Reclaiming the Feminine Voice in American Transcendentalism

Naoko Saito
2020 Philosophy of Education  
In his film Fahrenheit 119, Michael Moore provides a trenchant critique of contemporary politics in the United States, as epitomized by the election of Donald Trump as president. 1 Beginning with the unexpected defeat of Hilary Clinton in the election of 2016, the film is not simply a criticism of Trump; rather, it describes how the silenced voices of people, their frustration, their distrust of politicians-both Republican and Democrat, on the right and on the left-have contributed to the
more » ... on of Trump. Behind its apparently "just" political slogans, democracy always harbors injustice. Democracy as a political system never guarantees democracy at the level of people's daily lives. It is fragile, always on the verge of destruction. The film illustrates this with vivid images of angered underpaid teachers, of the despair of people in Flint, Michigan, now poisoned by toxic water, and of the grief and outrage of young students over the gunning down of a fellow student. Such negative political emotions of fear, anxiety, and hate and the sense of deep divides stir beneath sanitized political discourse. At the same time, the film depicts the way in which the voices of grassroots activists provide hope for change. It is a reminder that the resources for healthy democracy are to be found in the voice of the people-voices that are so often at present marginalized, silenced, or rendered inaudible-and that democracy must always be resuscitated from within the spirit of the people, and, hence, criticized from within. As one of the historians in the film comments, democracy is always on the way, still to come. This reminds us of John Dewey's idea that democracy is both an ideal and a fact-created and recreated in people's daily lives. In the midst of tension and hostility, we human beings can be open,
doi:10.47925/76.1.134 fatcat:rviyv7q2lvh2vhod7zdydmz3kq