I am talking about a different species of ignorance and anti-intellectualism. Illiterate in this instance refers to the inability on the part of much of the American public to grasp private troubles and the meaning of the self in relation to larger public problems and social relations.

one that subverts both critical thinking and the notion of literacy as both critical interpretation and the possibility of intervention in the world

a principle for glorifying the principle of self-interest as a paradigm for understanding politics

we have moved from a culture of questioning to a culture of shouting

only viable way to define ourselves is to shop and consume in an orgy of private pursuits

civic illiteracy in which it becomes increasingly impossible to connect the everyday problems that people face with larger social forces

distinction between illusion and reality is lost

the language of the social is either devalued, pathologized or ignored, and all dreams of the future are now modeled around the narcissistic, privatized and self-indulgent needs of consumer and celebrity culture and the dictates of the alleged free market.

Civic literacy is about more than enlarging the realm of critique and affirming the social; it is also about public responsibility, the struggle over democratic public life and the importance of critical education in a democratic society.