Cross-post from tilley.solar for re-emphasis – open access, open culture, open learning, anti-thought leaders, anti-careerism, new hope, the beginning of a new community

If you are going to make a definitive statement, one you are willing to double down on, please explicate. You may not realize that you have a teachable moment. Take advantage of it.  We all have corners of ideas, ideas we jot down, but never get around to expanding on – however, clarifying those ideas and getting all that information out of your head is not that hard. There is only one secret to writing, only one secret to getting out seemingly complex ideas – – – you just sit down and start writing. Writing is not dependent on emotive experiences. That is the delusion that stops so many people from writing It is not true. Just sit and start.

And please share openly. That includes scholarship. Community building starts with sharing and starting a conversation. Closed access publishing looks good on a CV, but who does it help? So few. So few. Take advantage of what is left of the open internet. Open Access is the key to building an education model that can influence future practices in a very real way. Reform comes through practice. Practice comes from you. Share your best material openly. Evolution can happen. Don’t try to make a career out of being a “public intellectual.” Just be public. Careerism is and has always been the practice of the misguided.

Even with my barely adequate education I can see with great clarity that the overwhelming majority of those who see themselves as progressives or believe themselves to be radicalized have yet to see the light of day. So, so many scholars could be out there guiding others and so, so few people actually are. I find this very distressing. And disappointing. This isn’t hard to do folks. We are never going to get anywhere unless the right people begin to speak up. If not, we are a failed species.

Under the regional determinationism of our current struggles we are slowly beginning to see that is no singular public individual who can or should stand apart to light the way. It will take collective effort and it will take the throwing off of this obsolete idea of the so-called “thought leader”. The truth is, while there is a very good argument to be made we would benefit from one unique individual’s leadership over the common group, that only goes to prove that the common public intellectual is not so vital after all. They are not more endowed with any innate gift to prevent the world from sinking into a new dark age. While there are many standing in line to be seen as a public intellectual, as a leader of thought and form, we see now that they have had very little to offer and that their sheep will continue to spin out of control, never coming to a firm conclusion on what is moral, what is good, and what is the path forward. There are more and more drifting towards an idea of holistic and mutually beneficial progress and in that there is hope.

I do not think individual humanities work needs to stop with the removal of grants. Yes, clearly communities and community culture will be hurt. However, individuals can continue privately, to the best of their ability, and budget, share openly in the spirit of Open Access and the common good. We are called to be stewards of public knowledge, whether we get credit for it or not. Now more than ever. If I can afford to share what minor research I have done in Violence Studies and theology openly, and I live paycheck to paycheck, then I know others can do it. And I was fortunate enough to have a good many brilliant professors. If only they shared what they understood openly, wow. What a difference that would make. What I am thinking of something like the Freedom Schools, but able to be carried out on an individual level (and collectively, if permitted and if safe to do so). That can be done with or without the internet. Open stewardship of education is the only way to assure that if progress comes, more individuals will be better able to maintain that progress.