Irreconcilable Differences
I can only hope that Doug was kidding when he said this:
I’m going to omit all the obvious arguments that this is clever-sounding hogwash, an empty slogan that ironically contradicts itself, because Doug is smarter than I am and already knows them. Because of what he does and teaches, I don’t think Doug believes it either. Irony? Sarcasm? I don’t know. I’ll admit I couldn’t make it through the endless Yippie Manifesto it was attached to, so perhaps it’s some kind of joke too subtle for rubes like me.
But I will say I believe this to be not just a philosophically untenable position on its face, but one of the most dangerous statements I’ve seen come out of an educator’s mouth (or do Tweets come from beaks?) in a long time, representing a facile diminishing of one of our most potent and (sadly) too often untapped and untrained powers as human beings, cultural participants, and members of communities.
If you need an example, look to Washington. We have a President right now who would agree wholeheartedly with– and who lives out– this sentiment about sayin’ and doin’. Words are action… misunderestimate them at your peril.
Slogans – and twitter – are problematic for many of the same reasons. I didn’t read through the whole manifesto, either. Saying more can sometimes add to confusion and obscure meaning.
What I was looking at, and trying to distill, was Rubin’s philosophical position on the “blank space” that he wanted to create and exploit. My sense of *his* meaning is that talk -and sloganeering- that isn’t followed by action/doing is empty.
I’m not smarter than you. Irony? Yeah, considering that my position has always been that words are powerful symbolic forces. It’s interesting to see how they work, eh?