On October 8, the executive director of curriculum and instruction for the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, Texas, told a teacher to make sure to follow Texas’s new law requiring teachers to present opposing views on controversial subjects.
Perhaps we should look at Republican efforts to promote ignorance holistically, rather than piecemeal. This Texas law (and Texas is not alone) on what can and can’t be taught in public schools, is terrible. The never-ending election “audits” and promotion of the big lie, are terrible. The discrediting of medical science, the demonizing of Dr. Fauci, masks and the vaccines, the promotion of quack cures like horse dewormer, are all terrible. The constant attacks on mainstream media are terrible. The attacks on climate science are terrible. I could list many more - attacks on “the elites”, on education itself, on Black Lives Matter, etc. Each time these individual attacks happen, we focus on that specific issue - Critical Race Theory in schools, for example. Maybe we should zoom out. Considered together, these individual attacks comprise a broader attack on knowledge, on intelligence, on facts and science. Is there a document somewhere, in the Koch brothers’ file cabinets, or Roger Ailes’ credenza, or Mitch McConnell’s desk drawer, that outlines this broader strategy? It might be titled “How to build a compliant base” and it’s table of contents would have chapters like “Destroy expertise, undermine science, revise history, dismantle public education, tear down mainstream media, discredit democracy, establish a theocracy, etc.” It sure looks like Republican leaders, with their allies in “christian” fundamentalism, big business and right-wing media, are out to systematically undo the Enlightenment itself, and restore the Dark Ages.
Let’s not miss that this acquired ignorance and compliance/complicity is enriching certain people and obscuring a looming oligarchy…that increasingly believes they are chosen
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Here's what I've sent to people that want to promote this on social media and their friends and groups. If the GOP pulls this off and takes over the Congress in 2022 we won't see the sustainable energy incentives and all the things we need to address for the climate conflagration.
BY THE PEOPLE!
National Walkout on the Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts
Please consider a national walkout to show our “representatives” that they represent the People! Wednesday, noon, for one hour, every day until the Freedom to Vote law and the John Lewis Voting Rights law are signed by President Biden.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1776 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general walk-out for one hour starting Wednesday daily until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Daily. Show them the People have a voice. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. Post this in social media! It is time for the People to speak up!
On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at noon local time, stop what you're doing and just walk out. Sing "America" and other songs of your choosing. Keep it peaceful. Keep it nonpartisan. If people try to intimidate you, deescalate, don't engage, just sit down! Be what America can be and will be for all of us this time!
Hi Jeff, This is my idea. I haven't set up a website for it. Maybe should tonight. I'm calling it the BY THE PEOPLE national walkout. And social media page... It seems to be getting some interest...
Absolutely this - the connection between the new Dark Ages and who is profiting from it is the key to it all. Again, greed over all else. Greed that evokes fear and hatred. Greed to control and profit.
Yes, this is what it’s all about, and with our election laws,I/e, campaign finance, special perks for our politicians, basicly our whole corrupt political system, all designed for the benefit of the ultra wealthy, I don’t see any meaningful change on the horizon!!!
This is a familiar quote by Carl Sagan discussing the issues you raise about the dumbing down of America.
“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...
The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
The dumbing down and gradual fall of the American civilization was very well described 70 years ago by Isaac Asimov in the Foundation Trilogy. At one point the level of education had fallen so low, that they were unable to maintain the machinery left to them by their forefathers. They fell from the height of scientific endeavors and culture to the brutal depths of frequent wars and primitive living. Hopefully it was just a novel.
I'd begin looking at the websites of organizations such as The Heritage Foundation. It is truly amazing just how dedicated the ultra right wing have been in not only promoting their agenda based in white supremacy but in getting people imbedded in political office, on college campuses, and in building think tanks that weld together financial interests with social interests that skew the history of our nation. Free speech is one thing but using our own free speech laws to propagandize based on a view of our nation as first and foremost a white supremacist based nation goes against what free speech means. Once free speech is used to silence voices of other citizens and residents we have entered an entirely new/old world of Fascist indoctrination. Frankly speaking, American history as taught in schools when I was in them was much like what the Texas law wants done today. There must have been a halcyon time in the 70's and 80's and perhaps the 90's when there was a broader and more comprehensive look at American history, when teachers may have said, "I lived through Viet Nam and this is what I learned" in order to shape "history" with lived context. Somehow though, I think not. The American history I've learned since public school and college has been done by my own reading of the huge numbers of Black, Brown, Latinos/as, Native Nations, Asian American, African writers, historians, thinkers, philosophers which were NEVER mentioned in classes I took. That reading and conversations with Black and Brown people. It took asking the question: Why is our nation plagued with racism and white supremacy - also a term I had not thought about seeing that crowd as antithetical to the idea of America. And isn't that the issue here - white supremacy and what white supremacy has wrought here and around the world - it is a globalized mindset and worldview -? We white people live within a system in which we want to ignore and remain innocent of knowing. In the United States we apologize for NOTHING. Therefore we must keep everything at a personal level. As long as I am not a card carrying white supremacist marching with tiki torches I am innocent of racism and the sins of my nation. That is the problem with Texas deciding that you can only speak in riddles and put brown paper covers over books lest anyone see a title and ask a question. And how pray tell do you put up an opposing book where the Holocaust of WW II and all the holocausts since then? I suppose there are those who believe Mein Kampf should be on the shelf along with The Diary of Anne Frank and the story of the White Rose. We are in deep trouble as a nation. We always have been in deep trouble ethically and morally. Thomas Jefferson certainly showed us that. And too bad these folks want to keep people from reading George Washington's speeches, especially his final speech as he left office. To do that is to prove just how scared white people currently in power really have become. That fear goes hand in hand with oppressing the vote through "legal" means. There comes a time, and this may be it, when "legal" has no meaning whatsoever.
Wow, the interesting timing of reading your comment. I just finished reading, this morning, the chapter in the book, White Trash by Nancy Isenberg, ‘Thomas Jefferson’s Rubbish’. Spot on you are!
This intent on dumbing down the populace has been going on forever it seems to me. As a beginning elementary school teacher in the late 60s, I remembered from my own school days how tediously boring text books were; so I ditched the textbooks in my classrooms and inserted good children’s books and novels as well as real projects instead of boring social studies texts and tedious math texts. Happily at that time John Dewey and the British Plowden Report were still in favor among progressive teachers and school systems. My own three sons had the great good fortune of going to progressive schools whenever possible. All three thrived in that type of environment.
Texas has always controlled the textbook market. If a textbook is adopted by the state of Texas, publishers know it will sell and bring in adoptions from all over the country while clawing in enormous money for the publishers. I learned this fact when I co-wrote (inadvertently) a textbook for use in community college communications courses. A major publisher approached a colleague and me about revising a very informal collection of our best experiential class exercises that we had assembled for our students; we had found the textbooks adopted for our courses to be a waste of money for the students and wanted to help the students learn practical skills through real-life projects.
We signed with Prentice-Hall, and by the time we had finished writing and revising so that our text would be attractive to other community colleges, four years had passed and we had a decent book, but not as useful, in our opinion, as was our original informal collection of open-ended activities, and it was a lot more expensive for students.
When I taught college level courses in later years as a college professor I avoided assigning textbooks in favor of journal articles.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
We need to get this on social media. BY THE PEOPLE! Totally non-partisan. This is about being an American! This is about ALL OF US THIS TIME! This is about our RIGHT TO VOTE!
Wow! That is great! I've going through my list of contacts as well. I appreciate you so much AshleyR! Let's make a movement! By the People! All of us this time!
Hi Ashley, I'm now calling it BY THE PEOPLE! We just stop whatever we're doing and walk-out. We could sing America! and other songs. We could hold up signs saying BY THE PEOPLE! and Pass the FREEDOM TO VOTE act! Pass the JOHN LEWIS VOTING RIGHTS act! Perhaps signs like We, the People All of us this time! VOTING IS A RIGHT! Listen to the People! Senators We can just quietly stand there. Keep it non-partisan. Keep it focused on being an American! We, the People! BY THE PEOPLE!
Here's an invitation you could use to post on social media or in contact with other organizations and friends.
BY THE PEOPLE!
National Walkout on the Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts
Please consider a national walkout to show our “representatives” that they represent the People! Wednesday, noon, for one hour, every day until the Freedom to Vote law and the John Lewis Voting Rights law are signed by President Biden.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1776 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general walk-out for one hour starting Wednesday daily until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Daily. Show them the People have a voice. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. Post this in social media! It is time for the People to speak up!
On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at noon local time, stop what you're doing and just walk out. Sing "America" and other songs of your choosing. Keep it peaceful. Keep it nonpartisan. If people try to intimidate you, deescalate, don't engage, just sit down! Be what America can be and will be for all of us this time!
They envision a country led and owned by rich, white people (men mostly), with service and labor provided by everyone else, preferably at such a low cost, it might as well be free (as in slavery.)
In the past five years especially I've concluded that you are correct -- it is a concerted effort to destroy our democracy. Hitting on so many fronts makes it hard to really confront and expose the larger issue.
I stumbled onto "The New American Century," online during the Bush eras. Authored by several conservative political and policy notables like William Kristol and Dick Cheney. I don't remember the details, but 10 minutes into a complex reading, my gut clenched. It seemed to be a manifesto for a gradual systematic destablization of American education, economics and healthcare as well as other aspects. It's a long time ago and it was couched in language and style that made it sound doable and appealing. I'm no good at assessing, but I showed it to my brother who is, and he thought it was just fine. Yes, he's the family (nutjob) conservative and I'm the bleeding heart (nutjob) liberal. I've never forgotten it. There are probably better sources, but here's my goto: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century
Pat, the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) was focused on foreign policy, rather than domestic. It was founded by Kristol, Kagan and Cheney (the neocon cabal who ran Dubyah’s foreign policy) to restore American might and military presence around the world (as if it needed “restoring”). PNAC pushed for the invasion of Iraq, and supported the war in Afghanistan, amongst other things. An interesting thing is that the PNAC founders represent the core of the “never Trumpers” movement.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
I believe that ignorance began with standardized testing and forced multiple choice answers. If all the answers are in the box you never learn to look outside of it.
Yes…the onslaught of pre-printed programming for students was stultifying…but some were able to keep their curiosity and some teachers found wats to nurture open-mindedness and imagination. Teachers can be lifelines…it’s so painful to see the box they’re being put in.
The document you imagine, How to Build a Compliant Base, exists! It is the playbook of fascists like Hitler and Mussolini, who each took over their country with the support of 40% of the population. Sound familiar?
All without any acknowledgement of other religious “perspectives.” Injecting “In God We Trust” on the currency and the ‘one nation “under God” ‘ to the Pledge, back in the mid-fifties, just to thumb their noses at the USSR and communism, was acknowledging only one faith, white Christianity. To stand out separately from other countries, with other religions, or no religion for that matter. Eisenhower attempted to speak for all Americans, even when not all Americans follow Christianity, let alone ‘Christian fundamentalism’, or as I’ve seen it called lately, Christian jihad. A giant thumbing of the nose to the First Amendment.
Good point. I’ve often wondered about the cowardice of the Supreme Court when it comes to unconstitutional expressions of religion. There’s no doubt that “In god we trust” on our currency is a government establishment of religion (imagine if it said “In allah we trust”), which is clearly forbidden by the 1st amendment. But the Supremes would never rule that way, perhaps because they fear the reaction of “christians”. Instead the Supremes are ruling, in Hobby Lobby and other cases, to extend the imposition of “christianity” on the rest of us.
Indeed. The very reason I do not shop at Hobby Lobby. Do like, however, their hypocrisy coming to light with the smuggling of stolen artifacts. “Do as I say, not as I do.”
I have so much to say about this! But I’ve been told by a co worker that my comments here can make me a target of the new conservative school board. Not only is the teaching affected, our freedom of speech is, as well. Two years ago, I thought I had my dream job. Now what?
Administrators are scrambling to try and figure this all out. I would not have handled it this way to record a training session, and take it to the media. The teacher association definitely! This was not a problem solving tactic. But teachers are backed into a corner and terrified. Hopefully it will have a positive effect in the long run. Schools all over Texas are in the same quagmire. We need this house bill to be overturned and make it go away. And several other house bills! The force that got originalist on our school board needs to be met with an equal push back! Let’s hope for some common decency and common sense to return to education.
Having a hard time getting over this sentence: "But I’ve been told by a co worker that my comments here can make me a target of the new conservative school board." My thoughts are with you tonight, Denise.
I keep thinking that if these forbidden subjects become as enticing as sexual topics then kids may sneak those books into their beds and read them by flashlight! Nothing says “read me” better than the banned.
Yes, forbidden is enticing. Our senior lit teacher told us about The Miller's Tale and how he could not teach it, but it was in the public library where of course, we all went to find it. We did laugh a lot.
If you all organize a Mass Walk Out and put up a Go Fund Me I will help financially back you up. I saw the Movie ‘ Judgement At Nuremberg @ 12yrs old. In that movie there are U.S. Military films when we went in the Camps. I can’t even describe the horror of what my eyes saw . My mother tried to warn me. It changed me forever, I cried through the whole movie.To this day I still see it, An it began my love for Butterfly's. You see the children were kept in a barrack together. The Soldiers found what they described as “ Crude drawings of Butterfly’s on the walls with the word ‘ Nika “ which means Victory. They were about 12 yrs old and under. They had figured out , this is still so hard to think about and write . They being so brave , had decided that upon their death that they, Not the Nazis, Not Hitler would Win .That thought was all they had to endure their seconds, minute , hours and days of suffering. NIKA ! Whew ! Teachers if for no other reason should walk out for them.
Those films were made by the U.S. Gov.Given clearance and approval to authenticate the Truth Rowahan. Those G.I.’s were not Actors. We remember history so we don’t repeat it ! What happens now ?
My father-in-law was a medic who was part of the troups who liberated Dachau. He brought home still photos that would stop your heart and he had nightmares about that experience the rest of his life.
Stephen Spielberg made a documentary "The Last Days" with some photos that I had never seen. I just happened to have checked it out of the library last week. Also, C Ammanpour on PBS had an extremely moving short documentary on the Holocaust last week.
Remember, telling kids - especially teenagers - that they CANNOT see or read something doesnt always turn out as expected. The people responsible for this travesty really havent thought this out. Forbidding something just makes it that much more appealing! As long as there is some platform telling the actual truth or showing it - there will be kids looking for it.
As a retired high school teacher, I can imagine the overwhelming predicament you and other teachers must be contending with. It may take a state-wide teacher revolt to change the direction of this legislation. Furthermore, I expect that Florida and other states will soon follow the Texas model. Such a tragedy.
So glad I’m not a counselor with school district anymore. I would be fired. That republicans would selll their collective souls to the biggest loser the world has ever seen, speaks volumes about who they are. Yes, I live very close to Southlake and I grieve for the children whose parents are teaching them evil and dare the schools to oppose their efforts
They have been at this for our entire history. TFG is just their opportunistic monkey at the right time to try to supplant decency and democracy with their fascist tripe. The Party of Sedition should be the Party of Succession from our country. The South did win. We are not them, or at least many of us do not subscribe to their fascist takeover. If we do not strike right now in our DOJ we really are neutered as a country. I despise this train they keep ramming us with.
We need to create a new country. We need to dissolve the patriarchy. Perhaps it is time to let women run things for awhile? We understand oppression.
That the country continually capitulates to the southern delusionalists is mind boggling. You know who else won? Castro - now we have Rubio and Cruz for ourselves.
TGF gave license to what was there, held in check by better hearts and minds that crafted liberal policies and laws based upon truths hard won over generations. Hate and fear live under a shallow buried rock.
I wonder if the Ten Commandments gives an opposing view? Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet . . any thing that is thy neighbor’s. Or is the opposing view of the Holocaust that it was justified?
Teachers in Texas cannot just walk off their jobs. We are prohibited from striking, and risk losing our certifications and pensions if we do. There is strength in numbers, so I’m not saying it’s impossible, but unlikely.
This was part of TX strategy to maximize business moving to TX so they could make more money, not worry much about workers rights. Always follow the money.
Write and call your representatives and senators multiple times. They must be made aware that the intelligent caring people are the majority. This is a fight that we have to win.
Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden.
I think we need more than that. I call for a general strike one hour a day starting at noon on Wednesday until the Freedom to Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act are signed by President Biden.
But we can't forget that bridge in Selma, Alabama.
And here, the bridge cannot be crossed by a few. Numbers must snowball. Americans must show this is not a nation of couch potatoes. If they don't, the consequences will be terrible.
Yes, excellent! We cannot forget anyone! This has got to become a movement! Non-partisan! This is about America! ALL OF US THIS TIME! BY THE PEOPLE! The Bridge over Troubled Waters! Yes, now is the time. Everyone just stop what they are doing and walk-out for an hour. Sing America! Have a Dream! Make the dream a reality!
Cathy, you're as brave, as right and as wise as Greta Thunberg starting out all alone, nobody looking, nobody listening, and somehow her movement has snowballed worldwide.
May your will prevail! May Americans wake up before it is too late. The Republic may be very imperfect, but heaven help us all if it falls.
Thinking of all our teachers and friends in Texas, like you, Cathy. We must win this fight against this backwards trajectory. It is so blatant...it is insane. No white sheets anymore.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Cathy, I like doing something active-- how will "They" whom need to know, that we are striking? Should the Lincoln Project know about this idea? MoveOn?
Yes, let's invite the Lincoln Project and MoveOn. Anyone you can think of that might like to participate. Put it on social media. Tell media to be sure to cover it. This needs to be a movement.
I sent your notice to the Lincoln Project to post. And I posted on my town's website and invited neighbors to join together on The Putney Green everyday. Bring lunch and socially distance or wear masks. This is very important. Thank you so much Cathy. I have been feeling so powerless and you solved my problem!
Here is an invitation that you can use in contacting other organizations, media, and friends! All are welcome!
BY THE PEOPLE!
National Walkout on the Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts
Please consider a national walkout to show our “representatives” that they represent the People! Wednesday, noon, for one hour, every day until the Freedom to Vote law and the John Lewis Voting Rights law are signed by President Biden.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general walk-out for one hour starting Wednesday daily until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Daily. Show them the People have a voice. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. Post this in social media! It is time for the People to speak up!
On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at noon local time, stop what you're doing and just walk out. Sing "America" and other songs of your choosing. Keep it peaceful. Keep it nonpartisan. If people try to intimidate you, deescalate, don't engage, just sit down! Be what America can be and will be for all of us this time!
National Walkout on the Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts
Please consider a national walkout to show our “representatives” that they represent the People! Wednesday, noon, for one hour, every day until the Freedom to Vote law and the John Lewis Voting Rights law are signed by President Biden.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1776 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general walk-out for one hour starting Wednesday daily until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Daily. Show them the People have a voice. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. Post this in social media! It is time for the People to speak up!
On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at noon local time, stop what you're doing and just walk out. Sing "America" and other songs of your choosing. Keep it peaceful. Keep it nonpartisan. If people try to intimidate you, deescalate, don't engage, just sit down! Be what America can be and will be for all of us this time!
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Here a suggested blurb to post on social media and in contacting groups you are part of:
BY THE PEOPLE!
National Walkout on the Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts
Please consider a national walkout to show our “representatives” that they represent the People! Wednesday, noon, for one hour, every day until the Freedom to Vote law and the John Lewis Voting Rights law are signed by President Biden.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general walk-out for one hour starting Wednesday daily until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Daily. Show them the People have a voice. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. Post this in social media! It is time for the People to speak up!
On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at noon local time, stop what you're doing and just walk out. Sing "America" and other songs of your choosing. Keep it peaceful. Keep it nonpartisan. If people try to intimidate you, deescalate, don't engage, just sit down! Be what America can be and will be for all of us this time!
Will there be vigilantes in TX, collecting a reward for teachers who do not conform? It reminds me of communist classrooms where children were encouraged to tell-tales on their parents.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
My campus admin are the best! Actually, I feel supported by our parents and loved by the students! I haven’t watched a podcast from NBC yet and I’ve been told I need to. I just do my job of teaching art. As many teachers will tell you, teaching is an amazing job! It’s all the other stuff piled on that gets in the way and makes it harder. This? This is “other stuff!”
But this "other stuff" prevents people who don't teach art or music or drama from actually teaching, and helping kids develop the ability to listen critically.
So true! My heart breaks for them! I talk to my colleagues daily and commiserate over all of it! It’s so Orwellian. This is why it’s so important to vote on local offices and issues. So many people only vote during presidential elections. Being involved at the local level effects us where we live.
The book and documentary What’s the Matter with Kansas showed this process already entrenched and underway by 2004… and still we did not take it seriously. We let it grow to the crisis of today.
Knowledge is power, and we do not have to give up.
I didn’t mean the history is other stuff. I meant the house bill, the limitations, the reprimands by a school board, the news spotlight, the angry parents, the attacks on teachers and the district, the set of rules that limits our freedom of speech but allows students to say whatever they want including calling POC racist slang terms. The things put on us. That’s the other stuff. Art is closely tied to history! But that’s for another house bill.
This is terrifying, Denise. That your thoughtful comments here could incur the wrath of the school board that has been taken over by tRumplicans is anathema.
I’m also a member of a Democratic Women’s club that has been here since the 1920s. It was recommended that I should possibly stop going. I won’t! I love my tribe! I’ve never had to march and work to register voters before. But I feel strongly about hitting the streets and getting it done!
As a former educator in Texas, an administrator, now retired...I will say FOR you what I would probably never, ever have said when I was employed: it's time for a massive teacher walkout. NOW. So what that you do not have a union. YOU are what matters. There is no way that schools can stay open if all the teachers refuse to show up. You will force this state back into quarantine and even our pathetic governor would worry about the economy if that happens. Organize. Resist. WALK AWAY. They cannot fire all of you. YOU are too many. There are not enough teachers on the planet to replace you. You have the upper hand. USE IT.
I will offer free room and board to any Texas teacher who quits over this and needs a place to live without that income. Of course I live in MO, not a bastion of freedom. And would contribute to Marcia’s GoFundMe.
One thing jumped out this morning. The fact they cut out Abigail Adams brought back the memory of listening to “1776” by David McCullough. My wife and I listened while on a road trip. I made the comment that it was Abigail who made the greatest impression on me. The power of women has never been more needed than now.
I learned another salient fact this morning listening to “The End of White Christian America” by Robert P Jones. In 2014 when the Republicans took back the Senate and the House, the SINGLE largest factor was historically poor turnout to vote. So the lesson is obvious and the solution is glaring.
It's interesting that Eliza, Hamilton's wife, who was still young when he died, lived a long life in which she was an avid abolitionist, opened the first orphanage, raised money for charity, and was an advocate for the education of all children.
Perhaps there should be a musical/movie about the absurdities of this era. It should have a cast that represents the current skew of women and minorities telling "our" history vs. certain whitewashed contemporary individuals and beliefs. Something as haunting and beautiful as Riverdance which told the story of an era in Ireland.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
When "No Child Left Behind" came along with President G.W. Bush, most of my faculty referred to it as "No Teacher Left Standing." The push for state wide competency exams took away so much precious time for curriculum. I retired in 2005 and a couple of years prior to that we noticed an upswing in angry parents tied to those who listened to Glen Beck and Rush L. In fact,
a Social Studies teacher on my team was transferred to another school and was given an assignment to teach Science in lieu of Social Studies. The seeds for today's horror were planted so long ago.
I am long retired from education and glad that I am. The teachers I know who are still in the system loathe standardized testing. One friend has managed to carve out a class in writing in his elementary school. While I was still in education, the state was responsible for the testing havoc and we seen a lot of time doing the testing, trying to get all the kids to finish it, and all the paper work. That went by the wayside and then the federal standards arrived, so not while people complain that kids are not taught critical thinking, they fail to understand that teachers must now teach to the test. This year Oregon eliminated some requirements in math and English for graduation. Of course, that got interpreted as somehow letting students graduate without knowing anything which is not what the change does.
The one thing that strikes me, besides the obvious elimination of everything about slavery and stolen land and everybody but white men, is the idea that schools should teach honesty, courage, etc. which is absolutely hypocritical in the light of the these new requirements. This is incredibly ugly.
The school district in question has tried to rectify what the administrator said, but it falls a little flat. I am reminded of our curriculum director who sat in a board meeting and dissed the English department for teaching novels. At that point she had been in charge of special ed for many years and I tried to help her students with the canned materials she was advocating. They were awful. I couldn't understand them and they were full of grammatical errors. But she was on a vendetta against our English department with whom she had a history. I knew as soon as she was in charge of curriculum, they were in trouble. I had one of her special ed students assigned to me to help him with his assignments in English and they were reading Jane Eyre. I thought it would be an uphill battle, but then I discovered he was reading ahead of the class. So much for novels.
Carla, You come with books, thoughts, care and this important report. Ignorance campaigns launched by malignant forces were stepped up before most of us knew of its cruel attacks on our children, teaches, parents, schools, history and memory. We need to know as much as we can to bring light to the darkness. Thank you Carla. Salud!
Thank you, Fern! I loved having my 8th graders read "The Diary of Anne Frank", " The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" and "So Far From the Bamboo Grove" by Yoko Kawashima Watkins. "Bamboo Grove" is a YA little paperback (Young Adult) but it is a wonderful book about WWII set in North Korea, to South Korea to Japan. We read so many novels and my students seemed to enjoy the journey. I know I did too.
Carla, This morning has brought old. still strong feelings, fresh brushes with darkness, deep appreciation for you, along with HCR, LFAA's subscribers...and I have written down 'Bamboo Grove' to read, thanks to you.
Happy to hear that, Fern! I just loved that little book. My father served in the Navy during WWII in the Pacific and that little book gave me a whole new perspective on so many things.
I ordered the 'little book' and will post my review to you. The book outlet warned it would probably take longer to arrive than in the recent past. I reply, thanks to Bad postmaster Joy, part of the former's brand!
That stupid push was the beginning of the end, in my opinion. I was fortunate to be able to retire about that time. GWB's Laura brought in some idiot from Canada who knew absolutely NOTHING about literacy and threw out one of the best, most progressive reading programs this state had ever seen. POOF. Overnight, we were strapped to phonics and 1950's curricula, courtesy of that blunder. I never found out who got all that money, but one could bet it was either GWB's own family or some donors. Following that, they sold the state education system to the testing industry, home based in San Antonio. And from then on, teachers were strapped to a curriculum that was strapped to tests, and teaching to the test became the way things were.
All of the previous comments have made so many great points. My father had a history text from his school years called "Great Names in American History" that recounted a handful of acts of a handful of predictable notables in superlatives and simplistic breathy admiration. We were in college when we discovered it among the many books in our family library and howling with laughter we read choice bits aloud to each other before dinner that night. We renamed it "Great Inanes..." and started listing who we'd add, which was a lot of fun. As we sat down to eat, a visiting friend said, "Imagine if you were a teacher and that book is all you could teach your class." The rest of the meal was spent in quite a different way. The Texas law smacks of Soviet information control too-- The willingness to go to extreme effort to rewrite history, as an anecdote told by a escaped history professor went" When Beria was no longer a hero of the republic, every household was sent a packet containing razor blade to remove the Beria entry from their official copy of the Soviet encyclopedia and substitute pages that provided additional information about the Bering Strait. May we all be vigilant
Angelica E. Braestrup, that reminds me of a scene in the film "Dead Poets Society." In a classroom the teacher (Robin Williams) asks one of the boys to read what the author of a book has written about what poetry is. So the student reads the definition. Then the teachers tells all of the students to rip it out of each textbook.
This is the first time I've read the breadth of history whitewashing in Texas. Are we in a computer simulation of life in Orwell's "1984"? Or rocketed back in time to historical revisionism in the communist Soviet Union? Is the party of limited government saying that the government controls what people are allowed to learn, to decide for themselves who to admire or revile? Is the party that champions individual freedom like a religion now saying that it and only it decides what freedom is?
I'm guessing that the coming mass book burnings won't be blamed for contributing to climate change, which eventually won't be taught either.
I have never been more struck than now by the obscene shadow aspect of the American nation:
How Europe's oppressed escaped to America, where they promptly set about oppressing others.
This adding to and increasing the chain reactions of evil has never ceased. The light remains ever present, yet the shadow darkens and is spread across the suffering world.
And this darkness, this savagery, this denial of the light, may not be spoken of. Not spoken of, only spread, ad infinitum.
Spread, in the name of liberty, in the name of religion, in the name of Mammon and Moloch disguised as God.
"There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted. It is human, it is divine, carrion."
I'm not quite sure what you mean, MaryPat, but you and everyone else here are welcome to help yourselves to anything I may contribute. I only hope people will do so judiciously and avoid anything silly (or worse) that I may bring on board...
I just want to add that I rarely speak of Britain, the land of my birth and upbringing, and that silence is not flattering to the country as it is today.
Has been true since Reagan (before really). Reagan’s evil put it in high gear, he was a better actor than I gave him credit for. Of course, Peggy Noonan wrote his scripts and Michael Deaver did photo ops with the flag 24/7. And yes, they do it very well.
Orwell was thinking of Britain and the USA in "1984", was he not? In the cold war era we were all made to turn our heads to the USSR; not unfounded of course.
Published in 1949, Orwell was more worried about the past experience of Nazi Germany and the similarities with Stalinist Russia than thoughts of UK/USA other than to say that what happened there can be conatgious..
Well, I think fascism is about taking an advantage at the cost of others. So, I think as Europeans and Americans we have this in our history and in our selves, but post war propaganda successfully, and truthfully, had it that it belonged to the others. The question weather it also belongs to us was not raised; other than by Göring who asked for a Nürenberg trial of the winners as well, but he of course belonged to the others. What Orwell was thinking of I don't know, but I think I've read somewhere that he had the notion I mentioned.
Taking an advantage at the cost of others is seen as fair because others might do that to you. And if they don’t prevent your taking advantage of them, then they deserve it, they are weak. That’s how we in this country got Trump.
It should be noted that the most common "opposing perspective" on the Holocaust is not support for the murder of 6 million Jews (although some twisted minds do) but rather denial that the Holocaust occurred. Fortunately, General Eisenhower, upon visiting Dachau immediately reacted: "I sent communications to both Washington and London, urging the two governments to send instantly to Germany a random group of newspaper editors and representative groups from the national legislatures. I felt that the evidence should be immediately placed before the American and British publics in a fashion that would leave no room for cynical doubt.”
So glad you posted this. I have an Ike quote “get the records, get the films.” that I can’t verify, but your post verifies his position. Also, Hitchcock made a documentary of the horror and shot wide vistas so that villages close by could be identified)., these men knew that someday there would be Holocaust deniers and provided the evidence, which is now under attack. How prescient they were…
There were 911 deniers twenty minutes after the planes went down. 1/4 of the population ( probably of the globe ) will believe any combination of crack pot theories to make their often contradictory points. Always.
Oh, I was thinking that Texas wanted teachers to teach children Fascism. How did I get that idea? Denial is more in line with these people and their conspiracies.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
The Texas legislature has gone completely off the deep end. Remember, these are the same lawmakers who have essentially legalized terrorism in their twisted efforts to stop abortion. They have enabled any anti-choice goon to bring financial destruction down on anyone who assists a Texas woman in obtaining an abortion. This is the work of depraved authoritarians and will not end well, in Texas or any of the other radical Republican states that adopt their insane, scorched-earth politics and tactics. I fear for my children and grandchild.
My grands as well, one is scared of bullies who scream their support for kKK at her for wearing a mask at school, and she wants to move out of the country. Smart girl I think. Aledo is another Southlake, sad to say.
The Texas legislature is a gerrymandered cabal of white supremacists elected by like-minded voters comprising 60% to 70% of white Texans and almost no voters outside the white population.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
90% of Poland’s Jewish population of three million perished during the Holocaust. I am a child of two of those survivors, conceived in a displaced persons’ camp, lucky to pop out in NYC, carried in utero by my mother who came to America with my father. May both Rest In Peace.
My parents would roll over in their graves if they knew what is going on in one Texas school district. With Texas’ assault on voting rights and abortion and whatever else receives scant coverage in the press, my thought, though not politic, is that we might consider giving Texas back to Mexico and give Dreamer status to those more tolerant who want to honor the American dream.
These people are an abomination to the concept of freedom and all that makes America exceptional.
During the McCarthy period, there was a school district in Indiana which banned Robin Hood because it preached the Communist line. Are we approaching that kind of thought police when we cannot even accept historical facts.
Six years ago, I had the privilege of serving dinner to a friend’s family while they mourned her beloved father in law - a Holocaust survivor. (I am not Jewish but was glad to be able to help.) Our other friend who was helping had to leave early so I agreed to stay as long as necessary to serve a late snack and more to drink should it be needed.
Most of the family left around 9:30pm. Jon’s widow, Inga, came to the kitchen and asked for tea. We started chatting and when she learned that I wasn’t Jewish, she asked me why I’d come to help. Because my dad served in WWII, and because I’d heard her husband’s escape story at a local synagogue and wanted to do what I could to honor his memory. Despite the late hour and her grief, Inga asked if I wanted to hear her story. Yes please and I sat riveted for the next hour and a half, hearing how she had been spirited from one French nunnery to another at 8 years old. No words. Just no words to describe that experience for me which lives forever in my heart and soul.
That Texas thinks to allow an opposing view of the Holocaust just fires up my work to get out the vote here in my community for decent school board members locally. Anything less is not acceptable. For Jon, Inga and your parents- and six million more. May their names forever be a blessing.
My brother's father-in-law, Frank Silver, spent his teenage years in Auschwitz. At first, he was assigned to a grenade-making workshop. Frank deliberately mis-wired the grenades to blow up early, before the Nazi soldiers had time to throw them.One day, a Nazi officer showed up to shoot the prisoner who had been killing his soldiers. The methodical Germans had traced the faulty grenades to their source. Frank's German foreman threw him to the ground, fiercely punching and kicking him, while asking for the honor of beating him to death - such scum were not worth bullets. Once the officer was clearly gone, the beating stopped. The foreman leaned over and whispered in Frank's ear, "Disappear in the camp. Never let me see you again." Frank lived into his 70's, and is survived by two daughters and three grandsons.
I have a friend whose mother lived through that time in France; she had a similar experience of moving throughout the countryside, hiding from the Nazis. My friend learned about that only while her mother was going through the ravages of dementia. Her Mom was most clear and present while relating those stories (confirmed by her aunt).
Alan, "They" are an abomination to memory. I remember as you do; my grandparents were survivors of their families living in Hungary and Poland. Your comment hit home. Shalom.
As a retired math teacher, I can’t wait for the Texas legislature to discover that the number system we use today, the Arabic-Hindu system, was developed by non-Christians, or that the word ‘algebra’ comes from the Arabic word ‘al-jabr’! Instead of permitting the use of a system with ten numerals (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0) that revolutionized and simplified mathematics in the western world, we’d be forced to return to using the more clumsy Roman numeral system.
And funny about that, my first ex husband was Baptist. He let me know before marriage that he would never step foot in a Catholic Church which I was raised up in .We had children. I just wanted to attend a church as a family. So we went to Baptist. My mother informed me that I was going to Hell ! I came back with “ Jesus was a Jew “. My church is my back porch.My motto “ WhenI do bad I feel bad . WhenI do good I feel good. And that’s my Religion. “
Wouldn't Mein Kampf be an opposing view to Ann Frank's Diary? I would be fine with students understanding the republican playbook in the original. But schools teach a lot of subjects besides history. Does chemistry need an opposing view, perhaps alchemy or witchcraft? Does physical education need to include works extolling sloth? Where does this nonsense lead?
One day in my high school biology class, back in the mid seventies, a little nun came into teach us the “opposing view” of evolution. It was by decree from the archdiocese and hilarious to all of us. Until I got home and recounted the episode to my mom, who had minored in chemistry. That she still held Genesis ( though the ark stuff went too far for her )above science was earth shattering to me.
Those of us working late on our doctorates in molecular genetics in '60's used to listen to Garner Ted Armstrong rail against Evil-lution on the radio. His World Wide Church of God, still actively spewing nonsense, published a magazine called The Plain Truth. The May, 1969 issue had a long article on DNA replication. The article asserted that since DNA is copied perfectly (it isn't), then evolution was impossible. We got a big laugh out of that, but it was a little scary to see how they could regurgitate all the correct theory except for one essential point.
Earlier, in a comment by a reader whose niece is an orchestra director, I suggested she might have to pose the "opposing" view that tuning to A 432 Hz is more "natural and ordered" than tuning to A 440 Hz. There's an opposing view they wouldn't bargain for!
I have a tin ear, but I've been told that some musicians, particularly those who come from cultures that have microtonal slides in their music, deliberately don't hit notes exactly on the Western idea of correct pitch. So if they if they want an opposing view to European music, Delta Blues might be a place to start. I'd recommend Fred McDowell.
And I've been harassed for singing flat all my life.
It has led to the climate crisis among many others. You can read more of that history in Naomi Oreskes’ book, Merchants of Doubt. Unbelievable where such lies and disinformation are taking us.
I've read (Hillbilly Eulogies I think) that Evangelicals believe the second coming is around the corner so why worry about the environment. If I believed that is so I would be ashamed to face God with how we've destroyed his/her creation.
Not to steal Daria's thunder, but her post on LFAA 9-10-21 stuck in my craw. Texas' control over curriculum has insidious and far-reaching tentacles across to other states, back in time for 20 years, and worst, for brainwashing the upcoming generation. Texas because of its size (second largest state in the country) has been driving reactionary revisions of public school textbooks across the country--for decades. Her mother saw it as a teacher in Maryland in the 60s and 70s.
What motivated the Gablers, from Texas Monthly, 1982:
"Norma and Mel Gabler entered the field of textbook reform twenty years ago, after their son Jim came home from school disturbed at discrepancies between the 1954 American history text his eleventh-grade class was using and what his parents had taught him. The Gablers compared his text to history books printed in 1885 and 1921 and discovered differences.
Ten to fifteen years of brainwashing created an army of children conscripted to be fanatic frontline soldiers programmed to not question authority and to die for Hitler.
"Nazi indoctrination of antisemitic attitudes in Germany was extremely effective." And continues.
Thanks for your link to the deeply-researched Texas Monthly article, Elli; a fully-formed investigation, including: "...when one regards education as simply the ingestion of facts and not the investigation and analysis of ironies, ambiguities, uncertainties, and contradictions, one will be far less likely either to understand the question or to provide a useful answer. And that kind of trained incapacity will endanger the vitality and ultimately the survival of treasured forms of religious, political, social, and economic life.
Norma Gabler’s difficulty with unanticipated questions is a communicable disease, and she is working to spread it."
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Thank you Ellie, when I lived in Houston years ago, I often wrote letters to the editor at Houston Chronicle (loved that paper) about the Gablers. They were powerful conservative, religious nuts who thought their view was the only one. They are gone now but their foundation still spews the propaganda. Thank you for the references. Because Texas had largest orders for textbooks, others states ordered the same, so Gablers influence spread far and wide. Did more damage to our teaching of history than can be imagined. Think I suffered from it in NC. But I left NC and learned a few things on my own. The Gabler world was a mirage, still is.
Okay, I offer you this. I suddenly feel calmer. Light has been shed on the systematic mind control in our country for decades in our ed. systems. We now know, with proof, books, publishing companies and leaders that need to all step away. We actually need all these revelations right now in order to weed them out. Deep gardening of our destructive roots.
Howard Zinn wanted to write A People's History (unvarnished) because he believed that a national history serves only to justify the existence of the nation, which means, mainly, that it lies, and if it ever tells the truth, it tells it too fast, racing past atrocity to dwell on glory.
I suddenly have this image of thousands of copies of A People's History and its offshoots -- Indigenous People's History, Black and Latinx People's History, etc. -- being unboxed in a remote location in West Texas and clandestinely ferried by car and truck to high schoolers in every corner of Texas.
"This extensive work of Howard Zinn's superb people's history of the United States, spanning over 500 years from Columbus's "discovery" of America in 1492 to the Clinton presidency in 1996 is free online. This is thanks to History Is A Weapon, who OCRed the text, though we heartily recommend our readers to buy a hard copy. libcom.org have made a small number of minor corrections." —History Is A Weapon
Let's not forget that Hitler was influenced by American Henry Ford and his anti-semitic conspiracy theories. Hitler even kept a photo of Ford on his desk.
Unreal how many Americans were on Hitler’s team, Madison Square Garden in 1939, even the Coup of 1933 (Google Gen. Smedley Butler), and of course, Lindbergh. Michael Lewis has written extensively about this. If not for Japanese and Pearl Harbor…
I had a kind, gentle friend ten years older than me when I was 18, a fellow student. From Hitlerjugend, drafted into the army at age 15. We never knew what Rudi had seen or done, only his horror of politics and politicians. It was as though this aspect of human life had been burned from his mind and nothing remained but scar tissue.
I recall my Italian father-in-law speaking of the pity he had felt for the wretched stragglers of a German army reduced to men of 65 and boys 50 years younger.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Precious and beloved Heather, my deepest gratitude to you for all your courageous truths. There are things I would never know, if not for the lifeline of your letters. I am ever thankful for you and your work on behalf of truth and democracy and the American people. You are a gift of and to the universe. Endless blessings upon you.
I had an opportunity this weekend to discuss with my daughter an experience her own daughter is having in school. We talked for awhile about her own discovery during her childhood that she had educators who were actually preventing her from learning things she was coming to understand diminished her understanding of the world and it’s truths. We recounted conversations she and I had at that point in her life about the importance of taking responsibility herself for her education, the importance of that, and how to go about it. We discussed that it was likely time for her to have those same conversations with her daughter and how to go about that.
I hope you will all forgive me for recounting some of that conversation with my daughter here. However, as I see Texas educators today taking active steps to deliberately and intentionally preventing our children from learning truths that may conflict with the educators own limited views of the world, I feel it is worth stepping back to think carefully about what that means for our children’s education and their future.
Without recounting the specific experiences that led med to this conclusion, I realized as a fairly young child that the choices made by others for me as a child prevented me from learning important truths. I concluded I had to take greater responsibility for my education. I have chosen carefully the characterization of “preventing me from learning important truths.” This expresses the fact that these were deliberate acts by teachers and education administrators to exclude from my education certain truths and facts that conflicted with the educators’ views of the world. That exclusion was their conscious choice not mine. They made those decisions “for my benefit” to prevent me from exploring ideas they felt might be harmful.
When I realized this even at a young age, I discussed this seriously with my Dad. He was a very good and wise person who had come to a similar conclusion at a young age. My Dad explained that these educators had made these decisions not to protect me, but to protect themselves and their own version of truth. We explored together how I could take more responsibility for my own education and make my own choices about what to explore, what to read, who to listen and speak with, and how to develop my own views about what understanding the world and its wonders and truths really meant. Those important conversations with my Dad both changed and have guided my life. They were invaluable and I have tried to have similar conversation with my own children and now my grandchildren as well.
I have urged others to avoid robbing our children of the magic of exploring the world and knowledge. There should be no single version of truth handed to anyone without the opportunity to explore different ideas and contrasting views. Give our young the freedom to make responsible choices. Do not hide truths or history because you think it might not be pretty or conform to a view of the world to which you may not subscribe. Do not prevent our young from learning. And, importantly remember yourself that you also must continue to be curious, eager to explore new ideas and topics. Don’t ever stop learning simply because someone gave you a piece of paper that says you have “graduated” and therefore your education is “completed.”
Each day is a new opportunity to explore a new topic, to wander in a yet unexplored area of the world of wonder about you, to talk to someone about their experiences, to learn something new, to try out something for the first time. How does that new experience or perspective feel? Does it conform to or contrast with your own view of the world? How does it fit with what you thought was true?
What most characterize as an education is more often simply the imprisonment of a mind. It denies one the opportunity to explore the world and prevents someone from experiencing the magic and wonder of discovery. How tragic that we cheat ourselves and our children of that magic and joy.
Bruce, this is beautifully expressed, thank you so much. You're talking about teaching children to think critically and I could not agree more. It's never too early to begin encouraging this way of thinking, as you and your father clearly intuited.
When I was a public school nurse for elementary and middle school agred children, often a curious youngster would ask me a question about medicine or science in general. If I had an answer, I would always preface it by saying, "as far as we know right now..........but we are always learning more so this may change in the future and maybe YOU will be the one to discover the truth!" or some such phrase. I was always honest about not knowing but then we'd talk about ways we could find out the answer, and I also was honest about when Science didn't have an answer yet to their question. There's still a lot of things in medicine we can't explain! I wanted them to understand that knowledge in general is always changing as we uncover deeper truths that weren't understood or widely known before.
Thank you for sharing Bruce. My rage at today’s letter from HCR is calmer after reading your story. I realize it’s always up to us - parents, grandparents and important people in our children's lives to be the source of discovery and wonder.
A quick story about my conversation with my daughter and the event that precipitated my granddaughter coming to question her about her teacher. In many elementary classrooms teachers at this time of year talk to the students about Columbus “discovering” America. This despite the fact that he never actually set foot in America and when landing on a Bahamian island was greeted by the local Lucayan natives who had long lived there. My granddaughter was listening attentively to her teacher describe all of this and show drawings of Columbus being greeted by the natives on his landing. My granddaughter apparently asked her teacher during this recounting of Columbus’ discovery, “If Columbus discovered America, who were all those people greeting him and where did they come from?” My granddaughter was quite serious and actually expected an answer to her politely asked question. Instead she was rebuked by the teacher for making a joke and fun of the teacher in front of the other students. My granddaughter was told her question was “impolite and fresh.” She was quite upset about that at only 8 years old and when she came home from school asked my daughter, her mother, why the teacher had been “mean” to her.
I told my daughter that it was probably time “to have the talk” with her about needing to take responsibility for her own education and that many adults and even teachers don’t always have your best interests and learning about world as their first priority.
It is such a tragedy that we actively prevent our children from learning real truths and so much magic and wonder in the world. But it does not have to be that way. I know there are many dedicated, great teachers out there. But there are also some for whom it has become just a job and many who have succumbed to the mandates of unenlightened school administrators and boards force feeding their own views of the world to our youth. Don’t wait for that to change. Keep fighting it, but it will never be enough. Encourage all to take responsibility for their own learning and education.
Amazing story. Shows why the US needs to make elementary and secondary school teaching jobs for the smartest and most curious--as in Finland.
I did my own wondering about Columbus as a child. In fourth grade, and the local quaker school, we studied the Vikings, and among other things, learned about Lief Erikson's voyage to North America. So unlike your granddaughter, I did not figure this stuff out by myself. But I've always been grateful for the enlightened teaching I got at that school.
Here is my idea of the opposing side to the Holocaust. If Hitler had not been put in power. If Hitler had been destroyed. If 6 million people had not died. What would’ve happened to the world. What kind of music would’ve been created. What kind of art would’ve been created. What kind of science would’ve been created. What kind of an economy would have been established. What the educational system would’ve looked like. If Hitler had not been put into power. Could we say the atomic Bomb would not have been created. If Hitler had not been put into power. Did the violence created by Germany encourage the Japanese to bombed the United States……..What if that has not happened.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
These are the kinds of stories we used to hear about Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, while our parents and grandparents celebrated that it would never happen here.
Nazi Germany and the Stalinists used a lot of what had been going on here before them as their models - Hitler particularly applauded the eugenicists and the authors of Jim Crow.
Perhaps we should look at Republican efforts to promote ignorance holistically, rather than piecemeal. This Texas law (and Texas is not alone) on what can and can’t be taught in public schools, is terrible. The never-ending election “audits” and promotion of the big lie, are terrible. The discrediting of medical science, the demonizing of Dr. Fauci, masks and the vaccines, the promotion of quack cures like horse dewormer, are all terrible. The constant attacks on mainstream media are terrible. The attacks on climate science are terrible. I could list many more - attacks on “the elites”, on education itself, on Black Lives Matter, etc. Each time these individual attacks happen, we focus on that specific issue - Critical Race Theory in schools, for example. Maybe we should zoom out. Considered together, these individual attacks comprise a broader attack on knowledge, on intelligence, on facts and science. Is there a document somewhere, in the Koch brothers’ file cabinets, or Roger Ailes’ credenza, or Mitch McConnell’s desk drawer, that outlines this broader strategy? It might be titled “How to build a compliant base” and it’s table of contents would have chapters like “Destroy expertise, undermine science, revise history, dismantle public education, tear down mainstream media, discredit democracy, establish a theocracy, etc.” It sure looks like Republican leaders, with their allies in “christian” fundamentalism, big business and right-wing media, are out to systematically undo the Enlightenment itself, and restore the Dark Ages.
Let’s not miss that this acquired ignorance and compliance/complicity is enriching certain people and obscuring a looming oligarchy…that increasingly believes they are chosen
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Cathy, is there a website, perhaps a social media page that stands up for this strike?
Here's what I've sent to people that want to promote this on social media and their friends and groups. If the GOP pulls this off and takes over the Congress in 2022 we won't see the sustainable energy incentives and all the things we need to address for the climate conflagration.
BY THE PEOPLE!
National Walkout on the Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts
Please consider a national walkout to show our “representatives” that they represent the People! Wednesday, noon, for one hour, every day until the Freedom to Vote law and the John Lewis Voting Rights law are signed by President Biden.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1776 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general walk-out for one hour starting Wednesday daily until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Daily. Show them the People have a voice. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. Post this in social media! It is time for the People to speak up!
On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at noon local time, stop what you're doing and just walk out. Sing "America" and other songs of your choosing. Keep it peaceful. Keep it nonpartisan. If people try to intimidate you, deescalate, don't engage, just sit down! Be what America can be and will be for all of us this time!
By the People!
We the People, All of Us this time!
¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!
The people united shall never be defeated!
Hi Jeff, This is my idea. I haven't set up a website for it. Maybe should tonight. I'm calling it the BY THE PEOPLE national walkout. And social media page... It seems to be getting some interest...
Perfect title, perfect day, for "good trouble', Cathy Learoyd (Texas)!
Great! Yes, I think we need a web presence, a home base for organizing this.
I'm drawing you a logo.
Absolutely this - the connection between the new Dark Ages and who is profiting from it is the key to it all. Again, greed over all else. Greed that evokes fear and hatred. Greed to control and profit.
Yes, this is what it’s all about, and with our election laws,I/e, campaign finance, special perks for our politicians, basicly our whole corrupt political system, all designed for the benefit of the ultra wealthy, I don’t see any meaningful change on the horizon!!!
This is a familiar quote by Carl Sagan discussing the issues you raise about the dumbing down of America.
“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...
The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Published 1996, less than 30 years ago.
The dumbing down and gradual fall of the American civilization was very well described 70 years ago by Isaac Asimov in the Foundation Trilogy. At one point the level of education had fallen so low, that they were unable to maintain the machinery left to them by their forefathers. They fell from the height of scientific endeavors and culture to the brutal depths of frequent wars and primitive living. Hopefully it was just a novel.
They want a “compliant base” and ignorant, compliant worker bees.
They’re losing those compliant worker bees and they are nothing without them.
and good consumers...
I'd begin looking at the websites of organizations such as The Heritage Foundation. It is truly amazing just how dedicated the ultra right wing have been in not only promoting their agenda based in white supremacy but in getting people imbedded in political office, on college campuses, and in building think tanks that weld together financial interests with social interests that skew the history of our nation. Free speech is one thing but using our own free speech laws to propagandize based on a view of our nation as first and foremost a white supremacist based nation goes against what free speech means. Once free speech is used to silence voices of other citizens and residents we have entered an entirely new/old world of Fascist indoctrination. Frankly speaking, American history as taught in schools when I was in them was much like what the Texas law wants done today. There must have been a halcyon time in the 70's and 80's and perhaps the 90's when there was a broader and more comprehensive look at American history, when teachers may have said, "I lived through Viet Nam and this is what I learned" in order to shape "history" with lived context. Somehow though, I think not. The American history I've learned since public school and college has been done by my own reading of the huge numbers of Black, Brown, Latinos/as, Native Nations, Asian American, African writers, historians, thinkers, philosophers which were NEVER mentioned in classes I took. That reading and conversations with Black and Brown people. It took asking the question: Why is our nation plagued with racism and white supremacy - also a term I had not thought about seeing that crowd as antithetical to the idea of America. And isn't that the issue here - white supremacy and what white supremacy has wrought here and around the world - it is a globalized mindset and worldview -? We white people live within a system in which we want to ignore and remain innocent of knowing. In the United States we apologize for NOTHING. Therefore we must keep everything at a personal level. As long as I am not a card carrying white supremacist marching with tiki torches I am innocent of racism and the sins of my nation. That is the problem with Texas deciding that you can only speak in riddles and put brown paper covers over books lest anyone see a title and ask a question. And how pray tell do you put up an opposing book where the Holocaust of WW II and all the holocausts since then? I suppose there are those who believe Mein Kampf should be on the shelf along with The Diary of Anne Frank and the story of the White Rose. We are in deep trouble as a nation. We always have been in deep trouble ethically and morally. Thomas Jefferson certainly showed us that. And too bad these folks want to keep people from reading George Washington's speeches, especially his final speech as he left office. To do that is to prove just how scared white people currently in power really have become. That fear goes hand in hand with oppressing the vote through "legal" means. There comes a time, and this may be it, when "legal" has no meaning whatsoever.
Wow, the interesting timing of reading your comment. I just finished reading, this morning, the chapter in the book, White Trash by Nancy Isenberg, ‘Thomas Jefferson’s Rubbish’. Spot on you are!
This intent on dumbing down the populace has been going on forever it seems to me. As a beginning elementary school teacher in the late 60s, I remembered from my own school days how tediously boring text books were; so I ditched the textbooks in my classrooms and inserted good children’s books and novels as well as real projects instead of boring social studies texts and tedious math texts. Happily at that time John Dewey and the British Plowden Report were still in favor among progressive teachers and school systems. My own three sons had the great good fortune of going to progressive schools whenever possible. All three thrived in that type of environment.
Texas has always controlled the textbook market. If a textbook is adopted by the state of Texas, publishers know it will sell and bring in adoptions from all over the country while clawing in enormous money for the publishers. I learned this fact when I co-wrote (inadvertently) a textbook for use in community college communications courses. A major publisher approached a colleague and me about revising a very informal collection of our best experiential class exercises that we had assembled for our students; we had found the textbooks adopted for our courses to be a waste of money for the students and wanted to help the students learn practical skills through real-life projects.
We signed with Prentice-Hall, and by the time we had finished writing and revising so that our text would be attractive to other community colleges, four years had passed and we had a decent book, but not as useful, in our opinion, as was our original informal collection of open-ended activities, and it was a lot more expensive for students.
When I taught college level courses in later years as a college professor I avoided assigning textbooks in favor of journal articles.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Cathy, this is a great idea! Help me envision what one would or would not do during this hour.
We need to get this on social media. BY THE PEOPLE! Totally non-partisan. This is about being an American! This is about ALL OF US THIS TIME! This is about our RIGHT TO VOTE!
Cathy, I just blew up the internet with the By The People invite💙!
Wow! That is great! I've going through my list of contacts as well. I appreciate you so much AshleyR! Let's make a movement! By the People! All of us this time!
Hi Ashley, I'm now calling it BY THE PEOPLE! We just stop whatever we're doing and walk-out. We could sing America! and other songs. We could hold up signs saying BY THE PEOPLE! and Pass the FREEDOM TO VOTE act! Pass the JOHN LEWIS VOTING RIGHTS act! Perhaps signs like We, the People All of us this time! VOTING IS A RIGHT! Listen to the People! Senators We can just quietly stand there. Keep it non-partisan. Keep it focused on being an American! We, the People! BY THE PEOPLE!
Here's an invitation you could use to post on social media or in contact with other organizations and friends.
BY THE PEOPLE!
National Walkout on the Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts
Please consider a national walkout to show our “representatives” that they represent the People! Wednesday, noon, for one hour, every day until the Freedom to Vote law and the John Lewis Voting Rights law are signed by President Biden.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1776 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general walk-out for one hour starting Wednesday daily until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Daily. Show them the People have a voice. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. Post this in social media! It is time for the People to speak up!
On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at noon local time, stop what you're doing and just walk out. Sing "America" and other songs of your choosing. Keep it peaceful. Keep it nonpartisan. If people try to intimidate you, deescalate, don't engage, just sit down! Be what America can be and will be for all of us this time!
By the People!
We the People, All of Us this time!
¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!
The people united shall never be defeated!
They envision a country led and owned by rich, white people (men mostly), with service and labor provided by everyone else, preferably at such a low cost, it might as well be free (as in slavery.)
I would imagine this will require another revision and the purchase of all new textbooks as well.
And unfortunately, the Texas market is so huge, it seems to determine textbook content for many other states. Why Texas, not California?
Because Texas use to spend the most on textbooks. So publishers want that market. Not sure it’s true anymore.
And because Texas politicians, included the elected members of the State Board of Education,
(cont) are puppets of the all-consuming far right continuing takeover of all levels of govt. of the Federalist Society and similar groups.
Don't forget libraries and teaching people, not just as students, to think critically and to analyze issues.
In the past five years especially I've concluded that you are correct -- it is a concerted effort to destroy our democracy. Hitting on so many fronts makes it hard to really confront and expose the larger issue.
I stumbled onto "The New American Century," online during the Bush eras. Authored by several conservative political and policy notables like William Kristol and Dick Cheney. I don't remember the details, but 10 minutes into a complex reading, my gut clenched. It seemed to be a manifesto for a gradual systematic destablization of American education, economics and healthcare as well as other aspects. It's a long time ago and it was couched in language and style that made it sound doable and appealing. I'm no good at assessing, but I showed it to my brother who is, and he thought it was just fine. Yes, he's the family (nutjob) conservative and I'm the bleeding heart (nutjob) liberal. I've never forgotten it. There are probably better sources, but here's my goto: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_for_the_New_American_Century
Pat, the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) was focused on foreign policy, rather than domestic. It was founded by Kristol, Kagan and Cheney (the neocon cabal who ran Dubyah’s foreign policy) to restore American might and military presence around the world (as if it needed “restoring”). PNAC pushed for the invasion of Iraq, and supported the war in Afghanistan, amongst other things. An interesting thing is that the PNAC founders represent the core of the “never Trumpers” movement.
Thank you, JR. :)
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Well said JR. May I quote you?
Sure!
I believe that ignorance began with standardized testing and forced multiple choice answers. If all the answers are in the box you never learn to look outside of it.
Yes…the onslaught of pre-printed programming for students was stultifying…but some were able to keep their curiosity and some teachers found wats to nurture open-mindedness and imagination. Teachers can be lifelines…it’s so painful to see the box they’re being put in.
The document you imagine, How to Build a Compliant Base, exists! It is the playbook of fascists like Hitler and Mussolini, who each took over their country with the support of 40% of the population. Sound familiar?
All without any acknowledgement of other religious “perspectives.” Injecting “In God We Trust” on the currency and the ‘one nation “under God” ‘ to the Pledge, back in the mid-fifties, just to thumb their noses at the USSR and communism, was acknowledging only one faith, white Christianity. To stand out separately from other countries, with other religions, or no religion for that matter. Eisenhower attempted to speak for all Americans, even when not all Americans follow Christianity, let alone ‘Christian fundamentalism’, or as I’ve seen it called lately, Christian jihad. A giant thumbing of the nose to the First Amendment.
Good point. I’ve often wondered about the cowardice of the Supreme Court when it comes to unconstitutional expressions of religion. There’s no doubt that “In god we trust” on our currency is a government establishment of religion (imagine if it said “In allah we trust”), which is clearly forbidden by the 1st amendment. But the Supremes would never rule that way, perhaps because they fear the reaction of “christians”. Instead the Supremes are ruling, in Hobby Lobby and other cases, to extend the imposition of “christianity” on the rest of us.
But of course the one and only meaning is: IN THI$ WE TRUST.
Indeed. The very reason I do not shop at Hobby Lobby. Do like, however, their hypocrisy coming to light with the smuggling of stolen artifacts. “Do as I say, not as I do.”
This is the culmination of efforts for decades to "dumb down America". And it won't end here....
Unfortunately, to be included in dark tome are the flames of hate and rage.
I have so much to say about this! But I’ve been told by a co worker that my comments here can make me a target of the new conservative school board. Not only is the teaching affected, our freedom of speech is, as well. Two years ago, I thought I had my dream job. Now what?
Administrators are scrambling to try and figure this all out. I would not have handled it this way to record a training session, and take it to the media. The teacher association definitely! This was not a problem solving tactic. But teachers are backed into a corner and terrified. Hopefully it will have a positive effect in the long run. Schools all over Texas are in the same quagmire. We need this house bill to be overturned and make it go away. And several other house bills! The force that got originalist on our school board needs to be met with an equal push back! Let’s hope for some common decency and common sense to return to education.
Thank you, Heather
Having a hard time getting over this sentence: "But I’ve been told by a co worker that my comments here can make me a target of the new conservative school board." My thoughts are with you tonight, Denise.
“New conservative school board” should strike fear in the hearts of all true Americans
Especially when describing Texas! Already conservative beyond the pale.
It does and we have several here in Oregon. We also have parent groups organized by national interests that are creating havoc at board meetings.
I like one county over from Loudoun County VA - talk about havoc.
The students need to know the truth. However it can be delivered so that they may begin to have critical thinking of their own.
I keep thinking that if these forbidden subjects become as enticing as sexual topics then kids may sneak those books into their beds and read them by flashlight! Nothing says “read me” better than the banned.
Yes, forbidden is enticing. Our senior lit teacher told us about The Miller's Tale and how he could not teach it, but it was in the public library where of course, we all went to find it. We did laugh a lot.
Should have read your post before commenting mine - same thought!!
LFAA (AKA Super Secret History Society — suggestions welcomed!) for All!!
If you all organize a Mass Walk Out and put up a Go Fund Me I will help financially back you up. I saw the Movie ‘ Judgement At Nuremberg @ 12yrs old. In that movie there are U.S. Military films when we went in the Camps. I can’t even describe the horror of what my eyes saw . My mother tried to warn me. It changed me forever, I cried through the whole movie.To this day I still see it, An it began my love for Butterfly's. You see the children were kept in a barrack together. The Soldiers found what they described as “ Crude drawings of Butterfly’s on the walls with the word ‘ Nika “ which means Victory. They were about 12 yrs old and under. They had figured out , this is still so hard to think about and write . They being so brave , had decided that upon their death that they, Not the Nazis, Not Hitler would Win .That thought was all they had to endure their seconds, minute , hours and days of suffering. NIKA ! Whew ! Teachers if for no other reason should walk out for them.
I show "Judgement at Nuremberg" to all my Human Rights classes every semester.
Those films were made by the U.S. Gov.Given clearance and approval to authenticate the Truth Rowahan. Those G.I.’s were not Actors. We remember history so we don’t repeat it ! What happens now ?
Yes, I know that they were authentic. We have to stand up to the uneducated legislator-myth makers!
My father-in-law was a medic who was part of the troups who liberated Dachau. He brought home still photos that would stop your heart and he had nightmares about that experience the rest of his life.
Stephen Spielberg made a documentary "The Last Days" with some photos that I had never seen. I just happened to have checked it out of the library last week. Also, C Ammanpour on PBS had an extremely moving short documentary on the Holocaust last week.
Don't worry- Southlake will FORBID its being shown (S/!)
Remember, telling kids - especially teenagers - that they CANNOT see or read something doesnt always turn out as expected. The people responsible for this travesty really havent thought this out. Forbidding something just makes it that much more appealing! As long as there is some platform telling the actual truth or showing it - there will be kids looking for it.
That is a wonderful thought!! May those with authority issues, told to do one thing, turn around and do another.
Yes, how about that??
In Texas this movie will be banned.
As a retired high school teacher, I can imagine the overwhelming predicament you and other teachers must be contending with. It may take a state-wide teacher revolt to change the direction of this legislation. Furthermore, I expect that Florida and other states will soon follow the Texas model. Such a tragedy.
So glad I’m not a counselor with school district anymore. I would be fired. That republicans would selll their collective souls to the biggest loser the world has ever seen, speaks volumes about who they are. Yes, I live very close to Southlake and I grieve for the children whose parents are teaching them evil and dare the schools to oppose their efforts
They have been at this for our entire history. TFG is just their opportunistic monkey at the right time to try to supplant decency and democracy with their fascist tripe. The Party of Sedition should be the Party of Succession from our country. The South did win. We are not them, or at least many of us do not subscribe to their fascist takeover. If we do not strike right now in our DOJ we really are neutered as a country. I despise this train they keep ramming us with.
We need to create a new country. We need to dissolve the patriarchy. Perhaps it is time to let women run things for awhile? We understand oppression.
That the country continually capitulates to the southern delusionalists is mind boggling. You know who else won? Castro - now we have Rubio and Cruz for ourselves.
True that TFG is just the symptom. But he is making the most of it. In dollars.
TGF gave license to what was there, held in check by better hearts and minds that crafted liberal policies and laws based upon truths hard won over generations. Hate and fear live under a shallow buried rock.
I’m looking forward to the sizable aging Jewish population in Florida being told there is an opposing view of the Holocaust.
I wonder if the Ten Commandments gives an opposing view? Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet . . any thing that is thy neighbor’s. Or is the opposing view of the Holocaust that it was justified?
Teacher revolt, I second that idea. Doctors are not allowed to walk off their jobs, but teachers sure can.
Not in Texas. We’re a “right to work” state. It’s illegal for us to strike. But I’m thinking it would be good trouble!
I was thinking it would be good trouble if nurses and doctors would strike too, let the politicians administer to their non Vaxer constituents
All of you in jail at once? Awesome press!
Teachers in Texas cannot just walk off their jobs. We are prohibited from striking, and risk losing our certifications and pensions if we do. There is strength in numbers, so I’m not saying it’s impossible, but unlikely.
Exactly! We’re not a union state
This was part of TX strategy to maximize business moving to TX so they could make more money, not worry much about workers rights. Always follow the money.
Oh, horrors. Losing your certification and pensions for protesting (striking) sounds unconstitutional to me. But, then, state's rights and all.
Authoritarianism by any other name, eh?
That’s Texas
And a Go Fund me. I’m in !
Indeed. :’-(
Everything seems to rest now on the passage of the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act.
Write and call your representatives and senators multiple times. They must be made aware that the intelligent caring people are the majority. This is a fight that we have to win.
PEOPLE vs. $$$ $$$ $$$ $$$...
Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden.
I think we need more than that. I call for a general strike one hour a day starting at noon on Wednesday until the Freedom to Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act are signed by President Biden.
But we can't forget that bridge in Selma, Alabama.
And here, the bridge cannot be crossed by a few. Numbers must snowball. Americans must show this is not a nation of couch potatoes. If they don't, the consequences will be terrible.
This is about the defense of the Republic.
Yes, excellent! We cannot forget anyone! This has got to become a movement! Non-partisan! This is about America! ALL OF US THIS TIME! BY THE PEOPLE! The Bridge over Troubled Waters! Yes, now is the time. Everyone just stop what they are doing and walk-out for an hour. Sing America! Have a Dream! Make the dream a reality!
Cathy, you're as brave, as right and as wise as Greta Thunberg starting out all alone, nobody looking, nobody listening, and somehow her movement has snowballed worldwide.
May your will prevail! May Americans wake up before it is too late. The Republic may be very imperfect, but heaven help us all if it falls.
Thinking of all our teachers and friends in Texas, like you, Cathy. We must win this fight against this backwards trajectory. It is so blatant...it is insane. No white sheets anymore.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Cathy, I like doing something active-- how will "They" whom need to know, that we are striking? Should the Lincoln Project know about this idea? MoveOn?
Yes, let's invite the Lincoln Project and MoveOn. Anyone you can think of that might like to participate. Put it on social media. Tell media to be sure to cover it. This needs to be a movement.
I sent your notice to the Lincoln Project to post. And I posted on my town's website and invited neighbors to join together on The Putney Green everyday. Bring lunch and socially distance or wear masks. This is very important. Thank you so much Cathy. I have been feeling so powerless and you solved my problem!
Here is an invitation that you can use in contacting other organizations, media, and friends! All are welcome!
BY THE PEOPLE!
National Walkout on the Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts
Please consider a national walkout to show our “representatives” that they represent the People! Wednesday, noon, for one hour, every day until the Freedom to Vote law and the John Lewis Voting Rights law are signed by President Biden.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general walk-out for one hour starting Wednesday daily until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Daily. Show them the People have a voice. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. Post this in social media! It is time for the People to speak up!
On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at noon local time, stop what you're doing and just walk out. Sing "America" and other songs of your choosing. Keep it peaceful. Keep it nonpartisan. If people try to intimidate you, deescalate, don't engage, just sit down! Be what America can be and will be for all of us this time!
By the People!
We the People, All of Us this time!
¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!
The people united shall never be defeated!
Noticed a typo... it is 1776 not 1775...
BY THE PEOPLE!
National Walkout on the Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts
Please consider a national walkout to show our “representatives” that they represent the People! Wednesday, noon, for one hour, every day until the Freedom to Vote law and the John Lewis Voting Rights law are signed by President Biden.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1776 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general walk-out for one hour starting Wednesday daily until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Daily. Show them the People have a voice. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. Post this in social media! It is time for the People to speak up!
On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at noon local time, stop what you're doing and just walk out. Sing "America" and other songs of your choosing. Keep it peaceful. Keep it nonpartisan. If people try to intimidate you, deescalate, don't engage, just sit down! Be what America can be and will be for all of us this time!
By the People!
We the People, All of Us this time!
¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!
The people united shall never be defeated!
I have sent that message too, that if voting rights are not protected, the rest is of no consequence.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Here a suggested blurb to post on social media and in contacting groups you are part of:
BY THE PEOPLE!
National Walkout on the Freedom to Vote and the John Lewis Voting Rights Acts
Please consider a national walkout to show our “representatives” that they represent the People! Wednesday, noon, for one hour, every day until the Freedom to Vote law and the John Lewis Voting Rights law are signed by President Biden.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general walk-out for one hour starting Wednesday daily until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Daily. Show them the People have a voice. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. Post this in social media! It is time for the People to speak up!
On Wednesday, October 20, 2021, at noon local time, stop what you're doing and just walk out. Sing "America" and other songs of your choosing. Keep it peaceful. Keep it nonpartisan. If people try to intimidate you, deescalate, don't engage, just sit down! Be what America can be and will be for all of us this time!
By the People!
We the People, All of Us this time!
¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!
The people united shall never be defeated!
This is fabulous, Cathy. I think I will try to get my local villagers here in VT to go out on The Village Green with signs during that hour every day.
Our hearts are with you, Denise, and your fellow teachers whose moral courage is being tested. Stay safe as possible.
Will there be vigilantes in TX, collecting a reward for teachers who do not conform? It reminds me of communist classrooms where children were encouraged to tell-tales on their parents.
I would love for parents to come see how their children behave! 😂
The infamous "not my child!"
Third Reich did this as well
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Holding you and your fellow teachers in my heart. Strength and courage to you all!
Denise I cannot imagine the atmosphere you face each day. How wretched are these "leaders". These education thugs must be stopped. Sending strength.
My campus admin are the best! Actually, I feel supported by our parents and loved by the students! I haven’t watched a podcast from NBC yet and I’ve been told I need to. I just do my job of teaching art. As many teachers will tell you, teaching is an amazing job! It’s all the other stuff piled on that gets in the way and makes it harder. This? This is “other stuff!”
But this "other stuff" prevents people who don't teach art or music or drama from actually teaching, and helping kids develop the ability to listen critically.
So true! My heart breaks for them! I talk to my colleagues daily and commiserate over all of it! It’s so Orwellian. This is why it’s so important to vote on local offices and issues. So many people only vote during presidential elections. Being involved at the local level effects us where we live.
The book and documentary What’s the Matter with Kansas showed this process already entrenched and underway by 2004… and still we did not take it seriously. We let it grow to the crisis of today.
Knowledge is power, and we do not have to give up.
The arts are next.
The arts are "already!" So many schools around the country have cut art/music/drama/etc. as "unnecessary." Crazy.
😣
Nothing about this law or Heather’s article or these comments is about art. It’s about history, which is certainly not just”other stuff.”
I didn’t mean the history is other stuff. I meant the house bill, the limitations, the reprimands by a school board, the news spotlight, the angry parents, the attacks on teachers and the district, the set of rules that limits our freedom of speech but allows students to say whatever they want including calling POC racist slang terms. The things put on us. That’s the other stuff. Art is closely tied to history! But that’s for another house bill.
Keep on keeping on, Denise. As you know, many important messages have been hidden in art over time.
Yep! But I won’t be the one to point it out! 😂
Not to be persnickety, but art is a wonderful way to teach history. They are integral topics.
Shh! They don’t know that! 😂 Don’t give them any ideas!
And don’t you think I know that?
Thinking of you, Denise, and your colleagues throughout Texas. Sending you courage, strength, and hope.
Dear Denise -
I/we feel your fear and echo Ellie’s encouragement.
This is terrifying, Denise. That your thoughtful comments here could incur the wrath of the school board that has been taken over by tRumplicans is anathema.
I’m also a member of a Democratic Women’s club that has been here since the 1920s. It was recommended that I should possibly stop going. I won’t! I love my tribe! I’ve never had to march and work to register voters before. But I feel strongly about hitting the streets and getting it done!
With you in spirit
💕
The recording has a force that complaints do not. So glad the raw truth is out.
As a former educator in Texas, an administrator, now retired...I will say FOR you what I would probably never, ever have said when I was employed: it's time for a massive teacher walkout. NOW. So what that you do not have a union. YOU are what matters. There is no way that schools can stay open if all the teachers refuse to show up. You will force this state back into quarantine and even our pathetic governor would worry about the economy if that happens. Organize. Resist. WALK AWAY. They cannot fire all of you. YOU are too many. There are not enough teachers on the planet to replace you. You have the upper hand. USE IT.
Agreed. I just don't know what people live on if there is no union. But maybe if it's short lived? Need an experienced labor person to chime in here.
The people united shall never be defeated! Yes, time to unite.
Love this Chilean revolutionary song.
¡El pueblo unido jamás será vencido!
The people united shall never be defeated!
Listen and enjoy the lyrics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhpSwSBbdxM
I will offer free room and board to any Texas teacher who quits over this and needs a place to live without that income. Of course I live in MO, not a bastion of freedom. And would contribute to Marcia’s GoFundMe.
They need to set the Go Fund Me up.Wait till Israel hears this ! Not to mention the Jewish Community in FL.
and in NY, and in MA.
No kidding !
As a prior Educator I am grateful to be out of the morass. Now I'm wondering if we'll ever get out of this mess. Hopefully in my lifetime
Denise, I lookd specifically for your comments about this today. Thank you for sharing. Be safe.
One thing jumped out this morning. The fact they cut out Abigail Adams brought back the memory of listening to “1776” by David McCullough. My wife and I listened while on a road trip. I made the comment that it was Abigail who made the greatest impression on me. The power of women has never been more needed than now.
I learned another salient fact this morning listening to “The End of White Christian America” by Robert P Jones. In 2014 when the Republicans took back the Senate and the House, the SINGLE largest factor was historically poor turnout to vote. So the lesson is obvious and the solution is glaring.
Thanks, Bill. These look like two books I want to read.
It's interesting that Eliza, Hamilton's wife, who was still young when he died, lived a long life in which she was an avid abolitionist, opened the first orphanage, raised money for charity, and was an advocate for the education of all children.
Before there was "HAMILTON" there was the Broadway show, and later movie, 1776.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK1hX_j0-E4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeuaTpH6Ck0
Perhaps there should be a musical/movie about the absurdities of this era. It should have a cast that represents the current skew of women and minorities telling "our" history vs. certain whitewashed contemporary individuals and beliefs. Something as haunting and beautiful as Riverdance which told the story of an era in Ireland.
My favorite musical, bar none.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
"Pins, John"
Thank you Dr. Richardson.
When "No Child Left Behind" came along with President G.W. Bush, most of my faculty referred to it as "No Teacher Left Standing." The push for state wide competency exams took away so much precious time for curriculum. I retired in 2005 and a couple of years prior to that we noticed an upswing in angry parents tied to those who listened to Glen Beck and Rush L. In fact,
a Social Studies teacher on my team was transferred to another school and was given an assignment to teach Science in lieu of Social Studies. The seeds for today's horror were planted so long ago.
I am long retired from education and glad that I am. The teachers I know who are still in the system loathe standardized testing. One friend has managed to carve out a class in writing in his elementary school. While I was still in education, the state was responsible for the testing havoc and we seen a lot of time doing the testing, trying to get all the kids to finish it, and all the paper work. That went by the wayside and then the federal standards arrived, so not while people complain that kids are not taught critical thinking, they fail to understand that teachers must now teach to the test. This year Oregon eliminated some requirements in math and English for graduation. Of course, that got interpreted as somehow letting students graduate without knowing anything which is not what the change does.
The one thing that strikes me, besides the obvious elimination of everything about slavery and stolen land and everybody but white men, is the idea that schools should teach honesty, courage, etc. which is absolutely hypocritical in the light of the these new requirements. This is incredibly ugly.
The school district in question has tried to rectify what the administrator said, but it falls a little flat. I am reminded of our curriculum director who sat in a board meeting and dissed the English department for teaching novels. At that point she had been in charge of special ed for many years and I tried to help her students with the canned materials she was advocating. They were awful. I couldn't understand them and they were full of grammatical errors. But she was on a vendetta against our English department with whom she had a history. I knew as soon as she was in charge of curriculum, they were in trouble. I had one of her special ed students assigned to me to help him with his assignments in English and they were reading Jane Eyre. I thought it would be an uphill battle, but then I discovered he was reading ahead of the class. So much for novels.
Michele, I understand how you feel.
spent not seen the sentence about state testing.
Carla, You come with books, thoughts, care and this important report. Ignorance campaigns launched by malignant forces were stepped up before most of us knew of its cruel attacks on our children, teaches, parents, schools, history and memory. We need to know as much as we can to bring light to the darkness. Thank you Carla. Salud!
Thank you, Fern! I loved having my 8th graders read "The Diary of Anne Frank", " The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" and "So Far From the Bamboo Grove" by Yoko Kawashima Watkins. "Bamboo Grove" is a YA little paperback (Young Adult) but it is a wonderful book about WWII set in North Korea, to South Korea to Japan. We read so many novels and my students seemed to enjoy the journey. I know I did too.
Carla, This morning has brought old. still strong feelings, fresh brushes with darkness, deep appreciation for you, along with HCR, LFAA's subscribers...and I have written down 'Bamboo Grove' to read, thanks to you.
Happy to hear that, Fern! I just loved that little book. My father served in the Navy during WWII in the Pacific and that little book gave me a whole new perspective on so many things.
I ordered the 'little book' and will post my review to you. The book outlet warned it would probably take longer to arrive than in the recent past. I reply, thanks to Bad postmaster Joy, part of the former's brand!
I just read it online and feel deeply moved by it. Thank you Carla!
So funny! It will be a quick read, but a memorable one based on Yoko's life experience. :-)
Thank you, just added Bamboo Grove to my Kindle library.
Hope you enjoy it! An important view of WWII through the eyes of a child.
That stupid push was the beginning of the end, in my opinion. I was fortunate to be able to retire about that time. GWB's Laura brought in some idiot from Canada who knew absolutely NOTHING about literacy and threw out one of the best, most progressive reading programs this state had ever seen. POOF. Overnight, we were strapped to phonics and 1950's curricula, courtesy of that blunder. I never found out who got all that money, but one could bet it was either GWB's own family or some donors. Following that, they sold the state education system to the testing industry, home based in San Antonio. And from then on, teachers were strapped to a curriculum that was strapped to tests, and teaching to the test became the way things were.
I am in total agreement, Ellen. I hear you. Greed, money, corporations ---.
All of the previous comments have made so many great points. My father had a history text from his school years called "Great Names in American History" that recounted a handful of acts of a handful of predictable notables in superlatives and simplistic breathy admiration. We were in college when we discovered it among the many books in our family library and howling with laughter we read choice bits aloud to each other before dinner that night. We renamed it "Great Inanes..." and started listing who we'd add, which was a lot of fun. As we sat down to eat, a visiting friend said, "Imagine if you were a teacher and that book is all you could teach your class." The rest of the meal was spent in quite a different way. The Texas law smacks of Soviet information control too-- The willingness to go to extreme effort to rewrite history, as an anecdote told by a escaped history professor went" When Beria was no longer a hero of the republic, every household was sent a packet containing razor blade to remove the Beria entry from their official copy of the Soviet encyclopedia and substitute pages that provided additional information about the Bering Strait. May we all be vigilant
Angelica E. Braestrup, that reminds me of a scene in the film "Dead Poets Society." In a classroom the teacher (Robin Williams) asks one of the boys to read what the author of a book has written about what poetry is. So the student reads the definition. Then the teachers tells all of the students to rip it out of each textbook.
Great story, Angela.
This is the first time I've read the breadth of history whitewashing in Texas. Are we in a computer simulation of life in Orwell's "1984"? Or rocketed back in time to historical revisionism in the communist Soviet Union? Is the party of limited government saying that the government controls what people are allowed to learn, to decide for themselves who to admire or revile? Is the party that champions individual freedom like a religion now saying that it and only it decides what freedom is?
I'm guessing that the coming mass book burnings won't be blamed for contributing to climate change, which eventually won't be taught either.
These people aren't "conservative" and never were. Read Hofstadter's "Pseudo-Conservative Revolt" to see today's fascist scum described, 67 years ago.
Mammonist Destructives.
I have never been more struck than now by the obscene shadow aspect of the American nation:
How Europe's oppressed escaped to America, where they promptly set about oppressing others.
This adding to and increasing the chain reactions of evil has never ceased. The light remains ever present, yet the shadow darkens and is spread across the suffering world.
And this darkness, this savagery, this denial of the light, may not be spoken of. Not spoken of, only spread, ad infinitum.
Spread, in the name of liberty, in the name of religion, in the name of Mammon and Moloch disguised as God.
"There is no odor so bad as that which arises from goodness tainted. It is human, it is divine, carrion."
Thoreau
There is so much darkness that’s days that it is really hard to remember that “it is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”
Thank you, Peter, for these difficult steps to the words of Thoreau. Memories, resistance, reflection, death...and determination were awakened.
I stole this. Thank You Peter.
I'm not quite sure what you mean, MaryPat, but you and everyone else here are welcome to help yourselves to anything I may contribute. I only hope people will do so judiciously and avoid anything silly (or worse) that I may bring on board...
I just want to add that I rarely speak of Britain, the land of my birth and upbringing, and that silence is not flattering to the country as it is today.
I posted it to friends on facebook Peter. An important contrition this Sunday morning. Thank You.
THANK YOU.
(I was thinking of my Irish ancestors, overtsking the injun's land in southwest Minnesota)
Of course they're not. It's all part of the role they play, and they do play it well.
Has been true since Reagan (before really). Reagan’s evil put it in high gear, he was a better actor than I gave him credit for. Of course, Peggy Noonan wrote his scripts and Michael Deaver did photo ops with the flag 24/7. And yes, they do it very well.
(Sweden)
Orwell was thinking of Britain and the USA in "1984", was he not? In the cold war era we were all made to turn our heads to the USSR; not unfounded of course.
Published in 1949, Orwell was more worried about the past experience of Nazi Germany and the similarities with Stalinist Russia than thoughts of UK/USA other than to say that what happened there can be conatgious..
Well, I think fascism is about taking an advantage at the cost of others. So, I think as Europeans and Americans we have this in our history and in our selves, but post war propaganda successfully, and truthfully, had it that it belonged to the others. The question weather it also belongs to us was not raised; other than by Göring who asked for a Nürenberg trial of the winners as well, but he of course belonged to the others. What Orwell was thinking of I don't know, but I think I've read somewhere that he had the notion I mentioned.
Taking an advantage at the cost of others is seen as fair because others might do that to you. And if they don’t prevent your taking advantage of them, then they deserve it, they are weak. That’s how we in this country got Trump.
I’m not an economist, but that seems like capitalism to me.
Self-interest, greed, corruption lives in almost all 'systems'.
This is not new in Texas, just now becoming “institutionalized.”
And obvious. The cowboy is wearing no clothes.
Fearing your prescient predictions
Indeed, I live in propaganda land, well, so do we all…
It should be noted that the most common "opposing perspective" on the Holocaust is not support for the murder of 6 million Jews (although some twisted minds do) but rather denial that the Holocaust occurred. Fortunately, General Eisenhower, upon visiting Dachau immediately reacted: "I sent communications to both Washington and London, urging the two governments to send instantly to Germany a random group of newspaper editors and representative groups from the national legislatures. I felt that the evidence should be immediately placed before the American and British publics in a fashion that would leave no room for cynical doubt.”
So glad you posted this. I have an Ike quote “get the records, get the films.” that I can’t verify, but your post verifies his position. Also, Hitchcock made a documentary of the horror and shot wide vistas so that villages close by could be identified)., these men knew that someday there would be Holocaust deniers and provided the evidence, which is now under attack. How prescient they were…
There were 911 deniers twenty minutes after the planes went down. 1/4 of the population ( probably of the globe ) will believe any combination of crack pot theories to make their often contradictory points. Always.
Oh, I was thinking that Texas wanted teachers to teach children Fascism. How did I get that idea? Denial is more in line with these people and their conspiracies.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
The Texas legislature has gone completely off the deep end. Remember, these are the same lawmakers who have essentially legalized terrorism in their twisted efforts to stop abortion. They have enabled any anti-choice goon to bring financial destruction down on anyone who assists a Texas woman in obtaining an abortion. This is the work of depraved authoritarians and will not end well, in Texas or any of the other radical Republican states that adopt their insane, scorched-earth politics and tactics. I fear for my children and grandchild.
My grands as well, one is scared of bullies who scream their support for kKK at her for wearing a mask at school, and she wants to move out of the country. Smart girl I think. Aledo is another Southlake, sad to say.
Oh, what is the impact on our youth? I may as well change my moniker of The Party of Sedition to The Party of Fascism.
'Tis
The Texas legislature is a gerrymandered cabal of white supremacists elected by like-minded voters comprising 60% to 70% of white Texans and almost no voters outside the white population.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
90% of Poland’s Jewish population of three million perished during the Holocaust. I am a child of two of those survivors, conceived in a displaced persons’ camp, lucky to pop out in NYC, carried in utero by my mother who came to America with my father. May both Rest In Peace.
My parents would roll over in their graves if they knew what is going on in one Texas school district. With Texas’ assault on voting rights and abortion and whatever else receives scant coverage in the press, my thought, though not politic, is that we might consider giving Texas back to Mexico and give Dreamer status to those more tolerant who want to honor the American dream.
These people are an abomination to the concept of freedom and all that makes America exceptional.
During the McCarthy period, there was a school district in Indiana which banned Robin Hood because it preached the Communist line. Are we approaching that kind of thought police when we cannot even accept historical facts.
Six years ago, I had the privilege of serving dinner to a friend’s family while they mourned her beloved father in law - a Holocaust survivor. (I am not Jewish but was glad to be able to help.) Our other friend who was helping had to leave early so I agreed to stay as long as necessary to serve a late snack and more to drink should it be needed.
Most of the family left around 9:30pm. Jon’s widow, Inga, came to the kitchen and asked for tea. We started chatting and when she learned that I wasn’t Jewish, she asked me why I’d come to help. Because my dad served in WWII, and because I’d heard her husband’s escape story at a local synagogue and wanted to do what I could to honor his memory. Despite the late hour and her grief, Inga asked if I wanted to hear her story. Yes please and I sat riveted for the next hour and a half, hearing how she had been spirited from one French nunnery to another at 8 years old. No words. Just no words to describe that experience for me which lives forever in my heart and soul.
That Texas thinks to allow an opposing view of the Holocaust just fires up my work to get out the vote here in my community for decent school board members locally. Anything less is not acceptable. For Jon, Inga and your parents- and six million more. May their names forever be a blessing.
My brother's father-in-law, Frank Silver, spent his teenage years in Auschwitz. At first, he was assigned to a grenade-making workshop. Frank deliberately mis-wired the grenades to blow up early, before the Nazi soldiers had time to throw them.One day, a Nazi officer showed up to shoot the prisoner who had been killing his soldiers. The methodical Germans had traced the faulty grenades to their source. Frank's German foreman threw him to the ground, fiercely punching and kicking him, while asking for the honor of beating him to death - such scum were not worth bullets. Once the officer was clearly gone, the beating stopped. The foreman leaned over and whispered in Frank's ear, "Disappear in the camp. Never let me see you again." Frank lived into his 70's, and is survived by two daughters and three grandsons.
These are the stories that need to live forever. Amazing that Frank survived - like so many!
Most of his family were murdered. Only he and one brother survived.
Yes!! Thank you, Alan, Sheila, and Joan for keeping these courageous souls and their stories alive and shared!
I have a friend whose mother lived through that time in France; she had a similar experience of moving throughout the countryside, hiding from the Nazis. My friend learned about that only while her mother was going through the ravages of dementia. Her Mom was most clear and present while relating those stories (confirmed by her aunt).
Why would you punish Mexico like this? Mexico doesn’t deserve to be saddled with Texas.
...and probably wouldn't want TX.
Exactly
Amen.
Alan, "They" are an abomination to memory. I remember as you do; my grandparents were survivors of their families living in Hungary and Poland. Your comment hit home. Shalom.
Texas and Indian are just two states that are now part of what we may call "The New Confederacy."
And we should let them go
As a retired math teacher, I can’t wait for the Texas legislature to discover that the number system we use today, the Arabic-Hindu system, was developed by non-Christians, or that the word ‘algebra’ comes from the Arabic word ‘al-jabr’! Instead of permitting the use of a system with ten numerals (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0) that revolutionized and simplified mathematics in the western world, we’d be forced to return to using the more clumsy Roman numeral system.
Shhh! Don’t give them any ideas! 😂
What if they also learned that Jesus was a poor brown-skinned Jew who advocated welcoming the stranger?
Texicans could make the claim that Rome was a Catholic Nation and force the return to MCMXXXIX
I was in a class once with an evangelical who’d been taught by her mega church that Catholics were not Christians, so there is that.
And funny about that, my first ex husband was Baptist. He let me know before marriage that he would never step foot in a Catholic Church which I was raised up in .We had children. I just wanted to attend a church as a family. So we went to Baptist. My mother informed me that I was going to Hell ! I came back with “ Jesus was a Jew “. My church is my back porch.My motto “ WhenI do bad I feel bad . WhenI do good I feel good. And that’s my Religion. “
“My religion is kindness.” Dalai Lama
Whatever happen to the “Golden Rule “ BruceC ? Treat people the way you would wish to be treated . Generations were raised on that one belief .Me !
I have family members who still hold that belief, and the one about all vaxxed people will die at once when the government flips a switch. True story.
Do What ? That tops the Stupid list.
Can you say Docs in, backwards?
The Chinese say they play the long game. Texas copies
I've heard the same thing.
What, really? I have not yet heard this one yet. So much energy and destruction by groups of people who each thing they are the chosen ones. Egad!
*think
I have been wondering what the "alternative" to math would be? What about reading? What about English?
Wouldn't Mein Kampf be an opposing view to Ann Frank's Diary? I would be fine with students understanding the republican playbook in the original. But schools teach a lot of subjects besides history. Does chemistry need an opposing view, perhaps alchemy or witchcraft? Does physical education need to include works extolling sloth? Where does this nonsense lead?
I think evolution vs creationism is the point.
One day in my high school biology class, back in the mid seventies, a little nun came into teach us the “opposing view” of evolution. It was by decree from the archdiocese and hilarious to all of us. Until I got home and recounted the episode to my mom, who had minored in chemistry. That she still held Genesis ( though the ark stuff went too far for her )above science was earth shattering to me.
Those of us working late on our doctorates in molecular genetics in '60's used to listen to Garner Ted Armstrong rail against Evil-lution on the radio. His World Wide Church of God, still actively spewing nonsense, published a magazine called The Plain Truth. The May, 1969 issue had a long article on DNA replication. The article asserted that since DNA is copied perfectly (it isn't), then evolution was impossible. We got a big laugh out of that, but it was a little scary to see how they could regurgitate all the correct theory except for one essential point.
https://wwcg-archives.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Plain-Truth/Plain%20Truth%201969%20%28Prelim%20No%2005%29%20May.pdf
Earlier, in a comment by a reader whose niece is an orchestra director, I suggested she might have to pose the "opposing" view that tuning to A 432 Hz is more "natural and ordered" than tuning to A 440 Hz. There's an opposing view they wouldn't bargain for!
https://www.musicianwave.com/432-hz-440-hz/
I have a tin ear, but I've been told that some musicians, particularly those who come from cultures that have microtonal slides in their music, deliberately don't hit notes exactly on the Western idea of correct pitch. So if they if they want an opposing view to European music, Delta Blues might be a place to start. I'd recommend Fred McDowell.
And I've been harassed for singing flat all my life.
It has led to the climate crisis among many others. You can read more of that history in Naomi Oreskes’ book, Merchants of Doubt. Unbelievable where such lies and disinformation are taking us.
I've read (Hillbilly Eulogies I think) that Evangelicals believe the second coming is around the corner so why worry about the environment. If I believed that is so I would be ashamed to face God with how we've destroyed his/her creation.
I adore your wit!
Not to steal Daria's thunder, but her post on LFAA 9-10-21 stuck in my craw. Texas' control over curriculum has insidious and far-reaching tentacles across to other states, back in time for 20 years, and worst, for brainwashing the upcoming generation. Texas because of its size (second largest state in the country) has been driving reactionary revisions of public school textbooks across the country--for decades. Her mother saw it as a teacher in Maryland in the 60s and 70s.
What motivated the Gablers, from Texas Monthly, 1982:
"Norma and Mel Gabler entered the field of textbook reform twenty years ago, after their son Jim came home from school disturbed at discrepancies between the 1954 American history text his eleventh-grade class was using and what his parents had taught him. The Gablers compared his text to history books printed in 1885 and 1921 and discovered differences.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/the-guardians-who-slumbereth-not/
https://www.liquisearch.com/mel_and_norma_gabler
Ten to fifteen years of brainwashing created an army of children conscripted to be fanatic frontline soldiers programmed to not question authority and to die for Hitler.
"Nazi indoctrination of antisemitic attitudes in Germany was extremely effective." And continues.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/illusion-chasers/the-long-lasting-effects-of-nazi-indoctrination/
Thanks for your link to the deeply-researched Texas Monthly article, Elli; a fully-formed investigation, including: "...when one regards education as simply the ingestion of facts and not the investigation and analysis of ironies, ambiguities, uncertainties, and contradictions, one will be far less likely either to understand the question or to provide a useful answer. And that kind of trained incapacity will endanger the vitality and ultimately the survival of treasured forms of religious, political, social, and economic life.
Norma Gabler’s difficulty with unanticipated questions is a communicable disease, and she is working to spread it."
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Thank you Ellie, when I lived in Houston years ago, I often wrote letters to the editor at Houston Chronicle (loved that paper) about the Gablers. They were powerful conservative, religious nuts who thought their view was the only one. They are gone now but their foundation still spews the propaganda. Thank you for the references. Because Texas had largest orders for textbooks, others states ordered the same, so Gablers influence spread far and wide. Did more damage to our teaching of history than can be imagined. Think I suffered from it in NC. But I left NC and learned a few things on my own. The Gabler world was a mirage, still is.
Okay, I offer you this. I suddenly feel calmer. Light has been shed on the systematic mind control in our country for decades in our ed. systems. We now know, with proof, books, publishing companies and leaders that need to all step away. We actually need all these revelations right now in order to weed them out. Deep gardening of our destructive roots.
Howard Zinn wanted to write A People's History (unvarnished) because he believed that a national history serves only to justify the existence of the nation, which means, mainly, that it lies, and if it ever tells the truth, it tells it too fast, racing past atrocity to dwell on glory.
I suddenly have this image of thousands of copies of A People's History and its offshoots -- Indigenous People's History, Black and Latinx People's History, etc. -- being unboxed in a remote location in West Texas and clandestinely ferried by car and truck to high schoolers in every corner of Texas.
Love this idea! Here is an additional one: https://libcom.org/library/peoples-history-of-united-states-howard-zinn
"This extensive work of Howard Zinn's superb people's history of the United States, spanning over 500 years from Columbus's "discovery" of America in 1492 to the Clinton presidency in 1996 is free online. This is thanks to History Is A Weapon, who OCRed the text, though we heartily recommend our readers to buy a hard copy. libcom.org have made a small number of minor corrections." —History Is A Weapon
Thanks Penelope!
Deep gardening!
Let's not forget that Hitler was influenced by American Henry Ford and his anti-semitic conspiracy theories. Hitler even kept a photo of Ford on his desk.
Unreal how many Americans were on Hitler’s team, Madison Square Garden in 1939, even the Coup of 1933 (Google Gen. Smedley Butler), and of course, Lindbergh. Michael Lewis has written extensively about this. If not for Japanese and Pearl Harbor…
“The Gabler Effect” is having a comeback.
Most of the Hitler Youth were generally shot after they were captured or surrendered, especially the ones in the Hitler Jugend SS division.
At the end of the war, Hitler Youth were targeted by both sides--as captives of the Allies, and if running away, hung as traitors by their commanders.
I had a kind, gentle friend ten years older than me when I was 18, a fellow student. From Hitlerjugend, drafted into the army at age 15. We never knew what Rudi had seen or done, only his horror of politics and politicians. It was as though this aspect of human life had been burned from his mind and nothing remained but scar tissue.
I recall my Italian father-in-law speaking of the pity he had felt for the wretched stragglers of a German army reduced to men of 65 and boys 50 years younger.
Thanks Ellie.
Exactly what Texas is trying to do today. And potentially deadly. Thank you Ellie and Daria for this awakening. We must act.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
Precious and beloved Heather, my deepest gratitude to you for all your courageous truths. There are things I would never know, if not for the lifeline of your letters. I am ever thankful for you and your work on behalf of truth and democracy and the American people. You are a gift of and to the universe. Endless blessings upon you.
Beautifully said.
Taking Responsibility For Your Own Education
I had an opportunity this weekend to discuss with my daughter an experience her own daughter is having in school. We talked for awhile about her own discovery during her childhood that she had educators who were actually preventing her from learning things she was coming to understand diminished her understanding of the world and it’s truths. We recounted conversations she and I had at that point in her life about the importance of taking responsibility herself for her education, the importance of that, and how to go about it. We discussed that it was likely time for her to have those same conversations with her daughter and how to go about that.
I hope you will all forgive me for recounting some of that conversation with my daughter here. However, as I see Texas educators today taking active steps to deliberately and intentionally preventing our children from learning truths that may conflict with the educators own limited views of the world, I feel it is worth stepping back to think carefully about what that means for our children’s education and their future.
Without recounting the specific experiences that led med to this conclusion, I realized as a fairly young child that the choices made by others for me as a child prevented me from learning important truths. I concluded I had to take greater responsibility for my education. I have chosen carefully the characterization of “preventing me from learning important truths.” This expresses the fact that these were deliberate acts by teachers and education administrators to exclude from my education certain truths and facts that conflicted with the educators’ views of the world. That exclusion was their conscious choice not mine. They made those decisions “for my benefit” to prevent me from exploring ideas they felt might be harmful.
When I realized this even at a young age, I discussed this seriously with my Dad. He was a very good and wise person who had come to a similar conclusion at a young age. My Dad explained that these educators had made these decisions not to protect me, but to protect themselves and their own version of truth. We explored together how I could take more responsibility for my own education and make my own choices about what to explore, what to read, who to listen and speak with, and how to develop my own views about what understanding the world and its wonders and truths really meant. Those important conversations with my Dad both changed and have guided my life. They were invaluable and I have tried to have similar conversation with my own children and now my grandchildren as well.
I have urged others to avoid robbing our children of the magic of exploring the world and knowledge. There should be no single version of truth handed to anyone without the opportunity to explore different ideas and contrasting views. Give our young the freedom to make responsible choices. Do not hide truths or history because you think it might not be pretty or conform to a view of the world to which you may not subscribe. Do not prevent our young from learning. And, importantly remember yourself that you also must continue to be curious, eager to explore new ideas and topics. Don’t ever stop learning simply because someone gave you a piece of paper that says you have “graduated” and therefore your education is “completed.”
Each day is a new opportunity to explore a new topic, to wander in a yet unexplored area of the world of wonder about you, to talk to someone about their experiences, to learn something new, to try out something for the first time. How does that new experience or perspective feel? Does it conform to or contrast with your own view of the world? How does it fit with what you thought was true?
What most characterize as an education is more often simply the imprisonment of a mind. It denies one the opportunity to explore the world and prevents someone from experiencing the magic and wonder of discovery. How tragic that we cheat ourselves and our children of that magic and joy.
Bruce, this is beautifully expressed, thank you so much. You're talking about teaching children to think critically and I could not agree more. It's never too early to begin encouraging this way of thinking, as you and your father clearly intuited.
When I was a public school nurse for elementary and middle school agred children, often a curious youngster would ask me a question about medicine or science in general. If I had an answer, I would always preface it by saying, "as far as we know right now..........but we are always learning more so this may change in the future and maybe YOU will be the one to discover the truth!" or some such phrase. I was always honest about not knowing but then we'd talk about ways we could find out the answer, and I also was honest about when Science didn't have an answer yet to their question. There's still a lot of things in medicine we can't explain! I wanted them to understand that knowledge in general is always changing as we uncover deeper truths that weren't understood or widely known before.
I believe we call it "lifelong learning" - at least that's what I call it! I learn every single day.
Thank you for sharing Bruce. My rage at today’s letter from HCR is calmer after reading your story. I realize it’s always up to us - parents, grandparents and important people in our children's lives to be the source of discovery and wonder.
May I share this?
Please do share with anyone who it may help.
A quick story about my conversation with my daughter and the event that precipitated my granddaughter coming to question her about her teacher. In many elementary classrooms teachers at this time of year talk to the students about Columbus “discovering” America. This despite the fact that he never actually set foot in America and when landing on a Bahamian island was greeted by the local Lucayan natives who had long lived there. My granddaughter was listening attentively to her teacher describe all of this and show drawings of Columbus being greeted by the natives on his landing. My granddaughter apparently asked her teacher during this recounting of Columbus’ discovery, “If Columbus discovered America, who were all those people greeting him and where did they come from?” My granddaughter was quite serious and actually expected an answer to her politely asked question. Instead she was rebuked by the teacher for making a joke and fun of the teacher in front of the other students. My granddaughter was told her question was “impolite and fresh.” She was quite upset about that at only 8 years old and when she came home from school asked my daughter, her mother, why the teacher had been “mean” to her.
I told my daughter that it was probably time “to have the talk” with her about needing to take responsibility for her own education and that many adults and even teachers don’t always have your best interests and learning about world as their first priority.
It is such a tragedy that we actively prevent our children from learning real truths and so much magic and wonder in the world. But it does not have to be that way. I know there are many dedicated, great teachers out there. But there are also some for whom it has become just a job and many who have succumbed to the mandates of unenlightened school administrators and boards force feeding their own views of the world to our youth. Don’t wait for that to change. Keep fighting it, but it will never be enough. Encourage all to take responsibility for their own learning and education.
Amazing story. Shows why the US needs to make elementary and secondary school teaching jobs for the smartest and most curious--as in Finland.
I did my own wondering about Columbus as a child. In fourth grade, and the local quaker school, we studied the Vikings, and among other things, learned about Lief Erikson's voyage to North America. So unlike your granddaughter, I did not figure this stuff out by myself. But I've always been grateful for the enlightened teaching I got at that school.
Here is my idea of the opposing side to the Holocaust. If Hitler had not been put in power. If Hitler had been destroyed. If 6 million people had not died. What would’ve happened to the world. What kind of music would’ve been created. What kind of art would’ve been created. What kind of science would’ve been created. What kind of an economy would have been established. What the educational system would’ve looked like. If Hitler had not been put into power. Could we say the atomic Bomb would not have been created. If Hitler had not been put into power. Did the violence created by Germany encourage the Japanese to bombed the United States……..What if that has not happened.
The Freedom to Vote Act is being voted on in the Senate on Wednesday. If it doesn't pass and become law along with the John Lewis Voting Rights Act democracy is dead in the United States. July 4, 1775 to October 20, 2021 R.I.P. Let's show our "representatives" that their #1 priority is the will of the People not their donors, not their party, not their thirst for power. The People. Let's go on a general strike for one hour starting Wednesday until the Freedom to Vote and John Lewis Voting Rights laws are signed by President Biden. We need to do this now before it is too late. If we don't 2022 will be the LAST election we ever get to vote. Please consider passing the word. One hour at noon local time. Saw them the People have a voice. I'm serious. This is not the time to stay silent and let minority rule take over America. Pass the word to all organizations you belong to. It is time for the People to speak up!
That is a great way to take the opposing view.
This will be great.
These are the kinds of stories we used to hear about Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, while our parents and grandparents celebrated that it would never happen here.
Nazi Germany and the Stalinists used a lot of what had been going on here before them as their models - Hitler particularly applauded the eugenicists and the authors of Jim Crow.
So I read, one would think we would learn. We suffered such devastating losses fighting Nazis, yet here we are…