Radical liberation

An article in “The Guardian,” a British publication, recently revealed that many young Brits (from 18 to 24 years of age) are “dumber” than their older counterparts (45 to 55). By “dumb,” the article meant that British youngsters are culturally illiterate when it comes to their own culture. According to the article, fewer than a third of young British adults, for example, were actually able to name Winston Spencer Churchill as the Prime Minister of Britain during World War II. And only eight percent of the young Brit sample could correctly identify Mr. Churchill’s predecessor, none other than Mr.

Appeasement himself, Neville Chamberlain. (When it came to the field of literature, 93 percent of the surveyed British youngsters could not even correctly identify John Milton as the author of “Paradise Lost.”)

This so-called “dumbing down” of young adults is nothing new, and it is not only confined to Britain. America has the same “problem” as well. Just ask any University of Hawaii student to identify Douglas MacArthur. You might be surprised to get a blank stare. Some young American adults cannot even distinguish between World War II and the Korean War.

To snooty “educated” and “culturally literate” people, this trend among young adults is to be severely lamented. They are disconcerted. They regard this development as alarming and deplorable. “We must educate our children!” they cry. We must keep them from MTV and the Internet. We must practice censorship, condemn Hollywood and the greedy corporations for what they are doing to our children–who no longer have a sense of true “culture” or “national identity.”

Personally, I think this so-called “dumbing down” of young adults should be celebrated as a form of personal liberation and transformation. For it means that “culture” is being democratized and commercialized–formed–from the bottom up rather than the top down. It means that no elite class is responsible for telling us what to believe in and what to celebrate. We chose for ourselves–in a free market that empowers the cultural consumer.

Above all, we are talking about nothing short of the (beginning) breakdown of the nation-state, of collectivist cultural indoctrination. It basically amounts to an inexorable move toward more freedom–unprecedented human freedom. For we, as sovereign individuals, are no longer bound up by our sense of history as a common people. It means more individualism–liberating Libertarianism!

When young adults can no longer name their old dead leaders, it does not necessarily mean that we are condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past–or that we will fail to learn the clear lessons of history. On the contrary, it means that we are approaching “the end of history,” to use Francis Fukuyama’s glorious phrase. We–Generations X and Y, the New Generations–have broken free of the chains of the past–of the stifling traditions and customs–and we are creating a new borderless, non-ideological world. This means that the traditional imparting of so-called “values” by society–through public education–is threatened. And that is a fantastic thing to behold!

Young folks are not dumber than their parents or grandparents. Through computers, science and technology, they are smarter, more productive, than their ancestors ever were. So what if they can’t name historical figures from the past? They will know what they need and want to know and nothing more. Down with the old establishment and their sentimental demands!

Do you want to know which young adults are sure to know their dead old heroes of the past? Why, the oppressive Communist or third world countries, of course. Ask any young Russian or Chinese who was Mao or Lenin and they are sure to know. When they no longer know, that’s when we will see some real progress in the world!