Study Elsewhere
by Oxz (Richard Martin Oxman http://oxtogrind.org/archive/378)… plagiarizing Michael Albert at will, and making proud use of Professor Mickey Z.

Dedicated to those interested in approaching Economics, History, Int’l Relations, Journalism, Political Science, Sociology from refreshing angles. Ditto for those into Cinema (Appreciation/Criticism/History), Comparative Literature, Creative Writing, Dramatic Art, ESL and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAPM8YRGPuY… and (for those of you who are environmentally conscious music lovers) http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/eco-music-compost.html.

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I want it to be clear from the outset that I’m intentionally avoiding graphic examples of how corporate and governmental influence in the Humanities and Health Sciences affect minds and bodies, your personal mental and physical well-being. That can be discussed upon request. Here, I am mostly focused on… others.

Percentage change since 1992 in the annual number of U.S. workplace fatalities among Hispanics? It’s up 76%.

Change among U.S. workers as a whole? It’s down 10%.

The above will not be studied at any institution of higher education anywhere in the United States this year, or next year. Or the year after. Oh, you know that I’m wrong? Please, enlighten me. Remember though, I said study, not read. The implications of those figures will not be discussed. And if they are, nothing will address the question of what can be done about the abominable status quo. Not in SOCIOLOGY classes or elsewhere.

Remember, with the above stats we’re talking about deaths, not injuries.

Those who don’t have a clue about the importance of Daniel Ellsberg’s sharing the Pentagon Papers with the public in 1971 won’t understand my next point. Others are welcome to read on.

Did the faculty members of POLITICAL SCIENCE departments across the country use these documents either then or later, as primary sources for understanding our government? What should have become virtually universally utilized core material, far more valuable than the government pronouncements, public speeches, and New York Times reports, essentially disappeared from public and even scholarly attention, and certainly never achieved real prominence in the political science discipline. There was an academic dimension to Ellsberg’s revelations that was totally ignored, and still is except in extremely small pockets nationwide.

This, of course, can be easily multiplied many, many, many times. The sins of academic omission.

If you read The Making of An Economist by Arjo Klamer and David Colander, you will find an incredible survey of students in elite programs whose interviews and poll results demonstrate that economics bears more in common with astrology than with serious sciences such as biology or physics. If anyone is thinking about pursuing ECONOMICS, this is obligatory reading.

You can go through graduate economics training, teach for decades in a university, and still have no serious comprehension of the impact of markets or corporate divisions of labor on human behavior, preferences, or inter-group relations. With all the credentials you can be quite the dummy, misleading people left and right.

HISTORY students are unlikely to be exposed to the likes of the writers at http://www.zmag.org/znet. That’s very sad.

Anyone interested in GEOGRAPHY should also pause before jumping into the pool for any so-called institution of higher education swim. As a family/personal introduction of sorts AND for an instructive criticism about prestigious Stanford University — to take just one example — you might want to glance at http://oxtogrind.org/archive/378. That link will provide (at the very opening) an anecdote that centers on how Stanford plays dirty within the realm of geopolitics, as all the well-funded institutions do. I’m talking about my reference to the campus’ Bechtel International Center which you will find in the article.

But let’s return to the domestic Hispanics*. And simultaneously inject Iraqis and Afghanis into the mix, among others.

*Domestically, one is obliged to also look at stories that no JOURNALISM class will ever touch upon, realms which are verboten in various disciplines… such as what’s covered in http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff10272009.html.

Whatever I’m made of keeps me from living without their pain. The unnecessary violence which our institutions impose on the immiserated stays with me throughout each day. They are the vast majority of this world, and there is nothing about human nature that makes their plight inevitable. So… my heart, soul and mind are constantly running through options, choices which we can embrace in solidarity that will make a difference.

When I go to sleep at night, when I first rise each morning… that’s when the pain is at its height for me. Whether I hit the sack at midnight or get up at seven… it’s always three o’clock in the morning… just like it’s always three o’clock in the morning — always — in the deepest part of us. At those times it’s as if I feel the loss of my own children, my children who are actually quite healthy, doing very well. Yet I absorb the pain of other parents worldwide… as if my own kids’ lives had just been cut short or maimed. It’s only during the day when that pain goes away… and I become a parent who lost my only child… a long, long time ago. Then, I still feel the loss, but it’s not numbingly intense with that lost sense of emptiness which accompanies me routinely as I brew morning coffee… or fade out at each day’s end.

Our institutions do not favor your doing something about any of this. Which is directly linked to everyone’s enlightened self-interest. And, because of that, my fervent wish is that you would choose to study with me (or someone else unimbedded). Consider that… for the purposes of building something beautiful in solidarity. Something healthy that others, then, will be able to continue, pass on, enjoy.

Rather than contribute to ignorance compounding ignorance and mean-spirited life.

You’ll save a lot of $$$ whilst you save your mind, body and soul. And you won’t have to worry about any stinking (worthless) degrees — believe me — as you put together your own singular passport.

Study elsewhere.

Blessings,
Richard

P.S. Contact me at tosca.2010[at]yahoo.com. I have many ideas to share respecting career concerns, and contacts for study nationwide and abroad. You can take it from there, as you like. There are lots of great teachers at lots of institutions, but most students go through their entire campus life without being influenced significantly by a single one. You do have options.

If the above has piqued your interest, glance at http://planetgreen.discovery.com/work-connect/dozen-truths-problem-fal se.html to get more motivated. Working-class students may want to let me know what they think about http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/22976. [If you have trouble with the link, let me know.]