Break Free 

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Gloria Jean Watkins—known better as bell hooks—was America's most influential feminist, educator and modern writer. She passed away last week, and you wouldn't even know it happened. The mass media—which she explicitly cast down in her work—does not care to honor a woman who dedicated her entire life to feminism, education and love. It is in their best interest to forget people who are examples of integrity, because when we are miserable—or better yet, broken—we are that much easier to profit from.

Substance abuse is beginning to take forms beyond the traditional senses, and one could argue that mass media is an effective and far-reaching "drug," one that hides in plain sight. Why is this the case? Why does every single one of us have an increasing need to stay connected, to admire others, to experience the un-experienced and to fill our lives with things that make us feel happy? Well, the thing is, if you were to read such powerful literature as that which is written by bell hooks—if you were to experience the writer's thoughts as your own, allowing you to change the way you think and speak—you would be one less customer.

Mass media preys on the fact that, as a society, we are bleeding internally. We have wounds that reach far and deep to the core of the very fabric of our first flags. When wounds do not heal, infections flare and creep into our stream of thought. To heal these wounds, we distract ourselves from pain and carry on. We are taught to "carry on." To do anything different, to move outside of our comfort zone, is forbidden. And so, we carry on through patriarchal methods. Mass media prays that we stay ignorant and divided.

Still, the question remains: Why do we need to have some much—in order to be? From childhood, we are melted down through a patriarchal education, then hammered down through corporate wage-slavery. We are taught to treat knowledge from authorities with the utmost respect and that creativity should be met with resistance.

This drudgery of education, which exhausts most—and many will say, after graduating, is barely worth it—constantly reinforces the patriarchy. The values of our education system are timeliness, accuracy, obedience and "within-the-lines" thinking. Students are treated as objects and do nothing but absorb the predetermined "deposits" from their professors. They then do their best to withdraw this education, during stressful "tests," to prove their worth.

It is an education that, quite honestly, is not worth preserving. Maybe there's a place for it in a future museum, to be provided as an example of compartmentalization and militarism, which students can gasp at in horror. Only then can it serve a worthy purpose.

Next to this monument of the "old ways" should be a statue of bell hooks, the powerful figure I write about, to exemplify the beginnings of praxis—one of a unique pedagogy that loves, liberates, inspires and transgresses far from the current patriarchy. When we see nothing but an onslaught of those who are ahead of us—more educated than us, more paid than us, more positioned than us—then we start to idolize them and alienate ourselves.

That is where we are in our current society. Everyone is alienated. Some alienate with others, to varying degrees, but it is nonetheless digressive. We fixate on how we become a better version of our current selves—one with less responsibility, less chores, less to-dos—and it leaves us with a society that cannot truly transform the world.

We treat work as a safe place to "disconnect" ourselves, where we do not need to genuinely think, where we daydream of when it will finally end. We use monetization from that work to buy things that make us feel happy, but they can never bring happiness. That is why, across all class levels, we cannot stop procuring "deposits." We are desperately trying to heal serious wounds with consumption—any other type of distraction—and we are finding that patriarchy is not cracked up to what has been promised.

The "American dream" no longer exists for everyone and, surprisingly, it has an impact on a multitude of people (the benefit of the internet is the massive information share). These failures dampen productivity, happiness and transformation. With only band-aid solutions, we are at risk of becoming a stuck society—one that Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire might say is succumbing to "assistencialism" (where recipients are treated as passive objects) and massification. Such solutions are unlikely to heal our wounds.

It's hardly possible to summarize the work of such a respectable and inspiring figure as bell hooks in a column. To do so is a feeble attempt to honor the passing of a trailblazer. However, her work can be highlighted and given credit to, which will hopefully prompt others to read it. Doing so is to begin to understand love and genuine education.

When I read bell hooks, I can hardly fathom how her work penetrates every aspect of life while providing captivating and loving insights. I am grateful for her work, as we all shoud be. I hope to possess a fraction of the character that she has exhibited.

We all could use more bell hooks in our life, rather than the negative attention-craving mass media. To empower and free ourselves to be human, we could transform our world through education, commitment and emotional development. When we commit to this education—and not in a gradual manner that only benefits those in power—we can look forward to building a healing society, one that values creativity, reconciliation and spaces where people can feel true love.

Private Eye is off this week. Chandler Peterson resides in Clearfield. Send feedback to @Chandlahpete on Twitter.