Now, the Wisconsin State Journal reports on the 4 finalists in the naming process. Those behind the petition to change the name were pushing for Vel Phillips Memorial High School. Vel Phillips, a black woman, was successful in Wisconsin politics. But Vel Phillips Memorial High School is listed 3rd in the committee's ranking.
In first place is Bruce Dahmen Memorial High School. Who was Bruce Dahmen? He's a white man, so you might think that would exclude him. But he was the school's principal from 2004 until his death in 2014. I suppose we'll need to hear all about this man's character and reputation, including from those who are pumping for Vel Phillips.
In second place is Memorial High School. Of all the effrontery! Just not honoring anyone at all! I like that solution. I've always heard the school called Memorial High School, and the other high schools here have neutral names — West High School and East High School. Memorial High School solves the stated problem — eliminating the recognition of James Madison.
But then to whom is it a "memorial"? One committee member notes: “The person who submitted just Memorial, in that proposal they did say that they were proposing it to be a memorial to all students who went to the school and students who went on to do great things as kind of a unifying name.”
I guess the students would be sort of projecting themselves in the future, looking back on their high school days and remembering. I'm imagining this sort of sentiment:
The ranking was based on 750 comments received from the public:
Roughly 57% of those who weighed in were in favor of a complete name change, 22% were not in favor of a name change and 21% were in favor of simplifying the existing name to Madison Memorial or Memorial High School.
I would add the 22 and the 21 together, which would put Memorial High School in first place. But really, I think 750 comments on what to name that high school is insufficient to justify ousting James Madison from a place of honor in the city of Madison. I am afraid this will begin an unstoppable momentum that will end up depriving us of the traditional name of our city.
Where will this end? With a state capital named Vel Phillipsville? If we must go that way, may I suggest the more sprightly Phillipvelphia?
Posts
150 comments:
The name of the city will be changed. Danesville? Badger City?
i have a modest proposal (And; this one Won't Even mention any Irish, or even potatoes)
Let name it "First Stone" high school, as in:
"Let zhe who is without sin, throw the first stone"
Spoiler Alert: People are Human, People Have Flaws; Even If someone DID help create the USA, there is still something good in him, somewhere
If the leadership in your country is ashamed of its Founders, then it's hard to see a future for you.
I assume that all future dedications in memory of a named person will have to pass Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc scrutiny and be subject to a review by BIPOC, Human Rights Commission. If a donor, I do hope the would be donor meets exacting criteria for their money to be acceptable. Even if successful, I suggest a 10 year review, to ensure that the named person meets current standards.
If being without sin is a prerequisite for having a school named after someone, shouldn't we simply change the name all schools in the country to "Jesus Memorial?"
I vote for “More Science High,” whose famous graduates include Porgie and Mudhead.
No matter what the school's name is changed to, Black students will not like the school any more. They will not behave, study and lean any better. Their test scores will not improve.
PS (Public School) 23.
Madison, WI becomes WC 23 for Wisconsin City number 23.
Alzheimer Memorial
Why name the place after someone else?
Give it its own name. Like Sophia.
Is there no need to demonstrate that there is a "burden" first? The law is an ass and all, but (the the moment, anyway) it's still what we've got...
I think Phillipsvelphia might be seen as too derivative to promote the respect Phillips deserves, whatever she did.
The good citizens of Madison--and the bright sparks on the school board, could go all Soviet or all New York City and simply give each school a number. Like Public School One, Public School Two etc. But then some good wokester will come and argue that such a naming practice is "Numberist" and is a challenge to those who find that mathematics is difficuilt.
The good citizens of Madison--and the bright sparks on the school board, could go all Soviet or all New York City and simply give each school a number. Like Public School One, Public School Two etc. But then some good wokester will come and argue that such a naming practice is "Numberist" and is a challenge to those who find that mathematics is difficuilt.
I like how the burden on black students has recently become unfair.
Was it a burden in 1968? Yes, but not an unfair one.
Doesn’t renaming the school contribute to global warming?
Don’t these people believe in science?
It's an unfair burden on the black students of Madison to attend any school regardless of its name because "white supremacy affects every element of the U.S. education system".
It's also an unfair burden on the black students of Madison to live in a place called "Wisconsin" since it's derived from a Miami Indian word for the river, and "When he passed away, [Miami Chief] Little Turtle willed his property, including his slaves, to his daughters and sons-in-law."
I'm sure there's a Coleman A. Young school somewhere in Michigan. Try that on for size. See how your life turns out.
They could save some money by not actually changing the name from "Madison", but just change who the name refers to, like they did in King County, Washington. Perhaps "Sam Madison" because almost everyone likes the down-home sound of the name "Sam".
How long before they dynamite Montpelier? (Not to mention Monticello and Ash Lawn?)
It's easier to be offended than to be smart.
How about changing the name of the City to "Wokistan"? Then building a wall around it to keep out the unvaccinated and infidels?
Just name them PS 105, PS 106, etc, like NYC does, and get it over with.
They want the world to lose any flavor and charm and honor, so let's just get on with it
So wouldn't it be appropriate to change the name of the city then? And since Madison was the "Father of the Constitution" we'll have to replace it, too, won't we? And I am still waiting on all things "York" to be changed: New York; New York City; York PA; Yorktown, VA; etc. After all, the Duke of York and his Royal African Company brought more slaves to North America than any other slave trader. How can we allow these injustices to stand?
I would be willing to bet that a majority of the black students in Madison high schools know nothing about James Madison and could really give a tinker's damn.
This is an example of liberal bigotry. They assume that the Black students are too weak and immature to bear up under the burden of going to a school named after a founding father who owned slaves. The assumption is that theses students will be just ruined for life under such a burden. That is wrong. That is racist. Those driving the effort are racist.
It is an unfair burden for any student to have to be in a school (or school district) where the leadership are morons.
What is the school's educational performance in graduating literate students?
and since Memorial = penance/honor
How about : for all those we failed to /literatize/
McCheese High
Hypocrites. Change the city name. Madinwisc
The lengths that people will go to to avoid having to confront unpleasant truths.
City name first, then school names. And, I suspect, anyone linked to America as it was before the death of George Floyd should be excluded. It is their fault, after all.
Regards — Cliff
Call on Madison Avenue advertising expertise.
Fernandinande said...
They could save some money by not actually changing the name from "Madison", but just change who the name refers to, like they did in King County, Washington. Perhaps "Sam Madison" because almost everyone likes the down-home sound of the name "Sam".
Brilliant! Ashley Madison.
Billy Madison
I don't know why they don't change to Lumumba, soviet catspaw in zaire, or guevara, but he did write the constitution, what does that matter,
Madison School Building.
Change the name of the high school to No One Is Good Enough and the name of the city to We Are Not Worthy.
Anybody against the name changed to Michele Obama High is a rabid raping rascal.
Some more Madisons not known to have owned slaves, but still reported by Google to have been successful in their field: Madison Young, Madison Ivy, Kenzie Madison, Madison [only].
They might make the boys pay attention.
Schools named Memorial are all the legacies of American Empire and war. Memorial is meant to recognize the sacrifices of servicemen killed in far off lands in war on behalf of American hegemony. Memorial, as a name, probably has to go too!
I wonder if those who feel burdened by Madison also feel burdened by their freedom of religious expression? If they rid themselves of the former do they want to change the latter? The enslaved are no longer slaves but our freedom of religious expression, the wording of which came in its broadest form from James Madison lives on. Is that not something to memorialize? Is it a soft form of racism to expect black people to not understand this?
Frederick Douglas High School. Yes I know I misspelled it. I meant to do that. Spelling is white supremacist.
Owen said...
I vote for “More Science High,” whose famous graduates include Porgie and Mudhead.
Oh, come on! This is Madison, WI we're talking about! There's no way they'd ever pass up "Communist Martyrs High"!
Although, I am surprised that George Floyd Memorial is one of the top choices.
I wonder which has a greater disparate impact on BIPOCs, vaccine passports or naming a school after a founding hero and President of our republic?
What is Nicki Minaj's cousin's friend last name?.......because that should be the name.
The school board needs to create problems they can solve.
It's like the COVID flu when you have a hostage crisis at an Afghanistan airport.
Kevin said "give it it's own name. alike Sophia"
How about Hector?
Owen said...
I vote for “More Science High,” whose famous graduates include Porgie and Mudhead.
More apt is their rival school: "Communist Martyrs High School, exactly."
"…and the other high schools here have neutral names — West High School and East High School."
You left off LaFollette High School. I attended LaFollette and I know just how those James Madison students feel. Attending a school named after a Progressive icon scarred me for life.
Pretty sneaky bro.
How about, Hans Christian Heg Memorial HS?
What about Trotksy High or Emma Goldman High? Or since the whites of Madison love black folks and Democrats so much, Obama High?
I remember back in 2008 when there was a race to re-name high schools after Barack.
I can't understand why they just don't name it Joe Biden High School.
Oh.......not enough melanin, or is it the dementia?
thread winner
It is an unfair burden for any student to have to be in a school (or school district) where the leadership are morons.
What percentage of Wisconsin HS students know who James Madison was?
If Madison goes, that means Washington must go. And Jefferson. This seems more significant than folks realize.
Once they've hollowed out the nation's foundation ("Founders"), the thing has to collapse, right?
All schools should be renamed "Schooly McSchoolface."
I propose Lowest Common Denominator High School.
Does naming a school after a deceased high school principal enhance or subvert the concept of memorial. Given that this is a democracy, maybe the fair thing to do is to pull the name out of a hat--but only those who attended the former Madison Memorial would be eligible. I would, of course, include dropouts among those eligible for inclusion in the hat. (Elitism is an insidious thing.).....Perhaps they could rename the school every few years to include as many students as possible in the memorial.
Don't look now, Althouse, but the name of Wisconsin's capital city has already been changed.
Well, not changed exactly, they've just dropped the last two syllables.
Nikolai Yezhov Memorial High School.
I am with Meade on this. They are missing a bet if they don't go with Ashley Madison High School. Their motto could be "Life is short. Have an Affair with a Bot."
One problem: their audited enrollment might show 5,000 boys and 120 girls.
Oh, it will go much further than this.
CRT says that whites cannot have freed black people. The would mean that free black people exist because white people freed the slaves. Can't have that. Blacks can only be free as a result of blacks throwing off the mantle of slavery.
Lincoln and white abolitionists cannot be celebrated by black people.
I see someone suggested More Science High School. Solid. If that doesn't work--it being in Madison, WI, and all--they could try Communist Martyrs High.
If you push something hard enough, it will fall over. (Fudd's First Law of Opposition)
Meade's suggestion of Billy Madison is apropos. Madison actually had a slave named Billey. That slave ran away during the Revolution, and Madison let him go free saying he could not think of punishing him "merely for coveting that liberty for which we have paid the price of so much blood, and have proclaimed so often to be the right, & worthy the pursuit, of every human being." Madison let Billey go, but he did it in part to ensure his other slaves would not be contaminated by the same spirit. Such are the compromises people made with economic realities. I wonder if all the Woke today, whose cell phones may have been assembled by slave (or near-slave) labor in China, or shop at Walmart grateful for the exploited millions who produce the goods they buy there, will voluntarily eliminate themselves from future naming games no matter how noble their other efforts in life. Need we wonder?
How long until some kid notices that Dahmen High is only a small partial erasure from Dahmer High? Oh well, at least he's an even better known Wisconsin native.
I AM IMPRESSED THAT STUDENTS EVEN KNOW WHO JAMES MADISON WAS AND THAT HE HAD SLAVES.
"The name of the city will be changed. Danesville? Badger City?"
As our cities go feral, we should rename it Raccoon City.
A decade ago I was in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and attended a Four Freshman and Letterman concert down by the lake. The Letterman made several incest jokes about the people from the State of Alabama having just played there. The attending crowd found the jokes amusing and laughed and tittered at the several lame jokes. I've never forgotten the amusement that the people of Lake Geneva found in the Letterman's poor taste of stage patter. On the other hand it was Lake Geneva - more money than class in that area.
Kevin said...
Just name them PS 105, PS 106, etc, like NYC does, and get it over with.
The numbered schools seem to be going out of style in NYC. There has been a trend to rename them after social justice causes and figures.
A colleague of mine teaches at a New York public school that recently changed its name to the High School for Climate Justice, complete with a raised fist logo.
PS. Aren't notions like "East" and "West" horribly dated and culturally hegemonic?
Need a president who didn't own slaves? Who had a positive impact on African-Americans? Who is much more current?
Donald Trump High School
I see someone mentioned Obama. That would yield an appropriate name.
Obama's High
"I vote for “More Science High,” whose famous graduates include Porgie and Mudhead."
Have they finished that mural yet?
Maybe the school district could offset some of their often complained-about funds shortfalls by charging naming rights for the building each year like they do for professional sports arenas.
Although they would no doubt have to apply a 10x factor for any conservative wanting to bid for the right.
Hey Owen! That's shoes for industry, Chucko!
Job Burack confusingly said...
whose cell phones may have been assembled by slave (or near-slave) labor in China
This makes NO SENSE! There AREN'T Any Black people in China, HOW could there be slaves?
Even IF there Were Blacks in China; in order to be a Slave, there has to be a slaveowner
AND, by Definition, a slaveowner HAS TO BE white
There is NO SUCH THING, as Slavery outside of america.
You might as well say something Crazy: Like "There is no longer Slavery in america"
EVERY Black man in america Is enslaved. They Always were, and no one else EVER was
Didn't you people Go to School?
Lewis Wetzel said...
CRT says that whites cannot have freed black people. The would mean that free black people exist
See? Lewis understands! Lewis went to school!
Madison? James Madison? THAT James Madison?
Jim. Jim High School.
Good to see some other Firesigners about.
MountainMan: "So wouldn't it be appropriate to change the name of the city then? And since Madison was the "Father of the Constitution" we'll have to replace it, too, won't we? And I am still waiting on all things "York" to be changed: New York; New York City; York PA; Yorktown, VA; etc. After all, the Duke of York and his Royal African Company brought more slaves to North America than any other slave trader. How can we allow these injustices to stand?"
It was just in the last week that the lefties and LLR-lefties in our National Archives slapped a "dangerous content"/trigger warning on our Founding documents.
That's what the target has always been for the lefties like our Howards and LLR Chucks: use the "confederacy" as the nose under the tent and then proceed to with the destruction of our Founding documents, Founders and any gringo (like Lincoln) who could be said to have performed heroically.
In that way the lefties/LLR-lefties can begin anew on a "blank national canvas" in their Year Zero and create the "utopia" that the lefties/LLR-lefties have always dreamed of creating.
“ Have they finished that mural yet?”
Stop singing and finish your homework !
The notion that it's an unfair burden on the black students of Madison to attend a school with the name Madison on it.
Reminds me of the issue with "income inequality".
What's wrong with income inequality?
It makes people mad and leads to civil unrest.
It only makes people mad because you're telling them they should be mad about it. You'd have a lot less civil unrest if you called out envy for what it is, instead of weaponizing it for political purposes.
I like "More Science High" but the schools that focus on STEM all have tests for admission, and we can't be having racist tests in Madison. So, "Communist Martyrs High" it must be.
Glad to see I'm not the only Firesign fanatic here.
Thomas Chamberlin Memorial High School. Just to see the professionally aggrieved claim that's racist because of the rock.
Try Heg High. He actually died fighting slave states.
While we're reminiscing about Firesign Theatre, why not go all the way and rename the city of Madison "Sector R"?
Or better still, "Sector Я"?
If I got uncomfortable being on Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd when I go to pay my taxes or some such, would that exempt me from my obligations? It's not a racial thing, I just abhor plagiarists and adulters.
There is under-the-radar handwringing in my state - named after our first President Bad Man Slave Owner. His image is on our state flag. Even the most idiot of the CRT idiots understands that trying to change the name of our state or the image on the flag (or, even to tear down the statue prominent on the University of Wash. . . ooops, to say his name is to honor evil) would be ridiculed.
And then there's the problematical naming of our major city - Seattle. Named after Chief Seattle/Sealth. He owned slaves as well. Lots of 'em. Mostly from Indian (oooops Indigenous People Groups) that his "tribe" raided and conquered. In fact, he essentially wiped out the Chimakum tribe.
Perhaps schools should go the way of sports stadiums and sell the naming rights to various corporations and businesses.
That way the school gets money, and we get rid of those problematic Founding Fathers.
The high schools of privileged folks will get the Nikes and Gatorades and Doritos..
The poorer schools....well, I hear Howard's Affordable Plumbing High School has a heck of a football team this year...
I am Laslo.
This is a good first step. Now, anyone named Madison, either first, last, or middle must be required by this same law to change their name.
Imagine the indignity and oppression of forcing a recent graduate to work for, or even be associated with someone named Madison.
Now that schools are asserting their rightful authority over creating new pronouns and policing Halloween costumes, it's time local governments step in assign new, gender-neutral diverse and inclusive names to all newborns.
We as a country must stop allowing birthing people to create a lifetime of offense and oppression to others.
Freedom is fine as an abstract concept, but should not be allowed if anyone is offended, or can be offended on behalf of someone else.
Just change the name of the city to Capitol City and leave it at that.
As far as schools, name them numerically like they do in NYC. Public School #1.
Or, alternatively, acknowledge that the men who founded our unique nation lived in a time when slavery was accepted and that times have changed. Why not put a bronze plaque at the front of the front of the school explaining the importance of James Madison and also explaining the he, being a man of the times he lived in, was a slave owner.
So when, you might ask, will the black minority in Madtown ask for a change in the city's name which was picked by then landowner James Doty who didn't own slaves.
The old argument that if you don't like a school's name, change your school district but even East and West High Schools have Madison as the first word in the school name. Then, of course, there is the "Only Waunakee in the World" just a short scoot up the road - so moving maybe the best solution or even easier, just pretend that Memorial is called Ho-Chunk and get our natives riled up.
According to the Internet, the most famous person with the first name Madison is still Madison Grant, arch-racist and bad hombre. Other famous Madisons include a passel of female tennis players, figure skaters and teen celebrities, author Madison Smartt Bell and baseball pitcher Madison Bumgarner. Smartt Bell High? Bumgarner High?
Apart from James and Dolley, the most famous people with the last name Madison are long-forgotten actor Guy Madison and reality star Holly Madison, who was involved with Hugh Hefner. She may be to recent generations what James Madison was to his.
Without Madison and his contemporaries there would be no Wisconsin. But that might be a stretch too far for the aggrieved Nimrods to ponder. Come to think of it, why not Nimrod High?
Go with directional names for everything.
Has it occurred to any of the activists that we should humiliate with equanimity the Africans who facilitated the capture and selling of slaves to the traders? The WSJ had a nice article on the subject a while back:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-the-slave-traders-were-african-11568991595
Madison wasn't the only evil-doer involved in this human-trafficking. I could get behind the renaming if I saw groups exposing and condemning the whole supply chain. This is like arresting drug users instead of suppliers because they are easier to find and can't afford to defend themselves.
Rename the city for beloved former Governor Scott Walker. Think of the alliteration!
Why not sell the naming opportunity to a local corporation, as they do athletic stadiums? Hmmm, or is the school rating poor? If so, scratch that idea.
Schools should be named for sports figures or pop musicians but in the case of Madison I would name it the Armstrong, Burt, and Fine Memorial High School. Why is Madison worse than saying Dane County? Why are Danes better than anyone else you fascists.
I suppose is no coincidence that present condemnation/damnation of renown people with a dark past, is now called into question (setting aside their later, shall we say, redemptive works like writing the first drafts of the U.S. Constitution, co-writing the Federalist Papers and sponsoring the Bill of Rights) when Christianity, the greatest pardon story of all, is in it's deathbed.
When King County changed its namesake, it also changed the county logo from a crown to MLK, Jr. image. The county had to pay a royalty fee to MLK, Jr.'s estate for use of the image, plus changing all the logo on all future documents, on its vehicles and its buildings. Wasn't cheap.
I'm sure that by changing the schools name there will be a sudden flowering of intellect in all those Bipocs, Pocs and every other alphabet designated victims group! Idiots!
And, of course, those black students are sufficiently well-schooled in American history to know who Madison was and that he was a slave owner. If so, then they also have a strong sense of the impact Madison’s slave ownership has on them personally some 200 years later.
Call it Onion City High. Sports team to be the Onion Dips, Onion Soups, or Onion City Rollers.
Or Isthmus High. Sports team to be the Isthmians or something similarly pretentious and hard to pronounce properly.
I guess something connected to local history and geography might work.
Black Rock High?
Kathryn51 said...
And then there's the problematical naming of our major city - Seattle. Named after Chief Seattle/Sealth. He owned slaves
HEY! i've Got it! Just do with Madison, like they did with Chief Seattle
Get a white guy, to rewrite one of his speeches, and put in Lots if eco crap!
Then everybody will Lovey Love Love him! Not enough?? Just put in More Crap!
"The slave does not belong to the manor; the manor belongs to the slave."
CJinPA said...
If Madison goes, that means Washington must go. And Jefferson. This seems more significant than folks realize.
Once they've hollowed out the nation's foundation ("Founders"), the thing has to collapse, right?
------------
you cannot make any political progress until :
please recognize that the hollow core in the FOUNDATION(al document) was there from the beginning not just implicitly but explicitly.
FOUNDING FATHERS
Curiosity compels :
Lincoln ? said a House divided cannot stand - what if the /FOUNDERS/ had built a duplex - no compromise on slavery question with rigged elections / census : free state federation / slave state federation
would they have stuck / hung together long enough or gone their separate ways? which would have grown stronger ? which would have atrophied?
I vote for “More Science High,” whose famous graduates include Porgie and Mudhead.
I was going to go with a shoes for industry joke, but I see there's already a bunch of fireheads here.
They’ll still be in the city of Madison-
The burden is heavy…
Go with directional names for everything.
I live in a district with I think nine high schools. Historically there was just the one, so I'd propose Center HS for it. That would make my kids' school South-Southeast HS, I think. Their main rival would be East-Southeast HS. There would also be a West HS and a Wester HS and a Westerer HS.
Instead, my kids' school is called Seven Lakes, a portmanteau of the two master planned community names it serves. I am in the burbs...
It would make more sense to permanently close down the school. At this point, I see no drawback to this course of action. Any school run my persons like this has no educational value anyway.
There is no way this ends well for these idiots. I can think of so many ways on how this is going to end and there is not a single one where these persons would be useful.
Do black drivers in Iowa refuse to drive over bridges in Madison County?
Wait a minute! a simple (three part) solution!!!
a) Keep the name like it is
b) Change the sports mascot to a mermaid
c) Enjoy!
ps, i've met two highschool girls this summer (i know their parents), and NEITHER of them had ever even HEARD of Splash. And, Yes; they were both named Madison
The one i met in Wyoming said (after i told about the movie) "Oh, i'm not into Old Movies"
there's already a bunch of fireheads here
I think we're all bozos on this bus.
Vel Phillips was a life long Democrat. Democrats - the party founded by Madison, the party that supported the Confederacy during the Civil War, the party that supported segregation, the party that opposed civil rights laws in Congress during Vel Phillips life.
Wait, back up...we skipped a step.
Let us assume that the black students do indeed know who Madison was, and know that he owned slaves.
What burden is that supposed to create in the first place?
That's Madidaughter to you, sexist!
I think Heroes of the Red October Revolution Tractor Factory High School would be long enough and perplexing enough to end this.
Or not. I don't live in Madison so watching your eclair-spined politicians deal with the fallout of their surrenders is pretty entertaining.
Eldridge Cleaver High works for me. Or George Floyd another Black hero.
Have the individuals they are seeking to name schools after been thoroughly vetted? Has every aspect of their lives been investigated from top to bottom? No domestic conflict such as slapping a spouse or spanking their kids? Never pinched or patted an ass? What about porn - c'mon EVERYONE has looked at porn. So we need to look into that as well - imagine finding out years later that a school's namesake was perfect in every way except they had a thing for jerking off to women copulating with donkeys! Any affairs? Open marriages or attendance at key parties?
Have we not learned that the people admired today may be the people despised in a 100 years? I guess not.
I say forget naming things after fallible human beings. Name buildings after the latitude and longitude they sit on or some other piece of GIS data.
"I am afraid this will begin an unstoppable momentum that will end up depriving us of the traditional name of our city."
This is merely continuing a momentum that has already started, Ann. We, as a society, should've objected to it more strenuously long ago.
This should be printed as a letter to the editor in your newspaper. It makes a great point.
As usual Laslo has the funniest and best comment on the thread. Since everything in USA is just about $$, and no one is patriotic or cares anymore, lets just go commercial.
Show me the money!
However, concessions must be made. Like any government contract, the highest bidder can't always win. At least 10% of our school names must be reserved for Rich black folks, and 20% for rich women. I see a lot of Bezos High Schools in our future.
"Wait a minute! a simple (three part) solution!!!
a) Keep the name like it is
b) Change the sports mascot to a mermaid
c) Enjoy!"
You forgot "d) get sued by Disney for copywriter infringement."
@stutefish:
Reminds me of the issue with "income inequality".
What's wrong with income inequality?
It makes people mad and leads to civil unrest.
It only makes people mad because you're telling them they should be mad about it. You'd have a lot less civil unrest if you called out envy for what it is, instead of weaponizing it for political purposes.
Inequality is corrosive to community because money conveys social and political power. The more money those at the top have, the more power they have, and the greater their ability to shape society and politics to their interests. Their worldview is secular, urban, cosmopolitan, yuppy, bourgeois bohemian. They're the big winners of globalism and cultural bohemianism and are keen on keeping it going.
One of the reasons globalism is such a Gordian Knot for contemporary Republicans is that they've enthusiastically supported it for decades. They've supported deregulation, financialization, market liberalization, mass immigration, and militarism. Even more fundamentally, at the heart of Republican ideology is a paradoxical attempt to combine traditionalist, social conservatism with right-libertarian economics. The latter makes the former impossible. Conservative southern agrarians were making this criticism of capitalism before Karl Marx was even born.
In May of 1817, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter from Monticello:
"I hope with you that the policy of our country will settle down with as much navigation and commerce only as our own exchanges will require, and that the disadvantage will be seen of our undertaking to carry on that of other nations. This indeed may bring gain to a few individuals, and enable them to call off from our farms more laborers to be converted into lackies & grooms for them; but it will bring nothing to our country but wars, debt, & dilapidation. This has been the course of England, and her examples have fearful influence on us. In copying her we do not seem to consider that like premisses induce like consequences. The bank-mania is one of the most threatening of these imitations. It is raising up a monied aristocracy in our country which has already set the government at defiance, and altho’ forced at length to yield a little on this first essay of their strength, their principles are unyielded and unyielding."
Cell Block #9 has a nice ring to it.
Or just bus the handful of black kids somewhere else. Madison is only 7% black.
Chris Lopes said...
You forgot "d) get sued by Disney for copywriter infringement."
Grrr details, details
Lurker21 said...
Call it Onion City High. Sports team to be the Onion Dips, Onion Soups, or Onion City Rollers.
Or Isthmus High. Sports team to be the Isthmians or something similarly pretentious and hard to pronounce properly.
******
And, of course, they would have to wear onions on their belts, which was the style....
Inequality is corrosive to community because money conveys social and political power.
What solution is better than the "problem"?
The more money those at the top have, the more power they have, and the greater their ability to shape society and politics to their interests.
While granting that our current ruling class is largely ignorant and incompetent, who would you prefer to shape society and politics? The homeless and insane?
No matter how rich Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are, their lives are not fundamentally different than mine, especially when you compare it to the historical differences that social or economic class brought. The differences in my life and theirs is one of degree, not kind. We all have access to the best medical care and technology in history. We all have access to a varied diet of fresh and healthy food all year round. Indeed we have access to a wider variety of food than any generation before us. We wear the same, or very similar clothes, have similar houses and cars. We have access to the same entertainment and leisure activities.
The one difference is indeed power and access to power. But by its very nature, these things are always going to be unequal. I personally have a problem with how Kamala Harris was able to be so successful in obtaining power and access to power. But as long as humans exist, some women will be able to sleep their way to the top no matter what we try to do to stop it. Somebody will always be richer, and that will give them greater access to power, as long as humans exist.
I will in fact posit that diversity is far more corrosive to community than wealth inequality. (Frankly I expect you to agree with me here)
Madison has a West High, an East High, but no Central High? Hmmm
There are two dozen "directional" high schools in Wisconsin - all of which include the location of the school first (Green Bay East, Green Bay Southwest, Green Bay West) but there are only two Memorial schools outside of Madison - Eau Claire Memorial and Catholic Memorial of Waukesha. Eau Claire is silent about who or what their memorial is about and I assume that only the Wisconsin Archbishop knows for sure when and why God dreamed up the Waukesha school name.
So what if the Madison Memorial High School became Memorial High School of Madison, Wisconsin? After all James Madison died in 1836 and Madison, Wisconsin was not even a gleam in daddy's eye until 1848.
@Gahrie:
What solution is better than the "problem"?
Immigration restriction, higher marginal tax rates, more inheritance tax, more labor protection, stricter control of the financial industry, universal healthcare, more public employment, and a universal basic income.
While granting that our current ruling class is largely ignorant and incompetent, who would you prefer to shape society and politics? The homeless and insane?
The citizenry of the nation.
No matter how rich Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are, their lives are not fundamentally different than mine, especially when you compare it to the historical differences that social or economic class brought. The differences in my life and theirs is one of degree, not kind.
I'm not sure what would count as "fundamentally different" or a difference of "kind" rather than degree. Or why differences in degree alone aren't sufficient. Subsistence living is a difference of degree. But is being able to single-handedly fund a political campaign, to create and support a think tank, or to purchase a media outlet really just a difference of degree and not kind?
We wear the same, or very similar clothes, have similar houses and cars. We have access to the same entertainment and leisure activities.
Such as jet setting, yachting, hiring a-list entertainers to perform for us privately, and having a private island stocked with sex slaves? That'd be just fine if families were nothing more than non-stop consumption machines.
But by its very nature, these things are always going to be unequal.
Sure, but it's a matter of "degree, not kind."
I will in fact posit that diversity is far more corrosive to community than wealth inequality. (Frankly I expect you to agree with me here)
As you expected, I wholeheartedly agree. But so what? Saying that one thing is "far more corrosive to community than wealth inequality" does not mean that wealth inequality is noncorrosive.
750 is a suspiciously round number. Were these 750 selected, or was the poll limited to 750 entries, or what? Was Notice of the poll adequate, or was it a hush hush rush rush gathering of evidence to support a predetermined outcome?
In other words, the poll is highly suspect and obviously not determinative of community desires. 100% voting, like in the Soviet Union, or no Soviet style erasure of history.
Inequality is corrosive to community because money conveys social and political power. The more money those at the top have, the more power they have, and the greater their ability to shape society and politics to their interests.
In this country success is primarily based on three things: talent, work ethic, and luck. Examples of luck: Drew Bledsoe was a fine quarterback. If he doesn’t go down with an injury we may remember Tom Brady — if we remember him at all — as a pretty good career backup. If Gary Kildall and his wife/business partner Dorothy McEwan don’t blow the meeting where IBM was trying to license CP/M (gigantic piece of luck #1), and Bill Gates knew of a person who had built a clone of CP/M and would part with it for a measly $50,000, then, trust me, Bill Gates never makes his first billion dollars, much less the rest of his fortune. Anybody else? What if Michael Jordan gets so discouraged after being cut from his high school’s JV team and never tried out for another basketball team again?
So how do we get rid of inequality? There is precisely one answer: find the least talented, unluckiest, laziest person, and artificially reduce everyone to that person’s income level. And that only works for J. Farmer,
@Big Mike:
So how do we get rid of inequality? There is precisely one answer: find the least talented, unluckiest, laziest person, and artificially reduce everyone to that person’s income level. And that only works for J. Farmer,
Congrats at yet again effectively dismembering a strawman, Michael. You managed to copy my sentence--"The more money those at the top have, the more power they have, and the greater their ability to shape society and politics to their interests."---but you failed to respond to it.
Remember when Republicans used to complain about "coastal elites" or "San Francisco values" or "elite media" or "secular-progressives"? Who were the complaining about? The upper-class, whose members dominate the academy, the media, the government, and the corporate world. How much support for traditionalism, community, and conservative values do you see from these institutions? These institutions are radically pro-diversity, pro-immigration, and pro-globalism.
For all the complaining about "elites" that Republicans have, all they've managed to do about it is lower their taxes.
Inequality does not cause strife. Envy causes the strife.
But is being able to single-handedly fund a political campaign, to create and support a think tank, or to purchase a media outlet really just a difference of degree and not kind?
I suggest you re-examine the lives of our Founding Fathers. They were the rich, and yes powerful, of their time. feuding politicians regularly bought or created newspapers to attack each other.
Owen: (and others) it’s actually MORSE Science High.
How about Badger Bob Johnson Memorial High? I’m sure that would have wide appeal among the Memorial student body.
Or Ed Gein High.
We had a somewhat similar brew-ha-ha here in Amherst (or Madison East, although our hockey team is better).
For years the Amherst College nickname was the Lord (or Lady) Jeffs, after General Lord Jeffrey Amherst, who, 200 some years ago had an opinion about Indians shared by every other non Indian in North America. Oh, and he gave some smallpox infected blankets, allegedly with nefarious purpose to some Indians. Never mind that said natives were allies of the English, or that germ theory was not well understood in the 1760s…
Anyway the nickname was changed to the Mammoths, which is stupid on its face, and even dumber because there’s already a pachyderm-themed nickname in the NESCAC, the Tufts Jumbos. There was some talk of changing the name of the college and the town, not altogether serious, but around here who knows? Everyone here is still wearing masks outside or while driving alone in their cars; and lists their (hims? hers? xyzims?) pronouns in their email signatures .
My supposition is that much of this madness (and don’t get me started on the shit storm that has been rained down by the school’s administration on the Amherst men’s lacrosse team) is courtesy of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, when you sent Amherst College president Biddy Martin our way. Thanks! I hope the Axe goes back to Minneapolis, and that the hockey team goes 0-4 against the Golden Gophers.
For all the complaining about "elites" that Republicans have, all they've managed to do about it is lower their taxes.
That's why they've all become Democrats.
Why have one party lower your taxes when you can have both?
“the other high schools here have neutral names — West High School and East High School.” I see that James Madison Memorial Hugh School is west of West High School, so that does pose a neutral naming challenge. I would propose Driftless High School.
"Madison has a West High, an East High, but no Central High? Hmmm"
There was a Central High (my father went to it) but it closed many years ago. Sitting on the isthmus, it no longer made sense geographically.
"How about Badger Bob Johnson Memorial High? I’m sure that would have wide appeal among the Memorial student body."
Memorial had a state champion caliber team for years.
"I hope the Axe goes back to Minneapolis, and that the hockey team goes 0-4 against the Golden Gophers."
Still sore about last year?
@ Farmer:
So in your world, how would Musk have accumulated the resources needed to create Tesla and SpaceX? What would be his incentive to do so?
Congrats at yet again effectively dismembering a strawman, Michael.
No. You moved the goalposts.
@Gahrie:
I suggest you re-examine the lives of our Founding Fathers. They were the rich, and yes powerful, of their time. feuding politicians regularly bought or created newspapers to attack each other.
Yes, the founding fathers were largely elite men who created a system to serve their interests. The US Constitution is a very aristocratic document. I'm not sure why you think this refutes what I've said.
Yes, the founding fathers were largely elite men who created a system to serve their interests. The US Constitution is a very aristocratic document. I'm not sure why you think this refutes what I've said.
What system would be/has been better at providing the most freedom and the highest standard of living for the most people?
@Gahrie:
They were the rich, and yes powerful, of their time.
serious question:
if someone who is a nobody, and is broke and powerless...
Would it be As impressive, if they staked their lives fortunes and sacred honor ??
Freedom Might Be just another name, for Nothing Left to lose..
But The founding fathers sure were willing to risk a LOT to get it
Bruce Dahmen? No. Why not go with the most famous Wisconsin resident of all? Jeffrey Dahmer.
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