DEMOCRACY AND EDUCATION

"...stupidity is... [not a]... natural quality, but something socially produced and socially amplified." Adorno, Minima Moralia, paragraph 69.

In a democratic system what does it mean when the masses cannot comprehend multi-layer thought? This would imply that one could neither comprehend themselves or society, it would imply that one was defenseless against emotional premisses that give the appearance of totality. It would imply the threat of barbarism in the form of tyranny against culture, against a sophistication which remains necessary for the realization of quality (sophistication which is necessary in order to transcend the oppressive attributes of one's psychology, the ego's primitive defenses of self deception).   

A society without abstract capacity is one that can only advance by hard experience. This is the slowest path to progress, the slowest way to learn. It means that society cannot fathom the danger of totalitarian or fascist polices, but must directly experience the violent outcome of these ideologies. Only after many atrocities have occurred, only after death, suffering, and systematic violence have become common place, only then do the masses learn to resist, only then do they possess the intelligence to realize the danger. All in all this is a manifestation of social stupidity, a sure sign that the masses have been repressed and deprived of education. The entire hope for qualitative democracy is a matter of qualitative education.  

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