Culture Warriors category archive
Conceptualizing Governor Trumpkin 0
Noting the Virginia’s new Republican governor wants to ban “divisive concepts” from public schools, Jim Marchman, writing at The Roanoke Times, wonders precisely what that term encompasses. For example:
Afterthought:
Of course, Marchman purposely misses the point to make his point.
As Paul Krugman pointed out (see below), a “divisive concept” is nothing more than one which makes Governor Trumpkin and his dupes, symps, and fellow travelers feel uncomfortable.
Governor Trumpkin 0
Michael in Norfolk is somewhat disturbed by the actions of Virginia’s new governor.
As too am I.
Disturbed, that is.
Not surprised.
Prior Restraint 0
The University of Florida’s attempt to keep professors from giving testimony that might anger Florida’s governor does not end well for Florida Man the institution of higher so-called learning in federal district court.
Sauce for the Goose . . . 0
The Orlando Sentinel’s Scott Maxwell has a modest proposal. A nugget:
I have a better idea:
Let’s force legislators to strap on body-cams and mics on themselves every time they’re around lobbyists.
Follow the link for his reasoning.
Vaccine Nation 0
The Des Moines Regisster’s Rekha Basu takes a look at the recent Supreme Court decision nullifying OSHA’s regulation requiring employers to take reasonable steps to combat COVID-19. A nugget (emphasis in the original); follow the link for the rest.
Isn’t that what COVID itself is doing? . . . .
Uncomfortable Truths 0
At The Roanoke Times, Rob Neukirch reminds us that, taught honestly, history is not about feelings.
It’s about stuff that happened.
Originalist Sin 0
Joe Patrice fantasizes about the possible curriculum of the Heritage Foundation’s Judicial Clerkship Training Academy.
Vaccine Nation 0
Paul Krugman makes sense of the senselessness. A snippet (emphasis in the original).
So none of this makes any sense — not, that is, unless you realize that Republican vaccine obstructionism isn’t about serving a coherent ideology, it was and is about the pursuit of power. A successful vaccination campaign would have been a win for the Biden administration, so it had to be undermined using any and every argument available.
“Those Who Forget Ignore History . . . .”
0
At the Bangor Daily News, professor Ian Mette argues forcefully that America needs to take its blinders off and teach the history it has rather than the history it wishes it had. A nugget (emphasis added):
We continue to see attacks on people who give voice to the historically marginalized, including groups based on identities such as racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and sexual identity/orientation, just to name a few. And we often fail to acknowledge that our country’s economy was founded on the enslavement of people to propel itself into a global powerhouse in just a few short generations . . . .
An Exercise in Futility 0
Robert K. Vischer imagines that one can speak rationally to those who have abandoned rationality.
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.