So Walker has no interest in seeing the inside of any of the state facilities where record-breaking numbers of citizens are incarcerated at the cost of a billion taxpayer dollars a year, and where thousands of state citizens work in a system where he's at the top of the organization chart.
Is there another state bureaucracy which he has never visited?
I don't think the main Walker keeps his distance is because felons can't vote. Or that he believes he has nothing in common with inmates, or their families, or the totality of experiences and realities which lead inmates to prison.
I'm sure some of that helps keep Walker in his bubble.
But what I think is really disturbing about his frankly odd intransigence on this issue, a stance he presumes has some kind of merit or value to it, some virtue attached that would resonate with someone, anyone who might say, 'Yeah, good for him; I totally support that" - - is this:
He's completely without curiosity about the institutions.
What they and everything inside - - inmate, walls, corrections officer, cells, teacher, kitchens, maintenance worker, classrooms, administrator, recreation equipment, toilets, yards, everyone, anyone anything - - looks and feels and smells and sounds like.
How could someone in his position, and with so much responsibility as a former legislator and now as Governor about who is inside as inmate or employee, and what their daily lives are like, and what their futures hold, and whether anything he has done or is doing or could be or might be done or should be done is having any positive effect on anyone or anything inside could be without a shred of curiosity significant enough for him to have a visit scheduled, then a door opened, and then...who knows?
You see, that's the heart of it. Take one step inside and a light bulb might go off and a dormant synapse might fire, and who knows what might happen next?
Having none of this basic human quality called 'curiosity' means never putting one's self into a position where one might have to change or want to change because something powerful, unexpected and real was seen, felt, absorbed and learned.
A person without curiosity is a person locked up tight and captured by fear, the kind of person who would title his autobiography "Unintimidated"- - as it that book represented a personal history worth paying to read about, let alone embrace, channel or imitate - - when his position on avoiding as Governor a single state prison tour which could be 100% sanitized and jollied-up - - absolutely screams 'Intimidated.'
A caricature of said person might function as a candidate zooming about, distracting 24/7/265 by addressing crowds of strangers, getting validation from numbers on pages of polling data and support from focus group ratings, and faking relationships with more strangers by pretending to be one of them through Twitter posts about sports and Facebook photos of beers and burgers, but a person without fundamental curiosity about the world around them and right in front of them, too, is a deficient soul separated from one's true self and the deeper depth of life and humanity.
Walker would do well to at least be curious about why he is so incurious about the nitty-gritty of the job he keeps saying he wants, let alone about what makes him tick.
Is there another state bureaucracy which he has never visited?
I don't think the main Walker keeps his distance is because felons can't vote. Or that he believes he has nothing in common with inmates, or their families, or the totality of experiences and realities which lead inmates to prison.
I'm sure some of that helps keep Walker in his bubble.
But what I think is really disturbing about his frankly odd intransigence on this issue, a stance he presumes has some kind of merit or value to it, some virtue attached that would resonate with someone, anyone who might say, 'Yeah, good for him; I totally support that" - - is this:
He's completely without curiosity about the institutions.
What they and everything inside - - inmate, walls, corrections officer, cells, teacher, kitchens, maintenance worker, classrooms, administrator, recreation equipment, toilets, yards, everyone, anyone anything - - looks and feels and smells and sounds like.
How could someone in his position, and with so much responsibility as a former legislator and now as Governor about who is inside as inmate or employee, and what their daily lives are like, and what their futures hold, and whether anything he has done or is doing or could be or might be done or should be done is having any positive effect on anyone or anything inside could be without a shred of curiosity significant enough for him to have a visit scheduled, then a door opened, and then...who knows?
You see, that's the heart of it. Take one step inside and a light bulb might go off and a dormant synapse might fire, and who knows what might happen next?
Having none of this basic human quality called 'curiosity' means never putting one's self into a position where one might have to change or want to change because something powerful, unexpected and real was seen, felt, absorbed and learned.
A person without curiosity is a person locked up tight and captured by fear, the kind of person who would title his autobiography "Unintimidated"- - as it that book represented a personal history worth paying to read about, let alone embrace, channel or imitate - - when his position on avoiding as Governor a single state prison tour which could be 100% sanitized and jollied-up - - absolutely screams 'Intimidated.'
A caricature of said person might function as a candidate zooming about, distracting 24/7/265 by addressing crowds of strangers, getting validation from numbers on pages of polling data and support from focus group ratings, and faking relationships with more strangers by pretending to be one of them through Twitter posts about sports and Facebook photos of beers and burgers, but a person without fundamental curiosity about the world around them and right in front of them, too, is a deficient soul separated from one's true self and the deeper depth of life and humanity.
Walker would do well to at least be curious about why he is so incurious about the nitty-gritty of the job he keeps saying he wants, let alone about what makes him tick.
