Learning to not believe what you are told.

We are planning a community wide celebration of SWEPCO's withdrawal of their 345 kV power line application, so my wife and I met yesterday with the owner of the Inn of the Ozarks Convention Center who is donating the use of the facility as his way of joining in the celebration. This victory for our small town is an amazing thing that you will not likely hear much about. My wife and I got our official letter of notice from SWEPCO yesterday informing us of their application withdrawal. If they had used the route across our property, it would have destroyed a 150 foot swath from one end to the other and would have brought helicopters flying 75 feet from out deck as they administered regular doses of herbicides to keep the forests from ever growing back again.

Naturally, the letter contained no apology. Corporations don't do that. They cannot admit guilt and they have no shame.

There are two kinds of school. Some put students into chairs where they are administered doses of indoctrination. They are told what to believe and are kept passive (drugged if necessary), so that just in case they don't believe what they are told, at least they have no power to test the truth of what they have been told.

Then there are schools where kids do things. In those schools students are expected to challenge what they have been told and expected test the real world through the application of scientific and experiential method. What teachers want students to learn is demonstrated for them not told to them, and experience is restored as the basis of knowledge. Students from such schools are disinclined to allow major corporations to trample on their rights. And they are inclined to question what they are told, and not fall prey to the forces of stupidity. So you can see why we have the schooling we have. It is convenient for those who support of the status quo and are fearful of other views.

You and I know what kind of schools we need, but there are others who disagree. They'd like to run huge power lines and pipelines and industrialize all the wild open places. But just for grins and despite the danger, let's list the qualities of progressive students:

• They test reality rather than believing what they are told. 
• They make what they need instead of buying unnecessary stuff. 
• They learn to accept differences as being normal to the human condition. 
• And having been freed from indoctrination, they trust their own powers of observation, and are unwilling to be fooled by those who would manipulate and control.

So, I guess you can see the danger of all that in a broad field from religiosity to politics.

Here in Eureka Springs, we were told to believe the power line was necessary for "growth and reliability." We did not believe them and did what many claimed we could not do. We proved that multi-billion dollar AEP/SWEPCO and the Southwest Power Pool were dead wrong. And you may join us in this revolution. The celebration of SWEPCO's defeat will be held here in Eureka Springs, on Sunday, January 11, 3 to 5 PM.

Make, fix and create...