Have you ever seen the Mel Brooks movie "History Of The World: Part One"? I think it's one of the most overlooked films in the Brooks canon. Mel can sure write a funny and catchy tune. One of his best, "The Inquisition", comes from this film. A satirical song based upon the Catholic Church's quest to forcefully convert all Non-Catholics to Catholicism or be punished (with death being the ultimate example). The words 'Inquisition' and 'Insurrection' have the same number of syllables and both activities share some similar and very unsavory traits like taking over something and making your beliefs the only beliefs as well as the new law of the land. The Insurrection that occurred earlier this month will be a sad chapter in our nation's history but certainly not the first sad one. In fact, the history of this country shows things like this happening over and over again. Maybe on a different sized scale but definitely very similar events. I believe that a lack or an indifference to a decent education is to blame. And, no, you shouldn't have to be an elite to to get one. And, yes, this is from where much of the confusion arises. Education is something that is being taken less seriously by the general public at large. Joe and Judy Six-Pack are working more hours a week for less pay and when they home do they want to learn anything. No. They want ideas and opinions pre-packaged and syndicated straight into their brain cells by those clusters of pixels they stare at until they pass out drunk and/or fall asleep for the evening. I been watching documentaries from the 1960s and 1970s where the filmmaker talks to the average man or woman on the street. They don't necessarily talk like Patrick Stewart or Dame Maggie Smith but many of these people sound like executives from Fortune 500 companies with their higher than average IQ levels. It's no surprise that many of the wealthiest people (including many who just happened to be born into it) have done their best to make sure the under-educated stay that way permanently. How? By having people work more hours a week for less pay and making sure they stay on that treadmill until retirement or death (whichever comes first).
“If people cannot write well, they cannot think well, and if they cannot think well, others will do their thinking for them."-George Orwell
