First Looks category archive
Break Time 0
Off to drink liberally.
Seg Academies Redux 0
When I was a young ‘un, back in the olden days, and my previously all-white high school started to integrate, suddenly two private all-white schools sprang up in my rural community (I think one of them still exists). To be blunt, they enrolled kids of white parents who were afraid of black folks.
That’s why we called them “seg academies.”
Those of us who stayed in the public schools and got to know and study and play sports with the black kids (who I am certain were carefully screened and chosen to be the early integrators of the previously all-white schools in those early days of integration) looked on those schools–well–somewhat contemptuously. We were in school with the black kids, we got to know them at least a bit, and we realized that they were people like us. True, we may not have gotten to know them all that well, but we got to know them enough to realize that they were human beings like us.
Later on, when I was well out of school, my mother, who was a math teacher, taught for many years in my county’s now-integrated school system. More than once, she told me that they had more problems from (oh what the heck, white) parents than they ever had from students. She was born and raised in South Carolina, but she was able to rise above prejudice to see persons.
And now comes Thom to point out that the proponents of seg academies are still around and still trying to pervert public education to promote racial prejudice.
Hamburger All Over the Highways 0
Grung_e_Gene considers the carnage in car nation.
Control Freak Freak Out 0
Michael in Norfolk wonders why the right-wing increasingly acts like it hates America.
He theorizes that it may be because the American ideal–one never reached but often enunciated–of freedom and liberty for all may have become a little too close to being more than a mirage on the horizon. They want to put someone in charge to turn the clock back, if not to the 1850s, at least to the 1950s.. Here’s a bit of his piece:
The Crypto Con 0
Bloomberg columnist Lionel Laurent thinks this isn’t over yet. He notes that
Follow the link for his reasoning.
The Lake Effect 0
The Arizona Republic’s E. J. Montini writes of Maricopa County (AZ–ed.) Recorder Stephen Richer’s effort to hold Kari Lake accountable for her lies about the 2020 vote count in Arizona and of her attempt to be no account.
A snippet:
It’s the ultimate whining admission of someone who can dish it out, but can’t take it.
Only in Lake’s case, what she dished out was dangerous.
Follow the link for the back story.
A Notion of Immigrants, Mean for the Sake of Mean Dept. 0
At the Austin American-Statesman, Rex Huppke writes about Texas Governor Abbott’s fixation with razor-wiring the border. He notes that Texas has now strung razor wire along part of the border between Texas and New Mexico. A snippet:
It’s a way for Abbott to pretend he’s tough on immigration while pillorying President Joe Biden’s border policies, which have focused more on addressing root causes than cruel stunts. It’s another thing Abbott can add to his “Nobody Is Crueler To Migrants Than Ol’ Greg!” vision board.
The Disinformation Superhighway 0
Remember, just because you see it on a computer device screen, it ain’t necessarily so.
Halloween Unmasked 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Lawrence Samuel tries to make sense of All Hallows’ Eve and our fascination therewith. He notes:
By constructing artificial threatening scenarios, however, we’re able to contain fear in a safe, socially endorsed manner.
He goes on to offer a theory as to why the Hallowe’en season seems to be getting bigger (and longer) every year.
Untruth in Labeling 0
Robert Reich follows the money.
And Now for Something Completely Different 0
Via All Things Amazing, an image site (some images NSFW).
The Law’s Belay 0
At Above the Law, Kathryn Rubino reports.Donald Trump’s legal team tries to go viral, citing fear of COVID.
The judge belayed their scheme:
David Pakman notes the irony.