“Without an education there is no real democracy.” Serj Tankian
In the context of a video game, a tutorial is: “a level that teaches players the rules and controls of the game. Some tutorials are integrated into the game itself, while others are completely separate and optional. As explained by Wikipedia.
What I take from this way of thinking is I can be taught how to play out the gate or I can learn how to play out the gate. Now what if the rules of the game changed and you skipped the tutorial (pretend with me here) but for some unforeseen reason there was no way to get it back and watch. You didn’t realize this at the time but things that aren’t your fault are often the things held against you the most.
With these rules, consider on a Playstation controller, the ‘x’ button is often the action button. If it then becomes the ‘O’ where often that button is used to go back, this could not just cause confusion but even lead to an in game death if you needed an action at a critical moment
Now what if these rules not only change, but you’re playing something beyond difficult like Dark Souls. You didn’t realize it but you randomly walk into a dark room, limited to no visibility, and there are three skeletal giants. If you die because you can’t see them, it is not just understandable, but also your fault and massively held against you.
Now consider that, today, politics rules all. Politicians decide your city ordinance. Say they decide they want to arrest anyone who plays music above 70 decibels. For no reason. They announce it but its on the news, maybe it gets sent in the mail, but you don’t often watch T.V. nor read the mail. You, going about your business, can become criminalized.
Imagine now, you are robbed of your tutorial, the “optional” choice was decided for you. That way it wasn’t integrated into your education. This way you have to adapt as the rules change but no one really telling you how.
Let me see if I can explain my rationale here. Let’s say, in ‘America, the Video Game’, the startup screen flashes through critical information much like that of a Star Wars movie. That critical information is some approximation of the philosophy of Meritocracy. That is, you rise to your merit. You rise to your worth. If you are poor, it is your fault and based on your bad decisions. If you’re broke, it’s your fault. Even if being bankrupt is due to cancer, what kind of terrible person allows themselves to get cancer?
But wait, cancer isn’t my fault you might say. “Die in a fire or give us six digits in medical bills” is effectively their reply. You are now in a position, where that which is not your fault is held against you at maximum penalty. You didn’t know? “Suck to suck” is the canned reply.
You lost your house because the banks committed fraud then stole it? “Sucks to suck”. You work 40 hours on your feet but get paid starvation wages? “Sucks to suck”. Your kid can’t get an education outside of a school to prison pipeline factory of a school? “Sucks to suck”.
And now, we have ourselves, the American government system that is what it is because regular people talk themselves out of running for office themselves.
“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” – Plato
