Has The Closing of the American Mind Influenced Your Perspective?

[apeiron]

In my view Bloom intentionally crafted the book in a polarizing manner.

And it is not as if there was a lack of others voicing the other polar extreme of strong cultural relativism. The PoMo crowd wrote some pretty silly stuff at times.

 

[apeiron]

I've argued that a breaking down of monolithic cultural norms frees people to remake society over every scale. But that does not leave them "indifferent" as was largely Bloom's claim. Instead, they can be highly involved in creating their own quite hermetic social worlds.

A classic text here I believe is Hunter S Thompson's 1966 Hells Angels.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell's..._Terrible_Saga_of_the_Outlaw_Motorcycle_Gangs

This illustrated how a supposedly free group, indifferent to social norms, were in fact far more rigorously self-regulating in their behaviour than average. And the same narrowing of the mind could be seen in hippies, punks, and just about any other social tribe that ever existed. The founders or early thinkers of social tribes are often fairly informed and philosophical, but then once it takes off, it becomes very stereotyping.

As a group, it may develop its own equivalent of "great book" texts, its own internalised social image or amour soi. But it is not indifferent to them.

So from the outside, what may look like expressions of freedom, an indifference, is from the inside the exact opposite.

 

[DanP]

His maxim to "Avoid class in favor of smoking" is thus not any less valuable than a maxim thus: "Go to class to learn." Who is to claim that the latter is better than the former? Nobody can, because his "rights" and "values" are sacred, not to be impinged upon.

Pavel's paycheck once he gets a job will.

 

[nismaratwork]

Pavel's paycheck once he gets a job will.

BINGO!

...and other indicators of quality of life.

 

[mugaliens]

I would argue the minds of the masses, American or otherwise, are more closed than open, and have always been so.

 

[Energystrom]

I would argue the minds of the masses, American or otherwise, are more closed than open, and have always been so.

This tends to be the implicit in most conversations like this, and it's not too different with Bloom. Bloom's angle is that, previously, the top liberal arts universities used to be bastions of intellectualisms relatively immune to these more common sentiments. He contends that this is not the case anymore, so it's a closing of the part that was open.

 

[Clel Lee II]

As a man thinketh, what man believes is and becomes his truth and being. Being exposed to his internalized self through free thinking. Group hermtic socialism holds free throught back. Polar views are not expected. Is that why religion is so wide spread. Is there a nich for everyone? How can there be if we grow. We must keep learning.If we do that does make us all equal. But it does, because we then are all free to think. To chose our tribe to become again stagnate. Bloom has created a paradoxical thought.

 

[nismaratwork]

As a man thinketh, what man believes is and becomes his truth and being. Being exposed to his internalized self through free thinking. Group hermtic socialism holds free throught back. Polar views are not expected. Is that why religion is so wide spread. Is there a nich for everyone? How can there be if we grow. We must keep learning.If we do that does make us all equal. But it does, because we then are all free to think. To chose our tribe to become again stagnate. Bloom has created a paradoxical thought.

Hmmmm... that's a very... interesting point of view; could you possibly elaborate?