Welcome back to the podcast everyone!
Quick reminder, as always, please subscribe, follow, share, comment, review and send me a post card from somewhere sunny and lovely to make me smile. Come on, you can do it
So, due to my last week being a bit under the weather, there will be no original art with this week’s episode, apologies. I hope to be back at 100% and going again with it next week.
Alright then, on with the show!
Just like when I talked about mental health and mental illness a few episodes ago, I have been strangely fascinated and also disturbed by the recent and rather flippant use of the term indoctrination in our culture today.
There is a strong uptick trajectory today in our age of growing school board raids and rants. It appears as a catch all for everything from trans and homophobia to masks, to discussions of race, critical race theory, and equality.
No one who appears to be using it interchangeably as indicating a “threat” to their kids through the educational system really appears to understand what it is.
POINT 1: What is indoctrination? – 03:32
POINT 2 – Deconstructing Indoctrination – 09:06
Ranalli Link:
https://1000wordphilosophy.com/2022/01/16/indoctrination/
POINT 3: Education is NOT Indoctrination – 16:50
Link to “Difference Between Education and Indoctrination”
http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-education-and-indoctrination/
POINT 4: CRT…Curriculum, Regulation, Teaching – 19:54
Link to Tanesha Peoples article:
https://educationpost.org/since-critical-race-theory-is-being-called-indoctrination-lets-go-there/
Now, let us welcome the return of MISCILANEIOUS THOUGHTS. So, here we go: 28:02
I want to circle back to my final thoughts on Johann Harai’s book Stolen Focus that I have spoken quite a bit about.
Well, I finally finished the book over spring break. In his conclusion, Johann mentions visiting James Williams, a former Google strategist and they spoke to three layers of attention, all of which are being stolen from us in certain ways.
Spotlight – this is the focus on what is immediately in front of us, what our actions are at that moment, whatever it is. It is called a spotlight because it usually requires one to focus, down, on to an object or subject of focus. When disrupted, one can be prevented from carrying out near term actions like finishing a book chapter, getting a cup of coffee, etc.
Starlight – this is the focus one has on long term goals, projects and such over time. Things like writing a book, starting a business, being a good parent, etc. The title implies it is a guiding force for when you feel lost to remind you what you are working towards. If your focus here is lost you can forget where you going or what you are trying to achieve.
Daylight – this is the focus that lets you account for your long-term focus in the first place. It is the focus behind how do you know you want to write a book, start a business, or be a good parent. It allows you to reflect and think clearly in order to figure things out. If your focus here slides you cannot figure out who you are, what you want to do, or where to go. An existential crisis.
Spotlight is what you are focusing on now, in the moment, Starlight is the focus of your goals, where you are going, and Daylight is the focus on why you are engaged in the direction you are going.
Johann adds his own layer to this:
It was a really fascinating take on how we are distracted, but rather than try and be a self-help book, and treat us all like we are made from a cookie cutter, Harari actively seeks to make us aware so that we can possibly address these things as best we each can. I like that approach.
I would recommend this book highly.
Well, that's all for now. Hope I’ve given you something to chew on and think about, a little nuance to go with that normally nutritionally empty social media diet we all partake in.
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Until next week: “heed the call”