On the Public Sphere and Free Speech

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In my ("my" -- it's mine, all mine; no one else is responsible for this class except me; I own it; I possess their souls) 1302 course this term we're addressing the lack of public spheres in students' local areas -- ecological units as small as the street, seeing the public sphere as that necessary "rational, informed discourse" a la Habermas constructed by private individuals to interact with the state. So, instead of writing letters to their congressional rep, we're concerned with why local public spheres have died, disappeared, or never appeared in the first place. The students choose their own "problems" to address and then investigate the stakeholders (the private) and the authorities responsible for the problem (the state; or in this case, the precinct, the county, the city, the school district, the college district, etc.). So, no authority is "higher" than a county elected/appointed official -- nothing at the state or federal level. This means that the old tired arguments of gun control, abortion, invasions-cum-occupations of small Middle Eastern countries are off the table.

The learning pattern I notice when I teach this course follows the same path:

  • I have no idea who my local authorities are. I don't know what a Homeowners Association is.
  • You mean we have to contact the County Commissioner?
  • These people never answer the phone! [or] I was passed along to four different authorities and no one understood why I was asking the question
  • Why wasn't I taught this stuff in high school?
  • Hey! Someone answered the telephone and the cops/constables/sheriff/et al were there the next day!
  • I would have never known any of this without this class [score for me :) ]
  • No one around me cares about this.
  • People are lazy
  • Whites don't listen to Hispanics
  • What's the difference between Hispanic and Latino and Chicano and Tejano? Can I use the word "coconut" in my paper?
  • I'm not Black. I'm French.
  • OK, I get it. The reason the commissioner/city council/constable doesn't listen is because our people don't have money.
  • Damn.
  • When are grades posted?
Habermas, in Structural Transformation of the Bourgeois Public Sphere says clearly (most usable for first year students):
The bourgeois public sphere may be conceived above all as the sphere of private people come together as a public (27).
 In fishbowl today, I had seven students (3 talkers, 4 non-talkers; didn't make me happy to see non-talkers) discuss their specific issues using the vocabulary and theory of Habermas, contrasting the 18th century ideal with the 21st century reality. Their frustration was evident as they noted how class and ethnicity is reflected in Texan/American politics. As part of their discussion preparation, I asked the small groups to discuss, based on the ideal of the First Amendment, when should speech not be permitted in the public sphere? The initial reaction was that speech is sacred (my words) and that it should always be permitted. That's fine; that's noble; that's American; that's what they've been taught all their lives. That's what schools and the mass media do -- they enshrine the appearance of freedom without critically examining whether we are in fact free or not.

But I had them in my snare (I do that; I snare students; I get paid to do so). I interrupted the fishbowl and asked how the public sphere is formed. ... crickets ... and it took a few seconds to remind them that the public sphere is compose of "informed, rational discourse" and that if someone comes without being informed or without being rational, then that is not a public sphere according to Habermas. The confusion was palpable.

Thus, I bring in my surrogate, John Oliver:

Something not quite hell broke loose.

A student who I love and respect argued that we can't always know when one is being rational, for example. Just as knowledge has changed over the years -- that scientific theories have been overturned -- then similarly we cannot always been certain if the information we bring to the table is in fact rational. I replied by asking the class how we exercise "reason," and again, even though this has been discussed, no one could identify induction and deduction as the primary actions of rational thought. The student, one of those brave souls who actually thinks on his own, was essentially countering that all voices must be considered in a discussion so that all positions can be examined; that the irrational voices will be overturned by the voices of reason. But when I gave historical examples of just the opposite -- when irrational voices ruled society, such as when they advocate for slavery, or disenfranchisement of women -- this is precisely opposite of "informed, rational discourse." Specifically, I asked who in the room would advocate for slavery today, of course no hands were raised. But when I reminded them that there are voices today, even as recently and popularly as Cliven Bundy who argue that "Negroes" are better off as slaves, the point seemed to get across. Or at least the silence meant that they needed more time to think of a lively response.

I was standing on top of a table during this exchange, by the way. Not quite Robin Williams, but it had an effect, at least on this author.

And yes, I could have made the discussion more complex by addressing cultural bias in western thought, a la Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions, but that's a discussion for another day.

It's not a revolution. It's a class. And some students get it, and some students get through it. I don't believe in the savior metaphor of education. I once had a vision-challenged date with a woman who was enthralled that I was a middle school teacher at the time; her eyes turned to Lake Windermere when she thought that I was saving these poor children's lives. I explained as best I could that that's not how I saw it -- it wasn't my job to save lives. It was my job to teach as best as I could, to show children how to learn. But that's not the same as changing a life; in the end, it's just a job. Similarly, in this summer session, students will go, they'll forget thesis statements and transition strategies and critical writing skills; at least they'll know who their county commissioner is, I suppose. But in the end, it's just a class. Habermas's foretelling of the 20th century have all come to pass and the worst predictions are yet to be fulfilled.

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