Ron DeSantis is running for president. There are a lot of reasons he isn’t going to get my vote, but being short isn’t one of them. The press is having a field day about him wearing lifts in his shoes. I really don’t care one bit about this. The media, however, want to know. This is a ridiculous waste of space. It doesn’t matter. If he is lying about it or telling the truth, it is irrelevant to his campaign and a pointless distraction. So we are going to have reporters chasing down information about how tall DeSantis is? Why? More importantly, why is the media stirring up this particular pot when there are numerous other pots which are significantly more important. Any way, great, carry on, let’s find out how tall Ron DeSantis really is.
Tag: Ron DeSantis
The Right Way to Teach the Past.
Oklahoma School Superintendent wants the truth of the Tulsa Race Riot to be taught but he also doesn’t want White kids to feel badly about it. Governor DeSantis in Florida feels the same way. What is the proper emotion for White kids to feel after learning about racism? It seems to me that is up to the individual child and is uncontrollable and not really the business of the educators. Some things will make you feel pride and other things might make you ashamed. There is no right way to feel about the past because people are still arguing about the past.
How do you take the White Racism out of the Tulsa Race Riot? White people targeted black people based on a run in between a Black man and a White woman. White people killed hundreds of Black people just because they were Black. White people either participated in the riot or did nothing to stop the riot. Should a White child feel badly about being White and the behavior of his race? Well, yes, if they are decent human beings. White people did a terrible thing to Black people. Thems the facts.
This idea that history has to show the American past in an admirable light seems incredibly wrong headed to begin with. First, history is about people. People are fallible. People sometimes do terrible things. The Civil War was one of the significant events in American history. In order to understand what happened and why this was so important in American history, difficult subjects have to be addressed. It doesn’t put everyone in a positive light. But I don’t think it will be any more traumatic than teaching first graders that one day an active shooter might appear in their classroom and how they should act when this occurs.
What doesn’t help is for educators to be even handed about a subject where being even handed is absurd which is what the Florida Department of Education tried to do. They were concerned that the slavery discussion was too one sided for the anti-slavery side. You heard it right. They wanted children to have a more positive view of the slave owners. This is dumbfounding. Why is that so important? Why can’t some White people be the villains in this particular story?
Protecting Children from Shakespeare
A Florida school district is finding Shakespeare a little too racy so instead of reading the whole play of Romeo and Juliet they are reading sections of Romeo and Juliet. Don’t get me wrong if I was the average high schooler I would love reading only the selected bits of Shakespeare because he was a real pain in the ass to read.
On the other hand, it is about the stupidest things I have ever heard. It is a play about young heterosexual children in a passionate romance. It sounds like something that a average teenager might be thinking about. This is why, of course, Romeo and Juliet is one of the most commonly taught Shakespeare plays in high schools. So, of course, educators in Ron DeSantis’ Florida are cutting out the interesting bits so the youth of Florida are saved from becoming aware of teenage sex. I think we all know they are already aware and that they are spending a good amount of time talking about it.
Then there is assumption that teenagers are brainless twits and will be enticed into a passionate romance that ends in suicide. It could happen but I think the chances are pretty remote, so remote as to be unworthy of giving it a second thought. I remember in my school most of the kids felt Romeo and Juliet were pretty crazy and probably needed some good adult advice (so take that Nurse). It was certainly my big takeaway and I was 17. Kids are generally pretty rational. The runaways and the rebels get all the attention but most kids are smart enough to stay in school and with their parents. Even poor Romeo and Juliet bought into middle class mores because they got married before they had sex. So, what exactly is the point?
Protecting youth from reading Shakespeare? Is there any evidence to support this? I would like to see it. This isn’t about protecting children. It is about controlling what they read. Every time I hear a conservative who wants to protect children from certain books, I think of gun laws and their renewed interest in child labor and find it incredibly difficult to believe them.
Plantation Work as Marketable Skills — Part II
The discussion regarding the skills some enslaved people received is raging due to a Florida text book singing the praises of plantations at trade schools. I put my two cents in here.
What is interesting is that the a lot of conservative feedback is focusing on the truth of what is in the text book and not the relevance. The line causing the controversy is about the skills that a slave might acquire while working on a plantation which is really a weak way of trying to find something good about having been a slave.
I will let the historians debate the veracity of the statement because I think there is a bigger problem than the truth here. Who cares if it is true? How relevant is it to understanding the Civil War and Reconstruction. The vast majority of the slaves didn’t receive that training so when the Civil War ended the only skill they had was field work. That a few lucky individuals were blacksmiths while slaves and were able to take that skill and make a good life for themselves is a great story but not particularly illuminating on what happened to the millions who did not.
It is a trick. It allows Governor DeSantis to soften the horrible image that white children might conjure when they learn about their slave-holding ancestors. Because White children, for some reason, shouldn’t have to learn about how wretched the slaves were actually treated. Why they may begin to hate their ancestors? And I say good. It is about time.
This also exposes a much bigger problem with American History. There is a tendency to highlight the successes of a few individuals and say this is what is possible. This is actually what could happen to you. The other side of the story is downplayed. The millions of people who don’t make it out of poverty or don’t make a million dollars. Stories just as true as the success stories but, for some reason, we don’t want to tell. Numbers and statistics aren’t personal stories of success. They are abstract so the child can’t see themselves in this personal story even though it is every bit as likely, if not more likely, as making a million dollars.
All these complaints from employers who have to deal with young people with high expectations of their employment might be better addressed if we gave children a more realistic history of what might happen to them. They might understand that world a bit better and not be so disappointed when it doesn’t happen to them. Maybe we should teach them that hard work is often unrewarded. And talented people sometime go unrecognized. The good guys don’t always win. Sometimes bad things happen. Sometimes people, even leaders of our country, do horrible things. We want kids to have this glorified image of what America is when it is a lot more complicated than that.
There is this fear if children learn the truth that they will just give up on their country. The thing is they do eventually learn the truth but in the process they will also learn that people they trusted, the teachers and the parents played fast and loose with the truth. How is that better?
Plantation Work as Marketable Skills
Governor Santis is having some effect in his effort to rid history text books of anything that might upset a student. A new Florida textbook now includes a statement that some slaves learned marketable skills from their time on the plantation. Really. You don’t say. That is the first time I’ve ever known that plantation doubled as trade schools. But interesting nonetheless.
So what it sounds like to me that there was some kind of trade off occurred here. The slaves worked the plantation while learning marketable skills that would help them in the future. Is this giving any 21st child any idea of what happened on a plantation? It is a completely meaningless statement without context of the time, the skills they are talking about, and whether they were relevant to the individual’s future.
History books have to cover hundreds of years and numerous topics. The history taught in the grade schools are broad brushstrokes focusing on the most important information. The things you would want children to remember. I challenge Governor DeSantis to show any Civil War historian who would prioritize the job training at plantation trade schools.
I am sure the publisher told some poor text book authors to make slavery sound a little less horrible and, after several stiff drinks, and failing to come up with anything, decided this little ditty would work. It’s incredibly weak and patently dishonest. There is some outrage about this now, so maybe something will happen. I’m not very confident though, unfortunately, there are so many things to be outraged about and so little time to focus on all of them.
Why is Everyone Talking about Children at Drag Shows?
De Santis is worried about Drag Queens grooming children at Drag Shows so he is banning children from them. The press who live to spar with the Florida Governor have taken up his challenge. It has everything a good headline writer wants to see – sex, innocent children and controversy. Because other Republican governors have no better way to grab a nice juicy headline, they are using DeSantis method to get the attention they crave. They now are worried about Drag Queens and are banning children from attendance. Because Democratic leaders can’t stand when Republicans get headlines and they don’t, they have joined the fight in defense of Drag Queens.
DeSantis is a clever fuck. He set his little trap — just trying to defend the children of Florida — and, of course, instead of ignoring the bastard taunt’s and waiting for a better fight to engage in, the press and the Democrats go all in on the wrong issue. They will fight to death to ensure that children can see Drag Shows.
Before people get all bent out of shape, yes children should be able to go to Drag Shows if their parents want them to. I don’t have a problem with it. Yet, until DeSantis made this an issue, I doubt very much that many children were going to Drag Shows in the first place. And, if the child’s experience is anything like my experience of Drag Shows, most children will become bored with them after the small amusement of watching a man acting as a woman wears off. It isn’t child’s entertainment but not particularly dangerous either. On the other hand, banning children from drag shows isn’t likely to affect the Drag Queen’s pay nor the child’s education. It is a minor issue at best, so why has it become the hot topic of the week.
It is based on the false notion that an adult can imprint a sexual identity on a child. Drag Queens and Gays, who can’t have children of their own (which is also not true), have to find children they can groom into future Drag Queens and Gays. This isn’t happening and, even if they were, trying, the Drag Queens would lose. Nobody can guide a child into their sexual identity. We know this to be true because society, with the support of the family, the church and the community, has been unable to change people with homosexual feelings into heterosexuals for thousands of years.
So the concern for a child having a once off experience at a Drag Show and then having their whole sexual identity shaken to the core is dubious at best. This is particularly true for the 90% plus children who are identify as heterosexuals. For them, the worst case scenario would be a bit of resentment for wasting their sweet time on something that they will never use again — kind of like their feelings towards Geometry and English Grammar.
But DeSantis, at very low cost to himself, has positioned himself on the side of parents and children and the Democrats with six feet four blue haired Drag Queens with a two day beard. Drag Queens weld little power in the Republican electorate and, more importantly, large swaths of the party despise them. It is a smart move which engages the Republican base while doing little to no harm with people who are potential voters. Think about the average voter here, the ones who have never been to a Drag Show, they might be left with the question of why do Democrats want my kid to see a drag show?
Let’s Lose About Something That Matters
Early polling for the November elections look bad for the Democrats. The economy is suffering from inflation and the Democrats are in charge. They are going to get the blame. It is frustrating and familiar. I, also, can accept that.
If the Democrats must go down to defeat, let’s lose on issues that matter to the general population and avoid the trap the Republicans are setting with peripheral issues. Democrats should focus on abortion rights, gun control and health care. Issues they still can lose on, but issues that could pull in enough voters to win.
But to lose on Don’t Say Gay, Defund the Police or correct pronoun use would be senseless mistake.
I am gay. I see the importance of it being able to say gay in school. The Republicans didn’t frame it that way — they said we just don’t want sexuality being discussed in the classroom. Because Gov DeSantis cleverly eluded to not wanting to talk about trans or gay sex, opponents of the law came up with the slogan Don’t Say Gay. Which is exactly the chant DeSantis wants protesters saying. I expect most people would scratch their heads and ask why do they want to say Gay to a 2nd grader. This isn’t the impression we want to give. What we mean is if a 2nd Grader sees another kid with two Moms or two Dads that the teacher can give an explanation suitable for a 2nd Grader. There just isn’t an easy way to say something so nuanced in a slogan but I can assure you that Don’t Say Gay misses the mark.
The same complaint can be said for Defund the Police. When people hear that they think that you want to end all police protection. That isn’t it at all. Defund the Police is about moving resources to people who can better handle different situations. Police now are saddled with an array of responsibilities other than crime fighting. A lot of these problems would be better handled by mental health professionals or social workers. This would allow the police to focus on crime while also hopefully stopping these situations from getting violent. Try to make a slogan out of that. But Defund the Police isn’t it. If you have to constantly explain why you want to do away with the police, then your slogan is terrible, it is alienating potential voters and you should stop using it. Immediately.
This brings me to personal pronouns. When I first started reading about the pronoun issue I had no idea what people were talking about. What was a pronoun? I know I learned about them many years ago but, for the life of me, why were they creating such a fuss. After I reacquainted myself with what pronoun was, my first thought is why are we even talking about this. The first time someone introduced their pronouns along with their name to me, I was baffled. Why is she saying she/her after her name? Then I recalled that this was part of the new way to introduce yourself. You give your name and your personal pronouns. But is middle America actually buying this? Are they going to vote for a candidate that wants to put the proper use of person’s pronoun as a priority issue. Yes, people should honor people’s preferences on their pronouns, however is it worth losing an election over? I am emphatically no on this one.
In order to run government, political parties have to win elections. Given the political structure of the United States, this means getting votes across a large and diverse country. Now you may not like it. You may think the Electoral College and the Senate give too much power to smaller rural states and is unfair to larger urban states. I happen to agree with you. However the system is the system. It doesn’t change because you don’t like it. That means we have to live with it until we can change it. The only way to change the system is to win elections. This means biting your tongue when necessary in order to concentrate on the issues that will bring as many voters to your candidate as possible.
Political parties can choose which battles to fight. Just because Republicans are laying traps for the Democrats to fall in, doesn’t mean we have to be fooled. Let’s not go down to defeat over personal pronouns when we can focus on abortion or gun control or better health care. Issues we might be able to persuade enough voters to win. Losing this election, particularly at this dangerous time, is irresponsible and I am afraid that the Democrats might be doing that.
DeSantis Wants You to Say Gay
Governor DeSantis is pulling the Democrats into an impossible argument with his “Don’t Say Gay” law. DeSantis claims he is trying to protect children from homosexual indoctrination. Democrats say he is preventing teachers from even saying the word Gay in the classroom. Think about the words here. DeSantis is talking about children, protection and indoctrination. Democrats are saying Gay. The optics on this are terrible. The Republicans look like they are trying to protect children from learning about sex before they are ready. Democrats look like they want teachers to talk about Gay relationships. Now, ask your average parent what they want for their children?
DeSantis’ law is vague and nearly impossible to enforce. What is and is not sexual indoctrination is never defined, so this little baby will be in the Florida courts for years to come as martyr teachers and wingnut parents duke it out. In reality, very little will happen as Republicans want you to believe that teachers are introducing the joys of sodomy to small children. This is not happening. Since no one is indoctrinating children in the first place, this law is unnecessary and should be pretty easy to comply with. At its worst, it stifles communication between teachers and students if a child raises the topic of homosexuality. This means that teachers will have to be more circumspect when these issues arise in the classroom. This is sad and incredibly unhelpful to children who may have these concerns.
But, as far as giving children any additional protection from indoctrination, this bill fails to do anything meaningful because teachers are not trying to indoctrinate their charges into homosexuality. This should be obvious to every sane Floridian. The gay population is, at best, 10% of the American population, more conservative estimates peg it a 5%; the transgender population is much smaller coming in at less than 1%. Assuming that Florida’s population mirrors the American estimates, why would 90% of Florida teachers be teaching little Floridians to be gay? It makes absolutely no sense because it isn’t happening.
People have been trying for years to change Gay children into heterosexuals. These children get years of heterosexual indoctrination and they desperately want to change, and yet they can’t change. If straight indoctrination doesn’t work to change someone’s sexual inclinations, why would Gay indoctrination? So DeSantis’ argument that the entire teaching establishment is engaged in a conspiracy to create gay and transgender people is beyond absurd.
On the other hand, DeSantis has cleverly forced the Democrats into defending Gays in the hopes that one of these defenders will stumble into some gaffe that the Republicans can use in campaign ads. Sadly, it is working. Democrats are taking the bait and wanting everyone to say Gay. While the intention is good, teacher should be able to say Gay in the classroom, it is giving a wrong impression on what teachers are doing in the classroom. Again, teachers are not drawing diagrams of the pleasures of gay sex for 2nd graders, they, however, may have to explain to a class why Johnny has two Moms. These are two distinctly different actions. One, which most parents would agree, is something that might occur and needs explanation; the other isn’t happening at all. However what the Democrats are embedding into the public’s mind is that the Democrats want to talk about Gay relationships in schools.
DeSantis has created a problem where there was none to begin with. He denies that the law stops teachers from saying Gay. Time will tell. But lets disabuse ourselves of the notion he doesn’t want people saying Gay. He loves it. Say Gay every chance you get. Gay. Gay. Gay. Say it loudly. Say it clearly. Say it so the news media blasts it on television every night. He is betting that the 90% heterosexual population is, at best, ambivalent about saying Gay in the classroom and, at worst, actually opposed to it. In the meantime, every time a Hollywood star says don’t say Gay, some middle class straight people are thinking why exactly do they want to say Gay in front of 2nd graders? This is not the argument the Democrats want to be having.
History hurts
I always thought that the study of history was a depressing exercise. History mostly chronicles conflict and change. Wars, famines, and economic catastrophes are all pretty sad reads. Still I understand that the study of history was important because we want to avoid making the same mistakes again. History is a guidepost on how to have a better future.
Governor DeSantis of Florida thinks otherwise. He thinks history should make students feel good about themselves and their country. Anything that challenges this sunny outlook should be axed from the curriculum so that nothing deters students from turning into patriots that love their country. But, is feel-good history actually helpful in understanding the past or, even more important, truthful.
How does feel-good history work? And, if balance is important, how do we discuss controversial topics without making some people feeling angry or upset. How does one discuss slavery without also talking about America’s racist past? Or Jim Crow laws? Or the Tulsa Race Riots, or the European settler’s treatment of indigenous people. These topics require some basic understanding of racism make any sense. And, if racism is discussed, how can you prevent some students from feeling bad about what their ancestors did?
If in Governor DeSantis’ efforts for balance, educators reduces events like the Civil War to a conflict between two groups of good citizens who disagreed about State’s Rights then his balanced approach will leave students with a warped view of what happened. The Civil War was about slavery no matter what Confederate Apologist say today. I know my position is correct from a cursory review of what Southern newspapers at the time were writing about and what Southern politicians at the time were saying. They weren’t talking about State’s Rights, they were talking about Slavery. Again, how would white students feel about learning this? I think some white students might feel badly about it. And, if you didn’t talk about racism, wouldn’t students of color feel badly because that their history isn’t represented truthfully? Then, would Governor DeSantis skip talking about the Civil War altogether in order to avoid any hurt feelings? Really, if he wants to stop hurt feelings he would ban the teaching of long division which has caused more misery for students than any other subject I have encountered.
Governor DeSantis wants history taught with heroes and villains. King George was a villain and George Washington was a hero. History is a lot more complicated than that and incredibly messy. Because of that, it might make some students feel uncomfortable. What happens if we take away all the heroes in history? Who will students admire? May be students will have a better understanding of history. Maybe they will realize that people in history are indeed people. People who make mistakes, believe things that are wrong, and behave badly sometimes. Maybe they will learn that heroes are not perfect. If the purpose of education is preparing people for the future, then I would prefer students who see the humanity in heroes over students who mindlessly worship people as heroes.
Mind Stewing, Fingers Typing 