- Capitalism and Alternatives -

Are you a cat?

Posted by: Samuel Day Fassbinder ( Citizens for Mustard Greens, USA ) on December 09, 1999 at 10:26:49:

In Reply to: I smell a rat. posted by Frenchy on December 08, 1999 at 16:42:44:

First Frenchy says:

: : : : The original post is a good illustration of propaganda at work on illiterates. That "doctor" ought to be pistol whipped, tarred and feathered and driven out of town.

Then Frenchy says:

: Could you tell us if there was another purpose in the doctor telling the peasants of their condition?

SDF: Let's go over Freire's line of reasoning.
Freire said,

"And why doesn't a peasant have any of this?"

In response to the peasants' explanation of "what it means to be a peasant." And one of the peasants doubtless said,

"The will of God."

And Freire asked:

"And who is God?"

and the peasant said,

"The Father of us all."

So Freire calls together this men's circle and asks,

"And who is a father here this evening?" Almost all raised their hands, and said they were. I looked around the group without saying anything. Then I picked out one of them and asked him, "How many children do you have?" "Three." "Would you be willing to sacrifice two of them, and make them suffer so that the other one could go to school, and have a good life, in Recife? Could you love your children that way?"
"No!"
"Well, if you," I said, "a person of flesh and bones, could not commit an injustice like that -- how could God commit it? Could God really be the cause of these things?

So this is what Freire teaches. God "didn't do it". Did you disagree with Freire, Frenchy? Did God do it?

: Or was it simply to impart his insights and understanding to them?
: I smell a rat.

SDF: Look, Frenchy, you just SAID what you said about Freire. You said,

: : : : The original post is a good illustration of propaganda at work on illiterates. That "doctor" ought to be pistol whipped, tarred and feathered and driven out of town.

Why should I tell you anything? I told you it was from Freire's Pedagogy of Hope. Go find the book and read it for yourself.


Follow Ups:

The Debating Room Post a Followup