Merriam Webster defines stupid as: 1) slow of mind 2) given to unintelligent decisions or acts. Wikipedia’s definition agrees and adds a temporary state of daze or slow-mindedness and The Oxford Concise Dictionary adds to that, lacking intelligence or common sense.And there you have it, the complete definition of democratically elected representatives and their appointees in day-to-day action.
I wrote a few days ago about the NYC Department of Education’s list of 50 words and phrases they are banning from tests which include such dangerous words as dancing, dinosaur and my particular favourite, bodily functions. It takes such a singular and focused stupidity to come up with a policy like this that I thought it was unique to NYC but I was wrong.
The Texas State Board of Education has just approved new curriculum standards which among other things, seeks to “place Sen. Joseph McCarthy in a more positive light in U.S. history” while turning thumbs down on providing coverage on the late Senator Ted Kennedy. I wasn’t a particular fan of the late Senator Kennedy but I acknowledge he played a significant role in American politics. Trying to put a positive spin on Senator McCarthy’s witch hunt is like trying to rewrite the Salem Witch trials as merely a misunderstanding. It is ideology out of control and the politicizing of education by narrow minded bigots who have placed their political bias ahead of the children for whom they are responsible.To its credit, it has decreed that the curriculum will include rock and roll music which puts Texas at direct odds with NYC which has banned mention of the Devil’s music in its testing.
I find it particularly interesting that most boards, while seeking to protect their children from Christmas and Halloween are in a rush to educate them about sex and sexual activity. I’m no prude and think children should learn about life, as they grow up, including sex but I also believe there is hypocrisy in pushing an agenda that is better left to the parents while banning the most innocuous things like dinosaurs or politicizing school curriculum.In Arizona, the Board of Education removed the Mexican-American studies program against much opposition and were so concerned about that opposition, they imposed absurd security standards on those wanting to attend board meetings…….including 8 year old children accompanying their parents. I’m not an authority but it seems to me that if the decisions you’re making are so unpopular that you are in fear of the people you actually represent….you need to revisit your decisions.
I don’t know whatever happened to the simple concept of teaching students how to think rather than what to think but apparently, thinking for themselves is the last thing American Educational Boards want from the students in their schools.
But….it gets better or worse, depending on your point of view.
A significant number of cities across the U.S. have banned the feeding of homeless people. When I first mentioned this to Maggie, she asked me if the people behind this decision were afraid their cities would be turned into petting zoos where people would come from miles around just to toss food to the homeless.
In New York City, the stated reason for not permitting feeding of the homeless without stringent regulation being met is the bureaucratic concern that nutritional standards won’t be met. Excuse me? What are the nutritional standards of “I have no food and I’m hungry!”? Even a hot dog is better than nothing at all. But then, it appears that while it is unacceptable for the homeless in NYC to eat food that isn’t up to the city’s nutritional standard, it’s quite acceptable for them to scrounge for scraps in dumpsters. Hmm hmm good! I wonder what the nutritional standard of garbage is these days.
I know that some are reading this and thinking that there are shelters and soup kitchens to feed the homeless and there are but there aren’t enough. Children all across the United States and Canada go to bed hungry at night in our countries while the rest of us are tangled up in bureaucratic red tape and frets over the latest hash tag trend that’s caught our attention. In a country with the wealth of both America and Canada, this is an absolute travesty!
It is even more disgraceful to watch students and others demanding more for themselves at the expense of those who have nothing.
The mess we are in is created by bureaucrats and politicians who spend endless hours in meetings discussing new and better ways to make things even worse than they are....and all in the name of progress or political correctness.
Try to visualize the people in meetings where these decisions are taken. Can you see them sitting around their board tables? These are clueless, thoughtless people, who have successfully created a world for themselves that excludes even a modicum of common sense. They lay claim to serving the public but have successfully eliminated any concept of the fact that the public is actually comprised of.......get ready for it.....people.
It is even more disgraceful to watch students and others demanding more for themselves at the expense of those who have nothing.
The mess we are in is created by bureaucrats and politicians who spend endless hours in meetings discussing new and better ways to make things even worse than they are....and all in the name of progress or political correctness.
Try to visualize the people in meetings where these decisions are taken. Can you see them sitting around their board tables? These are clueless, thoughtless people, who have successfully created a world for themselves that excludes even a modicum of common sense. They lay claim to serving the public but have successfully eliminated any concept of the fact that the public is actually comprised of.......get ready for it.....people.
We’re fighting the wrong enemy folks.
While we argue among ourselves over the trivial issues of the day, this politician or that. While we scream at each other over the Trayvon Martin case and racism, Barrak Obama's birth certificate or F-35 jets Canada hasn't even ordered yet, we have lost sight of where things like poverty, hatred, crime and intolerance come from. They may not be conceived by bureaucracies that impose these stupid decisions but they definitely thrive in an administrative culture that permits stupidity, including political correctness and ideology, to interfere with common sense.Who’s responsible? We are!
It is our democracy but we allow ourselves to be led around by our noses. We jump on bandwagons that are set in motion by various leaders with an agenda and those agendas seldom have anything to do with addressing the real issues we face together.
Those leaders are often seeking things like political power or wealth rather than seeking to serve our societies for their betterment. Those people don't represent us. They pander to different special interests too which many of us belong and we get caught up in their rhetoric, choose sides and quickly lose sight of the real issues because we are too busy defending our position. We become polarized and that polarization makes us angry and that distracts us from what is actually important.
Welcome to the birth place of stupidity. Welcome to the world of divide and conquer.
Consider the Trayvon Martin case. This is a terrible tragedy that has been turned into an ugly circus of hatred. Under the guise of fighting racism, people like Al Sharpton and Spike Lee have advanced it. In the process, democratic rights like due process and the presumption of innocence are trampled into dust by the mainstream media and by a social media lynch mob who have lost sight of what is important in society.
Think I’m wrong and that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson really care about eliminating racism?
Think I’m wrong and that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson really care about eliminating racism?
Ask them why they remain silent about the beating of a Latino teenager by a gang of black youths in California or the two black youths who doused a white teen in gasoline and set him on fire in Kansas City.
All of these crimes, including the shooting of Trayvon Martin are connected. They are interracial but the so called leadership that are driving this ugly circus are very selective in what they criticize because they aren’t really interested in overcoming racism, just taking advantage of it for their own purposes.
By supporting them and others like them who seek to divide us into separate groups, we become willing accomplices in undermining our own societies and communities. We make it possible for hatred and stupidity to flourish.
We become suspicious of all the wrong things and while we rant and shriek at each other we allow others, like school boards, government and people like the Rev. Sharpton to distract us from what they are doing to undermine common sense, decency and even the simple sense of being a community.
As long as we permit those who have some level of leadership authority to dance us like puppets on the end of a few bits of string, to lie to us and to divide us, we will continue to watch the erosion of the society we want but never quite seem to achieve.
It starts with listening to each other rather than to those who seek to advance their own agendas by controlling us. We don’t need more control, government or otherwise. We need more common sense and we need what is rapidly disappearing in our schools. We need more thinking for ourselves rather than letting others do our thinking for us and then telling us what we should think.
We have become a society of bellowing and ignorant sheep in wolves' clothing. We bleat loudly and with much self-importance but we follow meekly behind those who pretend they are our shepherds.
If we continue to blindly follow along, it will only result in our continuing to be sheared.
If we continue to blindly follow along, it will only result in our continuing to be sheared.
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Texas Board Of Education Approves Changes To Curriculum
Feeding The Homeless Banned In Cities Across America
Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get More Stupid
Trayvon Martin - A Terrible Tragedy Turned Into An Ugly Circus of Opportunism and Racism
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