In order to avoid getting caught up with the epistemological and intellectual hollowness that is left from the mainstream media coverage of a process such as the “January 6 Select Committee” and so forth, one must provide some context and information in order to understand the nature of this process and where it is perhaps heading. For one, more than twenty Democrats in the U.S. ‘House of Representatives’ plan on retiring en masse. There are psychological, physiological, and systemic reasons for such an occurrence. Also, on average, Congress’s approval rating never exceeds more than about 10 percent. Those who actually approve of Congress are perhaps limited to those who are in Congress, as well as the special interests, lobbyists, and their families.
Something which caught my attention recently and in turn evinced the reality that Donald Trump’s suggestion that American elections are not free and fair and that the idea and suggestion is actually not a conspiracy theory was a statistic from America’s mainstream media itself. According to recent statistics, only about 15 percent or at most 16 percent of Americans believe that the elections in their country are free and fair. That means that based on this one statistic alone, about 85 percent of Americans do not believe that elections in America are free and fair. Thus, rather than an anomaly or an aberration from the norm, the idea that elections in America are not free and fair is actually an overwhelmingly popular idea in America. In essence, it is the United States versus Elie Honig and a “vocal minority that is in denial of reality.”
A couple of things which Congress does in order to make itself very unpopular in America is wasting taxpayer money on something like the “January 6 Select Committee” as well as the abuse of its power to “investigate.” We are seeing the combination of waste as well as the abuse of power on full display with a process like the “January 6 Select Committee.” One of the few achievements which this committee can now boast about amongst themselves is getting Steve Bannon in trouble yet again. One must note that a subpoena is something merely procedural in a legal proceeding. Many people who ignore subpoenas or do not comply with a subpoena never end up getting convicted, nor do they end up in jail just because they did not comply with a subpoena. I have seen people with my own eyes refuse to comply with a subpoena, and they were let off “Scot free.” Hence, the lawlessness of lawyers themselves is one of the major reasons why lawyers are reviled in the United States.
Nevertheless, these facts do not stop the mainstream media from intuitively dissecting the average viewer’s mind in order to instill fear. In sum, the case of both Steve Bannon and the case of Donald Trump are cases which do not pertain to law. Rather, these are cases which pertain to politics, and in politics, virtually anything goes as long as someone has the balls and courage for it. As Harry Truman famously said, if you can’t stand the heat, then get out of the kitchen.
One thing I wrote recently is that teaching – which is both an art and a science and is perhaps the most valuable and consequential art and science in a society given its broad-ranging implications – has two components, namely, education and pedagogy. The former comes from the Latin root word educere, which means “to bring out.” The latter, on the other hand, comes from the Greek root word paidagōgos, which means “to lead young boys” or “to shape and mold young boys.”
This led me to reflect on how I was led, molded, and shaped in the past, and how my true personality recently came out as a result of the education and pedagogy I went through at the hands of certain teachers and intellectuals over the years. And when I came to think of it, I was led, molded, and shaped during college and grad school by some of the most charming, knowledgeable, intelligent, fearless, selfless, humble, and modest people that one could ever find on the face of the earth. In turn, their influence absolves one of the usual suspicions of being “antisemitic” or hating one’s own culture and one’s own people and so forth, because the love and the appreciation one wields for these teachers and intellectuals only grows over time. To be cut from the same cloth of such teachers and intellectuals is something which cannot be purchased by a trifling sum, nor can a person put any sort of price tag on this particular state.
Adam A. Azim 