hello world
i got to tighten up
missing too many workdays
up at minnowbrook for this humanities and humanrights conference
i expected to get a lot of work done, didnt do diddly
got to go to the city for palf wed, i got to tighten up
missign too many workdays, im losing the summer
this my presentation for minnowbrook, the discussions though
were very provocative and some of my assumptions that i know
it all were challenged on an issue i consider very important
amelioration of the human condition
the most interesting panel was the non human rights panel
which i was ready to sneer at - go figure
im outta here
got to tighten up
rdoc
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TEACHING THE HUMANITIES AND HUMAN RIGHTS
always nice to be scheduled early and be done early
as teachers of humanities we basically study the human condition
difference between studying the human condition and making the value
judgements the term human rights entail
so the question is how much
can we incorporate what we consider humanistic values in our teaching
what constitutes legitimate value quotient
and a perhaps more personalized goal
how do we empower our students as forces of human rights
cant impose your personal values on students, that doesnt work
so how do i get them to value human rights without preaching at them
two modes of influence on human condition for folk like us,
through our teaching and influence on students and institutions of higher learning
and our historical roles as academics, researchers, thinkers and intellectuals
the teaching mode is rigorously neutral, you give them the tools,
you give them the consciousness - you hope and pray
as teachers we have to achieve a certain distance, a certain neutrality,
or at least the appearance thereof
when in truth we are all of us working as hard as we can and our roles will allow
to ameliorate the human condition howsomeever we can
i prefer the phrase amelioration of the human condition to human rights
because its active, it implies agency, whereas human rights feels passive and removed from my actions – human rights doesnt feel like something i can have much influence on, bnot enuf to make a real difference
but ameliorating the human condition, i can do something about that everyday
and in particular in my work, i struggle to make my interests serve my sense of
commitment to the amelioration of the human condition
and i try to inculcate that same sense of responsibility in my students
through osmosis if necessary
i am fortunate in this matter in that i primarily teach young writers
and writers are most fundamentally observers and chroniclers of the human condition
to a large extent the degree of their power as writers will
be dependent on their sensitivity to the human condition
the degree to which their work engages the human condition
that they are insightful observers of the human condition
as thinkers, writers and artists i consider the human condition our turf
and making a diff as only an artist can a mark of literary greatness
now i cant impose my aesthetics and literary values on them
what I do try is show the value of works that do address the human condition and are
at the same time powerful works of art –so many of them assume those are exclusive values
I try to sensitize them to issues, to the dynamics of humanrights
and the responsibilities of the conscious and the competent
and most important i try to make them sophisticated in the dynamics and use of ideological power
sophisticated in how its used by the powerful, how its used by elites and counterelites
and the artists and intellectuals that serve them
many of them are already activists and i tell them to do what you can when you can however you can, but its likely the only real chance you have of affecting fundamental change in the human condition, as vast and intractable as it is, is through your work, your words
understand the power of art, understand the power of ideas, understand how they work
i try to sensitize them to their power and responsibilities as aspirant literary forces, I try to make a good case for a moral center of literature, I try to make them proud of being writers, i try to increase their understanding of literary power, of ideological power, of the power of art and ideas and how art and ieas work as historical and destinical forces. I try to give them agency.
It is agency i believe that makes the difference in being an armchair revolutionary and an ideological orchestrator
ideological orchestration, destinywork, presupposes a certain sense of historical and destinical agency, a sense of being able to ameliorate the human condition to some neglible degree. a sense of being able to do something, anything, in the land of nothing we can do
i believe this is a responsibility of the endowed and the empowered, we armchair revolutionaries and ideological orchestrators, to systematically address the human condition, to make a better world
to awaken the sleeper, protect the weak and guide the strong.
that is all
this spell is done
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