Illegeracy is a term which was created by a professor of English at UCLA. The most basic definition of illegeracy is the inability to choose pertaining to law and public acts. The simplest way to think about this term is to consider alliteracy which occurs when a person has the ability to read but chooses not to, as opposed to illiteracy meaning that a person lacks the ability to read completely.
"The fuel of democracy is information." -Thomas Jefferson.
The cause of illegeracy is a simultaneous failure of the media and education systems. The media systems" primary purpose should be to inform the public; however, the media corporations now focus on entertaining for profit. Education, as many people have agreed, isn't up to par either. Many school districts are ignored or in need of improvement, while the students of those districts suffer from a lack of education and needed information. Imagine the loss of information to be a loss of fuel. In many instances, the precious fuel needed to achieve and obtain a democracy is running low, or is at times, nonexistent due to the inadequate amount of information.
There are four characteristics of illegeracy. The first is cultural confusion, which is the inability to make sense of one's cultural situation. The second is the neglect of the person to see the conditions of life as open to choice. The third is a relinquishment of one's political power as a citizen to contribute to the direction of society. This is known as "exiting the system". The fourth and final characteristic is an association of apathy and cynicism. Apathy is a political posture in which a person is indifferent towards the political process. This feeling of submissiveness leads to cynicism, which is the belief that ALL people are motivated by self-interest and gain.
The consequences of illegeracy are many. The first of six is political avoidance. This is the idea that politics is tainted and evil, something which, if you believe in the afterlife, is joked about as being a one-way ticket to hell.
