I agree with your thoughts as expressed here / a decade ago. I'm not and haven't been an educator; but in fact, often a critic of modern education for the reasons you note and the general disinterest in teaching / encouraging critical thinking.
I attended a parochial school K-12, and while a few of the teachers (mostly nuns) there actually wanted to stimulate actual learning- and the ability to think about what was taught, it was even then pretty much rote learning. As a quick study, I quickly learned how to identify the rote facts that were essential to good testing, etc.; and it wasn't until very much later that I actually enjoyed learning for its own (proper) sake.
Then it was on to College; it was simply assumed by all that I would follow that path based on my academic achievement up to that time. Fortunately, I had academic scholarships that at least covered tuition; and as I was not the scion of wealth but instead the descendant of poor, uneducated Irish and German miners, the whole notion of going into debt for such a thing seemed a bad idea.
VietNam was ongoing; the draft lottery was picking winners and losers. There was every motive to stay enrolled. Yet by the first semester of my sophomore year, the war, and realizations about the greater context, led me to the observation that the universities were mere training grounds - or even factories, for producing various types of widgets to keep the system going. And I did NOT want to become a widget.
So with the lucky draw of a high draft lottery number, I dropped out.
(While I've at times had some regret that I didn't have the patience to take as much of the good from the educational opportunity, and on a couple educations initiated attempts to resume it, overall, I now think I made the right choices. For one thing, while it reduced opportunities for a more sparkling career, at the same time it greatly expanded my options and varieties of experience- and my comprehension of the bigger world, its complexities, etc.
So, it's possible, if difficult, to avoid becoming widget-ized and keep one's values and principles intact. The system needs its widgets, and the increasing specialization in so many fields (creating administrative, managerial or technical wizards often unable to see the forest for the trees, is a hint at how successful that system is at controlling a fair part of the populace to sustain itself.
One thing that Trump is after is to stop our policy of forever war. He recently said, concerning Ukraine, that if elected he would go and talk with Putin. The neocons and neolibs can't have that so they dreamed up this latest prosecution, in which they propose to send him to prison for life for violating a law set up to stifle dissent and aid in the government's fight against Kaiser Germany in 1917. I regularly read some of the neocon literature and it was astonishing how fast they came out with a dozen articles about how Trump was guilty. Almost as quickly as when they came out in opposition to Putin's Ukraine incursion. For them, I think, it's the same fight. Which apparently, it is.
What did Trump do to stop the “Forever War” that was going on when he took command? Did he pull all the troops out Afghanistan and Iraq? And what happened in Yemen and Syria while he was in charge?
And what exactly is he going to talk about with Putin? How he did nothing to reign in our sponsored government in Kyiv who, during his watch, killed 14,000 fellow Ukrainians in the east?
The one thing that can be said about Trump is that he is the only President since Hoover who did not start a New war while in the Oval Office. However, by his inaction in Ukraine, he helped lay the groundwork for what has happened since.
And as regards who owns, operates, commands, and controls Trump, what does the change in defense spending during Trump’s administration tell You? [$ amounts in Billions]
Finally, Trump kept asking the embarrassing question, why are we spending more to "defend" Europe than Europe is spending to defend Europe? The implied threat is that if they wouldn't shoulder more of the burden (which they might not) then we would lessen our commitment. The hawks couldn't have that. They love spending taxpayer money on themselves. And if we weren't in Europe, wouldn't it make it that much harder to get involved in European wars? Well yes it would. Under Biden the hawks are safe, of course. Even in Ukraine, a European country, we are spending much more than Europe is. That's not a problem for the hawks. All they have to do is keep Trump out of the Presidency.
Trump was in the process of getting us out of Afghanistan. He tried to get US troops out of Syria but was stymied by our foreign policy apparatus. Trump is OK with spending lots on the military but not on fighting wars. Our military actually seems to have the same view. At least that's how I see it. His recent remark about talking to Putin was the straw that broke the camel's back - hence the Miami indictments. The hawks won't stand for any negotiations and Trump just loves to negotiate.
Heh. Yeah, Trump was in the “process” of getting us out of Afghanistan for four years, all right. And failed completely. And when and how did he “try” to get us out of Syria? Got a timeline on that?
And OF COURSE he’s OK with big military spending. If he wasn’t, he would have never become President. But how could he justify all that spending ~ and keep it increasing ~ without a war or two to fight, here and there?
That’s what OPERATION DESERT STORM and its Spawn, 9/11 and “The Forever War” was all about. At some point, Americans might pull their heads out their butts long enough to ask: Why are we spending all this money of national "defense" and "security," and don't have any wars to show for it?
And again…: What exactly is he going to “talk” to Putin about? Again, how and why he did nothing to prevent the Lackeys in Kyiv from killing those 14,000 fellow Ukrainians in the east? Maybe he’s got a casino or two and a University to sell him, eh?
What "they" don't like about Trump is that he occasionally tells the truth, as in U.S. troops being in Syria to get the oil. Or that the U.S. government has plenty of killers of its own. Or that the U.S. has the biggest nuclear button, so watch out. Or that the Iraq war was not only a disaster but that it was built on a pyramid of lies.
Do You care to elucidate, Dennis, on the particular “facts” about Y’All’s Boy, The Donald, that i am ignoring?
And the mantra doesn’t go “Corporal Bone Spurs = BAD” .
It goes “Corporal Bonespurs = F***ing Scumbag Draft Dodger”; just like his cohorts Cheney, Clinton, Biden, and a whole host of other Baby Boomers who ~ over the years ~ made it to the top of the heap in Swampland.
But unlike Cheney, Clinton and Biden ~ who got out of Vietnam because of so-called “student deferments” ~ the Corporal [not being a student of anything but his own "Greatness"] had his Daddy buy a Podiatrist who came up with the diagnosis of “Bone Spurs.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
Maybe the only thing I like about Trump is his opposition to dumb wars like Iraq. All credit to him for saying these wars are often based on lies. They are not "mistakes."
That said, Trump often has the consistency of a weather vane and the attention span of a toddler. I don't think he has it in him to be a firm and consistent opponent of our forever wars. He also knows it would be unhealthy for him if he were.
Well Bill, you, and all of us went thru "the system" and we have reasoned to our current individual courses. Our courses have been different and varied. Much diversity....not so? We survived the indoctrination of trade school and/or higher(lower) education. Are we not free thinkers. More than just " cogs in the machine'".
I had the same experience as you in regard to my teachers, Bill. My high school was very much middle class, but the staff were outstanding. Many of them insisted on our doing analyses and presenting reasoned arguments for, say, our interpretations of a piece of poetry or a current event. I very much doubt that happens in most schools today, maybe not even prep schools and colleges. I just read that some universities have cut Shakespeare from lit curricula. That tells me they're not really serious about developing thinking/learning skills.
When I taught sixth grade social studies, I know a way different environment., my goal was to create critical thinkers, dissidents, activists, and revolutionaries, in other words good citizens. That was easy for social studies. I Zinn's book "A Peoples History" as much as I could, but I could see the trend. Social studies was being minimized, marginalized. By the time I had to retire due to illness Social Studies and Science were given half the time of math and ELA. The school system was creating cogs in the wheel rather than drivers of the cart. For those students that I am still in contact with after 10 years, the cog strategy is working. Such a shame.
WERE MADISON, EISENHOWER, TRUMAN, AND KING RIGHT OR NOT? [Extract] by Jacob G. Hornberger / FFF 061423
What did James Madison, Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, and Martin Luther King have in common? They all pointed out the dangers and adverse consequences of America’s national-security state governmental structure. Yet, oddly, the critiques and admonitions of all four of them have been disregarded by modern-day Americans.…
[Note: What follows are quotes from each of the four on that national-security state governmental structure.]
… So, there you have it: four individuals who are held in high esteem by most Americans describing the dark nature and adverse consequences of America’s conversion to a national-security state. Nonetheless, many modern-day Americans continue supporting this dark-side governmental structure while, at the same time, deceptively singing to themselves, “Thank God I’m an American because at least I know I’m free.”
AMERICA’S PERPETUAL WAR: SIX QUESTIONS by Prof. Joseph H. Chung / Global Research 061223
Introduction
Former American President Jimmy Carter said in 2018 that in America, there were 226 years of wars since its independence which took place 242 years ago thus leaving only 16 years of peace.
Since WWII, there were 32 American military conflicts involving dozens of countries. Some of these military conflicts have lasted for over twenty years and some others are still continuing.
In other words, the U.S. is a country of perpetual war. War is terribly destructive human activity. Millions of human beings have been sacrificed. Tens of trillions of dollars worth of housing, school, factories, hospitals and other infrastructure facilities have been destroyed in the countries which have been the target of American military attacks.
The perpetual war has destroyed the very foundation of freedom and democracy; it has prevented healthy and equitable economic development of the world; it has led to the violation of human rights; it has ruined traditional values of many countries and, above all, it has caused lasting human suffering.
America’s multi-trillion dollar perpetual war has denied and deprived millions of Americans of decent income, adequate housing, needed foods, necessary health care, safety on the street, reliable infrastructure facilities, essential education and other goods and services needed for descent living.
Before I go any further, I would like to quote the historical statement of President Dwight Eisenhower.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone, it is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hope of children.” (President Dwight Eisenhower address to the North American Society of News editors, April 16, 1953)
In this paper, I am asking the following six questions:
How many wars has the U.S. undertaken since WWII?
How are the American wars organized?
What is the purpose of the American wars?
Who are the beneficiaries of the American wars?
What are the negative impacts of the American wars?
I'm a STEM guy. Not TEM but S ( science). At an early stage I knew the field I wanted to get into. I did OK considering their were lots of brighter bulbs in my profession as a microbiologist tech. But I loved what I was doing and enjoyed the company of my fellow colleagues on the bench.
The humanities, the arts: crazy. What 400 bucks to see a play or musical in NY. 70 bucks to hear Beethoven live. Only the rich can afford "the humanities". These folks just barely making a living wage. They've been priced out of the humanities and the arts.
The humanities are priceless -- and also often free. My library has books, CDs, DVDs, of musicals, Mozart, etc., all free. Anyone can enjoy the humanities. You don't have to pay $400 to experience Broadway; you can watch if for free on PBS.
I'm a STEM guy too (BS in mechanical engineering), but I later majored in the history of science, technology, and religion.
Agree that the world can't do without the arts and humanities and still maintain a culture.
Dennis is right, though, about live performances being priced out of reach of most people, and that's a shame. DVDs are a good alternative, certainly, but watching recorded versions is like watching a replay of a baseball game, versus being in the bleachers.
So many excellent points here, Bill! Even more meaningful now than a decade ago. The systemic assimilation continues, and now we have the likes of "Moms for Liberty." Under their wing-nut strategy, even one complaint from one parent can get a book banned from school library shelves, even the most innocent and inoffensive stories.
As you said, it's about eliminating all opposition to corporate control. If a book could possibly, in any way, by any stretch, be deemed an outlier by the most rabid misogynist, racist, homophobe, or trans-hater, it's gone. Because "those" people might rock the boat.
And I have no other way of communicating with you.
Did you watch Rachel Maddow on MSNBC telling viewers they would not be covering any more Trump campaign speeches!
She will watch them - and tell us what he said! Talking about social control eh! We can't be trusted to listen to Trump! But she can.
CNN cut off their all-day coverage of the arraignment when he was mobbed by admirers in a cafe afterwards. Can't have that. Need to control the narrative.
I don't see what your comment about Rachel Maddow has to do with Bill's topic of the U.S. educational system, especially as it focuses on TFG and is addressed to me.
As for the beginning of your comment, Dennis, again, another person's blog is not the venue to question me. Not fair to Bill.
I agree with your thoughts as expressed here / a decade ago. I'm not and haven't been an educator; but in fact, often a critic of modern education for the reasons you note and the general disinterest in teaching / encouraging critical thinking.
I attended a parochial school K-12, and while a few of the teachers (mostly nuns) there actually wanted to stimulate actual learning- and the ability to think about what was taught, it was even then pretty much rote learning. As a quick study, I quickly learned how to identify the rote facts that were essential to good testing, etc.; and it wasn't until very much later that I actually enjoyed learning for its own (proper) sake.
Then it was on to College; it was simply assumed by all that I would follow that path based on my academic achievement up to that time. Fortunately, I had academic scholarships that at least covered tuition; and as I was not the scion of wealth but instead the descendant of poor, uneducated Irish and German miners, the whole notion of going into debt for such a thing seemed a bad idea.
VietNam was ongoing; the draft lottery was picking winners and losers. There was every motive to stay enrolled. Yet by the first semester of my sophomore year, the war, and realizations about the greater context, led me to the observation that the universities were mere training grounds - or even factories, for producing various types of widgets to keep the system going. And I did NOT want to become a widget.
So with the lucky draw of a high draft lottery number, I dropped out.
(While I've at times had some regret that I didn't have the patience to take as much of the good from the educational opportunity, and on a couple educations initiated attempts to resume it, overall, I now think I made the right choices. For one thing, while it reduced opportunities for a more sparkling career, at the same time it greatly expanded my options and varieties of experience- and my comprehension of the bigger world, its complexities, etc.
So, it's possible, if difficult, to avoid becoming widget-ized and keep one's values and principles intact. The system needs its widgets, and the increasing specialization in so many fields (creating administrative, managerial or technical wizards often unable to see the forest for the trees, is a hint at how successful that system is at controlling a fair part of the populace to sustain itself.
Tucker Carlson explains why Washington is after Donald Trump:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1s_PLdGOcI
Tucker is not wrong about a lot of this.
The real question is: What is Trump after?
Or rather, what are the people who command and control, script write and choreograph him after?
No doubt, very similar to what they are after from Biden and the rest of their Boyz and Girlz in Swampland.
One thing that Trump is after is to stop our policy of forever war. He recently said, concerning Ukraine, that if elected he would go and talk with Putin. The neocons and neolibs can't have that so they dreamed up this latest prosecution, in which they propose to send him to prison for life for violating a law set up to stifle dissent and aid in the government's fight against Kaiser Germany in 1917. I regularly read some of the neocon literature and it was astonishing how fast they came out with a dozen articles about how Trump was guilty. Almost as quickly as when they came out in opposition to Putin's Ukraine incursion. For them, I think, it's the same fight. Which apparently, it is.
What did Trump do to stop the “Forever War” that was going on when he took command? Did he pull all the troops out Afghanistan and Iraq? And what happened in Yemen and Syria while he was in charge?
And what exactly is he going to talk about with Putin? How he did nothing to reign in our sponsored government in Kyiv who, during his watch, killed 14,000 fellow Ukrainians in the east?
The one thing that can be said about Trump is that he is the only President since Hoover who did not start a New war while in the Oval Office. However, by his inaction in Ukraine, he helped lay the groundwork for what has happened since.
And as regards who owns, operates, commands, and controls Trump, what does the change in defense spending during Trump’s administration tell You? [$ amounts in Billions]
2017 $646.75
2018 $682.49
2019 $734.34
2020 $778.40
2021 $800.67
Source: https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/USA/united-states/military-spending-defense-budget
Finally, Trump kept asking the embarrassing question, why are we spending more to "defend" Europe than Europe is spending to defend Europe? The implied threat is that if they wouldn't shoulder more of the burden (which they might not) then we would lessen our commitment. The hawks couldn't have that. They love spending taxpayer money on themselves. And if we weren't in Europe, wouldn't it make it that much harder to get involved in European wars? Well yes it would. Under Biden the hawks are safe, of course. Even in Ukraine, a European country, we are spending much more than Europe is. That's not a problem for the hawks. All they have to do is keep Trump out of the Presidency.
Did Trump ask that question about Europe when he was President and Top Dog of NATO? If so, when? Got a source on that?
Or did he just start saying that only after he was out of office? [Sort of like Ike and the MICC.]
Or has he just starting making that noise since seeking to become POTUS Maxximmuss XLVII?
And if those Hawks are “safe” under Biden, what were they when the Commander-In-Chief was a Corporal?
Yes while he was President. Quite often as I recall. Here's one link: https://www.brookings.edu/policy2020/votervital/who-are-americas-allies-and-are-they-paying-their-fair-share-of-defense/
Trump was in the process of getting us out of Afghanistan. He tried to get US troops out of Syria but was stymied by our foreign policy apparatus. Trump is OK with spending lots on the military but not on fighting wars. Our military actually seems to have the same view. At least that's how I see it. His recent remark about talking to Putin was the straw that broke the camel's back - hence the Miami indictments. The hawks won't stand for any negotiations and Trump just loves to negotiate.
Heh. Yeah, Trump was in the “process” of getting us out of Afghanistan for four years, all right. And failed completely. And when and how did he “try” to get us out of Syria? Got a timeline on that?
And OF COURSE he’s OK with big military spending. If he wasn’t, he would have never become President. But how could he justify all that spending ~ and keep it increasing ~ without a war or two to fight, here and there?
That’s what OPERATION DESERT STORM and its Spawn, 9/11 and “The Forever War” was all about. At some point, Americans might pull their heads out their butts long enough to ask: Why are we spending all this money of national "defense" and "security," and don't have any wars to show for it?
And again…: What exactly is he going to “talk” to Putin about? Again, how and why he did nothing to prevent the Lackeys in Kyiv from killing those 14,000 fellow Ukrainians in the east? Maybe he’s got a casino or two and a University to sell him, eh?
And finally, has Trump had anything to say about China and Taiwan? About what he would do if China invades? For a Taiwanese perspective on that, see https://taiwaninsight.org/2023/04/11/what-a-2nd-trump-term-would-mean-to-taiwan-and-the-us/
What "they" don't like about Trump is that he occasionally tells the truth, as in U.S. troops being in Syria to get the oil. Or that the U.S. government has plenty of killers of its own. Or that the U.S. has the biggest nuclear button, so watch out. Or that the Iraq war was not only a disaster but that it was built on a pyramid of lies.
Alex, you forgot Jeffs mantra!
Corporal Bone Spurs = BAD
Don't let facts get in the way of that!
Jeff just doesn't like Trump. That's fine. A lot of people just don't like Trump.
Do You care to elucidate, Dennis, on the particular “facts” about Y’All’s Boy, The Donald, that i am ignoring?
And the mantra doesn’t go “Corporal Bone Spurs = BAD” .
It goes “Corporal Bonespurs = F***ing Scumbag Draft Dodger”; just like his cohorts Cheney, Clinton, Biden, and a whole host of other Baby Boomers who ~ over the years ~ made it to the top of the heap in Swampland.
But unlike Cheney, Clinton and Biden ~ who got out of Vietnam because of so-called “student deferments” ~ the Corporal [not being a student of anything but his own "Greatness"] had his Daddy buy a Podiatrist who came up with the diagnosis of “Bone Spurs.” And the rest, as they say, is history.
Maybe the only thing I like about Trump is his opposition to dumb wars like Iraq. All credit to him for saying these wars are often based on lies. They are not "mistakes."
That said, Trump often has the consistency of a weather vane and the attention span of a toddler. I don't think he has it in him to be a firm and consistent opponent of our forever wars. He also knows it would be unhealthy for him if he were.
See my comment to Alex below, Bill.
Saying that all these wars are based on lies is one thing. Actually DOING something about stopping them is quite another.
Well Bill, you, and all of us went thru "the system" and we have reasoned to our current individual courses. Our courses have been different and varied. Much diversity....not so? We survived the indoctrination of trade school and/or higher(lower) education. Are we not free thinkers. More than just " cogs in the machine'".
Or maybe I missed your point(s).
Cheers
Dennis: I was lucky. My teachers in the 1970s and early 1980s were guided by a "learn to learn" ethos and embraced the humanities as well as STEM.
What I've witnessed over the last 20-30 years is a diminishment of the humanities and the adoption of a "learn to earn" ethos.
Plus, of course, the burden of surging student debt and the imperative to pay it off--or else.
I had the same experience as you in regard to my teachers, Bill. My high school was very much middle class, but the staff were outstanding. Many of them insisted on our doing analyses and presenting reasoned arguments for, say, our interpretations of a piece of poetry or a current event. I very much doubt that happens in most schools today, maybe not even prep schools and colleges. I just read that some universities have cut Shakespeare from lit curricula. That tells me they're not really serious about developing thinking/learning skills.
When I taught sixth grade social studies, I know a way different environment., my goal was to create critical thinkers, dissidents, activists, and revolutionaries, in other words good citizens. That was easy for social studies. I Zinn's book "A Peoples History" as much as I could, but I could see the trend. Social studies was being minimized, marginalized. By the time I had to retire due to illness Social Studies and Science were given half the time of math and ELA. The school system was creating cogs in the wheel rather than drivers of the cart. For those students that I am still in contact with after 10 years, the cog strategy is working. Such a shame.
WERE MADISON, EISENHOWER, TRUMAN, AND KING RIGHT OR NOT? [Extract] by Jacob G. Hornberger / FFF 061423
What did James Madison, Dwight Eisenhower, Harry Truman, and Martin Luther King have in common? They all pointed out the dangers and adverse consequences of America’s national-security state governmental structure. Yet, oddly, the critiques and admonitions of all four of them have been disregarded by modern-day Americans.…
[Note: What follows are quotes from each of the four on that national-security state governmental structure.]
… So, there you have it: four individuals who are held in high esteem by most Americans describing the dark nature and adverse consequences of America’s conversion to a national-security state. Nonetheless, many modern-day Americans continue supporting this dark-side governmental structure while, at the same time, deceptively singing to themselves, “Thank God I’m an American because at least I know I’m free.”
Full article at https://www.fff.org/2023/06/14/were-madison-eisenhower-truman-and-king-right-or-not/
AMERICA’S PERPETUAL WAR: SIX QUESTIONS by Prof. Joseph H. Chung / Global Research 061223
Introduction
Former American President Jimmy Carter said in 2018 that in America, there were 226 years of wars since its independence which took place 242 years ago thus leaving only 16 years of peace.
Since WWII, there were 32 American military conflicts involving dozens of countries. Some of these military conflicts have lasted for over twenty years and some others are still continuing.
In other words, the U.S. is a country of perpetual war. War is terribly destructive human activity. Millions of human beings have been sacrificed. Tens of trillions of dollars worth of housing, school, factories, hospitals and other infrastructure facilities have been destroyed in the countries which have been the target of American military attacks.
The perpetual war has destroyed the very foundation of freedom and democracy; it has prevented healthy and equitable economic development of the world; it has led to the violation of human rights; it has ruined traditional values of many countries and, above all, it has caused lasting human suffering.
America’s multi-trillion dollar perpetual war has denied and deprived millions of Americans of decent income, adequate housing, needed foods, necessary health care, safety on the street, reliable infrastructure facilities, essential education and other goods and services needed for descent living.
Before I go any further, I would like to quote the historical statement of President Dwight Eisenhower.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone, it is spending the sweat of its labourers, the genius of its scientists, the hope of children.” (President Dwight Eisenhower address to the North American Society of News editors, April 16, 1953)
In this paper, I am asking the following six questions:
How many wars has the U.S. undertaken since WWII?
How are the American wars organized?
What is the purpose of the American wars?
Who are the beneficiaries of the American wars?
What are the negative impacts of the American wars?
Will the American wars continue?
Continued at https://www.globalresearch.ca/americas-perpetual-war-six-questions/5822008
I'm a STEM guy. Not TEM but S ( science). At an early stage I knew the field I wanted to get into. I did OK considering their were lots of brighter bulbs in my profession as a microbiologist tech. But I loved what I was doing and enjoyed the company of my fellow colleagues on the bench.
The humanities, the arts: crazy. What 400 bucks to see a play or musical in NY. 70 bucks to hear Beethoven live. Only the rich can afford "the humanities". These folks just barely making a living wage. They've been priced out of the humanities and the arts.
Your thoughts?
Cheers
The humanities are priceless -- and also often free. My library has books, CDs, DVDs, of musicals, Mozart, etc., all free. Anyone can enjoy the humanities. You don't have to pay $400 to experience Broadway; you can watch if for free on PBS.
I'm a STEM guy too (BS in mechanical engineering), but I later majored in the history of science, technology, and religion.
Agree. That"s what I do. Public libraries ( thumbs up!) Not so much, PBS anymore.
Agree that the world can't do without the arts and humanities and still maintain a culture.
Dennis is right, though, about live performances being priced out of reach of most people, and that's a shame. DVDs are a good alternative, certainly, but watching recorded versions is like watching a replay of a baseball game, versus being in the bleachers.
So many excellent points here, Bill! Even more meaningful now than a decade ago. The systemic assimilation continues, and now we have the likes of "Moms for Liberty." Under their wing-nut strategy, even one complaint from one parent can get a book banned from school library shelves, even the most innocent and inoffensive stories.
As you said, it's about eliminating all opposition to corporate control. If a book could possibly, in any way, by any stretch, be deemed an outlier by the most rabid misogynist, racist, homophobe, or trans-hater, it's gone. Because "those" people might rock the boat.
Our schools are going down a very dark path.
Denise, why did you shut down the debate on your last Ponderment's blog?
While we are talking about control.
Take care- No worries
Dennis, your comment, above, has nothing to do with Bill's post.
You're out of line, coming after me on someone else's blog. Not kosher. Cheers!
Not "coming after you" at all Denise my friend?
Just wondering why you cut off the comments?
And I have no other way of communicating with you.
Did you watch Rachel Maddow on MSNBC telling viewers they would not be covering any more Trump campaign speeches!
She will watch them - and tell us what he said! Talking about social control eh! We can't be trusted to listen to Trump! But she can.
CNN cut off their all-day coverage of the arraignment when he was mobbed by admirers in a cafe afterwards. Can't have that. Need to control the narrative.
Cheers. Take care. No worries
I don't see what your comment about Rachel Maddow has to do with Bill's topic of the U.S. educational system, especially as it focuses on TFG and is addressed to me.
As for the beginning of your comment, Dennis, again, another person's blog is not the venue to question me. Not fair to Bill.