Transparency and ignorance

One of the issues that I would like to discuss in class is the idea of ignorance that we touched on briefly in class. Douglass’s narrative reveals a lot about the use of ignorance among slaveholders and slaves that I believe dominates the text. This is particularly interesting because at the time that this book was written, much like most of the abolitionist/anti-slavery narratives that were politically and socially motivated, slavery was accepted by many as an “okay” thing. While there were certainly people who stood up and fought for the illegality of slavery and who honestly believed that what slaveholders were doing to their slaves and the idea of possessing another person were wrong and unjustifiable, the majority of the population saw no issue with the matter. Whether they viewed slavery as a financial industry, a means of meeting the labor demands, a method of life, a natural experience, or maybe even as something that happened in the south that was so deeply fabricated into our society that their was no shot of it disappearing (the idea being that one ought to just suck it up and learn to live with it, regardless of personal feelings or political interpretations), slavery was accepted by many.

This is interesting to me for two reasons; the first being that I am extremely interested in how this novel was processed and reciprocated by the audiences of the time, and secondly because I am interested in the various ways that the slaveholders and plantation owners may have used ignorance to prolong the above mentions mentality among slaves and southerners.

During his speech on the 24^th anniversary of the emancipation of slaves in Washington D.C., Douglass said "Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe." This is a perfectly worded explanation of the main idea that I came away with after reading Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass.

While this was surely and idea that I had contemplated in regards to slavery before, what I found particularly interesting to consider was the instances in modern day where this same ignorance is applied to a body or people in order to demand compliance and obedience.

Consider, for example, the transparency of the White House (I know, I’m off topic, but I am also extremely interesting in looking into this idea of ignorance further). In his original presidential campaign President Barack Obama said that the one thing that he wanted to may absolutely certain to change in the everyday functioning’s of the White House was transparency (On a side note, in hosting and moderating our own student government elections here at Carnegie Mellon I found that both presidential candidates also talked a lot about transparency). After reaching office, the president than found himself perpetuating the White House’s nationalistic policies (basically not talking about anything ever). As Jon Stewart pointed out on his television program The Daily Show, Obama had completely abandoned the transparency initiatives that he had mentioned so frequently in his platform. Ironically enough, when the national government recognized Obama for his progress in improving government transparency the ceremony itself was closed to media, unannounced to the public, and not broadcast.

What I was wondering, and how I am intending to tie all these ideas together, is this idea of ignorance. Where is the line drawn between exclusion of fact and manipulation of truth? The majority of slaves in the south during Douglass’s time where unaware of the abolitionist movement. Those born into slavery had no idea that they even had the option to live a different live or possibly be candidates for human rights. To me, this idea is simply unfeasible and unimaginable in modern day—but what are the ways in which today’s population are being controlled under similar bylaws and methods and how does our law/government perpetuate this.