The other post was supposed to include this, but I liked that last paragraph so much I decided to end it there. 
Anyhow, regarding how reality and “authority” intersect, one of my peeves is when people expect others to blindly follow direction. I can say much to people who choose to do so; while they bug the hell out of me, I realize now that I don’t have enough energy to be bothered by them. However, I can muster a lot of rage against people who encourage and/or enforce such behavior.
Unfortunately, I feel like people who choose to follow something blindly are also the ones who take on roles where they become enforcers. I am sure there is a whole lot of literature about that, so moving on…
I like to question things. It is both practical and cathartic. It is practical, in that in understanding why things are and being exposed to a wider breadth of knowledge, I become a person more prepared to deal with reality (I mean, having an accurate depiction of the thing you have to deal with is a good idea, ne?). It is cathartic in that either my individual instance, or what I believe to be more likely, my species, is wired to solve problems and has all kinds of complex emotional systems that support that agenda.
So, I can’t figure out why we make children raise their hand in school.
I mean, I get it at one level, we don’t want a bunch of kids screaming to be heard over each other (though that is what sells political punditry). But the whole thing seems so trite. And it just gets worse from grade school. We enforce this behavior until junior adulthood, and then we polarize situations into two categories: one where it is encouraged (certain work environments), and another where it is mocked (nearly everywhere else).
There are, of course, perfect good reasons to raise one’s hand, like at a restaurant* or press conference. You know, to get someone’s attention. And I think that is the truth that we don’t like to tell anyone, especially children: we don’t have enough attention to go around, so you are going to have to queue.
I am not alone is viewing schools as childcare-replacement prisons. Ken Robinson pointed out that we have a fast-food model of education, and I think that is a useful way to assess the current situation. Ken is a great person, because ze is looking for an accurate depiction of the reality of education.
This kind of questioning assumptions comes up for me in a lot of places. My head gets it, but my heart doesn’t understand US foreign policy. I don’t understand why the Berkeley Bowl insists I hold a receipt if I choose to not take a bag. I don’t understand why people are satiated with faux security methods, at the cost of civil rights (or just plain personal space [oh, I am going to rant about airport pat downs some day!]). I feel that none of the practices or discussions that revolve around these things are accurately depicting reality.
And that leaves me out.