PERSPECTIVErnThe Illusions of Democracyrnby Thomas FlemingrnWe live by our opinions. While other people’s opinionsrnare called illusions, if they pose no threat to our interests,rnand prejudices if they do, wc call our own opinions “truth”rnor principles, if we are fools: “the most positive men are thernmost credulous,” as Pope observed, probably having scientistsrnin mind. If we are more cautious, we prefer to speak of theoriesrnand hypotheses. However, most theories are—so far as we arcrnconcerned—mere opinions about which we know virtuallyrnnothing. We think that a roughly spherical earth orbits aroundrnthe sun, but how many of us would know how to go about testingrnsuch a theory? I am told that sailors who navigate by thernstars are still operating according to the Ptolemaic theory,rnwhich is more convenient, and for most of us the sun still appearsrnto rise in the east and set in the west. The theory of humorsrnlies buried just beneath the surface of everyday conversationrnabout character, while the various schools of psychologyrnhave contributed little more than a few misunderstood clichesrnabout complexes.rnWe laugh at the superstitions of peasants who believe thatrncopulating in the field ensures fertility, but peasants are lessrnsubject, than civilized men, to illusions. The peasant, like thernsailor and the hunter, is forever rubbing up against the brutalityrnof nature, whose ways he has to observe, if he is to survive.rnHis head may be filled with magical and religious nonsense, butrnhe is a hardheaded realist who can read the seasons in thernconstellations and the flights of birds. He may, upoir arising,rnsmooth out the wrinkles from his bed to preent a witch fromrnworking magic on the impression he has left, but he knowsrnwhich herbs will cure a headache and which will poison hisrnneighbor’s goat.rnWe, on the other hand, live in a world of fantasies, some ofrnwhich ha’e a scientific validity that makes technology possible,rnwhile others are more ludicrous and less satisfying than sympatheticrnmagic. The peasant teaches his children the facts andrnhabits that will be necessary to their survival: how to speak theirrnlanguage and tell a story, how to make an arrow or a broom,rnwhat deeds won ancestors their glory and what brought themrninto disgrace. We, however, send our children to a schoolrnwhere they are taught theories of English grammar, theories ofrnliterary interpretation (New Criticism, Reader Response, feministrninterpretation—it is all the same), and scientific theoriesrnthey will never understand, much less apply. If they are toldrnanything about their ancestors, it will only be to vilify them as arnset of racist brutes who have made this earth a hell for women,rnchildren, and every color in the ethnic rainbow.rnMany theories are practically harmless: what difference doesrnit make if wc are wrong about phlogiston or quantum mechanics?rnBut many of them have the effect of clouding our minds,rnof blocking reality, of damaging our capacity to live in the worldrneffectively. Grammatical theories, for example, as taught inrn8/CHRONICLESrnrnrn