In the modern surrounding, "Prisoners who see only the shadows on the cave wall" can be understood as related to media control by the centers of power. I believe that this is what Martin Luther King was referring to.

I read an interesting note about the intellectual elitism in one of the Albert Ellis's books: we consider horrible to call someone a "nigger" or a "cripple" or "poor". On the other side, calling someone an "idiot" or a "fool" is much more socially acceptable.

"If workers are expected to be productive, we need them to see what they are doing and understand its importance." - There is a saying that a "NASA" janitor, when asked what does he do, replyed with "I'm helping people get to the moon".

I'm glad I've bumped into your post as we seem to like similar topics, I've followed you.

Cheers!