Can you think of a better reader of our Preamble than Captain Kirk? As I was watching this clip not a better person came to mind. The scene the viewer is presented with is quite a juxtaposition: something old like the Preamble to the constitution being read on a futuristic spacecraft. I confess I am not a big Star Trek fan, but I’d imagine scenes like this are common.
At the end of this clip something caught my attention. When Captain Kirk finishes his glorious reading of the Preamble he asks if the caveman, understands. The caveman timidly responds, “I don’t not fully understand… But the holy words will be obeyed, I swear it,” and then the music is all cheery and the clip ends. With that exchange in mind, I couldn’t help but wonder how many Americans are in that caveman’s position of not understanding, but obeying the Preamble and the rest of the constitution for that matter.
When I heard this, I was reminded of an infamous social psychology experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram in the early 60s. Milgram was trying to see if people would obey an authoritative figure even if it meant killing someone else. In a nutshell, the vast majority of the individuals delivered a more than “lethal” shock of 450 volts!
Thus, the participants in the Milgram Experiment and the caveman all shared something in common: they obeyed an authoritative figure without question. As it applies to the constitution this could mean that people are reading or told about the constitution without thinking critically about or understanding it. To me this is crazy. If you got a TV, for example, wouldn’t you read the instructions to see all the features it had? Of course you would. The question then becomes why should our constitution be any different? I don’t think it should be made a law, but I do think American citizens owe it to themselves to be somewhat familiar with the instruction manual that is the constitution.
By using Amar to provide us with a sound understanding of the document, and Sabato to stoke the fire to get us thinking of those ever important “why this and not that” questions, we are moving in the right direction, but there is still more that we can and should do.
As people familiar with the document, we should encourage others to explore and think critically about its meaning. Maybe if we read and understand the Preamble and “the words that follow” in the constitution we can gain a deeper appreciation for our country and, as the Vulcans would say, “live long and prosper”.
Kirk is as eloquent as Amar about the Preamble.
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Can you think of a better reader of our Preamble than Captain Kirk? As I was watching this clip not a better person came to mind. The scene the viewer is presented with is quite a juxtaposition: something old like the Preamble to the constitution being read on a futuristic spacecraft. I confess I am not a big Star Trek fan, but I’d imagine scenes like this are common.
At the end of this clip something caught my attention. When Captain Kirk finishes his glorious reading of the Preamble he asks if the caveman, understands. The caveman timidly responds, “I don’t not fully understand… But the holy words will be obeyed, I swear it,” and then the music is all cheery and the clip ends. With that exchange in mind, I couldn’t help but wonder how many Americans are in that caveman’s position of not understanding, but obeying the Preamble and the rest of the constitution for that matter.
When I heard this, I was reminded of an infamous social psychology experiment conducted by Stanley Milgram in the early 60s. Milgram was trying to see if people would obey an authoritative figure even if it meant killing someone else. In a nutshell, the vast majority of the individuals delivered a more than “lethal” shock of 450 volts!
Thus, the participants in the Milgram Experiment and the caveman all shared something in common: they obeyed an authoritative figure without question. As it applies to the constitution this could mean that people are reading or told about the constitution without thinking critically about or understanding it. To me this is crazy. If you got a TV, for example, wouldn’t you read the instructions to see all the features it had? Of course you would. The question then becomes why should our constitution be any different? I don’t think it should be made a law, but I do think American citizens owe it to themselves to be somewhat familiar with the instruction manual that is the constitution.
By using Amar to provide us with a sound understanding of the document, and Sabato to stoke the fire to get us thinking of those ever important “why this and not that” questions, we are moving in the right direction, but there is still more that we can and should do.
As people familiar with the document, we should encourage others to explore and think critically about its meaning. Maybe if we read and understand the Preamble and “the words that follow” in the constitution we can gain a deeper appreciation for our country and, as the Vulcans would say, “live long and prosper”.
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