[July 03, 2015] Tomorrow is the much celebrated Independence Day in the United States. As a prelude to this day – independence from England and won with great sacrifice – media analysis Mark Dice shows us a video he made about the ignorance of average people about this special day1 (see video here). I was taught that ignorance and freedom are incompatible concepts and that it is the duty of leaders to help others overcome it.
Taken on a San Diego, California beach where my daughter was relaxing (and thankfully not in Mark Dice’s video), it shows Mark asking some pretty basic questions about the origins of Independence Day. Their answers are unbelievable but not surprising. I’m sure the video is biased in showing nearly all wrong answers with the only person getting any right answer is an Italian man vacating here from Italy. However, it clearly shows most people have little understanding of Independence Day.
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.’” – Isaac Asimov
As Mark Dice notes, Americans don’t know why we celebrate 4th of July. His “conversation” with the general public is of interest to leaders around the country. How can it be that so many people don’t know the even the basics about our independence? … they don’t even know what “independence” means. It’ been clear to me for a long time that our education system has higher priorities than teaching the basics of American life and history and why we have a government based on basic economic and legal principles.
Leaders have failed the average person in American. It is our duty as senior leaders to talk about why we have Independence Day and why it’s celebrated. Some say that “ignorance is bliss” but I think it only makes us more likely to lose our independence and to fail to value its unique qualities based on freedom from government tyranny.
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[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyhCOPh48ew