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I’m not sure where to put this next lesson. It kind of fits into every chapter in my life as a social reformer. Maybe I should have said it at the beginning and repeated it after each vignette? The lesson is about learning what we’re dealing with before we try to fix it.
What do I know about Egypt? And what's "Kefaya?"
When I started the school and when I started experimenting with alternate lifestyles, I was arrogant enough to think I knew what I was doing. The truth is, though, that I hadn’t even the slightest idea why some people oppress others.
One of the rocks that my shaky ship hit was women’s oppression. Why do men oppress women? Why do women make less money? Why do they generally have to depend on the favors of men? Why do they have to spend a large part of their incomes and precious time on hairdos and cosmetics? Why do they have to torture themselves with high heels? Why do they have to shave their armpits?
I think I can answer those questions now, at least in a formalistic way, but I certainly couldn’t have then. In fact, I had never even asked them.
There I was, dear friends, opposing monogamous marriages and socially sanctioned behaviors with all my heart, without a clue as to why things were the way they were! Not only did I not know the answers, or even the questions, but I had no idea who to ask. As far as I knew, and this seemed to be born out in the many discussions and interviews I conducted and were conducted on me, nobody else had a clue either.
It was of course the same with schools -- the one area where I ideologically ruled. I was hell-bent on changing the way schools operated, but I had no understanding of why they operate the way they do. I rejected, rightly, the official explanation that society operated the way it does because it yields the most benefit achievable for the most people.
Desperate as I was when the school ended, I wasn't giving up on social change. I decided to quit throwing myself bodily against the problem and start trying to understand it.
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