From "Cancelling Dianne Feinstein
In San Francisco, the Senator now ranks with Confederate generals" by The Editorial Board of the Wall Street Journal.
"Also canceled were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Webster and Paul Revere.
The criteria used to come up with the list of villains is whether they had promoted slavery, genocide, the oppression of women or 'otherwise significantly diminished the opportunities of those amongst us to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'"
Maybe stop naming schools after human beings. These folks are flawed, and it's going to come around and bite you in the ass sooner or later. Here in Madison, where we live on the west side of town, my kids went to a high school called West High School. Keep it geographical. Although if I had to argue that "West" was a politically incorrect name, I could do it. In defense of West, I note that over on the east side of town, the high school is called East High School.
It was especially bad to name a school after Dianne Feinstein, a living politician. You never know what these creatures who still walk the face of the earth might do to complicate your effort at honor. If you must name schools after human beings, choose dead ones who've proven their status as heroes. But that's a bad idea too. Schools should teach critical thinking and a deep understanding of history, and that's inconsistent with having one person's name hanging over the kids' head all the time.
And what's absurd about pursuing inquiry into the shortcomings of Abraham Lincoln? It's a great idea, if it involves teaching the kids to learn the methodologies of history. It's supposed to be education, not religion.
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Actually, the school we call West is called Madison West High School. It is a geographical name in the sense that it's located in Madison, but we've obviously got a problem with our namesake American hero. It would be a hell of a thing to change the name of our entire city, but I don't know how long we can fend it off. Our local leaders tend to cave to demands, and this demand is such an obvious one.
Hey, what about all the little girls who've been named Madison in the last couple decades when it's been one of the most popular names? It's like calling your baby Slaveowner? What were you thinking?!!
It was especially bad to name a school after Dianne Feinstein, a living politician. You never know what these creatures who still walk the face of the earth might do to complicate your effort at honor.
how about all the schools now named after Barry O'Bama?
You never know what he might do to complicate your effort at honor...
He might even (in the future) DO SOMETHING to EARN that honor!
And what's absurd about pursuing inquiry into the shortcomings of Abraham Lincoln?
Because the message isn't "even great men like Lincoln have faults such as...". The message is "Everything great and good about Lincoln is meaningless because... ". The purpose isn't to create a deeper understanding of history, it is to destroy history.
It'll be interesting to me - and I'm sure appalling - to see after whom they propose to rename these schools.
We have three bridges in our town. Two have been named after people. All three are known and described only by the name of the road that uses them.
THEOLDMAN
"It's supposed to be education, not religion."
Not so sure of this. There can be something good about a "civic religion" especially for a country like ours not based on blood and soil. The idea was the thing that would bind us together (in a good way) was that we were all equal part of this great American endeavor -- we are the inheritors of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Lincoln.
This is all being thrown into the trash with, at best, unpredictable consequences.
In the future, all schools will be called “Maya Angelou.”
Politics and division ARE the religion of Regressives.
I've often said to name any highway, bridge or landmark after those that were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, never a politician.
If the state of West Virginia had to remove Robert C. Byrd's (D-KKK) name from the various buildings et al, they would go bankrupt.
Naming a school after a person is like the world's biggest roadside shrine only worse.
The purpose isn't to create a deeper understanding of history, it is to destroy history.
And remake it in their image, because they are Perfected Beings.
Schools were named by the street they were on when I was there. So they'd all be named Obama today.
Feminists have probably renamed the Kennedy School of Government already, along with the street it's on.
SHUTUP about Robert Byrd! He "repented". Next you'll be saying the slaves were freed by republicans.
"It's supposed to be education, not religion."/"Not so sure of this. There can be something good about a "civic religion"..."
This is a good and important issue and it's one that I — having taught Religion and the Constitution for 15 years — have read and thought about a lot. I took my position with strong awareness of this issue and I encourage debate on the subject.
I begin with the fact that school has been made compulsory and children are subjected to horrendously long lessons that take from their freedom to play and to find their own ways to learn. To appropriate their time and give them anything other than worthy education is despicable. If you don't believe your own system stands up to serious inquiry and critical thinking, you don't deserve to lounge within it and feed off of it.
My high school was named Dixie Heights, or just Dixie. Our flag was the Confederate flag, and our mascot was the same as the Ole Miss Rebel. Oh, and our fight song was "Dixie" of course.
Yeah, they've cleaned all that up since. Except the name. Still Dixie Heights.
My primary and secondary education took place in parish schools. Unsurprisingly religious teaching was part of the curriculum. As far as I know, Saint Mary never participated in the Confederacy, nor did she own slaves.
I've always, and I mean always, have looked askance at the naming of public things after people, especially politicians and still alive ones.
I encourage debate on the subject.
You might, but the cancellers don't. They encourage the rest of us to shut up.
The issue with naming schools, buildings, bridges, etc. after people in this day and age is that someone who is thought of highly today will be persona non grata tomorrow by the people (i.e. liberals) who decide what the “rules” are tomorrow (and the rules seem to change daily). Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, has flaws. I am waiting for the “progressives” who inhabit Madison, WI, to take to its streets demanding to rename the city to “Obama”, all the while looting its buildings prior to burning them down if it isn’t done NOW! After all, living in a “progressive” city named after a slave owner and who wrote the US Constitution (and all the “evil” that it caused this country according to their logic) is an affront to them...
Good thing the libs can’t change the names of Jesuit high schools. Ignatius Loyola is a Saint, but he seriously thought about killing a Muslim on his walk across Spain. The guy argued with him about Mary, mother of Jesus.
“Critical thinking” is a trendy term. You don’t teach history or literature or science or even math anymore: you purportedly teach students to “critique” it.
Students cannot, of course, actually critique something about which they’re utterly ignorant.
So you just teach them to complain and protest and wail. That’s what they mean when they say “critical thinking.”
Today’s “critical thinking” is the opposite of educating.
Could not disagree more. If we cannot name a building, street, city, or other place after a person we cherish, or a person who had an impact on the creation, development, or character of our country or a city/town, then we are a small and lost people. If we have no origin or history that we can all agree on, then again, we are lost. And we have most certainly lost our moorings when we allow whiners who continue to judge the past through the present's bizarre lenses to become the judges of what is or is not approved.
Naming a building, or a street, or a city after a person is done to honor that person, but more importantly, to make us remember that person. Not for their weaknesses, but for their greatness. For their ability to overcome their human frailty to achieve great things- for others- not just for themselves (i.e Barack Obama). Yes, Lincoln had some weaknesses. But he rose above all of it, even his own times, to do what needed to be done. My God...when are the adults in the room going to take back their school boards, city boards, state legislatures, and the Federal Government?
I am sure if someone does their homework, they'll find out that St. Francis of Assisi had some unpleasant side to him. I know, I know- blasphemy. But if they did the homework and found that he was human, they'll have to rename the shithole formerly known as San Francisco.
It’s not the names that are removed, but those that are allowed to remain.
That is the civic religion we are being forced to consume.
"Maybe stop naming schools after human beings. These folks are flawed, and it's going to come around and bite you in the ass sooner or later."
Maybe stop having religion. Religions are flawed, and they're going to come around and bite you in the ass sooner or later.
Maybe stop having cars. Cars are flawed, and they're going to come around and bite you in the ass sooner or later.
Maybe stop having children. Children are flawed, and they're going to come around and bite you in the ass sooner or later.
Seems to work with anything.
Anyone with a brain could see where this was headed when it started a few years ago.
Never, never, never concede anything to the Left. It only sets the next line they'll demand you surrender.
The extreme left's been after Dianne Feinstein since she took over from Mayor George Moscone, after the last time they stole an election, and it resulted in mass murder.
I can't tell if they're trying to avoid that result, this time, or not.
Maybe stop naming schools after human beings. These folks are flawed, and it's going to come around and bite you in the ass sooner or later.
God forbid we teach compassion for human frailty instead...
Though I agree with your specific objection to naming things after living people. That's just asking for trouble.
"The most absurd target is Abraham Lincoln, who waged the war that ended slavery...."
AFAIK, Lincoln ran the war to "preserve the union", and was quite the segregationist who didn't believe ni.., er, n-words could or should live in the same society as whites, something which is perfectly documented in his own speeches.
Universities in England, and to a lesser extent here, are removing the names of harmless biologists who knew more biology than you're allowed to know nowadays.
Until former Klansman Robert Byrd's name is wiped off of every single federal, state and local building/anything else named after him, I will know that this really isn't serious and will also know what this is all about.
Schools should have innocuous geographical names like "Sector 7G" or "Area 51".
And yes, Althouse, you are correct. They will come after the name "Madison" and the luntics who run the asylum will cave on it. Can't wait for the new name.
Some suggested replacement honorees: J.C.X. Simon, Larry Green, Manuel Moore, Jessie Lee Cooks, Samuel Little, Chester Turner, Ivan Hill, and Anthony McKnight.
Ann Althouse says, "Maybe stop naming schools after human beings." Good German-like.
Don't put up permanent signage on schools at all. Just an electronic signboard that can be changed with a few keystrokes.
The e-mail address will be the street address. (Oops! Many street names will be found to be 'problematical,' too.)
The children's history books will be in loose-leaf format.
The problem with geographical names is adding schools on growing communities. We lived in a suburb that had a North and South high school. When they added the third high school it was called Central, even though it was the furthest south geographically. They didn’t go back and rename South. Using numbers would be fine.
...or 'otherwise significantly diminished the opportunities of those amongst us to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'"
Seems to me that under this description, Ms. Feinstein would be out because of her support of abortion, but that doesn't seem to fit the narrative the liberals have in mind.
Buildings at UC Berkeley are also having names cancelled. New names not yet chosen anywhere. Anything named after a white person must go. Plenty of Black Lives to name stuff after.
So soon we will be down to animals and things.
"Welcome students to your first day at "Sustainable Organic Mushroom High"!
"And what's absurd about pursuing inquiry into the shortcomings of Abraham Lincoln?
Nothing, if that was what they are doing.The opposite is happening, Lincoln evil, Obama, John Lewis, Joanne Chesimard.... angelic.
The main reason I still come to read our hosts blog is to marvel at the incredible power of the leftist delusion in such an obviously bright and clever mind and to watch, with discouragement another day, month and year go by without the touch of Enlightenment. A real Greek tragi-comedic play. Which I am thankful for as it makes me weep two sad tears.
It was especially bad to name a school after Dianne Feinstein, a living politician. You never know what these creatures who still walk the face of the earth might do to complicate your effort at honor.
Yes, Naming buildings and such as a way to honor should not happen until 25 years after death. Of course the value judgement used is as flawed as those they are choosing to bannish.
Kennedy and Martin Luther King, come to mind. But the fig leaf they hide behind is already noted "their cause was pure". Rationalization(Lying to self) runs rampant in these virtue signalers.
"who waged the war that ended slavery...."
More accurately "who waged the war on behalf of Northern industrialists"
Just tell the kids that the city of Madison is actually named after the fish-woman. Who didn't own slaves. They'll believe you.
"“Critical thinking” is a trendy term. You don’t teach history or literature or science or even math anymore: you purportedly teach students to “critique” it.... Today’s “critical thinking” is the opposite of educating."
I think "critical" and "critique" are trendy words used as you say, but I think "critical thinking" is an old phrase that is not used by this crowd. It has the meaning I'm using and I don't think that meaning has been degraded by this other use of "critical." I hear "critical theory" used that way, but not "critical thinking." And I say that as someone who worked full time at ground zero for Critical Race Theory in the 80s. But I will research to see if more slippage has occurred recently. I think the idea I am expressing about critical thinking is something the CRT people would scoff at as something that, in practice, covers for perpetuating white supremacy.
"And what's absurd about pursuing inquiry into the shortcomings of Abraham Lincoln?"
Nothing. What's absurd is the notion that Lincoln (and all the Founders) had nothing but shortcomings. If we cannot celebrate any imperfect human, then we've nobody left to celebrate. Certainly none of the current leftist heroes can meet such a standard (not that it matters).
Quick research confirms what I said above about "critical thinking."
Here's a recent Heritage Foundation paper that states explicitly that the word "critical" as used in critical theory is not the same as "critical" in the "traditional academic sense" of "critical thinking."
Is this more Lincoln Project BS?
"Welcome students to your first day at "Sustainable Organic Mushroom High"!
Mixing up or trying to blend these 2 different uses of "critical" would win sneers in my neck of the woods.
Maybe stop naming schools after human beings. These folks are flawed, and it's going to come around and bite you in the ass sooner or later.
Well, yes, true, in that all humans are flawed. That is why grandma warned about putting people on a pedestal, and the admonition to "have no other Gods", made the top ten list.
But that really gets in the way of todays SJW that demands some people are "more ___." than other people. That female that believes they are male...yep flawed.
I see the thread today. A society adrift with no moral compass.
How do we name everything after Michell Obama? I hear she is perfect.
*Please ignore all that easy money she made.
In the OED, the third definition for "critical" has 3 parts. a. Occupied with or skilful in criticism... b. Belonging or relating to criticism. and — combined into a 2-word phrase — c. critical theory [translating German kritische Theorie, M. Horkheimer (1937) in Zeitschr. f. Sozialforschung 245] , a dialectical critique of society (esp. of the theoretical bases of its organization) associated with the leaders of the Institute for Social Research at Frankfurt (the Frankfurt School).
It's that third one that Critical Race Theory people are doing.
Quotes include:
1973 M. Jay Dialectical Imagination ii. 41 At the very heart of Critical Theory was an aversion to closed philosophical systems... Critical Theory..was expressed through a series of critiques of other thinkers and philosophical traditions.
1977 A. Giddens Stud. in Social & Polit. Theory i. 65 If there is a single dominating element in critical theory, it is the defence of Reason (Vernunft) understood in the sense of Hegel and classical German philosophy.
1985 R. J. Siebert Crit. Theory Relig. p. xi J. Habermas's theory of communicative praxis..the most advanced stage in the development of the critical theory of subject, society, history and religion, initiated..by M. Horkheimer..and others in..the so-called Frankfurt School.
It's rather pointless to debate such things at the moment, as if your words will inspire the change you're looking for.
The change coming is your will be cancelled. Do some critical thinking about that...
Sorry those quotes are so boring. I regret copying them.
It’s a dodge to say Why not stop naming schools after people. The real issue is whether it’s okay for a select group of “progressives” to erase the past on a cultural whim. I say no. The Bible famously records the flaws and sins of almost every single hero: from Adam to the Apostle Paul. Jesus alone is peerless (though Joseph and Job are close). It’s this very honest record of the sins of our heroes that caused V. Mangalwadi choose Christianity over the eastern religions he grew up with (“The Book That Made Your World”).
Heroes are heroes and they all have feet of clay.
Greg Hlatky @6:48AM, above, "Speak Heap Big Medicine" !!!!
Soviet left can cancel our history - they can cancel anything.
It's not the critical part that matters. It's whether you like or hate the system you're analyzing. The modern versions have haters doing the critical thinking.
Look at Derrida on, say, religion, and you'll see what a critical thinker who likes the system can do. Namely produce insights at a pretty high rate.
No, elementary school kids are incapable of nuance in history. They need a solid foundation of The Big Picture: America is good, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and MLK are heroes. As they get older, you can fill in with the study of history and narratives.
The problem with most of education today is that teachers don't teach foundation and move straight to analysis. In history, many kids don't learn anything useful but feel that America is not good and anyone who lived in a different time than them is bad. In English, they read modern, inoffensive tripe instead of challenging standards. In math, they don't know their math facts, but can write a summary of how to approach solving a math problem.
Utter madness.
How facilatator of a chinese agent, while on the intel committee.
“Sorry those quotes are so boring. I regret copying them.”
Quite the progression. It started off with a riff about cancel culture, San Francisco style; then got off on a defense of the classical meaning of “critical” (as in not the San Francisco, updated one); and ended with the ultimate Althouse criterion of merit and demerit: “boring.” Sometimes that is the top compliment, as in a strong preference for boring government and politicians. But on cultural matters, it is the most damning verdict she can render.
Interesting. Not a huge fan of stuff that’s boring but taking it too far is a bit boring as well.
Around three and a half years ago, a liberal friend of mine told me it was absurd to think statues of Washington and Lincoln would be torn down - they were only concerned with the Confederate's who were so honored. I guess I should say former friend - she 'unfriended' me a year after that conversation because she was so tolerant of anyone who did not agree with her positions, as so many liberals tend to be...I told her then that erasing the past and tearing down anything everything would not stop with just Confederates, it would continue until the purge is complete. The people that do this are evil.
Like choosing different brands of malware, none are good.
Rhardin at 8:17 is correct I'm afraid.
Sorry those quotes are so boring. I regret copying them.
So you only like boring in politics...any regrets with that lately? Asking for a friend...
"These folks are flawed"
There you go again with your universalism.
Prog heroes aren't "flawed." In fact, saying so is racist, sexist, and homophobic. What do you mean, Havery Milk did --. Well, whatever. He's a prog hero, so his name stays.
The question is not who is flawed. The question is who has the power.
Just out of curiosity; anyone know how many San Francisco schools were named after Confederates?
"If you don't believe your own system stands up to serious inquiry and critical thinking, you don't deserve to lounge within it and feed off of it."
Says who? Progs decide for themselves what they deserve, and for that matter what everyone else deserves. What you call "feeding off" is just reparations: it's time the system favors the URMs, and that's a result of critical thinking, properly understood the prog way.
Your notion of desert is a form of entitlement and privilege. The culture war is passing you by.
I begin with the fact that school has been made compulsory and children are subjected to horrendously long lessons that take from their freedom to play and to find their own ways to learn.
Perhaps we should return to the good old days and send them back into the factories and coal mines. There was no time before compulsory education where kids spent their lives in play and exploration and learning about the world, they worked. Just like they did historically all over the world, and still do today in poorer societies. One of the great advances produced by capitalism is a standard that allows us to treat our children like children instead of little adults.
To appropriate their time and give them anything other than worthy education is despicable.
Despicable? It's standard human behavior. Your idea is a modern indulgence.
If you don't believe your own system stands up to serious inquiry and critical thinking, you don't deserve to lounge within it and feed off of it.
Believe it or not, you can believe that our system stands up to serious inquiry and critical thinking, while at the same time believing that it is inappropriate to introduce them to children before they are prepared for them intellectually or emotionally.
Change San Francisco's name to "City of the Scuzzy Homeless and Clueless Lefties." It's kind of long, but accurate.
Critical thinking, and even critique, does not connote attacking or negatively focused action. I've always understood these terms to refer to a thorough, detailed, un-biased, and dispassionate examination of a subject or policy.
"They're looking at George Washington. They're looking at Abraham Lincoln. Thomas Jefferson. Not gonna happen. Not gonna happen, not as long as I'm here."
But now he's gone, so, game on.
Naming schools with a number is racist. Just ask any leftist women studies professor.
In Maryland (and Pennsylvania) we have a mountain officially called Negro Mountain. Named after a colonial era Black man who committed some act of bravery in a fight with Indians. His true name is unknown, and the facts surrounding the incident that made him famous are obscure, with several different variations of the story.
Woke scolds objected to the name, so they took down the highway signs that identified the summit at Negro Mountain on I 68 and Rt. 40.
Speaking of schools, City Journal says:
[school] "Closures lead to significant declines in academic achievement." (their ref says: "Projecting the Potential Impact", so the impact has not actually been measured)
but their link for that statement says:
"However, we project that losing ground during the school closures was not universal, with the top third of students potentially making gains in reading."
So the "Educational Researchers" project that smart kids will benefit academically from school closures, but, according to City Journal, they should suffer because the dumb kids won't benefit.
"It was especially bad to name a school after Dianne Feinstein, a living politician."
Never name anything after a politician.
They are all your servants.
Would you name your vacation cabin after Ramiro, your gardener?
No, you would not.
Politicians are the worst people on earth.
If two boats were sinking and there was a dog on one and a million politicians on the other, I'd save the dog and say prayers for the fish.
Another Hardin vindication thread.
And the moral cowardice is strong here. Only certain people get told. Tell muslims to stop naming things, and boys, after Mohammed and get back to me.
Does San Francisco still have children ? Maybe children of illegal aliens.
Inspiration and aspiration. The pillars of progress. They are built in factors of human nature. I think those are why schools were named after historical figures. Its why we make statues of people. Given the recent spate of kids ratting out their parents at Thanksgiving I think Lizzie Borden High might be a good name.
Didn't critical thinking used to be called common sense? Like "think before you act" and such? Or is it a substitute since common sense is in such short supply and so nebulous? Critical thinking can be much more rigidly defined, and offers the possibility of control. Theories for everything. All the way down.
"It would be a hell of a thing to change the name of our entire city, but I don't know how long we can fend it off."
Burn it all down. It will cost millions and destroy part of American heritage and history, but it must be done.
And it must be done in every city in the nation.
This is about erasing the legacy of white people who built the greatest nation in the history of the world.
But it must be done. For reasons.
Name everything after some indigenous, obscure nobody. Or any minority.
They're the ones who really built this country.
Fuck all liberals.
Nothing about naming a school after Lincoln foreclosed objective study of the man. Indeed, placement on the pedestal invites scrutiny.
What is taking place is the enforcement of anew orthodoxy in which we are mired in original sin, heelless, because undeserving of heroes.
It's neo Calvinism. What's neo is that this version of Calvinism lacks God.
Good luck to all.
“ Sorry those quotes are so boring. I regret copying them.”/“So you only like boring in politics...any regrets with that lately? Asking for a friend...”
I”ve explained this before, but I will humor you. I like the things that are better when boring to be boring. Examples include the functioning of my heart and liver and the government. Some things are bad when boring. Examples include movies and *this blog.*
If I put something up on this blog and later decide it’s boring, that’s bad. Examples include those 3 quotes from the OED about critical theory.
Get it?
I’m looking for what interests me. Sometimes the topic of boringness interests me and I try to write interestingly about it. It’s also possible to write boringly about interestingness. I try to avoid that.
See how it works?!
Now, if and when you have to ask again, be interesting about it.
Ann Althouse said...
"Quick research confirms what I said above about "critical thinking."
Here's a recent Heritage Foundation paper that states explicitly that the word "critical" as used in critical theory is not the same as "critical" in the "traditional academic sense" of "critical thinking."
And:
"Mixing up or trying to blend these 2 different uses of "critical" would win sneers in my neck of the woods."
It seems they haven't mixed them up but are trying to present critical theory as critical thinking. A liberal relative posted this before the election as a tool for determining the truth or falsity of information posted in social media. It's telling that the first question is a cui bono - thus giving the 'critical thinker' an excuse for dismissing the information out of hand if it benefits Trump.
The Critical Thinking Skills Cheatsheet
"I like the things that are better when boring to be boring. Examples include the functioning of my heart and liver and the government."
Agree...the government that governs best, governs least...or something like that.
And if you ever have heart or liver surgery, you want that to be as boring as possible : )
Autocomplete screwed up my earlier post. Here's what I tried to say:
Nothing about naming a school after Lincoln foreclosed objective study of the man. Indeed, placement on the pedestal invites scrutiny.
What is taking place is the enforcement of a new orthodoxy in which we are mired in original sin, heroless, because undeserving of heroes.
It's neo-Calvinism. What's neo is that this version of Calvinism lacks God.
Good luck to all.
Joe Smith said...
And if you ever have heart or liver surgery, you want that to be as boring as possible : )
U-Haul used to have as their slogan, "America's Moving Adventure". They may still.
Every time I saw it I wondered what marketing idiot dreamed it up, and how in the world it got approved.
As someone who has moved many times in my life, I can tell you for a fact, that the one thing absolutely no mover wants is for their move to be an "adventure".
"Now, if and when you have to ask again, be interesting about it."
New Moderation Policy coming. Boring comments will be deleted. Probably starting with this one.
We could change the name of the country to Air Strip One and proceed accordingly with the names of cities, schools, and other public institutions.
Just use numbers. I like Roughcoat's idea at 1/29/21 10:28 AM for a start. Except taht Air Strip One was England (or Great Britain, cannot really tell). But the idea is good.
Give each State a number, and each county within eact state, each municipality or special district, each school... everything.
Don't start any sequence with "1" as that privileges a particular entity over the others. Maybe start with 101?
Great for computer nerds, too--very logical, just like the metric system, which, btb, was also initiated by people who wanted to destroy the past.
Here in Madison, where we live on the west side of town, my kids went to a high school called West High School. Keep it geographical. Although if I had to argue that "West" was a politically incorrect name, I could do it. In defense of West, I note that over on the east side of town, the high school is called East High School.
Some years back, my sister used the word "oriental" to describe something (furniture, IIRC). Her high school aged kids immediately chimed in with "That's racist!" and "That's so offensive!"
I asked the kids to explain exactly what was racist and offensive about the term. As you might imagine, they were unable to do so. I asked them to compare "oriental" to "occidental." They were unable to do so.
They were B+ to A students in what some people regard as the best public school system in their (sophisticated, blue) state.
Besides history, canceling religion seems to be a goal by this cadre of modern day Bolsheviks. Without God our existence isn't unique and we can be placed into any ideological box they decide - and punished or re-educated as they see fit. Don't be so anxious for a secular society; it may cause more problems than solve.
It'd be interesting, assuming we had actual newspapers in the USA, to find out who these people on the school boards are, and what politics they have. What is their background? Are they Communists? Anarchists?
Instead of knowing the real human being saying and doing this, we get abstractions. Deliberately. Like the MSM saying "The House sent articles of impeachments to the Senate" or "The Biden Administration did XYZ"
The apocalypse will bore you to death.
People can't fight back on this, because they're brainwashed into thinking being "racist" or "sexist' is the WORST THING IN THE WORLD. So, all the left has to do, is keep expanding what's "Racist" or "Sexist". Now, 75 million American's are "Racist" and "white surpremists" for voting for Trump. Even the black/hispanic ones!
but no one pushes back. Because, no matter what, we must not be "racist". Goofy and crazy, but that's the USA 2021.
How much you love black people is now the Gold Standard of how good a person you are.
I, for one, attended Our Lady of the Assumption Elementary School. Not bad, having my school named after one of the only two humans ever born without Original Sin. Try and cancel that, haters.
And what's absurd about pursuing inquiry into the shortcomings of Abraham Lincoln?
On behalf of the Lost Cause, John C. Calhoun says “exactly right.”
Get it?
Got it. Good. (I Love Danny Kaye)
The democrats talibanization of our country continues.
"Maybe stop naming schools after human beings. "
Name them after dogs!
Chinese Cultural Revolution revisited. And if history was being taught in schools today, teachers and students would see this.
IMO, 'critical thinking' is innate, not learned.
Also damned in the land of the Green New Deal -
John Muir.
I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO not bummed for Diane's defenestration. Couldn't happen to a nicer person, and nice, she's not.
All schools will be re-named to be 'Glorious Leader High School #xxx' or 'Glorious Leader Grammer School #xxx' or "Glorious Leader University #xxx', etc. Also, all buildings, all streets, all named places shall also be re-named 'Glorious Leader #xxx'. This will be done immediately. Any person found not using the correct name for the school, building, street, etc. shall be arrested and dealt with as an enemy of the state. Names shall not be published, but shall be posted in appropriate locations. All persons shall read the posted documents without fail and if found not to have read them, shall be arrested and treated as an enemy of the state.
All hail 'Glorious Leader'.
It sounds utter absurd, but based on what has been going on of late, I would not be surprised that some new member of congress, from the appropriate party of course, enters such legislation any day now.
Blogger Wilbur said..."It'll be interesting to me - and I'm sure appalling - to see after whom they propose to rename these schools."
Maybe they will use numbers. But then most tards aren't good with numbers.
And what's absurd about pursuing inquiry into the shortcomings of Abraham Lincoln? It's a great idea, if it involves teaching the kids to learn the methodologies of history. It's supposed to be education, not religion.
Generational thing. There's a lot more negativity about Lincoln now than there was fifty years ago. Finding out now what was good about the guy is parallel with criticizing him in the old days. I'd say, sure, learn about the guy, but keep his name on the school as a reminder that one doesn't have to be perfect to do good.
Biff said...
I asked the kids to explain exactly what was racist and offensive about the term. As you might imagine, they were unable to do so. I asked them to compare "oriental" to "occidental." They were unable to do so.
1/29/21, 10:37 AM
I would wager that at least half of the voters can't either.
"but no one pushes back. Because, no matter what, we must not be "racist"."
No, it's because normal people have normal lives to lead, and that takes time. The mental cases have nothing in their own lives, and so can devote fulltime to nagging others.
rcocean said...
Instead of knowing the real human being saying and doing this, we get abstractions. Deliberately. Like the MSM saying "The House sent articles of impeachments to the Senate" or "The Biden Administration did XYZ"
1/29/21, 10:47 AM
Or "a gun went off" and "fires started, resulting in businesses burning down". The only time the media sees any need for assigning ownership is when a Republican does something they don't agree with. Other than that, stuff just "happens".
"but no one pushes back. Because, no matter what, we must not be "racist"."
Even the SF Chronicle saw the stupidity - how I don't know - but it ran an editorial picturing and lambasting the Renaming Committee participants. I think a lot of its 'outrage' has to do with the bad optics of SF progressives re-naming schools which SF teachers refuse to teach in.
Wapo's database of Trump's "lies" lists 11 lies related to pulling down statues of Lincoln and Washington. Most of those were related to the monuments in DC so technically still incorrect, but he wasn't too far from the truth. In fact, closer to the truth than Wapo.
Maybe people could vote for school names online. "Wokey McWokeface High School"
"Name them after dogs!"
Two Dogs in a Boat Elementary School
If I'm supposed to be all up in arms over this, uh, no. She's no friend to me.
And buildings should be named for people who have already died and she's not pushing up daisies....yet. The elementary school is about a 10 min drive from my house, on the west side of the city. Typical Sunset District neighborhood.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7396398,-122.4819178,3a,75y,83.95h,88.9t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-VOgj7EukNZKv0pjgdZGpw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en
Statues and monuments on public land are not the property of the woke crowd. They belong to the public as a whole. Any question of whether or not to tear down a statue or change a name should receive a full fair vote of the constituents.
Maybe because she was a conduit for Chinese spying. You would think San Francisco would like that.
I can think of appropriate names for school campuses that "reflect the values of the San Francisco community". How about Needle Park, or Marx Middle School? Angela Davis and Fidel Castro should be in there as well. While there might be a Stalin Secondary School, there will never be a Hitler High.
Long ago San Francisco let the inmates out of the asylum and now the City and County of San Franscisco is just one big asylum.
Not a single one of these goddamned leftists is worthy to shine George Washington's shoes. Fuck every single one of them in every city and state in the country.
Matt @3:23PM, I totally agree. And for that matter, the shoes of Robert E. Lee.
"It's supposed to be education, not religion." Indeed it is. So let's do away with the environmental scare propagandizing, the systemic racism indoctrination and the socialist proselytizing while we're smashing icons.
Being old, I had the blessings of a good education. History was one of my favorite subjects and I honestly don't remember any indoctrination in my history classes. While we were often asked to analyze why something happened or to describe the conditions leading up to a major event, we were never were told how to value them. Characters from history were never 'good' or 'bad', just influential on historical events.
Diversity and exclusion, right? The wicked solution, too.
Faith, religion (and its relativistic cousin "ethics", its secular sister "law"), and ideology are separable.
Semantic games, conceptual corruption, and conflation of logical domains are progressive.
I'd have no problem with a blanket rule to remove any names that represent actual people.
But a blanket rule is not what is proposed.
Of course.
"Name them after dogs!"
My first dog, a toy poodle, name was Killer. My second dog, a German shepherd, name was Genius. My last dog, a Maltese poodle, name was Oliver. My cat's name is Dante.
I vote for Killer as the first canine in his line. The felinist can wait.
Ann, you're being silly. The fact that all people are flawed, yet some achieve great things regardless, is precisely what children should be taught and reflect on. An Abraham Lincoln should be viewed in all his complexity, but the very positive balance should still be celebrated. This push for perfection, or flight to anodyne inoffensiveness, can only lead to cultural catastrophe.
Waiting for Pinochet?
whether they had promoted slavery, genocide, the oppression of women or 'otherwise significantly diminished the opportunities of those amongst us to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'
So the guy that wrote the words they quote in banning him is off the "good guy" list in perpetuity, then? I would also like to know who snuck that foreign "amongst" in there. Traitor!
I agree, Ann. Let's not name schools after people, or anthropomorphize animals, or conflate categories in any way. Let's name schools in some totally neutral way. Satellite coordinates, maybe. (No one could be diminished or made to feel "less than" because they went to a particular pair of satellite coordinates, now, could they?) Then no one will get confused. And away with all those hunks of bronze made to look suspiciously human, too. I suggest geometric figures like cubes and spheres, assuming those aren't too obnoxiously "Eurocentric" for you. Or maybe empty plinths would be better; just imagine whoever or whatever you want to fill the space.
And flags. Who needs flags? Or anthems. Or ridiculous buildings like the Washington Monument and the Statue of Liberty and the White House. SCOTUS and Congress and POTUS can live and work in ordinary apartments and cubicles like the rest of us who are lucky enough to have such work; perhaps they can vary that with a little firefighting or sewer repair or time at the grocery store check-out on the off-time.
I snark, but really it's becoming very, very difficult not to.
Public schools should be given numbers, rather than names.
Like cell blocks.
What did Paul Revere do wrong (unless you're a royalist)?
Stripping Diane Feinstein just seems wrong.
All humans have flaws. It is part of our fallen nature.
Some people are heroes (or heroines), despite their flaws.
We used to understand that.
If you don't believe your own system stands up to serious inquiry and critical thinking, you don't deserve to lounge within it and feed off of it.
I used to think it did, but now the masks are coming off. In any event, serious inquiry and critical thinking isn't what is going on here. We are in the beginning stages of a Moaist "Cultural Revolution."
A black woman invented the telescope.
https://www.space.com/21950-who-invented-the-telescope.html
But is it really worth losing your job to point that out?
Also, most schools are about warehousing kids so that both parents can work and for indoctrinating the children. Any education that happens is a secondary effect, at best. Oh, and enriching the teacher's union so that they can keep getting democrats elected.
"Also canceled were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Webster and Paul Revere.
I'd be deeply honored to be on that list.
Daenerys Charm School
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