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“we must above all rid ourselves of the very Western, very bourgeois and therefore contemptuous attitude that the masses are incapable of governing themselves.

“we must above all rid ourselves of the very Western, very bourgeois and therefore contemptuous attitude that the masses are incapable of governing themselves. In fact, experience proves that the masses understand perfectly the most complicated problems. [...] the masses are quick to seize every shade of meaning and to learn all the tricks of the trade. If recourse is had to technical language, this signifies that it has been decided to consider the masses as uninitiated. [...] Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you really want them to understand.” Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth, 1961, pp. 188–189

andreilys 5y ago
Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you really want them to understand.” Counterpoint quote “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”
- staticautomatic 5y ago
  Really the counterpoint is Walter Lippmann’s book The Phantom Public.
triceratops 5y ago
> Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you really want them to understand. Who's doing the explaining? What viewpoints do they offer? How much time and mental energy do the people have to educate themselves on the issues?
staticman2 5y ago
"It's been 60 years since I died and given 60 years of new data I was wrong about everything." Frantz Fanon, from heaven, hypothetically.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
Chris2048 5y ago
Per the "is-ought gap": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem Maybe the public needn't understand, or vote on what "is" - but they can vote on what "ought" to be. They cannot vote that every bus be on time - this isn't guaranteed to be possible, nor should politicians imply it could be. But they can set the priority, and % of the budget, allocated to improving bus times. You cannot vote that the sky is green, or that 2 + 2 =5; but you can dictate that society be governed as if these things are true. You can't dictate results: that all endeavours are successful, all wars won; but you can say what endeavours are budgeted, wars are fought - and what resources are allocated to them. The problem is that informed framing is so hard that this isn't always possible without truth being held hostage by motivated gatekeepers.
- actually_a_dog 5y ago
  > motivated gatekeepers Let's just say it: lobbyists.
pessimizer 5y ago
"Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you really want them to understand." Nobody wants the public to understand, they want the public to support their position. So the information that the public receives will always be completely distorted, and people who work will not have the time to untwist it.

andreilys 5y ago

Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you really want them to understand.” Counterpoint quote “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

staticautomatic 5y ago
Really the counterpoint is Walter Lippmann’s book The Phantom Public.

triceratops 5y ago

> Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you really want them to understand. Who's doing the explaining? What viewpoints do they offer? How much time and mental energy do the people have to educate themselves on the issues?

staticman2 5y ago

"It's been 60 years since I died and given 60 years of new data I was wrong about everything." Frantz Fanon, from heaven, hypothetically.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

Chris2048 5y ago

Per the "is-ought gap": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is%E2%80%93ought_problem Maybe the public needn't understand, or vote on what "is" - but they can vote on what "ought" to be. They cannot vote that every bus be on time - this isn't guaranteed to be possible, nor should politicians imply it could be. But they can set the priority, and % of the budget, allocated to improving bus times. You cannot vote that the sky is green, or that 2 + 2 =5; but you can dictate that society be governed as if these things are true. You can't dictate results: that all endeavours are successful, all wars won; but you can say what endeavours are budgeted, wars are fought - and what resources are allocated to them. The problem is that informed framing is so hard that this isn't always possible without truth being held hostage by motivated gatekeepers.

actually_a_dog 5y ago
> motivated gatekeepers Let's just say it: lobbyists.

pessimizer 5y ago

"Everything can be explained to the people, on the single condition that you really want them to understand." Nobody wants the public to understand, they want the public to support their position. So the information that the public receives will always be completely distorted, and people who work will not have the time to untwist it.