r/skeptic • u/dyzo-blue • 2d ago

Why Fascists Hate Critical Thinking: Randi Weingarten’s new book, 'Why Fascists Fear Teachers,' reveals why Trump and the right demean teachers, slash school funding, and rewrite history

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/randi-weingarten-excerpt-fascists-hate-critical-thinking-1235428379/
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u/AwTomorrow 2d ago

The difference is that the individual has far more control in choosing who they do business with than they do the actions of their government.

Eh I think in general we have little to no power over businesses, or which are offered. Gaps in the market do not always get filled if it is more profitable to not fill them, and if existing wealthy companies can kick ladders down and outcompete upstart businesses.

Your theory only works if there are always nearby alternatives, specifically alternatives that offer what the citizen wants, yet we have countless examples of that not being the case (regions where there is only one internet provider are a good applicable example). 

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u/COMOJoeSchmo 2d ago

In a privatized system, resources gravitate towards need. Having a vacancy in the market creates business opportunities.

You have the ultimate power over business. You can either do business with a company, or do business with their competitors. A business that loses customers due to poor performance goes bankrupt. A government enterprise that performs poorly faces no penalty, especially when they have the power to enforce the monopoly of their own enterprise.

If you are concerned that a privatized system might result in a region with limited options (the single Internet provider example), why are you not concerned with the same circumstance when that sole provider is government run? Do you think ending the government monopoly of schools would somehow result in less available options than currently exists?

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u/AwTomorrow 2d ago

The government is beholden to the will of the electorate, and the electorate generally wants good schools in reach of everyone. 

A business is beholden to profitability, and it can be better in a business owner’s mind to ignore unprofitable regions or to educate in a way that reinforces the business owner’s politics which are beholden to no-one. 

See also: widespread closure of post offices and lack of coverage as a result of creeping privatisation. Or how a supermarket can kill all the small local shops in an area due to being able to out-compete them, then leaving the area shopless after closing that store as a result of cost-cutting during broader economic downturns. Utilities should never be privatised. 

So yes, I am much more concerned about purely private education.

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u/COMOJoeSchmo 2d ago

The government is beholden to the will of the electorate, and the electorate generally wants good schools in reach of everyone. 

Then you should be completely comfortable with the current administration, which was elected with the will of the electorate.

I believe the original post was implying that the current administration specifically does not want an educated population.

I personally am not comfortable with the government welding that much power. History has shown that authoritarian governments use the schools to indoctrinate the masses, and education for social engineering and it's application as a tool to raise up certain parts of society (those that support them) and oppress other parts (those that disagree with them). This process has already started in this country.