Simple Men and the Simple Pleasure of a Simple Alum

I may be the mayor of simpleton,
But I know one thing,
And that’s I love you.

-- XTC

Apparently, I’m lying when I say that I don’t watch presidential and vice presidential debates, because, after watching the Palin-Biden debate the other day, I watched the last 15-20 minutes or so of the McCain-Obama debate Tuesday night. I only, though, tuned in to this portion of the debate for one reason: my alma mater (and current place of employment) was featured on ABC’s World News with Charles Gibson Tuesday night, as he broadcast World News from the campus of Bowling Green State University and then discussed the debate with a group of students from BGSU. It was kind of fascinating to see the stage for World News being set up on campus on Tuesday and I was tempted to stick around to be in the audience, but decided that I was better off going home and getting work done. Besides, I had my “Hey, Mom, I’m on TV” presidential debate moment four years ago, while I was at Arizona State University. One of the Kerry-Bush debates took place at ASU and I stood in the crowd while Judy Woodruff, then on CNN, broadcast from the library lawn. I managed to get to the front of the crowd during the program and, of course, used my cell phone to call my mom, who turned on CNN and saw me on television. I figured one time was enough for that; I’d leave this one to other folks. Anyway, that aside, the more important point here is that this was a nice little piece of national attention for BGSU that I’m hoping helps the university. I’m finding myself to be a rather loyal alum who thinks quite highly of the institution, particularly given its outstanding programs despite being relegated, along with other state universities in Ohio, to underclass status to that pompous institution in Columbus that has the gall to refer to itself as “The” Ohio State University.

So, I enjoyed seeing my alma mater featured on ABC and I’m grateful to Charles Gibson, ABC, and World News for coming here. On the other hand, I did not enjoy the candidates’ answers to the last question of the night, which asked what they did not know and how they would go about finding out what they don’t know. Both seemed to give essentially the same answer: I don’t know everything I would face as president and here’s what I do know ….blah blah blah … I’m this, I’m that, etc. Unfortunately, given the cultural milieu of not only contemporary politics but much of contemporary American culture (and I suppose the same could be said for many other cultures as well), there is more emphasis on stating assertions as knowledge rather than building policies from a position of recognizing what one does not know. Time and again candidates are asked to say what they will do and they happily oblige. In that regard, I do appreciate the statement by both McCain and Obama that no one knows what a president will face, since that statement reflects at least some recognition that they don’t know everything they’d do as president. However, when that then turns to more of the same indication of what they do “know” and what they will supposedly do, the candidates (along with the system that forces them to engage in this practice) drop the ball, particularly since many of us recognize that the president alone doesn’t get to determine everything that will be done and that, since we can’t know all that will develop, we can’t know what we’re going to do. This becomes even more problematic, I think, when applied to truth claims like one “knowing” when life begins or when it doesn’t begin, like one “knowing” what marriage is and what constitute “natural” sexual relations, like one “knowing” what needs to be done for the economy (especially when the most experienced and studied experts claim not to know and those experts disagree on what to do), like one “knowing” what “evil” is enough to apply the term to a country like Iran or Russia (despite the fact that many of the choices made by leaders of those countries are as much a product of contemporary politics as the choices of leaders of the United States), and so on and so on and scooby dooby dooby … I suppose that the thing that I appreciate most about Barack Obama is that he seems to do less of this kind of ideologically-charged know-it-all talk than other candidates and that strikes me as a mark of forthrightness and intelligence. I’d even argue that John McCain does less of this than other candidates … or, at least, that he did so before becoming a presidential nominee and changing his style (though even his answer tonight of “maybe” in response to the “yes or no” question of whether Russia is an “evil empire,” along with his explanation of the limitations of a “yes” answer and a “no” answer, seems to show elements of the kind of nuance I’m looking for). Indeed, that I see both of these candidates this way plays a large part in determining why I have tended to feel like I actually have two decent choices this year (as opposed to 2004). Joe Biden seems to fit right in with this. I have seen interviews with him—one in particular a couple of years ago on The Daily Show—in which he impressed me with a kind of candor that I’m not used to seeing from national politicians. Unfortunately, it does not seem to me that Sarah Palin can be characterized like these other three. That is why, while McCain as president doesn’t scare me, Palin on the ticket with him does. And, again, that is one more reason why I dislike debates, political campaigns, campaign ads, and the whole nine yards.

It is from a similar state of mind that I often tell classes that I teach that I don’t know anything. At least in part, this is meant to be tongue in cheek. Of course, I believe that I know that something—that I have specialized knowledge of theories and methods involving the study of culture and communication. However, my comment is also meant to acknowledge that I think truth claims are very suspect. Meanwhile, I hope that the comment helps foster critical thought, particularly on how knowledge is constructed within systems of power that reinforce the idea that some people are better or more important than others. I may have specialized knowledge, but that doesn’t make me any more or less important than my students and it should not be used to attempt to dismiss the forms of specialized knowledge that various students have that I do not. As Jango Fett says in Star Wars Episode II, “I’m just a simple man trying to make his way in the universe.” I think the same of myself and so, too, do I think this applies to the presidential candidates. It is that ideological sentiment that informs many of my own positions and I’m sure that that sentiment also informs my distaste for the truth claims that I see so often advanced in these debates.