This page is ritn in Spelling without Traps for lerners to be able to read more esily

Read this aloud
to see how to see how litl needs to be changed to make reading
so much easier for beginners.

Pèpl who are bisy in comunity muvements to better the wurld and fight injustices can overlook or even denì what is happening that prevents mòst pèpl joining them. We can see oppressions, sexism, racism, ageism, bigotry, militarism and the destructions of the earth. Why do mòst pepl still seem unconcernd? How can reformers reach out to the pepl unless the pepl can hear? We cannot hav a fair-go democracy unless all the pepl can be activ citizens.

 

Edward Gibbon saw history as the record of the crimes and follies of mankìnd. The Victorians hoped for hùman progress to match thair tecnological progress. Profets like H G Wells, George Orwell and Jacques Ellul hav wornd that insted, thair strìving for gràter intelligence could roll back, and 'intelligence' even be seen as elètist, rather than the ability to wurk out what needs to be dun. Arthur C. Clarke in 'I remember Babylon' not ònly fortòld satellites, but also how glòbal comùnicàtion could be ùsed to contròl and stupefì the masses. Political and comercial interests benefit from mass cultùre that keeps pepl ignorant, apathetic, helpless and consùming, and prevents connected thinking, organized knoledge and co-operativ action to stop injustices.

 

'Dumming down' is 'whatever makes pepl less àbl to think, speak and act in thair long-term interests.' However thay may whinge, thay may be unàbl to consider solùtions exept mor government mony.

Pèpl behave mor stupidly than thair potential when thay act against thair own interests, in every airèa of life - vote against thair òn interests; take up self-destructiv habits and behàvior, inclùding gullibl greed, gambling, det, and sùperstitions new and òld. Obsurv how consùmers are manipùlated; 'blòwing one's brains' as a term of apprùval; disorderd consiusness deliberatly indùced; sòcial problems increasing rather than redùcing, with costly efforts to remèdiàte, rather than prevent. Dramatic indicàtors of life-stile chànges inclùde what has happend to wimen's magazènes, the shortend concentration spans in television entertainment, the limited English of meny teenagers, and declines in Ùniversity standards. Theodore Dalrymple's Life at the Bottom describes real lives, even tho he blames intellectuals for the mind-sets that imprison them. Political and commercial advertìsing sucsessfully and now òpenly aims at emòtions not reason. Reserch fìnds that we are all affected, èven if we feel immuùne. Frogs in fact jump out of wauter without waiting to be boild; it is hùmans who accustom themselvs to destructiv cultùres, as history shows.

 

Much of our cultùre is harmless when it is balanced and moderat - but not when it is exessiv and prevents independent thinking and activ living. The gràtest energy crìsis today is a crìsis of hùman energy to fàce and deal with the crìses that fàce us. But mental energy is draind bìpoor helth habits or divurted from what needs to be dun - into, for exampl, cults of sùperstitions, obsessions for cosmetic bùty, and sporting lìves dedicàted to mùving fast up and down.

2. WHAT CAN BE DUN. A cultùre cannot be legislated. But cultùre chànges always begin somwhere and every individùal can do somthing. We can think outside our òn boxes. We can connect ìdèas. Much action needed is obvius.

 

Everyone can resist duming-down attitùdes and behavior, and encurage alturnativs - as individùals and as members of grùps - as artists, riters, jurnalists, teachers, pairents, innovàtors, ùnionists, bisness operaàtors, activists, pòets, thinkers and dùers. Be alurt to what is happening and promote all alturnativs.

• COUNTER DESTRUCTIV MITHS with better concepts, knoledge, ìdèas, living exampls, scools, films, songs, the press, and books on current affairs that everyone can read. Pepl are being encuraged to believ that it is hùman natùre to want the wurst, to be motivàted mainly bì greed or fear, that thay cannot control themselvs, that thay are helpless, it is no ùse trìing to du anything, that pepl in public life are all vènal, that the wurld can ònly get wurse, that 'the good life' is to consùme and relax, that knoledge dus not matter because 'u can always look it up'; that the frontiers of artistic dairing are sexual rather than mor curageusly revealing what is not being tòld about what is gòing on in the wurld. Everyone needs to kno about history, other cultùres and other pepl, and thair òn potential for fulfilment as citizens. Alternativ experiences can include mor non-TV rèality to contrast with TV 'rèality', and interlùdes of mor meaningful and gentl entertainment in current-cultùre shòs and festivals. The miths of 'no happy families' and 'chìld-rearing is awful' can be counterd bì real-life shairing and television demonstràtions mor than bì grùp-tauks.

• PRECIUS BRAINS. Everyone needs to kno that thair precious brains are thair greatest resource, and the mòst important part of helth. Thay need to know thay can make the mòst of bèing alive bì bèing fully consius, rather than seeking escape. We can get our thrills from challenging the frustràtions and trubls of everyday life, with 'escapes' as a sauce, rather than letting the cultùre-pushd goal be to escape bì eny means, from cemicals to passiv entertainment or the obsessions of problem gambling or internet voyerism. Promote re-crèation in its literal meaning. Promote action reserch on the mass experiments on the mìnd that are bèing made glòbally without our consent and without contròl grùps that can stay immùne. Forms of entertainment can affect our powers of thinking and delight in thinking as seriusly as thalidomide and asbestos hav affected bodies.

 

Adolessents especially like intense stimùlàtion, but thinking processes may be affected bì repeated insults to the brain thru intense distortion and numing of consiusness, hard-impact fisical noiz rather than multi-dimensional mùsic; epileptogenic and hallucinatory-stile visùal expèriences;addictions to compùter and gambling games that stimùlate unreflecting reaction times; and cultùral and peer pressùre for self-damaging behàvior inclùding bingeing. Pepl assume that thair brains will bounce back from every insult, but impairments can remain. The less u hav to start with, the mor u can looz. Èven moderat cannabis is now found to risk long-term effects on sòcial judgment, motivàtion and sensitiv higher nervus center functions.

Psìco-medical reserch is needed on the numing effects on problem-solving and reflectiv thinking of repeated expòsùre to unmodùlàted electronic drumming. Simptoms of duming down inclùde shortening attention spans, preference for sound-bites, uncontròlled acting out, form valùed ùver content, toleràting meaningless inputs in entertainment and the arts, ìdentifìing with crime, public politics redùced to personal confrontations and trivia. Fight the causal factors that damage public mental helth, and that affect us all, as well as the specific factors that are harmful in childrearing and individùal expèriences.

• FORMS OF PLESURE are learnd. Thay vairy in different cultùres and times. We might as well lern plesures and skills for fisical, mental, esthetic and social enjoyment that du not harm ourselvs or others and that du not wàst the erth. Thay will ùsùally not be commurcially promùted, because thay du not make profits.

• GENDER AND CIVILISÀTION. Socìeties hav been m ost civilised when crèàtiv mascùlin and feminin caracteristics are combined and valùed in bòth men and wimen. Socìeties hav been mòst brùtal when thay giv prìority to pathological extremes of 'masculinity' and 'femininity - male aggression and female helplessness. Wimen can looz èven what we hav gaind unless we stop on the one hand, the pressùre from wimen's magazènes to trivialise female mìnds with absorption in gossip, cosmetic appearances, and bèing sexùal bunnies, and on the other hand, permitting misoginist practices in the name of eny religion or cultùre.

• EDUCÀTION IS PRÌMARILY OUTSIDE SCOOLS today. The mass mèdia and advertìsing seek mass markets bì targeting the largest and most gullibl sector of the popùlàtion, at the cost of debàsing the rest, who could respond to better. Boycott products when advertisments ùse irrational òver rational persuàsion, and interrupt programs at clòser than 20 minut intervals. Promote meaningful and innovativ fetùres, that extend cùriosity into neglected airèas such as sòcial imprùvement. Constantly re-state the function of taxpayer-supported national braudcasting, to encurage thinking and knoledge, innovàting and setting standards, dùing what commurcial channels du not du, and not repeating what thay du. A three percent raàting for Ràdio National thinking and information prògrams is a comment on the state of national intelligence and cùriosity rather than an argùment for extinction of this rair sorce.

 

RADIO has essential functions. It can provide informàtion that dus not require visùals (a reason why TV news has such a narro rànge); giv acsess for community voices; its programs can convay thinking thru language. Kindergartens of the Air are as valùabl for chìld development and language as TV Playscools, and could replace the ABC's cost-cutting adult story-readings, èven if ònly re-runs wer affordabl.

THE PRESS defeats its own fùtùre bì duming-down to chase declìning readerships. It could develop the attractions and ùtility of reading, inclùding for the yung, èven in details such as 'social inventing' on the puzzl pages, and publishing responses to readers' questions for information about current affairs. Èven obituaries of goodies can giv the yung knoledge of better role models in wonderful lìves, however flawd, to contrast with the criminals and celebs on page 1. 'Serius Pursùts' and qizzes can omit efemeral celebrity trivia.

SCOOLS can sho duming-down trends to be wairy about, especially when policy docùments sound like Don Watson's Weasel Words, but miss out on ìdeas about goodness, bùty, trùth or practical life-skills and goals. Mony, tecnology and constant curricùlum chànge are not panacèas. Scools should be where stùdents lern what thay cannot lern outside scool, to bild on what thay du kno, and not merely rèinforce the cultùre that immurses them. Lerners desurv to tàste the rànge of mùsic, art, story and other wurlds in time and space, in envìronments that are bùtiful, with teachers unhassld and undistracted. Curricùla should respect children's development and childhood's need to acquire knoledge bàses and scemata, practical skills, and ways to find roots that are familial, lòcal, national and glòbal, with heroes mor admirabl than the mèdia offer. To discover adult goals and what 'adult' should really mean. When bins are filld daily with throwaway 'activities', what message and effects there are for children's mìnds.

LITERACY skills giv power to kno and to communicate; Reading books can be a màor developer of intelligence as well as thirst for knoledge, and thinking as a plesure. Check out the mental age of children's books - tuw years old? If children read ònly a littl, what thay read should be wurth reading and re-reading. Classrooms even in Year 1 need new and òld books for browsing, above as well as belò the children's mental age, to inspire adult goals and act as advance-organìsers, - such as Arthur Mee's 'Children's Encyclopedia' (new costly version needed) and Peter Spier's 'People' pictùre-book (Pan Macmillan, reprinting needed).

 

I hav 2 dreams to help bring down barriers to literacy. That everyone everywhere has the right to free acsess to a short internet/DVD/video that givs them a quick overvew of the rìting sistem, an advance organìzer for beginners and clues for clearing up confùsions for failing lerners, with grafics made bì the very best artistic talent and production. Secondly, cut out the unnecessary difficulties in English spelling, the gràt barrier to English literacy wurld-wide. This is feasibl today. See also 'Classroom barriers to literacy'

POPÙLAR READING about sòcial reforms and political policies. Where is it? Make it happen, for teenagers, adult-literacy stùdents, average pepl, and primary-scoolers. Èven ritten in Spelling 'without Traps'. Books for Everyone, and how Everyone could read them is a field for Ph.Ds in English, Politics, Commerce, Commùnication and Edùcàtion.

 

 

• THESE SHORT PAGES may seem to connect too meny ìdèas - but it thay ar mor than a shopping list, and still hav not mentiond essentials such as chìd-cair to raise the next generation as thinkers and dùers. We are being conditiond to cope with ònly one ìdea at a time. But if readers take away èven one thaut, that thaut is: There can be no real democracy unless all the pepl are freed to be activ citizens - Down with Duming-Down!

REFERENCES: Look around u. Enjoy bookshops and lìbraries.

ORGANÌZÀTIONS - Wurk with all the contacts and the activist issùes u hav. Ùse and contribùte to websites such as www.melbourne.indymedia.org, www.globalideasbank.org and http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ozideas (not www) with links to pages such as /concepts.htm.