As I progressed through the public school system I, like every child growing into an adult, experienced a major paradigm shift. I no longer believe the state to be benevolent, all-knowing or even well-meaning. However, the public school system, naturally, did its best to prevent this.
As we progress throughout history in a US History class (the last strictly history class in my high school career), the textbooks create a very odd view of history, one in which all major issues and controversies are behind us. Gone are the days of workers struggling for fair pay and safe working conditions, of racism, of sexism, of rampant inequality. These things were issues that America conquered, and no longer plague the great country. It makes it seem as if all of US history is merely working to the end point that is today.
This creates an image of the world highly disconnected from reality. Any person seriously looking at the state of the United States knows this to be false. Inequality not only persists, but continues to grow, with the richest people being richer than ever. Racism, while not acceptable in most cases publicly anymore, persists in the system greatly, especially when it comes to incarceration and execution. Feminism is still viewed as some sort of insane philosophy by the mainstream. Certainly this cannot be the ideal future that textbooks seem to portray.
Another telling aspect of our textbooks are what they don't tell the students. We never learn about the USA's more shady operations. We get maybe a brief passage about various scandals such as Watergate in which the powerful go free in cases where the average man would have been jailed. We hear nothing about America's love for overthrowing democracies that threaten US interests, especially when nationalization of industries ever comes up. We hear nothing about the vicious dictatorships and regimes we prop up that massacre their people. So much is left out that would allow people to have a better view of the actual history, and reality of the USA.
It is only through research and reading outside of my classes that I was able to learn anything of the actual workings of the state. However, I ironically became interested in Marxism through my World History AP class. All my life I had been at least somewhat ignorant of what Marxism and Communism meant. I knew they were the 'bad guys' in the form of the Soviet Union, which I certainly agree with, but I do disagree with the US being the 'good guys'. It was in the pages of that textbook that I read about wokers owning the means to production, owning their own labor. And that is where it all began. I knew I agreed with that economically, but where would I exist socially? Certainly I rejected the strong hand of the state that the so-called Communist states used. This lead to my interest in politics, and my finding of my poltitical home in Anarcho-Communism.
I do not expect this to be a revelation for most people that will end up reading this. I used this more as a form of therapy, getting some of the thoughts that have been plaguing me recently out of my head. Hopefully this blog will be less shitty in the future.
