‘Denying’ the Wild, Woke World
I have to confess to being a lifelong “denier.” At a very tender age, I recognized that pretty much every authority figure I interacted with was deeply flawed. When you’re a critical thinker, your curiosity being countered with “ours is not to question why, ours is just to do and die” or “do as I say, not as I do,” will not satisfy your intellect.
As I’ve alluded to here before, my brother’s traumatic high school incident, which occurred when I was just seven years old, and for extra dramatic effect took place on the same day as the JFK assassination- November 22, 1963, triggered my skepticism about all authority. I heard my father rage against the injustice system, and how he had no chance at fighting the forces aligned against my hapless brother. I didn’t really understand politics yet, but I became a second grade radical. I started questioning teachers, most of whom I had little respect for. I disputed most of my grades, which were never good enough in my eyes. My mother, always my steadfast defender, would faithfully stand behind me. My father was preoccupied with drinking heavily and losing his long battle with the world. I quickly learned that questioning teachers, like questioning anyone in a position of power, did not win you any popularity contests.
I noticed, once I hit middle school, how popularity was baked into the hierarchy of the school system. The teachers fawned over the most popular kids. This was even more obvious in high school, where popular kids become de facto celebrities in their little ponds. Thus, it was only natural that I would eventually write a book like Bullyocracy: How the Social Hierarchy Enables Bullies to Rule Schools, Workplaces, and Society at Large. Researching all those sad stories reinforced my earliest negative impressions of teachers and school administrators. I was never a bullied child, but I don’t know how any of those tragic victims of bullying and a system that refuses to hold bullies accountable, could help but become School Deniers. I was certainly an early School Denier myself. Sure, lack of ambition contributed as well, but that’s the primary reason I didn’t apply to a genuine four year college. I denied the value of “education.”
As I drifted aimlessly at a dead end blue collar job, I relished in my unsuccessful status. I wore it a
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LewRockwell.com is a libertarian website that publishes articles, essays, and blog posts advocating for minimal government, free markets, and individual liberty. The site was founded by Lew Rockwell, an American libertarian political commentator, activist, and former congressional staffer. The website often features content that is critical of mainstream politics, state intervention, and foreign policy, among other topics. It is a platform frequently used to disseminate Austrian economics, a school of economic thought that is popular among some libertarians.
