of anything that hasn’t happened in the last 8-10 years–the reaction is usually one of hostility, because they’ve always been told that they’re special.  Just show up and you’ll get a ribbon, a certificate of attendance, a trophy.  Now they’re told that they aren’t special and that they are in fact less than special.

It certainly doesn’t help their world view to find this out.  And you can’t fix in 4 or 5 years the failures of the past 12 or 13.  So we drag them through every process, from registration and financial aid through showing up for classes and laundry, and the fortunate ones who take direction well are eventually shepherded down the aisle and handed a degree that is likely worth less than my father’s high school diploma that he earned in 1940.

Why am I bothering to tell you this?  Well first of all, because they breed and they vote.  Some of the ones I see are accompanied by their parents, who are just as bad.  They are a large part of the reason why things are going to pieces around here.

Second, because if/when our system breaks down, this is who will be making up that “Golden Horde” we’ve all heard about.  Amoral, ignorant, special people.  Some among the prepping community think we should all be ready to hand out rations to them–some beans, leaflets on how to make water safe to drink and so on.

You want me to let amoral, ignorant and special (as in “entitled”) people know that I have things they don’t have when everything around them has gone to hell?  Even if it is done through a local church they’re smart enough to put 2 and 2 together and hang around for the next handout, even if you tell them that’s all they get.  They’ll get angry, mob up and take what they feel they’re due.

There are thousands of ways you can die after things go bad.  You don’t need to add to that list.