In the midst of a tumultuous election season, I teeter between believing that the world is crumbling and we are all veering toward Idiocracy (don't see that movie, but really do, and pretend I didn't recommend it to you) or believing that we are at a turning point of recovering sanity and decency. Here's a little trailer if you're interested:Idiocracy Trailer
I try to keep politics out of the classroom, but as a teacher of rhetoric, that is darn near impossible, so I apologize if my own views show at times and offend people. Most importantly, I hope you will never accept pat, over-simplified answers to complex questions that will always face a diverse and democratic nation, whether those "answers" come from me or someone else. To do so is to disrespect the ideas that hatched such an unlikely, complex, yet wildly successful, nation. We live in a country where excessive optimism, blindly spouting that we will always be on top, is as damaging as constant pessimism, cynically dwelling on what's not perfectly right. That false dilemma prevents us from finding the secret middle ground - what's already right and how do we make it better.
Where am I going with all this...to my reading, of course. Spring break deliciously offered extra reading time, so not only did I reach my goal by finishing two books that I started last week (I Am Malala and Fates and Furies), I also found time to read a fun "young adult" novel, Grasshopper Jungle, a subversive, disturbing novel rife with curse words and inappropriate references to hormonal urges - the kind of stuff that people like to get concerned about when they start banning books, but it's weird enough that too few people know about it to raise a ruckus. I should probably not recommend it, but if I didn't recommend it due to its "questionable" content, I should also not recommend Slaughterhouse Five or Catcher in the Rye or The Bluest Eye or anything ever written by William Shakespeare. You get the idea - great books aren't always clean and pristine because life isn't.
I don't want to spoil too much of Grasshopper Jungle with "deep analysis" since it was my fun read, but it has a bizarre, dark humor that manages to also comment on issues related to: drug addiction, infidelity, unregulated scientific experiments, the drive for world domination, treating young men as disposable resources in times of war, navigating the complex world of sexuality, the downsizing of American industry in the face of global economics...yeah, you get the idea. It also features six-foot tall, nearly indestructible insects bent on devouring the human race and a pair of teen skateboarders who may have the means to destroy the horrifying insects. Needless to say, this book is not easy to sum up. But it raised this important question: Is the human race worth preserving when we have given up our humanity? Did I mention that this book is really funny? NO, really, it is. Comedy always addresses the most fundamental questions of our existence.
I'm not sure the book ends on a hopeful note. Read it, and we can discuss. Regardless, I remain hopeful. I see people angry and frustrated and accusatory, but I also see a drive toward change, mostly because I am a teacher, and kids are almost always open to change. The boys in the "teen novel" I enjoyed this week are definitely open to change while the adults cower in fear, and they are, oddly enough, not that far removed from Malala, who has her own subversive ideas. (Did you know I would bring this post back to my "serious" book?) Malala's subversiveness relates to education, which is, as anyone with historical knowledge will tell you, the root of all successful rebellions. People who are educated will not accept ideology or status quo or dogmatism. Educated people will think for themselves, and that is why people who wish to hold exclusive power will control, limit, or even abolish education.
People who would like you to fear the Muslim world will spout its evil, its "radicalism," its hatred without offering any background about the PEOPLE who are Muslim. Reading books can offer a broader view. Malala describes visiting the mausoleum of Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Jinnah envisioned Pakistan as an Islamic nation with "people of all religions being free to worship," where women were given "an important role," and where people would be "independent... tolerant... kind to each other" (222). While we may view the Pakistan as intolerant, she seeks to redeem that image by representing the history of a country with grand ideals, ideals not so different from our own. She also focuses many times on the influence of Benazir Bhutto, the "first female prime minster and the first in the Islamic world," a model of what Islam in its ideal form can be, a belief system that lets all people thrive and sets the example for others (44).
Sadly, Pakistan is absorbed in the fight for power in the Middle East, and when we over-simplify that fight as a battle of warlords or suicide bombers, we ignore the existence of people who wish, like many of us do, to fight ideology and idiocy that leads people away from their true potential. I hope we have that fight in us, whether we fight monster bugs or monster beliefs. I am not a blind optimist. I don't think such a fight is easy. But I will not be a pessimist and believe that fight is ever lost.
No comments:
Post a Comment