From: Michael Wiik (mwiik@messagenet.com)
Date: Thu Aug 29 2002 - 12:28:49 MDT
Charles D Hixson wrote:
> P.S.: I'm not really defending Ford. I just don't think that you should paint him with the same brush as the real villians. He was a mixed character, and some of his actions we still can't properly judge. E.g.: Was he one of the movers in the conspiracy to destroy the US transit systems? (I know GM was. I'm not sure about Ford.) If so, was that a good action, or an evil one?
Well, this thread is supposed to be about the american educational
system, and Ford's needs for assembly line workers could be considered
one reason why that system is what it is. See:
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/historytour/history1.htm
(Ford appears on the next page, this sequence is a quick summary of the
book's thesis.)
I agree neither Ford nor american capitalism killed millions as did
Hitler, and they did do much to make america into an industrial
superpower. My concern for this thread is the millions of lives that
were wasted along the way, lives that weren't educated to realize their
full potential. And since public schooling was mandatory, they didn't
have much of a choice about it either.
It's like a choice, do you want Libertarianism or do you want modern
conveniences like anasthesia? The choice was made for us by educators
working hand in hand with industrialists starting in the 19th century.
This is why I think a true Libertarian society has to unroll not just
excessive government taxes and regulations but maybe a couple hundred
years of U.S. history. Or find someplace off-planet, cause it ain't
gonna happen here.
Sometimes I also think that the typical extropian rejection of religion
has thrown out the baby with the bathwater. Yeah we've excised the
mystical crap but maybe we've also tossed the civil behavior,
fellowship, charity, and compassion (admittedly, historically quite
limited) along with it.
-Mike
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