“ACADEMIA...PROBLEM?” Front-page report in today's New York Times...

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 2021

...portrays our American Babel: Truly, the public discourse here in Our Town gets dumber with each passing day.

Can a society become this dumb and sensibly expect to survive? 

Leading experts—anthropologists—tell us the answer is no. It just doesn't work that way.

At present, it's amazingly dumb in the Other Towns, but it's also quite dumb Over Here. These trends are creating an American Babel—and Babel is hard to survive.

A front-page report in today's New York Times portrays our American Babel. It concerns a debate about what should be taught in the public schools. Hard-copy headline included, the front-page report starts like this:

GABRIEL AND GOLDSTEIN (6/2/21): Debate Over Scope of Racism Embroils Schools

In Loudoun County, Va., a group of parents led by a former Trump appointee are pushing to recall school board members after the school district called for mandatory teacher training in “systemic oppression and implicit bias.”

In Washington, 39 Republican senators called history education that focuses on systemic racism a form of “activist indoctrination.”

And across the country, Republican-led legislatures have passed bills recently to ban or limit schools from teaching that racism is infused in American institutions. After Oklahoma’s G.O.P. governor signed his state’s version in early May, he was ousted from the centennial commission for the 1921 Race Massacre in Tulsa, which President Biden visited on Tuesday to memorialize one of the worst episodes of racial violence in U.S. history.

From school boards to the halls of Congress, Republicans are mounting an energetic campaign aiming to dictate how historical and modern racism in America are taught, meeting pushback from Democrats and educators in a politically thorny clash that has deep ramifications for how children learn about their country.

As far as we know, nothing there is false. One might imagine this complaint:

That nugget emphasizes Republican and conservative conduct while downplaying "pushback from Democrats." One might also lodge this objection: 

What the writers describe as "a politically thorny clash" is really a deeply threatening American Babel. At this site, we're told by experts that there may be no way back from this ongoing thorny clash.

How should children—show should 8- or 10-year-old schoolkids—"learn about their country?" Especially when we're discussing a highly fraught topic like "race," there's no perfect way to answer that thorny question.

There's also little sign that "thought leaders" in our warring tribes understand that blindingly obvious fact. We'd have to say that's especially true Over Here.

At any rate, as the Times reporters continue, they continue to describe our spreading American Babel. 

GABRIEL AND GOLDSTEIN (continuing directly): Republicans have focused their attacks on the influence of “critical race theory,” a graduate school framework that has found its way into K-12 public education. The concept argues that historical patterns of racism are ingrained in law and other modern institutions, and that the legacies of slavery, segregation and Jim Crow still create an uneven playing field for Black people and other people of color.

Many conservatives portray critical race theory and invocations of systemic racism as a gauntlet thrown down to accuse white Americans of being individually racist. Republicans accuse the left of trying to indoctrinate children with the belief that the United States is inherently wicked.

Democrats are conflicted. Some worry that arguing America is racist to the root—a view embraced by elements of the party’s progressive wing—contradicts the opinion of a majority of voters and is handing Republicans an issue to use as a political cudgel. But large parts of the party’s base, including many voters of color, support more discussion in schools about racism’s reach, and believe that such conversations are an educational imperative that should stand apart from partisan politics.

“History is already undertaught—we’ve been undereducated, and these laws are going to get us even less educated,” said Prudence L. Carter, the dean of the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Attempts to suppress what is still a nascent movement to teach young Americans more explicitly about racist public policy, like redlining or the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, amount to “a gaslighting of history,” she said, adding, “It’s a form of denialism.”

Are Republicans advocating "a gaslighting of history?" Of one thing we can be sure—it's a thrilling claim.

That said, how about it! What should children be taught about such public policies as the Chinee Exclusion Act of 1882? What should children be taught about that, and at what age should they be taught it? 

As accusations fly back and forth, no one seems to say.

By the way, is it accurate to say the following? Is it accurate to say that elements of the Democratic Party's progressive wing argue that "America is racist to the core?"

That's a very exciting claim; to what extent is it accurate? It's hard to answer a question like that, but this the highlighted claim in this passage  is pretty much flatly wrong:

GABRIEL AND GOLDSTEIN: Some of the discussion about education has been fueled by the 1619 Project, developed by The New York Times Magazine, which argues that “the country’s very origin” traces to when the first ship carrying enslaved people touched Virginia’s shore that year. “Out of slavery—and the anti-black racism it required—grew nearly everything that has truly made America exceptional,” the magazine’s editor wrote.

Educators have embraced curriculums created along with the project, responding to a changing nation in which a majority of public-school students are now nonwhite, but the teaching force remains nearly 80 percent white.

Republican pushback has been intense. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the G.O.P. leader, said recently that he disagreed that 1619 was important in U.S. history. He and other Republican senators are pushing the Biden administration to drop efforts by the Education Department to prioritize history courses that emphasize “systemic marginalization” of peoples.

Is that accurate? Did McConnell recently say "that 1619 wasn't important in U.S. history?"

The Times reporters include a link which takes us to this earlier report. In that report, we can't find McConnell quoted saying any such thing.

The American Babel of which we speak is a Babel concerning issues of so-called "race." It's a Babel concerning what children will be told about that sprawling, painful topic, but also at what age.

It's hard for us in Our Town to see it, but Our Town's thought leaders often show comically awful judgment about such deeply felt matters. And not only that! A lot of these amazing thought leaders—the wonderfully brilliant people we so thoroughly trust in Our Town—are committing acts of "ethnic fraud" themselves, if we're able to believe the remarkable claims and suggestions which appeared in Sunday's New York Times Magazine.

"Academia, do we have a problem?" the author often asks.

Is there a 1619 Project curriculum, as the Times reporters say?

Yes there is, and in certain ways, it's a lazy, careless, indolent, howling, ridiculous D-minus disgrace. We'll try to get to that later.

Meanwhile, there's the ongoing dispute about the role (if any) to be played by Aztec gods in California's new public school ethnic studies curriculum. 

In a detailed analysis by Snopes, we're told that there's no role for the Aztec gods at all, or at least no role for them "per se." On the other hand, do we really think it makes sense to have kids in public schools engaging in "community chants" such as these?

Tezkatlipoka, Tezkatlipoka,
Tezkatlipoka, Tezkatlipoka,
smoking mirror, self-reflection
We must vigorously search within ourselves be reflective, introspective by silencing distractions and extensive comprehensive obstacles in our lives, (in our lives),
in order to be warriors of love, of love,
for our gente representin’ justice, (justice)
local to global global to local eco-logical, & social, (social), justice (justice).

[…]

Huitzilopochtli, huitzilopochtli, 
Huitzilopochtli, huitzilopochtli, 
hummingbird to the left, yollotl,
corazon, heart, ganas, the will to action as we grow in
consciousness must be willing to be proactive,
not just thinkin’ and talkin’ but makin’ things happen,
with agency, resiliency, & a revolutionary spirit
that’s positive, progressive, creative, native,
Passion everlasting work hard in action,
tap in to the spark of our universal heart,
pulsating creation huitzilopochtli cause like sunlight, the light inside of us, in will to action’s 
what brings …

In its detailed analysis, Snopes is at pains to note this: "The 'community chants' as outlined in the curriculum contain no mention of gods, per se, or of human sacrifice."  

Sometimes, though, you just have to laugh, even as our American Babel has our nation sliding toward the sea.

What does the new California curriculum say? We can't exactly tell you! Snopes provides a link to the new curriculum. That link yields this result: 

"Page not found."

We tried to find the curriculum over the weekend; we found that was no easy task. Meanwhile, we're spending long, lazy afternoons on a different difficult topic:

What did "the greatest logician since Aristotle" actually prove, discover, demonstrate, find, reveal or say when he was just 24? It isn't easy to learn that either! Even at the allegedly highest levels, sometimes you just have to laugh!

(More on that to come. Anthropologists support our belief that the topic is entertaining, but also highly instructive.)

Things are falling apart in our land. It isn't clear that the center is going to hold. 

In obvious ways, a silent secession has already occurred. Anthropologists sat that human projects have always ended this way before proceeding to war..

Our Town's thought leaders in ethnic studies are full of passionate intensity. Some are also "ethnic frauds." 

That doesn't necessarily mean that their work is bad. But sometimes, you just have to laugh.

Tomorrow: Emba v. Rufo RE gods?


49 comments:

  1. Gabriel and Goldstein say (quoted by Somerby): "Republican pushback has been intense. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the G.O.P. leader, said recently that he disagreed that 1619 was important in U.S. history."

    McConnell is a signee of the letter sent to Education Secretary Cardenas, which is provided here (a link found in the NY Times article):

    https://www.republicanleader.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/FINAL%20DOE%20Civics%20Education%20Signed%204.29.21.pdf

    Note that the paraphrase attributed to McConnell is certainly a fair summary of the content of that letter.

    Somerby plays a game in which he pretends that McConnell didn't say what he did, because the exact words do not appear in the article or letter. But Goldstein and Gabriel are not quoting McConnell, or the phrase would have been included in quotation marks. They were summarizing him, and that summary is fair and reflects their position accurately.

    Apparently, reporters must only exactly quote and never summarize what a Republican says, even if the meaning is consistent with what was said. This is a game that Somerby has played before -- claiming that someone never said what they plainly did say, simply because exact wording varied.

    The letter in fact complains that more important topics are being neglected in favor of teaching about systemic racism originating in 1619 (which is explicitly mentioned). Somerby's dishonesty is revealed by this game of excessive literalism he plays today, as he has in the past.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Somerby discusses a chant supposedly found in the California curriculum, which he was unable to locate. The source of that chant, which Somerby supposedly found at Snopes, was the letter sent by McConnell and his Republican cronies complaining about curriculum.

    A fair media analyst might conclude that maybe McConnell and the Republicans are making up their complaint about that chant being part of curriculum. Instead Somerby implies that the journalists are deficient, or the State of California, for providing no link to it. It never occurs to Somerby that this might be a Republican invention to evoke greater outrage on the right.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. In this case, you are 100% wrong and Somerby is right. It was not made up by Republicans as you suggest would be a fair conclusion. You can find it here or in many other places after doing a cursory, 4 or 5 second Google search:

      https://5y1.org/info/implicit-bias-test-printable_1_782ca0.html

      Thank you for your input.

      Delete
    2. Here's a good version:

      https://bit.ly/3uK3TLU

      I'll email it to Somerby - apparently he can't Google either.

      Delete
    3. Thank you still for sharing your hypothesis of fraud.

      Delete
    4. Thank you for the link. However, it does lead to a discussion of the chant, but it doesn't identify the source at all. When you click on "About Us" you get:

      "Free pdf doc xls documentation repository Search Engine file sharing These are search engines specifically designed to return any format of documents that meet your search criteria. Returns an enumerable collection of file information that matches a search pattern. The attachment can be a PDF or a DOC file, an XLS spreadsheet, a binary image, or a voice or video multi-media file."

      There is nothing that states this is from the State of California or any specific school curriculum.

      It is identified as an Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, which is what it appears to be. Beyond that, no info about where it came from or who developed it, much less where it is being used.

      So, this doesn't mean that the Republicans have not created a red herring, even if Chavez developed the chant itself. I assume you know how important Chavez was to California Hispanics? Very! Kind of like MLK and he has a holiday -- so does Chavez in CA.

      Delete
    5. I see that the new link does specify it as coming from the State of California, as a model curriculum.

      Thanks. Again, I don't see the harm in it. And it was cited in the Republican letter. I don't understand why Republicans are objecting to possible use of such a chant in a majority minority school district such as Los Angeles.

      Next they will object to tacos being served in school cafeterias.

      Delete
    6. The 2nd link is from the California Department of Education and directly quotes the chant. It's a cashed version - they have since removed it from that page. I'm sorry to say your hypothesis of fraud is 100% incorrect. But thank you for sharing it.

      Delete
    7. 12:55

      They consider it a prayer to a God and therefore unconstitutional as the Supreme Court made clear that prayer in schools would not be tolerated when initiated by teachers or other state actors.

      Delete
    8. Do you really think Somerby got his version from your source, after saying he couldn't find it anywhere? It came from the Republican letter.

      My point was that because the chant came from the Republicans and Somerby could not substantiate it, an unbiased media analyst wouldn't conclude that the chant was necessarily part of the California curriculum without verification, but would consider that it might be made up because Republicans do lie about a lot of things. That Somerby believes the chant to be real (again, without verification) shows his bias.

      It is fine with me if the chant is actually part of the California curriculum, because I see nothing wrong with it. But Somerby didn't know that -- by his own admission, since he said he couldn't find the California curriculum online. That makes Somerby very trusting of Republican sources, in my opinion.

      I don't see how the actual existence of this chant in the California "model curriculum for ethnic studies" changes anything I said about Somerby's credulity.

      Delete
    9. Teaching about religion is not forbidden, just the institution of a preferred government religion. Schools teach about Pilgrim beliefs, so why not Mexican ones?

      Delete
    10. 1:08 - I don't understand your logic at all. I think your animus towards Somerby is driving what I see as very confusing and naive logic. 1:10 They argue the chant is not aimed at neutrally teaching students about what ancient Aztecs believed and that because esoteric references to the gods’ characteristics are not explained, the chants is a straightforward prayer in praise of and in appeal to the gods which is unconstitutional, in their view.

      Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ideas with me today.

      Delete
    11. @1:30 -- How can they determine from the outline of the model curriculum that the esoteric references are not being explained? This is a framework and not an example of anything done in any classroom.

      Doesn't it seem silly to contend that anyone is using this chant as actual religious practice when it is embedded in an ancient culture that hasn't existed in a very long time. The silliness of this claim makes me think it is manufactured to oppose teaching about a different culture, not because of the actual content.

      Delete
    12. 1:38 - I don't know how they determine that. I would encourage you to research the matter on your own to find out. I have no opinion at all and don't care about the chant, the curriculum or its opposition. Best,

      Delete
  3. "We tried to find the curriculum over the weekend; we found that was no easy task. "

    Somerby was a teacher and yet he cannot find the curriculum for another state? I shudder to think what kind of teacher he was.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The term "babel" refers to multiple languages, not to curriculum or differences of opinion about race. Is it really helpful to babble about Babel, introducing a non sequitur and confusing readers?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tower_of_Babel

      Delete
    2. "The Tower of Babel (Hebrew: מִגְדַּל בָּבֶל‎‎, Migdal Bavel) narrative in Genesis 11:1–9 is an origin myth meant to explain why the world's peoples speak different languages."

      What's your point?

      Delete
    3. Just babbling don't mind me.

      Delete
  5. "What should children be taught about such public policies as the Chinee Exclusion Act of 1882?"

    First, they should be taught that the correct name for this law was Chinese not Chinee, a slur akin to chink.

    Somerby should be taught that it is important to proofread his work so that Freudian slips do not pop up.

    "Noun. Chinee (plural Chinees) (dated, offensive, Chinese Pidgin English) A person from China."

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nice rant, dear Bob, as usual, but this:
    "Can a society become this dumb and sensibly expect to survive?"
    ...is wrong. The society is fine, it's just your liberal cult that's squirming and convulsing.

    It'll end eventually, when it collapses completely. Can't take too long now, dear Bob, so don't worry too much.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're late today buddy. Good to see you made it.

      Delete
  7. "Sometimes, though, you just have to laugh, even as our American Babel has our nation sliding toward the sea."

    Somerby says this in reference to the community chants. Those chants include ideas and names unfamiliar to him, but that would be familiar to many of the largely Hispanic students of Los Angeles and San Diego, very large cities in California.

    Just because Somerby doesn't resonate to such chants, doesn't make them humorous. But apparently Somerby considers other subcultures to be laughable.

    I grew up in the Los Angeles public schools. We were taught about the pueblos and the Mexican heritage of our state (which was Mexican until the mid-1800s), along with the gold rush. We were taught to do Mexican folk dances too. Because that is part of the heritage of our city. No doubt Somerby would find that hilarious too.

    When Somerby refers to American Babel as a bad thing, is he suggesting that the historical diversity of our country is a bad thing? That's what it sounds like to me.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Please list the black neighborhoods burned down today (or in the past 10 years).

    Note that it doesn't count if a building was set on fire by a Boogaloo Boi or Proud Boy under cover of a BLM protest. You need to show that "blacks" burned down multiple buildings (neighborhoods), or retract your stupid comment.

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Yes there is, and in certain ways, it's a lazy, careless, indolent, howling, ridiculous D-minus disgrace. We'll try to get to that later."

    Somerby says this about the 1619 Project. Of course, he will never get to it.

    There are certainly criticisms of the project, because it is threatening to white views of history, but it also won a Pulitzer Prize. I would trust the Putlizer Committee's judgment before I would trust Somerby's nitpicks and unsupported derogatory remarks (about being D- work, for example).

    "Project creator Nikole Hannah-Jones was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for the introductory essay to the 1619 Project."

    Conservatives have argued that the awarding of that prize was politically motivated, but it can also be argued that so are the criticisms of it, including Somerby's.

    A baldly derogatory remark about racial history requires some evidence, in my opinion.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Somerby needs to watch Tucker's White Power Hour, and get the Right-wing talking points down pat, before he criticizes (grievances about) it at TDH.

      Delete
  10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots

    By the time the riots ended, 63 people had been killed,[7] 2,383 had been injured, more than 12,000 had been arrested, and estimates of property damage were over $1 billion.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Children are being inspired to be "warriors for love" and to "work hard in action"!

    The horror!

    ReplyDelete
  12. https://www.fox9.com/news/map-shows-approximately-700-buildings-damaged-in-minneapolis-riots

    During the resent George Floyd riots the damage that was done was overwhelmingly in Black neighborhoods, not the white ones. The was also true in Portland OR.

    ReplyDelete
  13. When was 1992? Today? Not so much. 29 years ago.

    Also, neighborhoods all over LA, not black neighborhoods were targeted, although it started in South Central. Korea Town was targeted because of the recent killing of a black teen by a Korean convenience store owner, along with the non-guilty verdict for the officers who beat Rodney King.

    Of those arrested, 51% were Latinos and 36% were black. That leaves 13% other and white.

    Not exactly black people burning their own neighborhoods. See how negative stereotypes contribute to racial attitudes?

    ReplyDelete
  14. From Wikipedia:

    "Over a three-night period from May 27 to May 29, 2020, Minneapolis sustained extraordinary damage from rioting and looting—largely along a 5-mile (8.0 km) stretch of Lake Street south of downtown[23]—including the demise of the city's third police precinct building, which was overrun by demonstrators and set on fire.[24] At cost of $350 million,[25] approximately 1,300 properties in Minneapolis were damaged by the rioting and looting,[26] of which nearly 100 were entirely destroyed.[27] Neighboring Saint Paul suffered damages that totaled $82 million and affected 330 buildings, including 37 that were heavily damaged or entirely destroyed, mostly along the city's University Avenue business corridor.[28] Minnesota Governor Tim Walz activated the Minnesota National Guard in response to the riots, which resulted in the largest deployment of its troops since World War II.[29] By early June, violence in the Twin Cities metropolitan region had resulted in at least 2 deaths,[30] 604 arrests, and upwards of $550 million[8] in damage to approximately 1,500 properties, the second-most destructive period of local unrest in United States history, after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.[31][9][32][33] Violent riots in Minneapolis–Saint Paul over the death of George Floyd largely subsided after May 30, 2020.[24][34]"

    In both Portland and Minneapolis-St. Paul, the rioting and damage was largely in the downtown areas. Those are not black neighborhoods. There are several accounts of rioting being started by white militia members, not black protesters.

    ReplyDelete
  15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Miami_riots

    ReplyDelete
  16. Gloucon, you said Today. 1980 is 31 years ago.

    ReplyDelete
  17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Baltimore_protests

    113 police officers injured,[7] 2 people shot. One fire victim in critical condition. A CVS Pharmacy location in West Baltimore was looted and burned by rioters;[60] no one in the CVS was hurt because employees had been evacuated before the CVS was looted and burned.[61] In East Baltimore, the Mary Harvin Senior Center, an under-construction senior housing and services project, burned to the ground

    ReplyDelete
  18. Today's NYT Education Briefing says:

    "After a series of violent attacks against Asian Americans across the country, some state lawmakers are focused on making sure schools teach students about the contributions of Asian Americans to the economy, the government and the culture of the United States.

    It’s a movement that in some ways runs counter to efforts by Republicans across the country to block curriculums that emphasize systemic racism. As our colleagues Trip Gabriel and Dana Goldstein reported this week, these efforts are part of a broad strategy by Republican politicians to run on culture-war issues in the 2022 midterm elections."

    Somerby shows his true colors by participating in the Republican initiative to deride history curriculums that mention race, as part of stoking outrage ahead of the 2022 elections. And he is using Republican talking points to do so. What kind of liberal does that?

    A competent history class would have discussed American nativism as a thread running through our history, affecting not only Chinese and other Asian immigrants but also attitudes toward other immigrants, dictating our repressive immigration policies. It would examine whether immigrants actually affect wages or take jobs from Americans and similar right-wing shibboleths.

    There is no wonder Republicans do not want honest history taught in schools. Already, education leads to Democratic voting. Accurate information about history would accelerate that trend. So, this attack on history in the schools can be seen as part of Republican efforts at voter suppression, not just an attempt to maintain white supremacy and protect Republican feelings.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Glaucon X,
    Are you suggesting black people shouldn't protest police killing unarmed black men, or that they are just doing it wrong (like the QB did when he knelt during the National Anthem)?

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm suggesting that the strategy of Blacks burning and looting their own neighborhoods with the encouragement of their woke white "allies" like you eliminated the need for the KKK to do such things.

    ReplyDelete
  21. The KKK is too busy enacting laws to suppress the votes of black people to burn down urban areas.

    ReplyDelete
  22. "Woke white allies" are not encouraging black people to burn their own neighborhoods.

    There is a distinction made between a riot (as in Baltimore in 2015) and a race riot (as in Tulsa). In a race riot, white people attack black people and destroy their property. In a riot, people attack and burn property as the result of some grievance, usually poverty related.

    When white militia members attack BLM protesters, that is a race riot. When they burn property and try to blame it on BLM protesters, that is a race riot. When black people burn and loot after an atrocity, as in Baltimore, that is not a race riot, but it is a riot. When the Irish attacked blacks in NYC over the Civil War draft, that was a race riot. When blacks burned and looted after that Rodney King verdict, that was a riot, but not a race riot (even though blacks were involved) because blacks did not target white people (or vice versa).

    Your stereotype about black rioting is getting in the way of your thought processes, Gloucon. There have been poverty-related and oppression-related riots forever and they are not unique to any race. See Les Miserables for example.

    ReplyDelete
  23. "Truly, the public discourse here in Our Town gets dumber with each passing day."

    What is dumb about debating what should be taught to our children about race?

    How can a former teacher consider this dumb to discuss?

    ReplyDelete
  24. Personally, we love Khan-Cullors' brilliant innovative hustle: burn inner-city houses to make money to buy posh suburban houses.

    And they say hoods are dumb, eh?

    ReplyDelete
  25. “At any rate, as the Times reporters continue, they continue to describe our spreading American Babel.”

    A true media critic would subject the Times reporters’ article to more critical analysis.

    For example, buried in the story is this passage:

    “Critical race theory is a dangerous and flat-out wrong theory,” State Representative Don Jones, the bill’s lead sponsor, said in a statement. “Students should not be asked to ‘examine their whiteness’ or ‘check their privilege.’

    Mr. Jones, in an interview, could not cite any examples of such teaching taking place now in Ohio. He said his bill was a response to voter concerns.”

    And this:

    “Although parents have appeared before school boards in Ohio and elsewhere to object to critical race theory, calling it “Marxist,” many school administrators vehemently deny that they are teaching the subject, or are being influenced by it. They say that much of what conservatives object to amounts to little more than more frequent and frank discussions of subjects like slavery. Parents are also pushing back against the loosely related trend of anti-bias training for students and staff members, which has led to dust-ups across the country.”

    Is this true? To what extent are Republicans complaining (and passing laws) to fix nonexistent problems? It wouldn’t be the first time.

    Somerby is clearly being critical of the liberal “side” in all of this, without delving into the extent to which this is a GOP-manufactured grievance being furthered by stories like this in The NY Times.

    Not a single teacher was interviewed in this story...

    ReplyDelete
  26. “Sometimes, though, you just have to laugh, even as our American Babel has our nation sliding toward the sea.”

    If you laugh at the misfortune of others, you might be a sociopath.

    ReplyDelete
  27. “What should children be taught about that, and at what age should they be taught it? 
    As accusations fly back and forth, no one seems to say.”

    The reporters don’t say.

    That doesn’t mean no one is discussing it. It is shoddy at best, but potentially malicious if intentional, for Somerby to imply that liberals are uninterested in attempting to answer this question, or treat it as a triviality, or are simply dictating their “Marxist” will, as the GOP implies.

    It wouid be wrong, but par for the course, for Somerby to misrepresent the liberal discussion about this. A real media critic would not characterize the media discussion of a topic as the sole discussion of that topic going on in our country.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Here is an example of systemic racism:

    From the AP -- "The NFL says it will halt the use of “race-norming” — which assumed Black players started out with lower cognitive functioning — in a $1 billion settlement of brain injury claims. The practice had made it harder for Black players to qualify."

    ReplyDelete
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    It is a very hard situation when playing the lottery and never won, or keep winning low fund not up to 100 bucks, i have been a victim of such a tough life, the biggest fund i have ever won was 100 bucks, and i have been playing lottery for almost 12 years now, things suddenly change the moment i came across a secret online, a testimony of a spell caster called dr emu, who help people in any type of lottery numbers, i was not easily convinced, but i decided to give try, now i am a proud lottery winner with the help of dr emu, i won $1,000.0000.00 and i am making this known to every one out there who have been trying all day to win the lottery, believe me this is the only way to win the lottery.

    Dr Emu can also help you fix this issues

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