Culture Warriors category archive
School Daze 0
At the Washington Monthly, Jonathan Zimmerman looks at the conflicts regarding, critical race theory (which, again, is not taught in primary and secondary schools); library books and reading lists; and curricula that is currently bubbling at many local school boards and puts them under a macro-Scopes.
She Did Her Own Research on the Disinformation Superhighway 0
In a long article which I stumbled across at Boston.com, New York Times reporter Sabrina Tavernise takes a look at the furor over mask and vaccination mandates, lockdowns, and other measures intended to stem the spread of the pandemic. She talked with a number of researchers who suggest that much larger cultural forces are feeding the conflict. Given that we are facing wave number [mumble] of infections even as a large portion of the populace seems to embrace Typhoid Mary as a role model, the whole piece is worth a read.
What particularly caught my eye, though, was a snapshot of what happens when persons who don’t know how to do research (who don’t know, for example, how to vet sources, interpret data, or differentiate between fact and opinion) “do their own research” on the disinformation superhighway (emphasis added):
The more she researched online, the more it seemed that there was something bigger going on. She said she came to the conclusion that the government was misleading Americans — for whose benefit, she could not tell. Maybe drug companies. Maybe politicians. Whatever the case, it made her feel like the people in charge saw her — and the whole country of people like her — as easy to take advantage of.
Blissful Students, Ignorance Is Bliss Dept. 0
The Houston Chronicle lists the five books in Texas public school systems most often challenged by parents and politicians who want Texas students to remain blissfully ignorant.
Some of them will surprise you.
The Kult of Kyle 0
This is just creepy.
Will Lack of Preparation Prove Pestilential? 0
John J. Petillo, president of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., is concerned that the neglect of education in civics bodes ill. He writes in the Hartford Courant:
Follow the link for more.
Regulating the Marketplace of Ideas 0
A retired English teacher has a suggestion for parents who fear that their children might learn something of which said parents disapprove (like, for example, American history or human diversity).
Follow the link for his rationale.
“Manufacturing Enemies” 0
Michael in Norfolk takes a look at Fox News’s faux war on Christmas and its maleficent implications.
Book Fits 0
John M. Crisp considers the outcry in right-wing circles about “obscene” books in school libraries. He wonders whether it’s really about protecting children. A snippet
So, which poses the greater threat to public school students? The abundance, availability and normalization of firearms and a casual attitude toward a deadly disease? Or a copy of “In the Dream House” in a public school library?
Aside:
Of course it’s not about protecting children. It’s a culture war misdirection play on a grand scale.
It’s All about the Algorithm 0
I recently listened to a podcast in which one of my favorite podcasters spent five minutes discussing a comment that podcaster made on Twitter. The complaint was that the person to whom the comment was directed (and which the podcaster admitted had been a mistake) had responded with a screenshot of the comment, rather than with a “quote tweet.” The podcaster’s point was that said podcaster could have responded to a “quote tweet” by admitting the response was wrong and apologizing for it, but could not respond to the screenshot. (My reaction was relief and self-congratulation that I never became a twit on Twitter.)
That such an inconsequential incident, such a tempest in a twitpot, could assume such significance, if only for a short time, is, frankly, distressing, which leads me to recommend Dr. Charles Johnson’s post at Psychology Today Blogs, in which he takes a look at how our metastasized “social” media has monopolized our attention and distorted our discourse, and at what we can do about it. Here’s a bit of what he has to day:
