LXXXXII. Using Labels Instead of Brains

Editor’s Note: Welcome to new subscribers. Day 163 of the Great Con II. I have just returned from travels in Europe and will be sharing some thoughts and stories for the rest of the year. Wandering the world continues to be the best method of true education, to awaken the sleeper in all of us. To see the remains of what was done before so we recognize the threats and opportunities of today. Thank you for reading, and don’t forget to visit the store, where we’ve got a specially designed shirt for this issue.

Do you remember the first time you were called a name other than your real one? It could be something good like a teacher referring to us as bright, smart, or quick, though our brains are quicker to keep and remember the derogatory terms, most likely from a classmate or sibling who called us dumb, ugly, or a wuss.

Labelling is a life tool we use to quickly apply to a person or situation the bit of knowledge we have. It may not be entirely correct or appropriate, but it’s often considered good enough. It’s a primary method of coping and acceptance, sometimes to amuse or control, without really using our brain cells. Overused, it becomes a crutch of ignorance.

New terms enter our common jargon of labels when someone uses them in a certain situation, and if used often enough, they gain some credence. Could be labels such as woke, liberal, neocon, virtue signaling, cancel culture, fake news, or deep state.

We know just enough to understand what they mean, though they are often not true. The current entertainer-in-chief has made a career out of labeling. No matter the issue, a well-placed label is remembered far more than a fact. Like a cat following a laser pointer, he knows his audience will latch on to the label without doing the work of deeper thought.

Here’s the truth.

Labelling is pretty dumb, especially when it comes to a country that considers itself highly educated. The effort to diminish thinking in America serves no other purpose than to maintain a certain status quo.

The war on being woke is really a sinister war against steadily becoming more informed. It is a made-up trope. It is a race to the bottom where a certain portion of the population lives in anger and fear and a steady diet of labels in place of opportunity. It is a false narrative on a core part of what has made us America.

This isn’t just another partisan squabble or a budgetary trimming around the edges. It’s a coordinated assault on the nation’s capacity to think, learn, and adapt. It’s a war on the American mind.

Take the dismantling of the Department of Education. What it really means is less funding for teacher training, literacy programs, support for homeless students, mental health services, and more. The administration’s rationale is the familiar label of “local control,” but that’s another label called a “smokescreen.”

The reality of local education will be a worse patchwork of inequity in every state and school district across the country. Programs for at-risk youth, rural students, the arts, school safety, after-school activities, and literacy disappear if communities can’t or won’t pick up the cost.

And it doesn’t stop there.

The administration aims to zero out more than a dozen other grants that fund adult education, migrant student services, teacher development, and even educational television for young children. Teacher-preparation programs? Gone. Grants for mental health in schools? Axed. More than $4 billion in pandemic relief funds for tutoring, construction, and services for homeless students? Canceled before districts could even spend it.

In 2022, federal sources accounted for nearly 15% of local school district revenue—money that helps offset disparities created by a patchwork of local property taxes. Without the targeted grants and programs now on the chopping block, high-poverty districts will be left to fend for themselves, deepening the divide between rich and poor, urban and rural, white and nonwhite. If you’re born in the wrong place or wrong family, too bad. Your label is good luck.

The war on education extends to public service, science, and the very infrastructure of democracy. Tens of thousands of federal jobs are already gone. Expertise? Overrated. Experience? Suspicious. Education? So what. All that matters now is loyalty and the use of labels.

The chilling effect on academic freedom is profound, with hundreds of college presidents and officials condemning the administration’s “unprecedented government overreach and political interference.” Merit becomes replaced by another label, the network of old boys.

Public broadcasting is also under siege with a billion in federal subsidies for PBS and NPR cut, threatening the survival of local public media, especially in rural communities. Choices will be more limited, purposely so. The administration’s justification is the label of wokeness, but it’s really a disdain for independent journalism and diverse viewpoints, the core values for democracy and education.

The cumulative effect of these actions is not accidental—it is a coordinated effort to diminish the capacity of Americans to think critically, question authority, and participate meaningfully in democracy. By gutting education, silencing dissent, censoring knowledge, and devaluing expertise, the Trump administration is laying the groundwork for a less informed, less capable, and more easily manipulated citizenry.

A citizenry that puts more weight on labels than facts.

The erosion of these pillars will not only harm individuals and communities in the present but will also cripple the nation’s ability to adapt, innovate, discern, and lead in the future.

Ignorance breeds fear, division, and despair. It is a common theme of history. We’re coping with this now. The administration’s plan to dismantle structures of education from beginning to end is not just shortsighted; it’s an act of national self-destruction.

There is no credible evidence to support these dramatic cuts. If anything, we have underplanned and underinvested. The only thing more dangerous than a country that fears knowledge is a country that deliberately sabotages the minds of the next generation.

The label to fear isn’t woke, it’s being willfully ignorant.

CURIOUS CLICKS THIS WEEK

You should ensure your youth become familiar with AI. I will keep repeating this. We are in a period equivalent to the 1980’s and the introduction of the personal computer. Learn some AI tools and don’t get left behind. Democracy is going to be tested greatly with the coming changes.

Here’s a combination of AI and robotics you’ll find interesting:

We think of going to war as a task for the young. Even back to the American Revolution, the average age of a soldier was around 20 years.

Ukraine has done the opposite, keeping its recruiting age high and putting more of its older men in. So far, the country is supporting it, though they are paying the price in blood.

I continue to find the antics of the current administration to be deplorable. It is akin to Churchill asking Roosevelt for support and Roosevelt calling Hitler and asking him to please stop the bombing of the little nation next door. This time in history is still being written but it is teetering toward a great age of shame.

I am proud of the support we have given, and should continue to give. If we were to assess the value of all our war and peacemaking operations over the past fifty years, our support of Ukraine would rank very high in terms of the net return for what we’ve supplied.

With the current “peace negotiations”, we must always remember that Ukraine is carrying the heavy burden here, not us. And they are shouldering some humility while doing so. Imagine the future of the U.S. being discussed without the U.S. We cannot sell out our allies for the sake of a show of peace, much as the British Prime Minister Chamberlain got with Hitler.

Interestingly, I’ve often thought that our armed forces ought to expand with older volunteers and recruits and protect more of the newer generation. Other countries, especially those flanked by Russia on their borders, are doing this. It makes more sense. We have an entire generation of older Americans who would like to give back, who have the wisdom and willingness to serve.

I admire the many older Ukrainians featured in this one. Should we continue our support for Ukraine, maybe this war will end with some justice, and these old-timers will be their greatest generation.

I found this in Ethan Mollick’s newsletter on AI and couldn’t resist sharing its relevance to meetings. Don’t get me wrong. Human face-to-face contact is important, more so every single day of this digital world, yet every office job I’ve had involves pointless meetings, a relic from a time when we weren’t so wired and connected.

This 1940s guide amuses me because it was designed to aid saboteurs—resistance fighters and those behind enemy lines—in disrupting Axis operations. Take a look at this list and tell me if you haven’t been in a meeting that contained a troublemaker as described.

Now we know.

If you need some encouragement to find and follow your passion, this is a beautiful piece. I have tried twice to grow apple trees and failed both times. I think I’m too far south or perhaps the soil was not hospitable enough. Our citrus has done well, some years bending in weight to the ground, but having grown up with the Johnny Appleseed lore, I always wanted my own apple tree.

The other thing to consider in this piece is the concept of giving back. Even in retirement, the gentleman here has combined everything you need to continue a meaningful existence: staying busy, meeting new people, learning new things, building community, and preserving nature.

That’s a model to live by.

Between the autocratic acts of Putin and Trump, our allies have turned more inward for their protection.

It’s not good. There’s no peace where there is constant strain and less trust.

For Finland, they’ve turned the threat into a community opportunity.

They have a long history with Russian intrusion. Everyone has an expectation of training and of working together. That includes private companies and government agencies. It’s the community aspect that I like in this piece, and as one interviewee in the story mentions, security through cooperation is necessary for enjoying life.

It shouldn’t take an outside threat to forge community, but getting people, companies, and government to work together in consensus for the greater good? Without coercion and a practical approach?

That’s what to notice here.

Someone smarter than me once said to never let the sadness of your past and the fear of your future destroy the beauty of the present. Seize the day while you have it. I learned so much over the past several days in Europe. I tried to take a moment each and every day to observe and contemplate a little longer, and imagine a little brighter.

Make the most of your life while you have it. There is an endless amount of wisdom still to learn and people to meet and love to share.

Continue to make good trouble.

And strive to be a good human.