There is an art to getting what you want. Children are masters of it intuitively, and invoke a special set of rules when faced with parents asking them to do something they don’t want to do (like bathing). First there’s the bargaining, seeing if maybe we can wait a little longer…delay, delay, delay. That’s not working, so then we escalate to simple refusal. This usually takes the form of saying “NONONONONONO” as a sort of prayer of warding. Not working…Mommy still wants to make me eat my vegetables! Now the child escalates to screaming, crying, and other general noise-making (protests?) in the hopes that maybe the parent will be persuaded to just appease the child to shut them up. These may take the form of hyperbole about how the parent is oppressing them (“you hate me”, “you’re ruining my life”, “you’re killing America”). This doesn’t work either, for the resolute parent, they know that eventually, children must take their medicine for their own good, and persist despite their angry cries. What is the final tantrum tactic? Combine all of the above with plain old body weight. Drop to the ground, and make the parent either carry or drag you to where they want you to go.Continue reading »
Okay, Texas, we get it. You ain’t much of a fan of book learnin’. So, as the rest of America bemoans how Texas is stupiding-up our textbook standards with their tremendous buying power, I can’t help wondering…why are they so powerful?
Texas Caught in Time?
The answer, of course, is about money. The beauty of free-market capitalism is that money walks, even if it means that the only ones walking are the ones dragging their knuckles on the ground. Texas, it seems, has tremendous buying power in the textbook world. Due to their high population, their standards drive publishers to pander to their every whim in order to get their business. So, when they dumb down their own textbooks, they also dumb down the textbooks of other districts in the US who don’t have the “purchasing power” (read “money”) to get custom-made texts.
It’s not as bad as it seems. As someone working in the educational publishing industry, I can tell you that both New York City School Districts and Los Angeles School Districts also have a major influence in the textbook market. Still, if Texas pushes standards to (what shall we call it?) the intellectual right, it can affect many other districts that aren’t looking for content that’s geared toward NYC and LA’s urban populations.Continue reading »
I heard a sentiment recently that, to turn a phrase, stuck in my craw. I guess it’s one of those ideas that you sort of take for granted, often hearing it tossed about in preachy statements or political speeches (neither of which are often very profound). The sentiment is that we should be “getting back to our roots.” Now I’ve been known to drop the odd aphorism, and no doubt you’ve heard it used and even used it before. I’m just wondering what the hell it really means? What are our “roots” and do we really want to get back to them? Moreover do we really need to get back to them, as it seems we are often told?
I guess I’m being a little purposely obtuse, because I know that people mean it to say that things were better when they were simpler…when our focus (as a nation, as a people, as a culture, as whatever group you’re addressing) was narrowed and purposed! When people lived simply and had simple wants, needs and desires! Of course, I know that’s what people mean. But is that really what we’re after? Think hard on that. Do you really want to take what humanity has wrought over the centuries and chop the tree off at the stem? What else is “getting back to our roots.” It’s conservative code for the status quo.Continue reading »
In a spectacular display of bigotry, Illinois Rep. Monique Davis attacked Atheist Activist Rob Sherman as he testified before the House State Government Administration Committee in Springfield last Wednesday. To paraphrase, she told him that he was a horrible person who had no right to be there and that he should “get out of that seat.” You can read the article about it in the Chicago Tribune here.
I’m glad to see this is getting some national news coverage, since it looked at first like it was going to be ignored. I emailed the American Atheists and Keith Olbermann about it on Monday, because they hadn’t covered it at all and it seemed they should be the front lines of the push for national coverage on something like this. The American Atheists were nice enough to respond that they had seen it, and sure enough, they covered it in their blog. Keith Olbermann and MSNBC didn’t respond, but they definitely did it justice by covering it appropriately. [EDIT as of 3/24/10] Looks like Olbermann’s segment has been removed from YouTube, probably for rights reasons. I’ve replaced it with a video featuring the audio clip of Davis’ bigoted tirade:
This whole exchange was so misguided, I’m glad that others are as incensed about it as I am. Here’s the text of the entire rant, which is fortunately on public record:
Davis: I don’t know what you have against God, but some of us don’t have much against him. We look forward to him and his blessings. And it’s really a tragedy -it’s tragic- when a person who is engaged in anything related to God, they want to fight. They want to fight prayer in school.
I don’t see you (Sherman) fighting guns in school. You know?
I’m trying to understand the philosophy that you want to spread in the state of Illinois. This is the Land of Lincoln. This is the Land of Lincoln where people believe in God, where people believe in protecting their children.… What you have to spew and spread is extremely dangerous, it’s dangerous–
Sherman: What’s dangerous, ma’am?
Davis: It’s dangerous to the progression of this state. And it’s dangerous for our children to even know that your philosophy exists! Now you will go to court to fight kids to have the opportunity to be quiet for a minute. But damn if you’ll go to [court] to fight for them to keep guns out of their hands. I am fed up! Get out of that seat!
Sherman: Thank you for sharing your perspective with me, and I’m sure that if this matter does go to court—
Davis:You have no right to be here! We believe in something. You believe in destroying! You believe in destroying what this state was built upon.
Truly amazing. Fortunately for Davis, she didn’t say these words to a Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu. Attacking a religion with hate like this would no doubt have the whole world up in arms. But attack an Atheist and you’re lucky if it makes the papers! Oh, in case you were wondering, the hearing was concerning a controversial million dollar government grant for Pilgrim Baptist Church.
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