Is this society democratic? We have established a type of democracy which is diluted. We are living in a time of bourgeoise democracy. Theoretically, only the "best" will rise to the surface to govern the masses below. This looks fine on the surface, but scratch away the gilding and you will see the underlying fallacies. Enthroning the few to govern the many does not always proportionally represent nor conform to the plethora of needs of all people. When enthroning the few, it is not the most genuine person that receives power, but the most deceptive. Ability and vision lose the battle to the best smile, the most enticing promises, and the motivation of greed. Thus, we have appointed not on the vision but on the ability to convince, to persuade. And thus, we have achieved the contrary of democracy: the despotic rule of the most deceiving voice and not the truth.

Now we can apply the broader analysis to academics. We as a class of living things fall subject to the empire of ownership. Our collective intellect as the most enlightened species on the planet is being hoarded by the few. We are deceived by the unchallenged assumption that people can own ideas--that truth is no more than the best argument and whomever first laid claim to that argument is the master of that idea and thus ruler of truth. We are exploiting truth with this paradigm. Truth now lies in shackles at the feet of ownership. Truly, the pervasiveness of bourgeoise rule can be seen even in the freedom (or lack thereof) of academics. Truth is liberating, but we have enslaved truth and therefore, cannot be liberated by truth.

Humans are merely stuards of truth and meaning. There exists a universal justice and cosmic reality. We continually try to advance to this realization as individuals and not together as human beings. It is time for a new paradigm. Rather than debate truth or engage in discourse, we should rather have an open conversation. I renounce debate and discourse because debate implies convincing and discourse implies that the discussion is not open to all. We must come to the conversation open-minded and without agenda. By carrying agendas, we suggest that we know the truth, without consideration of the possibility that we are wrong. We must be prepared to learn and grow by hearing what others have to say, no matter if we disagree nor agree. We must no longer rely on ad-hominem nor ipse dixit assumptions, for truth and reality are arbitrary: they are true and real only in and of themselves. If you fold up a dollar bill, how much is it worth? How about if you crumple it? Stomp on it? No other quality affects their value.

Now is the time where we must dissolve all bonds to the ego and release the restricting attachments to property. Now is the time to converse openly in every place we stand... To challenge, to question, to ponder. Learning is a dynamic that takes two or more to tango. Don't accept anything at verbatim, for it is then that you have locked yourself into someone else's ideology. Open your mind and let the conversation begin...

For more on this topic see:

The Stanford Review

BBC News