The concluding chapter of Neil Postman's Technopoly was titled "The Loving Resistance Fighter." It featured a list of conveniently tweet-sized characteristics of those who resist American Technopoly. They are those who ... 1/
... pay no attention to a poll unless they know what questions were asked, and why. 2/
... refuse to accept efficiency as the pre-eminent goal of human relations. 3/
... have freed themselves from the belief in the magical power of numbers, do not regard calculation as an adequate substitute for judgment, or precision as a synonym for truth. 4/
... refuse to allow psychology or any "social science" to pre-empt the language and thought of common sense. 5/
... are, at least, suspicious of the idea of progress, and who do not confuse information with understanding. 6/
... do not regard the aged as irrelevant. 7/
... take seriously the meaning of family loyalty and honor, and who, when they 'reach out and touch someone," expect that person to be in the same room. 8/
... take the great narratives of religion seriously and who do not believe that science is the only system of thought capable of producing truth. 9/
... know the difference between the sacred and the profane, and who do not wink at tradition for modernity's sake. 10/
... admire technological ingenuity but do not think it represents the highest possible form of human achievement. 11/
... understands that technology must never be accepted as part of the natural order of things, that every technology ... is a product of a particular economic and political context and carries with it a program, an agenda, and a philosophy ... 12/
"In short, a technological resistance fighter maintains an epistemological and psychic distance from any technology, so it always appears somewhat strange, never inevitable, never natural." 13/
Postman being the consummate teacher that he was goes on to lay out a peculiar kind of curriculum as the antidote to American Technopoly. I'll leave it to you to take up and read. Finally, #NeilPostmanWasRight. 14/14
