Syntax One

Wovoka See-La-Cumm

Red Cedar

Syntax One

26 January 2026

Reflecting on the opening chapters of Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 50th anniversary edition, and Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. bell hooks is a revolutionary. Shes like Tupac Shakur and Kendrick Lamar rolled into one intelligent woman. If she were a music genre, she would be Gangster Rap. hooks brings a fresh take on the feelings we all share and can translate them into simple, accessible terms for the reader. She meets the listener on their level without talking down to them. What makes hooks a revolutionary is her insistence on spreading hope and love, which seems to be a strong strategy against the racist, white supremacist patriarchal colonial mindset.

The first thing I notice about hooks is the question to self: "Will people want to read this?" bell hooks seems to be a self-identified black woman, and in creating this body of work begins the cycle of oppressor versus oppressed in the imperial hegemonic postmodern capitalist patriarchal colonial indoctrination education system, yet in questioning oneself in this manner is to ask “Do you fear freedom?” hooks is very aware of her role in this cycle of war for humanity's consciousness. Having written so many books on the subject and lectured around the country and globe, hooks mirrors the pedagogy used to objectify and enducoronate the oppressed. bell hooks, as with so many others, knew that the oppressed need a reckoning. hooks question herself, but maybe it was deeper than that. What she was asking was whether she could take the finished product out into the world to interact with, and put her mind, body, and spirit in vulnerable situations to unveil the truth about the imperial hegemonic postmodern capitalist patriarchal colonial indoctrination education system. The F.B.I., C.I.A., and U.S. government have a long history of silencing outspoken individuals. “When we hide our light, we collude in the overall cultural devaluation of our teaching position.” bell hooks, page xi.

Looking at Freire’s work Pedagogy of the Oppressed, on page 15 of the Introduction, Donaldo Macedo quotes Freire stating, “I refuse, why not accept this term? I do not have to accept stress, but I have. Why do you not accept conscientização?” Macedo

stated quoting Freire.

Continuing with hooks' work, she emphasizes the importance of language in the transmission of knowledge. hooks explains on page xii how the academization of feminism made the transfer of ideology difficult due to inaccessible language and academic jargon, and how the everyday working person has difficulty getting through dense texts full of arcane academic jargon. Generally, the use of Slavic words makes things more accessible to a broader audience. where Latin, Greek, and “French” words are used more by the upper class. “Concurrently, I have completed a body of popular writing that speaks to many different people at the level of their diverse learning skills. . . Indeed, we can do work that can be shared with everyone,” bell hooks xii.

Freire and hooks battle with conscientization of their work adds a compelling narrative to their work and speaks to the difficulty of unshackling the chains of oppression. In the oppressed versus oppressor, the downtrodden must fight fire with fire, but do they wish to elevate the level of violence and vitriol imposed on the oppressor in relation to that which the oppressor expressed on the oppressed? Freire continues to state that the oppressed must rehumanizes the oppressor. Exploring the topic might suggest that this is to instill the wrongs of dehumanizing individuals.

Both of these books operate in the hegemonic white supremacist colonization systems of indoctrination and require a certain amount of knowledge about indoctrination techniques. Freire proposes that individuals fear freedom, and he does not consider that the oppressed are too busy keeping the hamster wheel turning; that the mass public has become slaves of technology, that attention and consumerism rule time and space. America is the world of entertainment. It will take millions of bell hooks type teachers to create the change we need. Children spend soo much time at schooling in the indoctrination  system during the most important time of learning. I have a lot of contempt for the higher education system. From its roots in brainwashing indoctrination, to Alan Sokal and french comedians Bogdanof twins making a mockery of PhD students who truly try. On a basic level, humans know the difference between right and wrong, yet indoctrination invades individuals' personal space at every opportunity through all forms of technology at all times. Humans see oppression and humans do not know how to act, or react to it. Humans feel the wrongs of the oppression, yet can not put words to it. For me finding the path to the reality of freedom out of the illusion of freedom can not be found in the classroom.

Works Cited

BobbyBroccoli. “The Bogdanoffs: The Trolls Who Shook Physics.” YouTube, 12 May 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O1QA1VoRMM. Accessed 14 Apr. 2025.

---. “The Twins Who Terrorized Physicists with a Sock Puppet Army.” YouTube, 17 Oct. 2021, www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGVjfksIqUk. Accessed 26 Jan. 2026.

Freire, Paulo. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Bloomsbury Academic, 1970.

Hooks, Bell. Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope. Routledge, 2003.