Here are three books recommended by John Taylor Gatto. You can skip to 1:41:14 to hear his quick summary of the three books after a question about Ayn Rand and Liberterians. This is taken from a CSPAN lecture, “Examples of Educated People.”
“Do I draw philisophic strength from writing? Absolutely! That’s one of the things we disconnect kids from in school. If any you in school had read; let me just pick out three books at random.
- Julius Ceaser’s Gallic War: You would have understood, as long as the school had helped you a little bit. You would’ve understood how a small force can take a larger, more potent force, and divide it against itself. And win the battle because the stronger force is busy argueing among themselves. That’s what you would’ve learned from Ceaser’s Gallic Wars.
- Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations: If you ever read Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations, which we were compelled to read in 7th grade. I’m grateful for it. That was during the second World War, before the school really went down the toilet. What it really shows you is. The single wealthiest man on the whole planet and the single most powerful man on the whole planet, says flately that nothing buy with money or order with power is worth having. I can hug him for that.
- Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan: And finally Thomas Hobbes in the middle of the 17th century spelled out how a monarch can keep a leviathan state together. That’s the name of the book, Leviathan. It’s very easy to read. And you see something that still sophisticated people are unable to understand. What Hobbes said is, wherever power seems to be, it is never there. Not seldom there, it’s never there! Where power seems to be is the front or the mouth piece, the flag catcher for the real power. I tell you it’s a mighty, a potent idea to roll around in your head and test against the George Bush’s of the world or anyone else. Really! So books should produce, and people spend years distilling one insight. But schools dont‘ teach books that way. It’s a good story, it’s a bad story. Here are a few details to pass the test.“
This is a little different to what I would normally translate, but sociological topics such as 3rd wave feminism and the prevalence of pornography in Western countries are important to deliberate. Russia’s Dr. Oleg Torsunov would be considered as highly ‘conservative’ in Western liberal spheres, however it is difficult to outright discard the points he makes as untrue. After all, while education for girls all over the world is a basic human right, the Rockefellers had admitted that the women’s movement was not as much about women’s liberation, but about being able to “tax the other half of the population.” So, how much of the ‘liberated’ women, especially in Western countries, are truly happy – having been absolved of the requirement to be mothers and wives, in order to be able to make a dignified living. While some women truly make this independent decision, many are also influenced by pop culture and societal pressures. Similarly, masculinity is often judged by the degree of promiscuity that a man partakes in; whereas such over indulgence can lead to degradation of a man’s character. Similarly, the easy availability of pornography on the internet leads some men to believe that a line not need be drawn at all. What do you think?
