THE CADRE, TUES., FEB. 26?'1974'Page~za

Each and every aspect of social existence is determ— ined by the dominant mode of thought, which mode is, of course, that of the dom— inant class. In our case the leading class is the bour— geois —- the political lea- ders, economic elite, chur— ch elite, professors and te— achers -— indedd all who le- ad whether they be bureau— crats or church leaders.

In the economic sphere, fie leaders are those who own the property and means of production. As a result th- ey determine the leadership of the other elitist groups. Most significant is their influence on the political leaders who weild the admin- istrative power, which pow— er is used inevitably for the interests of the econo— mic elite. Through the pol? itical sphere, the economic elite dominate all other spheres of social existence. Prince Edward Island is ru— led therefore by the bour— geois-economic policies of this elitist group, the cap— italists. .

My intent is not however, to give a critique of P.E.I. eConomy: my purpose ls to point out the subtle, but certain ways by which this dominant mode of thought 18 propagated by the means of foe example, UPEI Senate.

Senate is guided by very . definite, formal rules. This ' ' -lf i_ a means for

“Do you reallze,,vggr;g man, what C-minus can mean in terms of lifetime earnings?” ,

ditorial .

t... Subtlety et Deceit

perpetuating bourgeois tho- ught since it is set up and designed by the bourgeOis & 'for the bourgeois. "One must conform to procedure" -— their procedure, or risk being out of order. This al— so facilitates objectivity - a necessary condition to en- able one man to deny another man his humanness or ident— ity. It makes it very easy to treat men as objects —- typical of the bourgeois. This is proven by the dismy other senators express if one speaks as a.man for men. To speak of truth, freedom, oppression and liberation fills them with horror for these notions do not fit in- to "formal procedure" -- they are human—centered and, thus, foreign to senate. There are twice as many faculty (oppressor) as there

are students (oppressed). This is an important point for two reasons:

l)_it ensures that faculty will have their own way by

’numerical superiority, and:

2) it subtly reveals that argument will not be persua— SlVe by students because

of 1 above: students may argue stronger than faculty and, if reason prevails, the student will force faculty to adhere to their needs. However, faculty are not concerned with student needs -- they are concerned only with their own needs -- th—

I

erefore, it is necessary to

resort to vote which will permit faculty inclination to reign supreme and, thus, win their way.

This is very frustrating for students. No matter how right you may be, faculty, due to their numerical sup— eriority can defeat us by vote. Voting procedures therefore protect faculty and, hence, maintain the ex- isting bourgeois state of affairs.

What-is further revealed is the non—respect for hon- esty, truth and justice.

The very way in which senate is structured is proof pos- itive that argument and re- ason are in the service of faculty interests. A student may talk for a few minutes revealing very penetratingly the discrepancies which ex- ist, but when he finishes there is a momentary lull where no—one says anything: after the lull, some faculty member will begin to dis— cuss something not related to the student's words at all! He gets denied! Stu- dents are overlooked. But after a faculty member fin- ishes talking, there is a hum of verbal activity -— because he is talking 39 faculty, £9; them.

The conspiracy is subtle & manifests itself in the sm- allest details. It's work — though dishonest —.is ingen- ious in perpetrating and maintaining the existing. bourgeois world. -

There are the "nit-pickers." Bob Ellison and Harry Love are experts at this -— they're not the only ones

but they are the most effec- tive. What most character- izes the nit—picker is that he is relentless, and conc- entrates on the smallest,I most insignificant details.

They are effective by "wear- ing senate down" until they win.their~point. Their poi— nt is not honestly won, mind you: they get us so tired, bored and disgusted that

“we're only too happy to con—

cede! An incompetent mind will resort to this practice.

(small minds cannot see be- yond details)

There is also the "author- itarian". This fellow uses the form of authority —- but he has no content. For example, he uses a very re— strained voice, calculated to sound authoritarian. He is also very formal and at home with "proper procedure". He is detached and uncon- cerned even when he uses such terms as"concern","pro-

per", "desireable", "justice"

etc. However, when you ex- amine the content of his re-

Bit. pg. 7