Tell Me More....

I am wondering if you see the depth and breadth of our need for information.

We are a thinking beast. We like to think. We believe in thought. As Weber said – we have a never ending quest toward rationality. We believe in logic and fundamental principles like freedom and fairness.

We have values and we use our thinking ability to bring them to life.

If we borrow from Maslow we might say that we in the western world have very few Physiological or Security needs unmet. We have the food, shelter and security in abundance.

Although we cannot pretend that everyone in our North American society has what they need – and we need to address this poverty for many reasons – we can say that millions of people in that society have no real worry about their physical well being.

I will address the impact of the western poor another time so go with me on this for now….

Maslow would say that as our lower level needs are met, we are subsequently focused on our Belonging and Self Esteem needs. These are the next two significant categories in the Humanist’s Hierarchy of Needs.

This is the one of the most painful things about our way of life. It causes me concern. There is not much that keeps me awake at night. But when I think of the way my children and my students are controlled by their need to belong, I get truly afraid of the power they experience.

To belong is everything. There is nothing more important. There are in groups and out groups. We define and divide each other into groups based on the way we look. Based on the way we eat. Based on color. Based on religion. Based on the music we listen to. Based on the clothes we wear. Based on our hobbies. Based on our skills and abilities. We will divide each other and ourselves in any way we are even a little different.

We divide. We divide and the ones who are best at dividing and paying attention to how we are divided are the young.

It was long enough ago that it does not pain me anymore, but I remember the groups in high school. I remember the jocks and the brainers. The disco-ers and the rockers. The cool kids and the nerds.

I remember when Bruce killed himself.

Belonging is everything.

To belong requires a vast set of knowledge. It is information that defines makes us one of those who belong in the many groups and divisions. It is information, coming in many forms and from many places that serves the purpose of division. Our need to belong is essential and we need information to decide where we belong and how we see our selves.

That information gets measured against our values and our principles. Those principles and values are also the basis for division and segregation. We use the information filtered through the sieve of our beliefs, to determine right and wrong, in and out, us and them.

We are so fixated on the need to belong that we thirst for any information whatsoever. We take in anything we can get. We will take it from media but we will take it from conversations. Rumors. Gossip. Any kind of information is taken because we have such a need for it. We are making big decisions – like who belongs and who doesn’t – so we must have some information to use.

We need it. We need it so badly that we lose sight of the power in that need. We often forget to use that rationality we are so good at to decide if information is reliable or possibly false. We need information and we need to belong.

So we pay for information. Whether it is your cable TV bill for the news networks and MTV or it is a magazine or newspaper, we pay out big bucks to have the information we need.

Since the beginning of the strike I have listened to more public radio than ever before. I have paid more attention to the news networks than ever before. I am learning about their biases and their perspectives. I am seeing how the society we live in perceives the college system. The government and of course how they perceive professors.

Inherent in the need to belong is the requirement to divide. Inherent in living those divisions is the need for information. These needs are becoming complicated.

The need to belong is compounded by the need for information. Once we have the information – whether it is true or false – then the need to decide which group we belong to kicks in. Then those needs begin to complete because how we divide each other in the groups of right wrong and in out for this strike will not be how we divide the in out and good bad of being back in a classroom.

Today you may need to label the faculty as bad. You need to belong to a group that sees unions as problematic and faculty as spoiled and wrong.

But in two weeks the strike will be over and you will need those faculty to give you the final lessons in your diploma and you will need them to be willing to teach and guide you to the completion of the semester.

Where you belong today is not where you want to belong later.

And where you think you belong in either case depends on the information you receive and how you filter it through your values.

The breadth and depth of your need for information is almost incomprehensible.

But in that need lies the power to control you. And those with the ability to share or withhold information know that.

Why do you think the Minster of education publicly called the parties to meet with him but them held those meeting behind closed doors? He did it because he needs to control your opinion of him. For it is your opinion of him that allows him to have the job. There is always another election to be won.

Information needs, belonging, self esteem – power. No wonder the students are feeling controlled and played with. No wonder the faculty are feeling controlled and played with. No wonder the Management and Minister are scrambling to keep information under control.

The information about this strike is some of the most important informational needs we have had in quite some time.

I have never been a union guy. I accept the history of this industrial society and that the rise of the labor union movement was important and good. I see its role and its value. I see our civilization as bettered by its existence and on going presence. Not because we have people being exploited so much any more – though that still exists – but because it provides a place for people to belong. We need that so badly. And we still have that white collar – blue collar division.

I would never had an education or an opportunity but for the fact that my father was part of a union. We got health care and benefits. Without his pension I would be caring for him today. As a plumber my father got a better-than-average wage to support his wife and six kids. I was of the labor class. I could have easily stayed there. But the improvement in my family’s lifestyle as a result of the benefits of being unionized labor gave me the ability to see the American dream and that I could do anything. As one of the first on either side of my family to get an education past high school, I saw hope. I was poor and I was known as one of the poor kids in high school and in university, but I was able to see my self as able to belong to that group and was therefore able to push ahead and succeed.

My Dad’s union was important to him and to our family. But I have never been a union guy.

But when a strike happens…well it is clear what group we belong to.

So what does it mean to be a striker? What does it mean to be Management? What does it mean to be the innocent victim of a work stoppage? And who should we side with? What group do we belong in? What group do we support and see as right? Which group do we see as wrong? Which group do we feel sorry for? Which group do we need to be sympathetic with to protect our own future. The strike will end, will I still want to be in the same group then?

We need answers to those questions because we are compelled to divide. We need to belong. We need to belong to the group of people who know what is right and what is wrong. We need to be one of the people who really know.

We need answers to these questions because we need to have self esteem. We want to be right. We want to have the self esteem that comes from being the one who is smart enough to understand and the one who is capable of being right.

So much need. So much need that can only be satisfied with information.

So much power.

I know that through this ramble I have digressed into many new areas. I have jumped around a bit. I have left things incomplete. As such have left you with a great many questions and unresolved thoughts.

Where does he stand on strikes and unions?

What about the meeting they had yesterday?

What does Les know that I don’t?

Tell me more about this Maslow guy…?

What is all this about the poor in North America?

What about this painful experience of youth and belonging…?

Who is Bruce? What happened?

Information you need to resolve your need to satisfy other needs. I have left you with needs. You will be back to see what I write tomorrow. Power….?

See what I mean….?