Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, February 14, 1994 TAG: 9402150010
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GLEN T. MARTIN
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Yet, for all this, I don't believe the letter writers go deeply enough into the problem. It isn't enough to be shocked that a public-school teacher suggests to students that an occasional war is a good thing. The question is: Why do so many in our society hold these naive views? The answer seems to have to do with ideology and economic control.
The 10 percent of Americans who literally own about 90 percent of the private wealth in this country are power brokers in an international economic network. It profits not only from the labor of working Americans but from the poverty-level wages of many millions of Third World people, who produce vast quantities of goods for world markets at extremely low cost. The American government and its military forces operate in the service of this wealthy elite, many of whom move with ease between high government or military posts and corporate executive positions.
In a society such as ours, where force against our own population is kept at a minimum and, for the most part, only held in reserve, this wealthy elite needs to mobilize mass opinion in the service of its wealth and power, and in the service of its use of military force worldwide, to preserve its empire of exploitation of resources and labor in the poverty-stricken Third World.
This is the role of the mainstream American media that includes radio, television, national newspapers and magazines. Under the guise of a free press and free examination of ideas, the media (most of which are owned and operated by the same tiny elite that owns 90 percent of our private wealth) inculcate what's known worldwide as the ``American ideology'' into our citizens, including most of our teachers. This ideology assumes, among other things, that we're good guys worldwide and our motives are somehow purer than those we designate as enemies (like Sandinistas or Iraqis). This ideological slanting of the news carefully obscures from this country's citizens our extensive acts of military aggression and terrorist subversion worldwide in support of our vast network of economic exploitation. I believe these contentions can be fully documented by facts.
In a country with such wonderful traditions of human rights and respect for human dignity and freedom, this is the sad reality of our situation. If our children are to have a future and the world is to become a more peaceful place, it's not enough to speak of teaching our children to become world citizens. We must penetrate our own ideological lies and transform our own society in the direction of a true democracy, one not in the service of a tiny wealthy elite but one that truly respects the human rights and dignity of all. If our defense forces are used in the service of freedom and democracy rather than worldwide defense of economic exploitation, then a major cause of war in today's world will become a thing of the past. Thoughtful and critical education, however important, isn't enough. War will only be lessened through a social transformation of the present world system, including our own flawed system, in the direction of real freedom and democracy.
If readers doubt these contentions are true, you simply have to test them. If you're a worker in any of the extensive range of factories manufacturing war equipment, ask to whom these weapons are being sold. (Much of it goes to Third World dictatorships that support our global system of economic exploitation.) First, you'll be told that it's none of your business, since you don't own the weapons that you work on. These war materials are sold by the owners at their discretion. If you persist with moral questions about the promotion of war, etc., you endanger your job or, at the least, future promotions and pay raises.
We all understand this pattern to be the case, whatever job we have. If you question the aims of your corporation or institution, you threaten your own future. Control of our opinions and freedom of thought in this society ultimately derives from a combination of economic power over our lives by our employers and the dominant ideology disseminated by the mainstream media. Since we're ultimately dependent on our jobs in this society for our very homes, health care, even the food and clothes we need for ourselves and our children, very few have the courage or foolhardiness to question the behavior of the elite who have such total economic control over our lives.
Even in the educational institutions, this is the case. The pressure is to internalize the values of the ruling elite in this country and to swallow whatever conscience we have about poverty, terror and suffering created by the policies of the elite. If a teacher does this, it will mean job security, promotions and pay raises. A teacher with the courage to search for the truth is rare, and one with the courage to publicly question the dominant ideology is even rarer. Similarly, some journalists have enough integrity to think independently. But they're not free to publish what they may think and know. Over them are editors who serve the interests of the owners, concerned with advertising revenue and subscription numbers. Any paper questioning the dominant ideology will lose subscribers and advertisers. No wonder teachers, workers and people in the media mainly conform to the ideology of the ruling American elite. Economic control over people's lives is equivalent to spiritual control over their minds.
Totalitarian societies use violence and terror; our society uses economic power. Both are destructive of genuine democracy, freedom and human dignity. Both promote war and violence in human relationships. If we want peace, we need not only education but social transformation of those undemocratic economic relationships that may be one of the major causes of war worldwide.
\ Glen T. Martin of Radford is associate professor of philosophy and religious studies at Radford University.
by CNB