October 17, 2018

I'm glad I didn't get around to blogging about the Shorewood School District reversing its decision to cancel the high school theater production of "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Because now they've reversed the reversal and are back at cancellation.
An email from Shorewood superintendent Bryan Davis said that there would be no public performance of "To Kill A Mockingbird," which was scheduled to be performed at 7 p.m. Wednesday, "due to mental and emotional health of our entire student body related to the production."
There will be a "dress rehearsal" with only the family of the cast and crew in the audience. There will also be a press conference:
"It's going to be an opportunity for us to talk to all press about the context of the play. Also, we're going to have our students from our Youth Rising Up organization, some of those kids that spoke last night (Oct. 16 at the community conversation on race) so they can have their perspective and their voice in the conversation. So we felt that that was important to do," Davis' email said.
"Youth Rising Up" gets priority over Youth Who Worked Hard to Put Together a Play. The play was chosen by the faculty, not the students. The students worked in reliance on the faculty's support. The faculty caved. The learned lines of a classic story will not be heard so that those who've managed to get the performance blocked can once again have "their voice" heard. Why doesn't Youth Rising Up find/write a play that gives their perspective and learn that play and work hard on a production that an audience would show up for? What do they have to say — anything about courage? Because the Shorewood school authorities could use some.

Here's my post from last week reacting to the original cancellation. Excerpt:
Imagine letting students learn all the lines of a play, rehearse their parts, get all nervous and excited about the performance and then just cancelling it on them — cancelling it on them not because of anything they did wrong or anything that was wrong but because other people talked about protesting it. What kind of lesson is the school teaching?! What's the point of working hard and doing something worthwhile that you believe in and build with other people if the authorities won't support you but will take the "safest option" and side with the people who see an opportunity for protest and disruption.

132 comments:

JPS said...

Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked.

Achilles said...

You built this Ann.

Michael The Magnificent said...

The lesson here is liberals have chosen "believe all women #me-too" over falsely accused minorities.

Birkel said...

Let's get on with an expansive voucher system that allows private schools to compete with public schools for funding. The people making these decisions need to face market pressures. And it cannot happen soon enough.

Achilles said...

The education establishment has been building this for decades.

They want this. They were students when the system was designed.

This is all about tearing down the foundations of our Republic.

Saint Croix said...

Why doesn't Youth Rising Up find/write a play

To Kill To Kill a Mockingbird

Bay Area Guy said...

Believe all women! The black guy did it! The show must (not) go on!

stevew said...

"due to mental and emotional health of our entire student body related to the production."

Said mental and emotional health was already in poor condition if it is so dramatically affected in the negative by the presenting of a well known, highly regarded work of fiction.

-sw

Drago said...

Michael The Magnificent: "The lesson here is liberals have chosen "believe all women #me-too" over falsely accused minorities."

Wrong.

The lesson here is the left/liberals/LLR's have chosen "believe all liberal/lefty women #me-too" when it serves the interests of the political left over falsely accused everyone else.

Achilles said...

We all know why “To kill a mockingbird” is being eliminated from public schools.

It reinforces the foundational principles of due process and presumption of innocence.

They could change one word if they wanted.

They are just being dishonest about their motives as usual.

Saint Croix said...

Maybe We Should Lynch Boo Radley Too!

rhhardin said...

I've forgotten what's wrong with To Kill a Mockingbird, other than being boring. I assume comparing a black to a monkey.

robother said...

A valuable lesson in Who's Really In Charge. Welcome to the Cultural Revolution! The young Maoists in training are sharpening their skills at bullying administrators and faculty, and have a kill to add to their college applications. Yale and Harvard will be competing for these budding SJWs.

glenn said...

Spineless and gutless. “To Kill a Mockingbird “ is an American classic. The problem is the core of the story is a false accusation of rape. This doesn’t fit the narrative of #MeToo.
Moral of the story, book burners come in a variety of sizes, shapes, motives and colors. I hope that’s the takeaway here.

Ann Althouse said...

I don't think the objection is to showing a woman lying about sexual assault. I think it's to the use of the n-word (in lines by people who are obviously racists that the play sledgehammers the audience into seeing as wrong).

tim maguire said...

This isn't the first time students have suffered for following faculty instruction. And it won't be the last. Ironically, I think the message here is one the school actually does want to teach (if not overtly). Actions and guilt are mutually exclusive concepts. Doing everything right won't save you from punishment.

Michael K said...


Blogger Birkel said...
Let's get on with an expansive voucher system that allows private schools to compete with public schools for funding. The people making these decisions need to face market pressures. And it cannot happen soon enough.


The Arizona legislature passed a bill to expand a voucher program. Originally, they were only for disabled kids but they added another 50,000 kids. The teachers had a fit and wrote up a ballot initiative to stop it. The only slight problem they had was their initiative said the opposite of what they intended. It ratified the legislature.

So now, there are signs all over Tucson telling people to vote NO on their own initiative.

These are the people teaching the kids.

Rob said...

Superintendent Davis is determined to appear ridiculous. You have to admire that kind of tenacity.

rhhardin said...

We need a list of animals blacks can't be compared to.

aardvark would be first.

An aardvark and a black forming one and the same body. That's something one doesn't often see. One recognizes the shape of the aardvark; one recognizes the shape of a black; but one cannot separate them in one's mind. In reality they merge one with the other, and form one free and independent body.

after Lautreamont.

Michael K said...

I think it's to the use of the n-word (in lines by people who are obviously racists that the play sledgehammers the audience into seeing as wrong).

They could have switched the word to "Negroes" which is the origin of the banned term.

Of course, the use of "Negro" is not PC.

Henry said...

They should swap in Heathers, the Musical.

Bay Area Guy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Achilles said...

Ann Althouse said...
I don't think the objection is to showing a woman lying about sexual assault. I think it's to the use of the n-word (in lines by people who are obviously racists that the play sledgehammers the audience into seeing as wrong).

Of course you don’t want to believe that.

People usually pretend to be obtuse and ignore true motives rather than admit they were part of a morally corrupt movement.

Rap music uses the n word a lot. Outrage = 0.

It just does the work of your leftist masters in tearing down pieces of our society.

Stop pretending. It is beneath you.

Bay Area Guy said...

Maybe instead of TKAM, the school could put on a performance of "Wild Things" starring Denise Richards, Neve Cambpell, Matt Dillon and Kevin Bacon. It'd be a nice high school musical.

Fernandinande said...

Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked.

Mynd you, møøse rapes Kan be pretty nasti...on the other hand, you can't really take those Mexican Whooping llamas at their word.

n.n said...

Maybe if they use the unofficial second American language, Spanish, and change the pronunciation. No, one passed through the black whore... hole. That wouldn't work.

Fernandinande said...

We need a list of animals blacks can't be compared to.

Mexican Whooping llamas should be on it because even though they all look the same, nobody is exactly sure what they look like.

Mark said...

Maybe this will finally disabuse some students of the servile, obsequious sycophancy that has infested the last couple of generations.

n.n said...

Diversity nonsense... consciousness.

In a similar strain, girls and women are losing to neo-girls, neo-women, and females with masculine gender hormones and physiques.

William said...

Is Our Town still safe? Too many white people? Too patriarchal?........What's innocuous nowadays?

Achilles said...

Don’t forget all of the people who want to lynch the black guy and the female liar were all Democrats.

This Act is dangerous to the leftists and they will single it out.

johns said...

I think it is the wrong play to have performed by a bunch of high school students. I would hate to watch that performance. Rather, they should be reading and discussing this book in class.
High school students aren't mature enough to be up on stage shouting out the n word. And the rest of the school would learn a lot more about the issues of due process and civil rights if they read the book.

Fernandinande said...

To Mock a Killing Bird

Undead Mockingbird: The Return

President-Mom-Jeans said...

The takeaway from this is that liberals and public school employees (but I repeated myself) are fucking retards who need to have funding and power severely curtailed.

Shit like this nonsense is why Trump is going to be re-elected.

gerry said...

Undead Mockingbird: The Return

The likely thread winner. :)

Howard said...

Blogger Achilles said...

The education establishment has been building this for decades.

They want this. They were students when the system was designed.

This is all about tearing down the foundations of our Republic.


This just in... Chicken Little proclaims Sky is Falling... Unexpectedly

Ken B said...

Trump is in many ways a twat. But he has moral courage.

Robert Cook said...

"The takeaway from this is that liberals and public school employees (but I repeated myself)...."

Most public school employees are blue collar workers or come from blue collar backgrounds. (There are many non-teaching jobs in public schools.) What makes you think they are all liberals? My guess is a lot of them are Trump voters.

mikeski said...

"Drama Club, form a line here. Here's your red pill... here's your red pill... here's your red pill..."

Howard said...

C'mon Robert. The idiots who caved into "Rise Up by Tearing Down" are left wing spineless democrats. If democrats cannot marginalize these worms, Trump continues #winning

richlb said...

Trump should invite them to the WH for a private performance. Or better yet, invite them to perform at the Kennedy Center.

mikeski said...

Most public school employees are blue collar workers or come from blue collar backgrounds.

And the number of janitors and groundskeepers involved in this decision is... ?

gerry said...

These are the people teaching the kids.

Likely, they created wording for the ballot that was confusing but which would have passed the referendum had the confusion been successful (I think I got that right). Anyway, the net effect was that the people who were attempting to confuse voters instead confused themselves.

You are, MichaelK, superbly correct in your inference in "These are the people teaching the kids..".

Ken B said...

I think Ann is misunderstanding a point some are making. Here is what some commenters are saying. The *objection* is to the word. The *caving in* is because the school board does not see anything worth defending from attack, not free speech and not the lessons of the book.

I am not making this argument, I am just trying to clarify I for Ann.

Robert Cook said...

"Trump is in many ways a twat. But he has moral courage."

How can he have moral courage when he has no morals?

You're mistaking the obstinance of a bullying narcissist for a trait Trump has never exhibited.

Achilles said...

Go ahead Howard.

Refute the hypothesis.

It will be fun watching your rather limited mind apply itself.

Start with defense of attacks on free speech and the hundreds of examples of violence directed at people the leftists disagree with in educational institutions.

Howard said...

I was on the stage crew in Jr Hi at a very modern and sofisticated theatre. It was loads of fun. One of the best parts was it got you out of boring classes on a regular basis. I'm willing to bet that the loss of getting out of class is one of the biggest disappointments to the players and crew

Robert Cook said...

"And the number of janitors and groundskeepers involved in this decision is...?"

None. And probably very few (or any) of the teachers. But I was responding to a comment declaring all public school employees being liberals.

gerry said...

Rap music uses the n word a lot. Outrage = 0.

I couldn't resist: remember always that in the "C" in rap music is silent.

The Crack Emcee said...

I still think "The Lottery" is more appropriate for American kids, learning about this society.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

I have to disagree with Althouse on this one. It has everything to do with the MeToo Movement and Believe All Women. The n-word is just a diversion.

The play is based on a woman lying about a rape. We cannot have that!

It's just too bad no one stopped it before all the work went into it. Stupid

Howard said...

Go ahead Chicken Little.

Refute the hypothesis, because that's the first job of the maker of the hypothesis. That is if you know how to think like a man and not a housewife wearing curlers and a housecoat padding around in tattered slippers hunting dust motes..

Chuck said...

Ken B said...
Trump is in many ways a twat. But he has moral courage.


I'm thinking of that oft-misused line from the character Dick the Butcher in Shakespeare's Henry VI; "The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers..."

Here, we see Althouse applying admirably clear, incisive legal analysis (and even plain logical thinking) to a problem of emotionally-fraught political correctness.

We don't need fewer lawyers; we need more clear legal thinking.

And let's please not give Trump any credit in this. Trump is never applying legal thinking or legal theory. Trump doesn't even respect some of the fundamental principles of legal convention and procedure. Trump thinks courts pass "bills." Trump thinks of some U.S. District judges as "so-called judges." Trump says he wants to "open up libel laws," except for this week when he successfully defended a bogus defamation case. A defamation case that was as bogus as the one that Trump filed against the author and publisher of "TrumpNation."

Trump is just the flip side of the p.c. play-banners of Madison. They want to ban this production because of their emotional politics. Trump would promote the production because his own emotional politics is all about pushing back against their emotional politics. Trump's low-grade politics versus the Left's low-grade politics.

Two-eyed Jack said...

One of the things I dislike about middle and high school literature, both in my day and my children's, is that they assign way too much "problem" literature, like TKaMB. They pair English and Social Studies/History teachers to look at some problem. This bites them if views on a problem shift. Also, a lot of these problem books are just not that good. The weaknesses of TKaMB have been hashed over, but teachers still generally think that it is the best way in to discussions of racism. Why racism is a topic for English class is not considered.

The Crack Emcee said...

This is not always the racially enlightened society "To Kill A Mockingbird" tries to project, but it's definitely the unfair Hell hole "The Lottery" illustrates, 24/7, 365 days a year.

And nobody has to say a "bad word" through the whole thing.

MacMacConnell said...

Maybe "Youth Rising Up" is a reality based intellectually honest organization of students. They want to point out Harper Lee's novel is based on a real trial in which her lawyer father represented a black man accused of raping a white woman in Mississippi. In real life the black man was acquitted, but in 1960 the Yankee NYC editors didn't like that ending.

Howard said...

Good call, Crack. The Lottery was the first story I remember from elementary school that made me feel more like an adult.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

I don't think the objection is to showing a woman lying about sexual assault. I think it's to the use of the n-word (in lines by people who are obviously racists that the play sledgehammers the audience into seeing as wrong).

Is the "don't" word an editing error? Because the comment makes sense if we remove "don't."

If we leave the word then the comment is self contradicting.

Why would the n-word be bad if it is being used as a sledgehammer to show people who use the word are bad people. Isn't that just propaganda?

Or just remove the n-word if it is so distracting. The play can go on without it.

rhhardin said...

Twofer! A sand-flea you can't compare blacks to: jigger.

Achilles said...

Robert Cook said...

Most public school employees are blue collar workers or come from blue collar backgrounds. (There are many non-teaching jobs in public schools.) What makes you think they are all liberals? My guess is a lot of them are Trump voters.

That’s why the teachers unions are so balanced in their donations to political parties right.

Chuck said...

gerry said...
"Rap music uses the n word a lot. Outrage = 0."

I couldn't resist: remember always that in the "C" in rap music is silent.


There could be a spreadsheet, devoted to the offensive lyrics of White House Oval Office guest of the President of the United States, Kanye West.

Bay Area Guy said...

In TKAM, of course, Gregory Peck was the star. Atticus Finch was an enlightened, righteous dude. The women swooned at his rectitude.

But did anyone think that Robert Duvall as creepy Boo Radley would become even a bigger star?

Life throws your curveballs.

robother said...

This could render "Pulp Fiction: The Musical" problematic.

Howard said...

Blogger Chuck said...

We don't need fewer lawyers; we need more clear legal thinking.


Legal thinking is bureaucracy is death. Resistance is essential. If anyone is trying to destroy the republic, it's lawyers and their anal-retentive fidelity to Gordian knots.

The Godfather said...

The news report linked in the first Althouse post on this subject says that the reason for cancelling the play was the use of "the n word". I assume that is correct and that #MeToo isn't involved.

The n word is nigger. It's an ugly word. I hate to hear it or say it. But what that word expressed in the novel and (presumbably) the play is even uglier. That's the point: racism is ugly. Changing the word to Negro would undermine the message of the ugliness of racism. You might as well have the jury acquit the "Negro" to the applause of the townsfolk.

The people who cancelled this play because of that word are cowards. Had they lived in the TKAM era, they would have turned away and locked their doors while niggers were being lynched.

Bay Area Guy said...

Wow, "The Lottery" -- hadn't thought about that one in decades. They showed us that flick in 4th Grade. The message in my little pea brain at the time was that mindless tradition is bad.

Yancey Ward said...

Ms. Althouse,

You are hopelessly naive in this particular instance. The entire theme of the book is anti-racism. The only reason this play was canceled is the that plot device to explore this theme is a fabricated charge of rape by a woman, and that is a theme that can't be tolerated by the Left today. Two years ago this play would have gone off without a hitch, and would go off without a hitch 5 years from now, but not today.

Bay Area Guy said...

"Legal thinking is bureaucracy is death. Resistance is essential. If anyone is trying to destroy the republic, it's lawyers and their anal-retentive fidelity to Gordian knots."

Has someone hijacked Howard's computer this fine day? He is making a lotta sense:)

Howard said...

Crack: see your republican birthers and sisters stealing away the faux outrage from the Blacks to White Women. You can't win for losing.

Michael K said...

And let's please not give Trump any credit in this.

Just Chuck being Chuck. What has Trump to do with a school play in Wisconsin?

Shut up, Chuck.

Howard said...

Mike K: I'd tell you to shut up, go away and never ever respond to me again... however, we all know that you just can't hep yourself... so you are given a pass. It must be highly stimulating for you to kick Chuck along with the rest of the Trump Punters because he can't fight back. Like a pack of Hyenas

DanTheMan said...

>>What kind of lesson is the school teaching?!

Submit. Surrender. Don't resist.

This will come in handy later, kids.

Howard said...

Feeling normal now BAG?

Achilles said...

Howard said...
Go ahead Chicken Little.

Refute the hypothesis, because that's the first job of the maker of the hypothesis. That is if you know how to think like a man and not a housewife wearing curlers and a housecoat padding around in tattered slippers hunting dust motes..


Howard runs to his safe space.

The mobs usually form up in the safe spaces.

DanTheMan said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JAORE said...

I don't think the objection is to showing a woman lying about sexual assault. I think it's to the use of the n-word (in lines by people who are obviously racists that the play sledgehammers the audience into seeing as wrong).

So is it the crude("sledge hammers") manner of the written lines the basis for your objection? Or is "seeing [the N word]... as wrong" the objection?

I also think you are wrong about the lying about sexual assault. The play was used as a foil in the Justice K dust up to show the hypocrisy of the left.

DanTheMan said...

Like Solomon, I have the solution:
Rewrite the ending.
Atticus Finch comes out as gay,
The African American dramatically reveals he is post-op trans.
The white accuser is sentenced to death... but only after revealing the real rapist was the white male Republican judge.

Everybody goes home happy.

Pianoman said...

The Monty Python Solution: Replace all instances of the N-Word with "Splunge".

Howard said...

This is your safe space, Achilles. I don't have friends here. Does CTE cause your mind to think like a teenage mean girl? You really should look to get that fixed

Bay Area Guy said...

Feeling normal now BAG?

Heh, yes, Thank you for asking.

I try to stay away from the Chuck flame wars. I actually kinda like Chuck. His main focus is to sock Trump regardless of the thread topic, but he does add creativity and intrigue to the commentariat, which I like.

Can't have a good protagonist, without a good antagonist.

Back to high school production of TKAM -- I think it's a hate crime, not to show the play! How else can we learn about the southern Democrat practice of framing innocent black men with false claims of rape by hysterical, lying white women?

PackerBronco said...

I don't think the objection is to showing a woman lying about sexual assault. I think it's to the use of the n-word

They need to remake "To Kill a Mockingbird" as a musical with a rap soundtrack. That way they can drop all the "n bombs" they want and the precious little darlings won't need to go into therapy.

Howard said...

BAG: Nice try to slip in the tongue. Southern republicans are just Blue Dogs in sharks clothing

Jupiter said...

rhhardin said...

"aardvark would be first."

That's alphabetist.

Jupiter said...

Or possibly Zeophobic.

PM said...

The play has two Intersectional problems: false rape; anti-black epithet.

Martin said...

JPS wrote--"Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked have been sacked."

Sounds like Stalin's Great Purge.

The school admin are not doing anybody any good, least of all "Youth Rising Up." The lessons they will eventually have to learn about dealing with things will just be that much more difficult the longer it is delayed.

And the drama group is learning quite a lesson about organizational cowardice and duplicity, although THAT lesson may stand them well in the long term.

Michael K said...

oward said...
Mike K: I'd tell you to shut up, go away and never ever respond to me again


Go ahead, Howard.

I won't hurt you. I respect teenaged girls.

Martin said...

I'm old enough to remember when a newly discovered Harper Lee manuscript of a prequel of To Kill a Mockingbird, was a big deal.

Anonymous said...

I must admit that I don't get what is going on in the minds of academic administrators. When my kids were growing up "To Kill a Mockingbird" was on every reading list they brought home. Now we can't even see a play based on the novel. It would really be a travesty to make the little snowflakes watch the play and actually think about what Harper Lee was trying to convey with her words and ideas. It is frightening to me that a school administrator , who was aware that the play was in rehearsal, would not have the intelligence and fortitude to tell the snowflakes that it's art and should be treated as art. and they can take a hike. The students who were complaining could have just not attended. Isn't that the best solution? Let them take responsibility by making their own choice not foisting their choices on others.

FullMoon said...

You are hopelessly naive in this particular instance. The entire theme of the book is anti-racism. The only reason this play was canceled is the that plot device to explore this theme is a fabricated charge of rape by a woman, and that is a theme that can't be tolerated by the Left today. Two years ago this play would have gone off without a hitch, and would go off without a hitch 5 years from now, but not today.

I have come around to this belief also. Especially with the Kavanaugh ambush still fresh and the lefts attempted perpetuation of the lie that Kavanaugh is a rapist.

Bay Area Guy said...

@Howard,

"BAG: Nice try to slip in the tongue. Southern republicans are just Blue Dogs in sharks clothing"

Important issue, but debateable. Better suited for a separate thread. Many Southern Dems did become Republicans later on (Strom Thurmond), but most stayed Democrat (Ernest Hollings).

In 1976, didn't Jimmy Carter (D-Ga) win nearly all the Confederate states?

Chuck said...

Michael K said...
And let's please not give Trump any credit in this.

Just Chuck being Chuck. What has Trump to do with a school play in Wisconsin?

Shut up, Chuck.


Just a few minutes and 15 comments above mine, Ken B mentioned Trump. And I quoted Ken B in my comment. And also before my comment, richlb made a similar comment. And Robert Cook replied to that one. All before I commented.

What does Trump have to do with a school play in Wisconsin? Nothing, technically. No direct bearing on this case, I would agree. But I didn't raise the topic of Trump on this page. You might want to ask Ken B, richlb or Robert Cook. But more than any other comment, I tried to meaningfully connect the general notion of Trumpism with the excellent analysis that Althouse applied to the soft thinking of the Shorewood School District administrators. Trump's own legal thinking is as shitty as the School District's. Two sides of the same crappy non-legal coin.

MadisonMan said...

By the time your kids are in High School, it really is time to start ramping down your involvement in their lives. That's my message to parents in Shorewood. That includes meddling in what kind of plays are put on.

Now, if actual danger is involved, say, like hazing, or something illegal, then step up. But this seems like a big case of nosy parkeritis to me.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Well, this is Shorewood high. Years ago, Shorewood students protested a visit by alumnus, William Rehnquist because they were sure they couldn't learn anything from the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court. I'm sure leftist derangement has only increased since then.

Ken B said...

Cook,you really are hopeless. Malcolm X had bad morals and moral courage. You can have moral courage without having Cook-approved morals, or even Ken B-approved morals.

Ken B said...

It's a fair cop Michael K, Chuck really was responding to my comment about Trump. Of course I was making a point and Chuck was jerking a knee.

Michael K said...

Trump's own legal thinking is as shitty as the School District's. Two sides of the same crappy non-legal coin.

This is a tiresome theme with you, Chuck. Go on and the morons like Howard will cheer you on.

I look at facebook and see Never Trump idiots railling against Martha McSally because of some perceived RINO tendencies.

She represented a swing district with the university in Tucson, which is kind of left leaning anyway.

They are going to stay home and resent it when I point out they are helping a communist in Synema who supported Lynne Stewart who was carrying messages for the Blind Sheik when he had been convicted and was no longer her client.

I just have trouble understanding you guys, I guess.

Chuck said...

Michael K
What does Facebook have to do with a school play in Wisconsin?
What does the Arizona U.S. Senate race have to do with a school play in Wisconsin?

Jupiter said...

Blogger MadisonMan said...
"By the time your kids are in High School, it really is time to start ramping down your involvement in their lives."

If you have allowed the Left Fascists' indoctrination centers to take control of your children, it's way too late to be talking about "ramping down your involvement in their lives". When I was in school, it was boring and largely pointless. But they didn't teach us that our race deserved genocide, our nation was a war crime, and the boys should all get their balls cut off. The American educational system has been taken over by the Enemy. We need to think about how we are going to get it back.

Jupiter said...

Blogger Chuck said...

"Just a few minutes and 15 comments above mine, Ken B mentioned Trump. And I quoted Ken B in my comment. And also before my comment, richlb made a similar comment. And Robert Cook replied to that one. All before I commented."

OK, Chuck, don't shut up because you're off-topic. Just shut up, OK?

Michael said...

If Trump were smart, he'd invite the whole cast to perform TKAM at the White House.

Michael K said...


Blogger Chuck said...
Michael K
What does Facebook have to do with a school play in Wisconsin?
What does the Arizona U.S. Senate race have to do with a school play in Wisconsin?


OK, Chuck, you asked for it.

Assholes like you (Note I didn't call you one), will not accept that Trump was elected because the voters did not want to vote for the alternative, either in the primaries or the general election. They (you) keep carping at him and might wonder why the midterm election is lost because Republicans are turned off by assholes like you (I didn't call you one) who discourage turnout.

The Arizona Senate race is similar because assholes who wanted Kelli Ward, a born loser, resent that Martha McSally won the primary.

Chuck said...

Michael Brand said...
If Trump were smart, he'd invite the whole cast to perform TKAM at the White House.


Now you're gonna have to answer to Michael K for bringing up Trump.

Achilles said...

Howard said...
This is your safe space, Achilles. I don't have friends here. Does CTE cause your mind to think like a teenage mean girl? You really should look to get that fixed

You touched on the point Howard.

Liberal/libertarian/conservatives who went to college in the last 30 years have had their paradigm's challenged by screaming unhinged progressives on a daily basis.

Liberal/libertarian/conservatives have had to self censor at college and in the work place to avoid being driven out of these common spaces.

The repressiveness of the left is in the process of rebounding on you.

You can pretend it isn't there. You can pretend progressives don't hate this country. You can pretend the left isn't trying to repeal the 1st and 2nd amendments. You can pretend you aren't trying to destroy the presumption of innocence and due process.

Trump's greatest accomplishment has been pulling all of the masks off of the Republic's enemies.

Achilles said...

Jupiter said...

OK, Chuck, don't shut up because you're off-topic. Just shut up, OK?

Naw.

Chuck is entertaining and enlightening.

We need him around to remind us that there are still cucks and traitors who will take over the republican party and take us back to the open borders crony trade endless wars new entitlements days of Bush and Romney.

If Mitt Romney had won in 2012 we would have cap and trade and amnesty by now.

Thank god Romney lost.

Chuck said...

Michael K said...

Blogger Chuck said...
Michael K
What does Facebook have to do with a school play in Wisconsin?
What does the Arizona U.S. Senate race have to do with a school play in Wisconsin?

OK, Chuck, you asked for it.

Assholes like you (Note I didn't call you one), will not accept that Trump was elected because the voters did not want to vote for the alternative, either in the primaries or the general election. They (you) keep carping at him and might wonder why the midterm election is lost because Republicans are turned off by assholes like you (I didn't call you one) who discourage turnout.

The Arizona Senate race is similar because assholes who wanted Kelli Ward, a born loser, resent that Martha McSally won the primary.


Bwaaaahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

You are going to lecture me on loyalty to the Republican Party, and party-unity?!?

Tell it to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh, neither of whom are actual Republicans as far as I know. Unlike me. Hannity proudly proclaims he isn't a Republican. I don't know about Rush. Or Michael Savage. Or Mark Levin. Or any of the yappers whose main schtick these days is crying about Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell and Mitt Romney and the late John McCain. With friends like Hannity and Rush, who needs Democrats to trashtalk Republicans?

I can't think of a single midterm wherein the electorate has been more motivated by whoever was President. The 2010 Tea Party wave comes close, but I think that was a healthcare/Obamacare fight as much as anything. What we didn't have at that time was Obama stumping literally everywhere and saying that "a vote for [name the candidate] is a vote for me."

Like Trump is doing right now.

Trump is such an asshole. (Note that I didn't call you one.) It is all about him. "A vote for ____ is a vote for me." He wants to give a victory speech on election night. Except if Republicans lose. Then it won't be Trump's fault. Like he said a day ago.



Michael K said...

OK, Chuck. You convinced me that Trump will lose us the mid-terms.

You are all over the place like Inga.

Now it's time to listen to that Democrat, Rush.

Achilles said...

Poor Chuck.

It is not only that we don't need you.

We don't want you. Bye.

For every member of the cuck wing of the democrat party we kick out 10 disaffected liberals/minorities join us.

We will have more representatives representing republican voters in congress than ever next year.

Oh. And the progressives wont accept you either Chuck.

Nobody likes you. You are part of the most pathetic unwanted political tribe in the world.

Traitors always end up in the same place.

Chuck said...

We will have more representatives representing republican voters in congress than ever next year.



Before I bet on that, I think I'll need to know exactly what it means.

buwaya said...

"What does the Arizona U.S. Senate race have to do with a school play in Wisconsin?"

Because it is all of a piece. It is all the same fundamental cultural conflict between American castes, expressed in every way on every front in every institution. And because it is cultural, on the level of Hutu-Tutsi, it is irreconcilable. One loves ones friends by hating their enemies, and nothing shows love as well as a display of hate.

From G.K. Chesterton, dedication to Hilaire Belloc, in "Napoleon of Notting Hill"

The drums shall crash a waltz of war
And Death shall dance with Liberty;
Likelier the barricades shall blare
Slaughter below and smoke above,
And death and hate and hell declare
That men have found a thing to love._

Achilles said...

Chuck said...

Before I bet on that, I think I'll need to know exactly what it means.

You know what it means Chuck.

More Republican Senators. Over/under 59.5 republicans. +/-3.

Similar number of republicans in the house. +/-10 with respect to current numbers.

Approximately 30 less cuck traitors like McCain, Flake, Corker, Ryan etc.

A real leader as house speaker. No more omnibus bills and traitorous budgets.

It is also fun to watch McConell and Graham throw off their cuck chains and do their voter's bidding for once.

n.n said...

Slaughter below and smoke above,
And death and hate and hell declare
That men have found a thing to love


#HateLovesAbortion

n.n said...

on the level of Hutu-Tutsi, it is irreconcilable

An evolutionary process of retributive and redistributive change.

Chuck said...

No, Achilles; I did not know what you meant. I could not imagine that you were banking on Republicans holding their Majority in the House. Because I imagined you as smarter than you really are, I thought that you were playing a kind of statistical game in which we did some math trick like totaling all of the numbers of persons in Republican House districts, plus some combination of state populations represented by two Republican Senators.

I shouldn't have wasted that time.

So you are saying, flat out, that Republicans hold their majority in the House? Doing the bit of math that you suggest (plus or minus 10 seats from current numbers), you say that Republicans will win at least 225 seats in the 2018 midterm. Do I have that right? That would represent a reduced, but still comfortable margin of 15 or so seats. I would be the very first to say that if the Republicans lost only 10 seats in the 2018 midterm, it would be a YEUUUGE win for all Republicans but especially Donald Trump.

So that's a bold prediction on your part. It would be a huge win for you, too, for having predicted it.

So, let's make this fun. Let's bet on your prediction. And I want to make it even easier on you. Instead of holding you to your 225 number, let's just bet on control of the House. Okay? Bet?

walter said...

Youth Rising Up and Adults Caving To Idiocy

JaimeRoberto said...

Destroying is much easier than creating.

funsize said...

Isn't the whole point of it (the book at least) that the characters who did bad things based on race are bad and that we're supposed to learn from it? How do we get from that to "play bad"? Did these people even read it?

Jaq said...

It was the depiction of a, well it's an m-word that rhymes with "job" that I can't write if I want to avoid a negative social credit score, and not only was it depicted, but the collection of people who were just "angry and upset" that a woman wasn't #believed was depicted negatively.

Jaq said...

Destroying is much easier than creating

"He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." - Dune

Achilles said...

Chuck said...

So that's a bold prediction on your part. It would be a huge win for you, too, for having predicted it.

So, let's make this fun. Let's bet on your prediction. And I want to make it even easier on you. Instead of holding you to your 225 number, let's just bet on control of the House. Okay? Bet?



You are playing a stupid game for stupid kids Chuck.

Someone who predicted Hillary would win should not be calling someone who predicted Trump would win stupid. In 2016 I also said republicans would hold the house and senate.

You were wrong then too. I was right.

This is the prediction.

Democrats win turnout battle similar to 2016 getting huge numbers in corrupt inner cities. If they are lucky.

The democrat party has trouble turning people out in the long run and outside the dense urban centers because their coalition is broken and nothing holds it together anymore.

Republicans will hold the house because they win all of their races 60/40 while democrats win 80/20.

I predict you will say Republicans didn't really win just like you did in 2016.

The senate goes 60/40 +/- a few either way for a generation because there are 30 red states and nobody trusts "moderate" democrats anymore.

The Republican Party becomes the American Workers party in all but name reflecting an alliance between lower/middle class against the globalists plutarchs and socialists/non-non-workers/government employee mandarins.

Michael K said...

The Republican Party becomes the American Workers party in all but name reflecting an alliance between lower/middle class against the globalists plutarchs and socialists/non-non-workers/government employee mandarins.

This kind of matches the arguments in Tucker Carlson's book, which I am reading on Kindle and "Militant Normals" which is am reading in hardback. Both are good.

Chuck said...

I did NOT predict that Republicans would lose their Congressional majorities in 2016. You are making that up, and it's false.

And of course I won't predict that the Republicans will lose the Senate in 2018. It will be close, in the way that the 2016 Presidential race was. (With Trump losing the popular vote consistent with national polling but winning the electoral vote with razor-thin margins in key states where it mattered.) I personally think that the Republicans hold the Senate, with stronger candidates across the country.

But you are predicting that Republicans hold the House in 2018 and I want a piece of that action. What do you want to bet on that? My standard terms are a bottle of something tasty for under $100.

Chuck said...

Michael K said...
...
This kind of matches the arguments in Tucker Carlson's book, which I am reading on Kindle and "Militant Normals" which is am reading in hardback. Both are good.


Yeah, thanks a lot, Tucker Carlson. For giving us a book cover that puts Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham -- the two heroes of the Kavanaugh confirmation -- in the same "boat" as Nancy Pelosi and Maxine Waters.

Ann Althouse said...

“I think Ann is misunderstanding a point some are making. Here is what some commenters are saying. The *objection* is to the word. The *caving in* is because the school board does not see anything worth defending from attack, not free speech and not the lessons of the book. ”

I have no idea what you think I misunderstand. Read the older post. It’s clear the objection is to the n-word.

MadTownGuy said...

The latest article's headline is misleading. From the article (near the end):
"It was not immediately known whether Wednesday's arrest is tied to the threat against Blue."

MadTownGuy said...

Here is the headline:
Student arrested for making threat tied to the 'To Kill a Mockingbird' play at Shorewood High School

What's the over-under on the offending Instagram being a false flag operation?

3john2 said...

Where is Atticus when we need him to stand up in front of the school's protesters the same way he did to the mob outside the jail?

Michael The Magnificent said...

I don't think the objection is to showing a woman lying about sexual assault. I think it's to the use of the n-word (in lines by people who are obviously racists that the play sledgehammers the audience into seeing as wrong).

Born yesterday, and fell off the turnip truck just this morning.

Could they have changed every occurrence of "nigger" to "negro" and kept the meaning of the story? They certainly could have easily enough - the movie script only used the word five times. But there is no easy rewrite to change the basis of the story of a man falsely accused of rape, and that is why it was canceled.

Such a story cannot and will not be told in the era of "believe all women."

Why would Dr. Ford - sorry, I meant Mayella - lie? She must be believed! How dare you question her!

Mike Sylwester said...

Count me too as someone who thinks the real reason for the cancellation was that the play was about a woman who makes a false accusation of rape.

Rosalyn C. said...

Count me in as well as someone who thinks the play was cancelled over the false rape allegation, not the N word. In a way this situation is like the way Ann described her relationship to baseball, there are the good guys and the bad guys and her team are the good guys. She wants to see the world as a contest between good and evil. In the case of this play in current circumstances, who are the good guys and who are the bad guys? We are told on penalty of excommunication from the progressive movement that the good guys/gals are the ones making the rape accusations. But in this case clearly they are the bad guys, who in fact also use the N word. The sensitive and malleable minds of the students might be confused or perplexed. Everyone is supposed to know who is right and who is wrong without hesitation. Maybe we can not believe all survivors/women/accusers? The play is subversive, had to be cancelled.

Furthermore, if the N word was really the issue the play would not have been approved to begin with. I expect the students will figure this out as well as how shameful adults can be. I hope so.

Caligula said...

" The entire theme of the book is anti-racism."

Yes, but the entire thinking of the junior SJW division "Youth Rising Up" is non-thinking, just a visceral reaction to "the word" after which the content of the novel (and the play based on it) becomes irrelevant.

The lesson students are learning is, "How to use emotion to avoid having to think too much."

It takes time to read a novel, and that can be hard work, and who's got time for that? Besides, it might make you feel bad, and isn't it much more fun to just react with a big outburst of righteous anger?


"Phillips [mother of Asana Blue, a member of Youth Rising Up] said there needed to be 'serious changes' at Shorewood. She called for the removal of the school board president, Paru Shah, Davis and drama director Joe King and the need for programs to address racism at every grade level."

Gahrie said...

I did NOT predict that Republicans would lose their Congressional majorities in 2016. You are making that up, and it's false.


You wrote a comment predicting what the Democrats would do after they took control of the House. You did not use the word "if". This certainly implies that you think the Democrats will take control of the House.