Get Woke, go broke!

[Mega]

I been suffer MAD depression for the last 2 weeks, i had to tell my line manger that the British intel-indus-complex will have to do with out my help for the next 10 days or so................i need time to think. I been thinking very DARK thoughts, about this "Brave New World" i seem to suddenly be living in (Although i know its "1984" under the skin)............its a nightmare i can't wake up from...........but it seems there might be hope:-

I forgot about the power of the $, money............oh sure 90% of this sh1t we face comes about from Mega money printing & Fiat Cash..........but may be its reached its limts?

[Mega]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

[dcarrigg]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

They should do one of these about the Texas School Board making special snowflake textbooks because they can't deal with the realities of evolution, slavery, apartheid or rising seas. I figure if anyone who's mad about diversity and safe spaces really firmly believes in truth and free inquiry, they ought to be mad about Texas writing the KKK and slavery right out of the history books, and posing how cell complexity came out as an unknowable question to appease a small subset of fundamentalists who think Jesus rode around on dinosaurs like Fred Flintstone.

I guess it's "culture wars" if you want to call it that. But it does explain a ton of how people see things differently. A kid in New York learns one thing about the Civil War, a kid in Texas learns another. A middle class schmuck watching MSNBC hears one thing. A middle-class schmuck watching Fox News hears another. Basic questions like, "How many people died as a result of Hurricane Maria last year" are argued about at great length. Nobody can come to any conclusion about anything. Even what happened yesterday is up for debate. Everything is subject to total revision and propaganda and lies. Look how Bernanke just wrote about the great recession--Taibbi points out the "F" word appears nowhere--"Fraud."

[dcarrigg]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

They should do one of these about the Texas School Board making special snowflake textbooks because they can't deal with the realities of evolution, slavery, apartheid or rising seas. I figure if anyone who's mad about diversity and safe spaces really firmly believes in truth and free inquiry, they ought to be mad about Texas writing the KKK and slavery right out of the history books, and posing how cell complexity came out as an unknowable question to appease a small subset of fundamentalists who think Jesus rode around on dinosaurs like Fred Flintstone.

I guess it's "culture wars" if you want to call it that. But it does explain a ton of how people see things differently. A kid in New York learns one thing about the Civil War, a kid in Texas learns another. A middle class schmuck watching MSNBC hears one thing. A middle-class schmuck watching Fox News hears another. Basic questions like, "How many people died as a result of Hurricane Maria last year" are argued about at great length. Nobody can come to any conclusion about anything. Even what happened yesterday is up for debate. Everything is subject to total revision and propaganda and lies. Look how Bernanke just wrote about the great recession--Taibbi points out the "F" word appears nowhere--"Fraud."

Shit. It's worse than I thought. They're writing Helen Keller out of history now.

But don't worry. Moses' influence on the US Constitution makes it in there no prob.

[Milton Kuo]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

It's worse than I thought. They're writing Helen Keller out of history now.

Why is it so important that the story of Helen Keller be taught?

[dcarrigg]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

Why is it so important that the story of Helen Keller be taught?

Why teach about Jeff Davis or Bobby Lee or Sam Houston or Davy Crockett?

Better yet, why teach about Moses or Spartacus or Nat Turner or what they might have in common?

I mean, there are just some characters and stories that educated people ought to know. I mean, she founded the ACLU. There are days and streets and schools and post offices and stamps either named after her or with her likeness on them. She won the damned presidential medal of freedom for activism along with such figures as Martin Luther King Jr, Cesar Chavez, Rosa Parks, and Lech Wałesa.

It's fine to hate her politics. But to write her out of history...

Well, it's just going to leave kids in southern states who learn the Texas special snowflake curriculum at even more of a disadvantage if and when they go to college.

[Woodsman]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

I been suffer MAD depression for the last 2 weeks...

In all seriousness, go make use of that awesome NHS of yours and get a testosterone panel (Bioavailable, Free, Total, and SHBG). Dollars to doughnuts the odds are that your numbers will be low. Once that's established, ask for injectable and topical T and in a few weeks you'll get back to your center. Won't make you the Incredible Hulk, but time spent in the gym will be far more productive, too, as will the sublime comforts of female companionship. It's certainly preferable to self-medicating by drink or worse, getting on the antidepressant hamster wheel. Hang in there, Mega.

[globaleconomicollaps]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

In all seriousness, go make use of that awesome NHS of yours and get a testosterone panel (Bioavailable, Free, Total, and SHBG). Dollars to doughnuts the odds are that your numbers will be low. Once that's established, ask for injectable and topical T and in a few weeks you'll get back to your center. Won't make you the Incredible Hulk, but time spent in the gym will be far more productive, too, as will the sublime comforts of female companionship. It's certainly preferable to self-medicating by drink or worse, getting on the antidepressant hamster wheel. Hang in there, Mega.

I recommend AUDAX™. Mike has access to neither dollars nor doughnuts. He needs a generous dose of AUDAX™ in his life. The best medicine for middle age angst.

[shiny!]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

Why is it so important that the story of Helen Keller be taught?

FWIW, I grew up and went to public school in San Antonio, TX. Compared to little boys, little girls have very few historical role models to look up to. We're taught about all the presidents (men), military generals (men), brave explorers (men) and titans of industry (men). I learned enough about them to regurgitate the facts on a test, but I couldn't relate to them at all. For a female role model we got Betsy Ross who wore a frilly hat and sewed a flag. Big whup.

Then we got Helen Keller. If you were to ask me to name all the historical figures I was taught in elementary school, Helen Keller is the only name that readily comes to mind. She made a HUGE impression on me. She was my hero! I didn't know about her politics, only her struggle to overcome hardships that made my problems seem tiny by comparison. She made me think about a lot of things I would never have thought about otherwise. It was heady, powerful stuff for an impressionable little girl.

My best friend and I were so inspired by Helen Keller that we taught ourselves braille and learned to sign the alphabet. (Yet somehow, learning about the generals in the Texas war of independence didn't make us want to learn Spanish.)

In 5th grade I bought a little book of Helen Keller's poetry. Still have it to this day. From my 5th grade memory:

"He let them come and take away my eyes,
But I remembered Milton's Paradise.
He let them come and take away my ears,
Beethoven came and wiped away my tears.
He let them come and take away my tongue,
But I had talked to God when I was young.
He would not let them take away my soul.
Possessing that, I still possess the whole."

[akkibaba]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

In all seriousness, go make use of that awesome NHS of yours and get a testosterone panel (Bioavailable, Free, Total, and SHBG). Dollars to doughnuts the odds are that your numbers will be low. Once that's established, ask for injectable and topical T and in a few weeks you'll get back to your center. Won't make you the Incredible Hulk, but time spent in the gym will be far more productive, too, as will the sublime comforts of female companionship. It's certainly preferable to self-medicating by drink or worse, getting on the antidepressant hamster wheel. Hang in there, Mega.

Keto, LCHF and Kratom.

[Mega]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

Thank you my friends...........
I taken this week off "Fightclub" (thats what we call it, not allowed to talk about it)......i sense that i reached a personal crises point where i needed time off....my line manger agreed.

Its done me a lot of good, better able to handle things......at present....a number of things caught up with me.

My insane (metal heath problems) 86 year old mother whom i care for when not at work
My Job, both travel time (50+ miles each way) & subject matter............(Brave new World meets 1984)

I not much choice about things right now, may be something will change?


The other day i was walking Bella when i was suddenly approuched by a woman of a round my age, i knew her from somewhere.......it turns out i met her once before.....in 1987.
I went to some girl's 21st birthday party & "Debbie" was there......she been married twice now living alone walking her little dog, etc. She knew me via personal contacts etc...she tried to chat me up, i remembered my attempt to chat her up in 1987......she smiled at me & told me to piss off..........i am too polite to say that to her, but i cut her off short.....
............if i wasn't good enough in 1987, am still not good enough now my dear!



Mike

[dcarrigg]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

FWIW, I grew up and went to public school in San Antonio, TX. Compared to little boys, little girls have very few historical role models to look up to. We're taught about all the presidents (men), military generals (men), brave explorers (men) and titans of industry (men). I learned enough about them to regurgitate the facts on a test, but I couldn't relate to them at all. For a female role model we got Betsy Ross who wore a frilly hat and sewed a flag. Big whup.

Then we got Helen Keller. If you were to ask me to name all the historical figures I was taught in elementary school, Helen Keller is the only name that readily comes to mind. She made a HUGE impression on me. She was my hero! I didn't know about her politics, only her struggle to overcome hardships that made my problems seem tiny by comparison. She made me think about a lot of things I would never have thought about otherwise. It was heady, powerful stuff for an impressionable little girl.

My best friend and I were so inspired by Helen Keller that we taught ourselves braille and learned to sign the alphabet. (Yet somehow, learning about the generals in the Texas war of independence didn't make us want to learn Spanish.)

In 5th grade I bought a little book of Helen Keller's poetry. Still have it to this day. From my 5th grade memory:

"He let them come and take away my eyes,
But I remembered Milton's Paradise.
He let them come and take away my ears,
Beethoven came and wiped away my tears.
He let them come and take away my tongue,
But I had talked to God when I was young.
He would not let them take away my soul.
Possessing that, I still possess the whole."

There's that angle too. The two characters they're writing out of history being women. And they already did write out Harriet Tubman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the rest of the abolitionists who worked the underground railroad. I loved the stories of the underground railroad as a kid. It was like the story of Moses, only with spies and much more sneaking around instead of divine intervention.

And it's not just women on the center to the left. Estée Lauder (who to be fair I don't think I ever learned about in school), I just found out is getting nixed from history too. And so is Phyllis Schlafly (I certainly didn't learn about her in school, but she was active at the time). And that's not all. They're nixing Frances Willard too.

Does seem like there's a bit of a targeted move to wipe American women out of the history books in Texas. It's not exclusive. They're moving to wipe the Navajo Code Talkers out of the history books too. And General Patton. A lot of WWII history.

Looks like Thomas Aquinas, Barry Goldwater, Benjamin Rush, Henry Cabot Lodge, Nathan Hale, and others aren't going to make the cut either.

It's a really bizarre exercise they did. They took a spreadsheet and ranked the importance of each historical character that pops up in kids' history textbooks in each grade, and gave them a score from 0 to 20 that decided how essential they were. 3 points were for individuals, groups got 0. 2 points were for diverse cultures. 2 points were for diverse perspectives. 2 points were if the person was an instigator, inventor, or initiator (whatever that means), 2 points were for impact on historical events, 1 point was for impact on underrepresented groups, 1 point was for impact on multiple ways (whatever that means), 1 point was for impact at scale (global vs national), 1 point was for impact standing the test of time, 1 point was for developmental appropriateness for K-3 level, and 5 points were for exemplification of student expectations (whatever that means).

But then, even after they ranked everyone 0-20, some of the 6s were recommended for removal, some of the 2s were not, etc.

Does any other state elect a partisan political board like this to tell textbook authors what to write and make it uniform statewide? I didn't know, so I looked it up. Texas, Colorado, Michigan, Wyoming, and Alabama. That's it. As many states don't even have a statewide education board. The whole thing smacks of totalitarianism to me--the political party bosses tell the kids what to think and the teachers and experts get no say. I just want to stress how weird this is--for a Yankee to look at how they're doing things south and west, and find it a big government intrusion into people's lives. That and beating kids in public schools. Why on earth would you want a public sector official to have the power to legally beat your children? But 19 states still do it.

[shiny!]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

dcarrigg, I think the entire public education system is extremely dysfunctional. Not just the textbooks that are used and the process by which they are selected, but the whole kit and kaboodle. With the entire world's knowledge available on the internet, using old textbooks and rigid lesson plans is insane.

The Texas schoolbook committee used to hold hearings in the Capitol building in Austin. Perhaps they still do. Special interest groups can present complaints and recommendations about the textbooks under consideration. When I was 16, I was part of a group that was concerned about the lack of representation of women and female role models in textbooks. My particular assignment was to study all the reading textbooks for grades 1-6. In those books, men and boys were mentioned 35 times more often than women and girls. Men were depicted in every career from architecture to zoology. Women were only depicted as housewives, nurses or street crossing guards (what we Texans called Mama Patrols). I took a day off from school, drove up to Austin with my group and gave a presentation of my findings to the schoolbook committee. The group that presented before us was a black organization making similar complaints about underrepresentation of blacks in textbooks. I don't think the all-white committee gave a damn about either blacks or girls.

In school my teacher said that in America we could grow up to be anything we wanted.

Teacher: "In America you can be anything you want, if you study and work hard."

Me: "Can I grow up to be President?"

Teacher: "No, you're a girl."

Me: :-(

Straying far afield now ...

Public education was designed in Germany to condition children to be mindless drones, so they could later be docile factory workers. Children learn that when the bell rings, they must cut off their thought in mid-sentence and move on to the next subject. This teaches them that nothing they learn is really significant or important; only the bell is important. Be punctual and color inside of the lines. The school bell teaches students to turn off their curiosity and love of learning.

For alternatives to the current system of education, I'm a big fan of the Summerhill School and greatly admire the writings of John Gatto, author of Dumbing us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling.

Before No Child Left Behind, my husband taught at-risk, inner-city 9th and 10th graders (mostly Bloods and Crips) that had been kicked out of regular ed because of disruptive behavior and violence. His classroom was a portable building packed with 40 students and one teacher's assistant. The principal was happy to ignore them as long as he got results.

Free to teach as he thought best, he never used classroom lesson plans. Instead, he helped each student design their own monthly curriculum. They knew that by the end of the month they had to meet certain academic goals, but it was up to them how they went about it. He let them design their study projects around their hobbies and interests, integrating English, math, science and social studies into every individualized plan. Each student came up to his desk once a week for a one-on-one to discuss their progress.

The benefit of his method over simple textbook instruction was that it taught those children how to be self-starters. Most of them got the skills they needed to successfully return to regular ed within two semesters. They went on to study vocations, or joined the service and went on to college. Years later they would stop him on the street and tell him about their accomplishments. Maybe becoming a certified auto mechanic is lowbrow for a lot of people here, but for those kids such an accomplishment was huge. His toughest, most violent student (a gangster named Ruby) learned enough self-discipline that after graduation she served in the Marines and ultimately became a nurse.

Then came Clinton's push for every child to go to college (regardless of scholastic aptitude) and No Child Left Behind. Politicians decided to micromanage classrooms. Vocational education fell by the wayside. Teachers could no longer tailor their methods to the student's learning style but instead had to "teach to the tests." This is adequate for some students but is a disaster for many others, particularly kinesthetic learners.

[Milton Kuo]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

FWIW, I grew up and went to public school in San Antonio, TX. Compared to little boys, little girls have very few historical role models to look up to. We're taught about all the presidents (men), military generals (men), brave explorers (men) and titans of industry (men). I learned enough about them to regurgitate the facts on a test, but I couldn't relate to them at all. For a female role model we got Betsy Ross who wore a frilly hat and sewed a flag. Big whup.

Perhaps I am an outlier but I've never been able to understand why people cannot relate to role models or protagonists who do not look like them. You hear that all the time from minorities when it comes to older American movies or older American comic books. I've never had a problem with that and yet I don't have a drop of European blood in me. Likewise, I've never had problems taking an interest in a story/history with a female protagonist provided it isn't pandering rubbish.

Then we got Helen Keller. If you were to ask me to name all the historical figures I was taught in elementary school, Helen Keller is the only name that readily comes to mind.

I went to public school in Texas, too, and of the significant women in history that were discussed in my classes, I would argue Marie Curie is perhaps the one that made the greatest contribution to society, far moreso than Keller. If you're just talking about political figures, Catherine the Great, Elizabeth I, Queen Victoria, Mary Queen of Scots, Joan of Arc, and I guess Marie Antoinette come to mind. You did not read the works and at least mini biographies of Mary Shelley, the Bronte sisters, Jane Austen, Elizabeth Browning, or Emily Dickinson?

I misread/misunderstood dcarrigg's statement. For whatever reason, I read it in the tone of, "They even removed Helen Keller from the history books." I don't consider Keller a significant enough of a historical figure to warrant the kind of outrage that I thought I was reading. I'd make it about equivalent to dropping all mention of Bret Harte or Samuel Gompers from the history books. I suspect the vast majority of natural-born Americans don't even know who those two men are.

As for all the other men mentioned in primary school history curriculums, at least for the public schools I attended, we couldn't spend a lot of time going into the details of most of them. Only the most significant ones got any sort of more detailed coverage and even that was very limited. For everybody else, that meant we knew their names and what they did. Men like Jefferson Davis? We were only taught that he was the president of the Confederate States of America. Any other knowledge would have required independent study.

[Thailandnotes]

Re: Get Woke, go broke!

I don't consider Keller a significant enough of a historical figure.

"Keller went on to become a world-famous speaker and author. She is remembered as an advocate for people with disabilities, amid numerous other causes. The Deaf community was widely impacted by her. She traveled to twenty-five different countries giving motivational speeches about Deaf people's conditions.[34] She was a suffragette, pacifist, radical socialist, birth control supporter, and opponent of Woodrow Wilson. In 1915 she and George A. Kessler founded the Helen Keller International (HKI) organization. This organization is devoted to research in vision, health and nutrition. In 1920, she helped to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Keller traveled to over 40 countries with Sullivan, making several trips to Japan and becoming a favorite of the Japanese people. Keller met every U.S. President from Grover Cleveland to Lyndon B. Johnson and was friends with many famous figures, including Alexander Graham Bell, Charlie Chaplin and Mark Twain. Keller and Twain were both considered radicals at the beginning of the 20th century, and as a consequence, their political views have been forgotten or glossed over in the popular mind."