Education = Freedom

I was a bookworm for the majority of my formative years. I read anything and everything around me. It really helped that my parents gifted me with pictured encyclopedia and literature collections (translated into Japanese).

When I became a teenager, my reading frenzy took me to social commentaries. I read books that gave me a glimpse of how the world really worked, beyond the veil of invisible instructions on the wall and forbidden topics. My English skills were not up to par, and I did not have the freedom to travel anywhere, plus it was years before the proliferation of Internet, so I stuck with Japanese books, trying to “read between the lines” about the truth of the world we live in. Actually, for me, it was about the Japanese society, which was like reading books about the ocean written by fish.

In such a wild west where I did not even have a rudimentary compass to navigate, weeding out good information from the bad ones took most of my effort. Misinformation by ignorant authors and disinformation by ill-intended writers were rampant, just like today’s cybersphere. But I kept reading. I needed to, because my life was on the line. I knew I had to find a place, somewhere not here, that I could finally live, or more likely, stop being dead.

These days, especially in the last several months, I am finding myself repeating those days. Paper books are taken over by video clips and scrolling texts, but the urge is the same. I need to learn what is going on, in order to survive. I am not exactly learning how to create fire or collect rainwater or plant fruits (which I admit are vital skill we all need to master), but I am morbidly interested in examining how the current world materialized.

I thought I would need to dig into something far larger than I could bite, but to my surprise, I am finding quality information relatively easily. Even with the rampant censorship and misguiding algorithms, I see people wanting to educate themselves beyond the 7 habits of networking and such, schemes to advance ourselves on the platform we live. People are eager to learn about the platform itself.

Therefore, I notice another difference from the previous reading period. I do not feel alone or crazy. I feel kinship, and I feel sane. I feel less guilty when I fixate on the screen.

Obviously, there is a big question mark and a warning signal here: Am I just deluding myself in a conspiracy community? For this, I have a reminder that hopefully allows me to understand deeper, but also to not fall into false conclusions: I learn to broaden myself into the world. It is just like when I was reading books for my survival. Ultimately, what I wanted was freedom, although I did not know it at that time. This time, I know. I will not cage myself into a false narrative to sedate myself.

Will I succeed? We will see.