Post #429,220
5/31/19 9:28:47 AM
5/31/19 9:28:47 AM
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Americans are superficially good people.
You sometimes hear (and $DEITY help me, I've even said this to my own kids a time or two) that America has many faults, but deep down it is a good country and deep down, the American People are good people. That is completely false. Deep down, our people are profoundly despicable humans worthy of nothing more than ridicule and scorn. The election of Trump and his continued approval rating above 40 per cent is not some aberration, it is the consequence of the American People's true nature bubbling up into the visible spectrum. Case in point: (CNN) A New York teacher singled out African-American students and cast them as slaves in a mock "auction" as part of a social studies lesson in March.
...
The incident happened in two fifth-grade social studies classes at The Chapel School -- a private school in Westchester County -- about 15 miles north of midtown Manhattan. https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/30/us/ny-school-mock-slave-auction-trnd/index.htmlIt should surprise no one that this is a christian school located on that infamous shitty little island between the Hudson and East Rivers where the density of despicables is arguably at its highest. bcnu,
Mikem
It's mourning in America again.
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Post #429,224
5/31/19 4:11:14 PM
5/31/19 5:17:44 PM
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er, is that a q.e.d. (optional: '?')
This rant brought to you by those good folks at Dow, Bear/Sterns, The Federalist $$$Society and The Society of Jeebus, Inc. Well.. it took moi a lengthy period to arrive at this ∑.. ... the hint-of-possibility (of such a counter-Meme -VS- bragadoccio? ... the perpetual self-congratulations All Around moi (and especially the Insufferable Right-eous-Ness of all the Xian-sects extant) natch caused a proper 'humility' [aka Failure to Face Facts] until ~ first summer in NYC/Queens {Heh} wherein the haughtiness(?) of the Locals--when I took off on my own; the IRT/BMT/IND transported moi @ age 9 all over--I didn't tell 'them' where I'd gone for a dime? fare--thence the now-discovered significance of My Gramma/visited up-close for first time [she of the BIrcher-mentality] ... killed off any idea that I was perhaps, insufficiently humble? {sigh} But the McGuffin which underscored my deduction (as Simply Brilliant-if-sorta Ugly) was: a first taste of the Bully-boy Joe McCarthy-in-flagrante-delicto [I didn't know the phrase then/but copped to its meaning]. This--in brief--by time of the Army Hearings, Welch, the PUBLIC McC-shaming of young queer-lad David Schine (sp?-lastname) clinched the deal: Live! on Boob-tube. A minor epiphany maybe. It's been down -hill with-vigor, since. The dis-US of 2019 merits the nomenclature of the Final (non-) Solution, as reveals the ignominy! of realizing that one is not in merely "a Shitty Enviro" [since Birth!] but the horror that: my fellow-inmates had drunk-the-Kool-Aid ...since the very first shitty-Pilgrims + the first criminal/disgusting-Slavers got together and made The Native Son. A bit later it became obvious that the Founding Fathers' hypocrisy (so many Slavers there too) made all those Magnificent-utterances within the Big Documents ... an even BIGGER-lie than, "Look.. I'm Honest!" ever is. tl;dr 2 ... It's not easy having One.Eye. within the charnel-house of the willfully-Blind and Proud-of-it.
And for the coup-de-grace: this incestuous tribal-miasma's New Dear Leader (would..? nay DID: promulgate last week's Dictat): KILL all useful-information re the impending DOOM of an entire planet. And just-May Get Away With accelerating ---> that DOOM: because: I CAN MAKE MORE $$$ (thence Escape FromTo NYC). Movie art (fav fantasy oasis of the masses) limns denouement of a festering shit-hole-near-you.. But I digress; (after all it's just-the-Maya twitting our daily sensibilities into taking this unReality as 'Real', as some Cosmic-IQ (?) enjoys watching this latest variant of, Animal House Meets Godzilla on Tralfamador with Miss Montana Wildhack©®Carrion; Today: we're IT. Tastes just like bacon-wrapped chicken(-shit) dunnit? Hope that all the Troops can handle the dizzying confabulations, recriminations? utter- Mindlessness of the er, Road --> A Head (in it) realizing that None of the dystopian potboilers of our 'yout came even-close-to the impending Unreality Show to End.. ... etc. :-) Bring it ON; (moi lurves the utterly Unpredictable stage show) but be prepared for the long vocal stuttering-out of New/stale platitudes from the Old White dinosaurs-in-Chiefs. (And save a special pins-in-Doll for McConnell: the architect of this-all/USSC-required playlist, recently elucidated by Frontline's catchy ∑.) Ed:PS Er, http://storyofstuff.org/ demonstrates how it Was, post-WW-II:that mindless/perpetual Consumerism grabbed 'Murica by-the-balls .... For Ever since: ram-rodded conspicuous-consumption, planned obsolescence, the goodness of the Throw-away, the Status-of-moar-Stuff to burgeoning land-fills: the Means by which Corporate superseded Government aka gummint (by those who think-we-don't-Need-such) etc. It's a quick romp through the mindsets and the Perps who created them all. Cute but saad, of course. Lesson? While we Need 'governance'; 40% of us couldn't function re SELF-government any longer than they could walk the Sahara with one canteen of water. Talk aboutcher dilemma-thing, eh? The Play just gets better..
Edited by Ashton
May 31, 2019, 05:17:44 PM EDT
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Post #429,242
6/3/19 10:25:49 AM
6/3/19 10:25:50 AM
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From just the bit you quoted, one would assume...
...that s/he did that in order to demonstrate to the kids -- who would by now, having had four years of school together, all be old friends with each other -- how horrible such an arbitrary system of discrimination is: "But why should we buy and sell Joey like a head of cattle, he's my best mate!"
But but, probably my Euro perspective talking... --
Christian R. Conrad
The Man Who (used to think he) Knows Fucking EverythingMail: Same username as at the top left of this post, at iki.fi
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Post #429,248
6/3/19 11:35:29 AM
6/3/19 11:35:29 AM
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Could go either way
The teacher could be an idiot. Or this could be like the cases where "Tom Sawyer" is banned from schools.
"It uses the N word."
It's not condoning it. It's period accurate dialogue.
"But it uses the N word."
Yes, and the whole point of the book is to show why that's wrong.
"But it uses the N word."
How are we supposed to teach children why it's wrong to call someone that if we can't talk about it?
"But. It. Uses. The. N. Word."
[sigh]
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Post #429,250
6/3/19 1:40:41 PM
6/3/19 1:40:41 PM
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Not Tom Sawyer, or even Huck Finn (which is what I *think* you're referencing).
A teacher asked all of the African-American students in each class to raise their hands and then instructed them to go stand in the hallway, where the teacher placed imaginary chains on their necks, wrists and ankles. Those students were then instructed to walk back into the classroom and line up against the wall.
The teacher then proceeded to conduct a simulated auction of the students in front of the rest of the class, in an attempt to depict the sale of enslaved Africans to white plantation owners that happened in the 18th and 19th centuries.
The teacher who conducted the lesson was fired. Still think it's equivalent to reading Huckleberry Finn to 10 year olds? bcnu,
Mikem
It's mourning in America again.
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Post #429,259
6/3/19 5:51:02 PM
6/3/19 5:51:02 PM
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Yes, Huck Finn
As for the auction, what did she say about it? What was the lesson? Context matters.
I don't think I could pull that off, but great teachers exist.
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Post #429,268
6/4/19 4:11:27 AM
6/4/19 4:11:27 AM
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How does that short description contradict my guess as to the teacher's possible intention?
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Post #429,269
6/4/19 8:30:43 AM
6/4/19 8:30:43 AM
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That's a trailing pachyderm.
Rear elephant, iow. While I'll grant you that (assuming best intentions by the teacher) the experience might, might have had the desired outcome you suggest for the White kids in the class, at what cost to the eight year old children of color? One of the affected students' parents, Vernex Harding, spoke to local TV about the event, which she said traumatized her son.
Quoting her child's reaction, she said: "as soon as she did it, mami, I knew it was wrong," https://www.businessinsider.com/bronxville-teacher-cast-black-students-in-mock-slave-auction-investigation-2019-5This teacher would have done well to study this which instructs, do not, "Use role-plays. They can induce trauma and minimization, and are almost certain to provoke parental concerns." If you're solely concerned about the impact to the White kids in the class and you're willing to gamble on them learning the right lesson (i.e. slavery === bad) then this might not be so reprehensible. But, considering the risk, it's deplorable. bcnu,
Mikem
It's mourning in America again.
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Post #429,271
6/4/19 11:47:17 AM
6/4/19 11:47:17 AM
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I was thinking they'd all get over it. Didn't think it'd necessarily be that bad (if done right).
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Post #429,299
6/5/19 4:26:39 PM
6/5/19 4:26:39 PM
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GMTA
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Post #429,274
6/4/19 5:54:58 PM
6/4/19 6:13:43 PM
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Seems an extraordinarily Hard-nut to crack {even in ballet..}
In any "court" or authentic Court--Alabama --> Zaire--the case begins from an inescapable premise: do we choose A? or B?
[A] Trash the chances of a possibly excellent teacher, henceforth? conclude that this was not a mere-Oops, was IT?, implying that she missed-cold the obvious +/- of proceeding.. at all (or is too socially-inept even to have had that thought?} OR
[B] decide that the risk was Worth-it: to inculcate--in all factions auditioning--a Koan well-worth that risk and needed specially by {any remaining perps-in-class who never Considered what 'Racism' meant} and-today-Still Means, THUS: she bet-her-career upon: doing the Right thing rather than a cowardly-punting..
[Rest both Cases] as..
you cannot Properly throw this Event into the maw of ..[Fred Rodell/Yale Law again] of the pseudo-'science' of the Law: until/unless you have employed Human [R]eason and emotion ..all of which speaks to the character/range of considerations of that Teacher ..before she put on this teaching-Skit. Soon as it becomes 'federal-case': much of this crucial aspect shall become swamped within {a plethora of Statutes, personal prejudices [+/-] etc.}
[It does not matter which of these coin-flips I would decide-upon: it IS a Hard-nut]
but I'd Hope that some sanity creeps-in as Others are deciding whether to berate..? or Throw a Parade-for: the person at the fulcrum of Two Centuries of 'Murican HYPOCRISY-with-every-breath taken.
[Rest the Case of moi.]
er {{sheesh}} All-the-above CAN-be twisted any way a $$clever-Pol sees a way to advance her/his chances for further sinecure. Right??
And THAT is how Muricans have successfully-MURDERED-Language ... (beginning quite earlier than this Determinative.. 'year'). Fuck. US.
:Usual oTpy
Edited by Ashton
June 4, 2019, 06:13:43 PM EDT
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Post #429,294
6/5/19 2:00:35 PM
6/5/19 2:00:35 PM
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I don't think it's a hard call.
It basically boils down to this:
Is it ever a good idea to put chains (imaginary or otherwise) on an eight year old child?
YMMV, but for me the answer is obvious. bcnu,
Mikem
It's mourning in America again.
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Post #429,295
6/5/19 2:54:16 PM
6/5/19 2:54:16 PM
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Most likely, "she Meant well" won't SHA.
So then.. did they suffer Trauma? or Enlightenment for learning of an environment--within the dis-USA--which actually Was/still Is within the tiniest minds.
(Am I Alone in massively regretting the candy-coated 'Civics' classes)? wherein the always-somewhat-DIS USA: was presented with all Unicorns all. the. time. (I went on to HS at age-11; maybe that's a disqualifier for any generalizations here.) Por moi then: many years were wasted within that Big Lie; it was incomprehensible that Teachers dared-not Tell us impressionable ones The Truth/or at least periodic doses of the easier-truthiness.
'Course I do see the dilemma: had a one or a few stepped-over-the-baldfaced-Lying: I would have witnessed a prescient soap-opera like [see ^above^] So what's "best": comfy Unicorns--sugary-lies help you feel Exceptional/like your faux-'country'.. sans any actual-Facts about same.
It's hard to believe that Teacher vastly over-stepped here (re Slavery!!?) within the current miasma wherein massive-lying brought the (previously-sedated: brought some of these) into more-'Real' evidence of our National-Dreamscape all along. Believe that, within the despicable-Drumpf-Shogunate:
A Teacher should take larger risks than ever before. I demur re your one-liner; it's a low-level auto-Response which begs the Question of Why (this teacher may have created this sketch/just Now/such as the dis-US Is). And such as She-is.
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Post #429,308
6/6/19 9:27:26 AM
6/6/19 9:27:26 AM
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You think Civics classes were difficult for YOU?
At 12, I had a course titled something like 'Comparative Political Systems'. It was a *required* course back then for all seventh graders. I had the distinct (dis?)advantage of having spent a school year in the Soviet Union by then, so it was abundantly clear to me when the textbook and teacher began lying about Marxism and even Soviet policies. I distinctly remember being sent to the Principal's office for one exchange I had with the teacher. I don't remember if the book actually said this, but I do remember the teacher saying, "From my own readings I've learned that in the Soviet Union, once you get to a certain age, you are denied medical treatment." Impulsively I bellowed out, "Oh, for God's sake. If you want to discredit the Soviet Union's policies, you don't have to just make stuff up out of thin air." Off to the Principal's Office I went where the Principal was familiar with my background and when he read the note about what had happened, he looked up at me and smiled. He told me the teacher would be very angry with him if he sent me straight back to the classroom, so I was to sit quietly in his office until the bell rang. The bell finally rang and then he said something that still rings in my ears. He said, "Mike, he's a Bircher and you're not going to change his mind. Best to keep your views to yourself in his class this term and pretend to believe what he says." I was completely flummoxed. bcnu,
Mikem
It's mourning in America again.
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Post #429,324
6/7/19 6:30:33 PM
6/7/19 6:30:33 PM
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¡Wow! ..
..just. Wow. You win the Wunderkind-du-jour Award on several levels; ~fluent (enough, I presume) in pre-Evul-Empire/Reagan daze, reading/writing in that very place; thence a good start on just plain Cuth + the guts to confront an Asshole (and restraint avoiding employing same) and daring The Accusative inner-voice .. to boot. {{sigh}}
Por moi: having met 'My Bircher-live' Gramma, I possessed merely the small-wits to Notice her dogmatic views on {well, Everything?} garnered as a 9-yo, sans any authentic USSR-ken at all. Absent then any debating-skillz, (likely I also lacked the Guts to fling such a Truthiness-koan at --> a Teechur, either.) You can't be making-this-up as, manifestly you do not suffer from er, a cringing need for Ego-enhancement.
(How nice too that the Principal [with Principles!] did not merely elide facing you with patronizing platitudes but: revealed your Teech as-a-Bircher--presumably building from earlier encounters with you--also comprehended that you Would know the exact-implications of just that one word, 'Bircher'/needing no long-winded philosophical intro. It's a bitchin Tale, I wot.
(I must remain self-satisfied via a lesser confrontation)--a physics 'blue-book-test' at Institute--wherein I deemed that A Problem was complexificated {so as to mis-lead us proles?}--when I compared the presentation with Niels Bohr's ..somewhat nebulous 'Cloud Theory of the Electrons around atoms. Alas, there:
The Grader (a harassed Grad-student du jour/much like the Blue-coated Interns in Med School, underpaid and overworked) had not the wit to respond-in-Kind, saying only: Is this a pun? {sigh}
Carrion ..sometimes it's the cumulative detritus from having missed n opportunities to overcome some ~petty-tyrant via a pellucid retort of logic-with-a-Sting :-(
Example of such in a similar venue/merely read about:
Q. on Test: ~How would you use (a pressure gauge?) to determine the height of (a tall building?--I forget)
A. (several, also ~
1) tie a string to it, lower to ground; measure.
2) swing the thing (at top) measure its (inertial) action; ditto at bottom; calculate.
3) drop it off the top; calc from Time, the height.
4) more (another might have been: measure the shadow cast by the 'Px gauge' thence ratio of shadow cast by building (?) ..Heh ..heh.
Seems the Teech marked it 'F' (he never mentioned the Wanted -reply re altimeters).
IIRC there was a kerfluffle; student Appealed; wiser heads prevailed. He HAD given several answers to problem-as-stated. Loved. It. aka The Precise is the enemy of the Nebulous.
.
.
.
When we're in one of those kewl /also cool caves, folk shall be amusing selves with such tales, ever demonstrating..
Of all sad tales of tongue or pen
The saddest are these
It might have been
Under 'apologies for the length of this: I had not the time to make it concise':
(Maybe someone's solar-laptop shall contain legions of unread-zIWE?)
..when they've re-read The Iliad, The Odyssey twice already ..and transistorized-guitars have worn out, at least 'figuratively'. ;^>
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