Originally posted by andy1033
Here is an interesting question i think.
If gov and ptb where not running things, would humans be unable to live any sort of life worth living?
We saw in the past that only in last couple of centuries people started to read and that came from forced schooling.
So are the ptb right in that they assert that without them, we could not live a life, and would not be any better than animals.
Do you think if the ptb where not telling us how to live and what humans should be, would we still be like unable to read, and be virtually just
animals not using our minds to create some sort of life for ourselves.
Are the ptb right?
edit on 12/1/2010 by andy1033 because: (no reason given)
That is a ridiculous postulation and is based on false information. The ability to read was not widespread for a number of reasons, none of which had
to do with "forced" schooling. Let me point out just a few of the factors which had a much larger impact on the literacy rate than did "forced
schooling".
1. Lack of books. Prior to the invention of the printing press, books had to be transcribed by hand, which made them both scarce and expensive. The
average household did not have access to or financial means to own books.
2. Time. Prior to the industrial revolution, acquiring the basics essentials for survival (food, shelter, water, clothing) took a tremendous amount of
manual labor and time. This left very little free time for education for all but the wealthy, who could afford to have others do all of the manual
labor for them.
3. A divergence from the caste system. Until very recently in history (i.e. post American revolution), most people were not free to chose what they
would do for a living except within very narrow confines.
As an extension of point (3), one could actually argue that, if anything, government has had the historical role of suppressing the ability of the
general population from receiving an education.
As for your more general statement, no the government is not what makes life worth living or provides a more comfortable life. Again all we need to
illustrate this is a look at history. Time and time again, the larger and more intrusive the system of government, the lower the quality of life of
the general population. Why this is, is a topic in and of itself but the cliff-notes version is that the more power the government has, the greater
the opputunity for abuse and corrupton and the greedy nature of those in power takes over.
By contrast, the greatest and most productive societies have been those which allowed the most freedom and in which the government was smaller and
less intrusive. Mankind is at its best when allowed to strive to be greater of our own free will. Free agency is a powerful thing and the suppression
of such has never, and will never lead to a greater society.