2014-11-20 07:06:30frank

公民教育--「權力」

我們,至少是我念書時,沒有建全的公民教育,有的是「公民與道德」。



「公民與道德」雖然也講「權力」,強調的是「義務與權利」-- 要先服從「權力」,也就是「盡義務」,然後才能「享權利」;卻不提這制定「義務」的「權力」(要他人用你想要的方式,做你想要的事)。雖然詮釋「權力」來源,卻對當權者不當的「權力」細心呵護,並合理化或遮掩其程序與實質上的不義。對「金錢」與「權力」的關係無任何著墨。對「人民」如何取得「權力」忽略不提,只談法律上的「權利」。對「理想」也僅有孫文的「三民主義」因最優越可以獲致權力。對控制「資訊」與傳播「不實資訊」來掌握「權力」的隻字不提。對以「武力脅迫」獲得「權力」的,除了當權者是為顯菩薩心腸所展現的霹靂手段外,其他不是全民公敵、民主罪人、就是社會敗類。

引用演說者 Eric Liu 對公民教育範疇的定義,我們的「公民與道德」的內容是不及格的。
it (civics) encompasses three things: a foundation of values, an understanding of the systems that make the world go round, and a set of skills that allow you to pursue goals and to have others join in that pursuit.

價值基礎大體是談了,但大都是用來批判反對勢力(包括思想、學說)。系統運作卻僅限於法律規範,其他付之闕如,像是金錢、利益團體、黨派利益、地方勢力、... 等,除與當權者對抗的會加上因一己之私、保守迂腐、自甘墮落、陳義過高、不切實際之類的原因而反對的詮釋外,不做任何嚴肅的檢視與探討。對於獲致權力的技巧,除了對當權者獲致權力過程的吹捧與美化外,「如何獲致權力?」這樣的想法便是「大逆不道」。

"This is why it is so important in our time right now to reimagine   civics as the teaching of power  ."-- 所以這是非常重要的:要認識「權力」、了解「權力」、知道如何掌握或獲致「權力」並運用「權力」。





>>   Learning English   <<

■ practitioner   n. 開業者(尤指醫生、律師)
■ civics 公民

■ soporific    adj. 1. inducing sleep
                          2. drowsy; sleepy
                  n     3. (Medicine) a drug or other agent that induces sleep

■ narcoleptic    adj. 發作性睡眠病
□ narcolepsy   [ˋnɑrkə͵lɛpsɪ]  n.  【醫】嗜眠病   
     A disorder characterized by sudden and uncontrollable, though often brief, attacks of deep sleep, sometimes accompanied by paralysis and hallucinations.

■ the seat of the solution

■ encompass   vt. 環繞
   1. to enclose within a circle; surround
    2. to bring about; cause to happen; contrive: 
         ex. he encompassed the enemy's ruin.
    3. to include entirely or comprehensively: 
         ex. this book encompasses the whole range of knowledge.

■ it (civics) encompasses three things: a foundation of values, an understanding of the systems that make the world go round, and a set of skills that allow you to pursue goals and to have others join in that pursuit.


■ make the world go round 讓世界運轉

■ menace 威脅
    v.   to threaten with violence, danger, etc
    n   1. a threat or the act of threatening
         2. something menacing; a source of danger
        3. a nuisance

■ In the culture and mythology of democracy, power resides with the people. Period. End of story. Any further inquiry not necessary and nto really that welcome.  Power has a negative moral valence.

■  valence   n.  1. 【化】價;原子價
                          2. 【生化】(染色體等結合的)數價

■ inherently  adv. 
□ inherent   adj. 內在的;固有的,與生俱來的[(+in)
    1. a quality that is inherent in something is a natural part of it and cannot be separated from it 內在的﹐固有的
     2. [+in]
       ex. I'm afraid the problems you mention are inherent in the system.
             你提及的這些問題恐怕本來就存在於這個體制中。

And as a result of this illiteracy, those few who do understand how power operates in civic life, those who understand how a bill becomes a law, yes, but also how a friendship becomes a subsidy, or how a bias becomes a policy, or how a slogan becomes a movement, the people who understand those things wield disproportionate influence, and they're perfectly happy to fill the vacuum created by the ignorance of the great majority.

■ compounded   adj. 複合的;化合的
    It is an emotion compounded of pleasure and bitterness.
    這是種歡樂和痛苦攙半的感情。

■ wield influence  施加影響

■ insidious    adj.   an insidious danger or problem spreads gradually without being noticed, and causes serious harm 〔危險或問題〕暗中為害的﹐〔禍害〕潛伏的
    ex. an insidious trend towards censorship of the press
        實行新聞審查的逆流

■ stop and frisk  
■ frisk     vi. (小孩等)歡躍,蹦跳;嬉戲
                 His seven dogs frisked round him.
                 他的七條狗在他周圍蹦蹦跳跳。
            vt. 1. 【口】(用手或探測器)搜(某人)的身
                      They passengers were frisked before they 
                       were allowed to board the plane.
                       旅客們在被准許登機前都被搜過身。
                   2. 輕快地揮動

■ meme 大腦模仿病毒
    Derived from a Greek root meaning " to imitate , " meme describes how ideas mimic the behavior of genes, propagating not from body to body but by leaping from brain to brain .   meme衍生於一個表示"模仿"的希臘語詞尾。它描述思想如何模仿基因的習性,從大腦轉變到大腦,而不是從軀體遺傳到軀體。

■ There are some millennials, for instance, who think the whole business is just sordid. They don't want to have anything to do with politics. They'd rather just opt out and engage in volunteerism. 

■ millennial     adj.  1. 一千年的;千禧年的
                                 2. 美滿的,太平盛世的

■ sordid  [`sɔrdɪd]  adj.  involving immoral or dishonest behaviour 
                                     猥褻的; 卑鄙的﹐齷齪的

■ eminent  傑出

■ alterable   可變

■ I believe that when you have this kind of disengagement, this willful ignorance, it becomes both a cause and a consequence of this concentration of opportunity of wealth and clout that I was describing a moment ago, this profound civic inequality.

■ plausible   合理

■ All of civics boils down to the simple question of who decides, and you have to play that out in a place, in an arena.

■ dilapidated   adj.   a dilapidated building, vehicle etc is old and in very bad condition 〔建築物﹑車輛等〕破爛不堪的
□ dilapidate  vi, vt.  使荒廢;毀壞;浪費

■ living wage 生活工資

■ Money, of course, people, yes, ideas, information, misinformation, the threat of force, the force of norms.  All of these form of power are at play.

■ menacingly    adv.  威脅地;威嚇地
   
■ reckon with     對付, 處理; 清算; 考慮
    ex. When the fight is over, we'll reckon with the enemy's sympathizers.
          當戰鬥結束以後我們將處理敵人的同情者。
    ex. I hadn't reckoned with the possibility of his turning up so soon.
          我沒有考慮到他那麼快到達的可能性。
    ex. If you hit the child again, you'll have me to reckon with.
          如果你再打孩子, 我就要插手了。
    ex. a force , fact , person to be reckoned with
          不可忽視的力量、事實、人物

■ Here in the United States, the national government has tied itself up in partisan knots. Civic imagination and innovation and creativity are emerging from local ecosystems now and radiating outward, and this great innovation, this great wave of localism that's now arriving, and you see it in how people eat and work and share and buy and move and live their everyday lives, this isn't some precious parochialism, this isn't some retreat into insularity, no. This is emergent. The localism of our time is networked powerfully. 

■ parochialism   [pəˋrokɪə͵lɪzm]  n. 本位主義
                              1. 教區制度   2. 鄉土觀念;眼光狹窄
      a parochial attitude or outlook; narrowness or provincialism.
■ parochial     [pəˋrokiəl]   adj. 
   1. Of, relating to, supported by, or located in a parish.
   2. Of or relating to parochial schools.
   3. Narrowly restricted in scope or outlook; provincial: parochial attitudes.

■ insularity  [͵ɪnsəˋlærətɪ]  n.  1. 島國   2. 島國根性   
                                                   3. 孤立   4. 偏狹
                    the state of being isolated or detached.

■ emergent 緊急

■ participatory budgeting, where everyday citizens get a chance to allocate and decide upon the allocation of city funds. 參與式預算,其中普通公民有機會分配,並決定市資金的分配。

■ ire   [aɪr] n. 忿怒  Anger; wrath. See Synonyms at anger.

■ In Seattle, where I'm from, we've become part of a great global array of cities that are now working together bypassing government altogether, national government altogether, in order to try to meet the carbon reduction goals of the Kyoto Protocol.

■ All of these citizens, united, are forming a web, a great archipelago of power that allows us to bypass brokenness and monopolies of control.

■ triad  [ˋtraɪəd]  n.  三人一組;三件一套;三合一
           a Chinese secret criminal group 三合會〔華人黑社會組織〕

■ Catalog all the skills you had to deploy, how to negotiate, how to advocate, how to frame issues, how to navigate diversity in conflict, all those skills that enabled you to bring folks on board and to overcome resistance.

■ archipelago 群島