Ok, don't get me wrong, I'm encouraged that the people who have been canceled by the monsters that some of them helped create are finally seeing the error of their ways; better late than never. I do however want hear some level of contrition from those who only came to their senses when the guillotine was being sharpened for their neck. I want to hear from them what allowed them to be part of this madness in its infancy or middle stages. Like the lyrics from the song "I was country, when country wasn't cool," I began confronting this monster long before the existence of the safety net that exists now for those fleeing these wokified jackals. In my 11th year of teaching, before I started my second career as a criminal defense attorney, I attended a new teacher "indoctrination" where I was told that the reason for the disparity between black and white academic achievement, in the school I was about to teach at, was because of white teachers' "insensitivity" to the needs of black students. At the time I had 3 children and bills to pay so I silenced myself in the face of such vile racism. The next year, following a teacher institute day where more of this poison was regurgitated, I wrote my black principal a letter protesting this rot but received no response. That next year I began my twenty year career as a Public Defender in Chicago. I'm sure that if I had confronted the principal of that school today he would have done everything in his power to derail my job as a public defender. Within the last 10 years I have become estranged from three of my four radically left sisters after they slandered me for challenging their BLM narrative and for recommending they read Heather McDonald's book "The War On Cops." My wife of almost 40 years, who is left of center and non confrontational, resents me for standing up to my family members and our marriage is in ruins. What I'm trying to say is that I resent the Johnny Come Latelys who are only now seeing the light because the monster they created is now eating them and their children. In a recent article written by Caroline Graham on an elite Hollywood school's (Harvard-Westlake) CRT program, Ms. Graham quotes one of the mother's at this school as saying; "I marched in the BLM protests last summer but I have a problem with teachers telling MY SON that because he is WHITE, he is by definition, a RACIST. I'm sorry, but if she needs my sympathy I need to hear some kind of Mea Culpa from her for supporting a hate group that tells cops who are white that they are by definition, homicidal racists. Lastly, we need more than talk. While these articles are marvelously informative, we need more. We need to organize and become of show of force at these schools who are hurting our children like this. We need to attend school board hearings and protest with signs in front of the schools who are promoting this anti white racism. I'm growing tired of reading and writing about all of this. We must ACT if we are to be heard. We need to put ourselves out there and these bullies and these cowards need to feel our presence. Activism isn't something that comes naturally to moderate and conservative voters but we must get better at this. I'm looking forward to attending something at the direction of Ms. Weiss. It's time for us to start making our presence known and to start making these purveyors of division and hatred feel the discomfort of our anger. Tell me where and tell me when and I will be there!
This is what I don’t understand. Shouldn’t all people treat all people w/respect and dignity? Peoples’ skin color has nothing to do with anything besides tell you where their ancestors or they came from originally. It’s totally irrelevant. Isn’t that what anti-racism should be?
Bari, point of information... The Kansas City Chiefs are located in Kansas City, MISSOURI. That said, public schools don't teach common geography the way we all learned it in the past. Now it's focus is on geo-ethnicity and religious migration. I had to teach my daughters the entire globe (political and geological), otherwise they'd have no idea where anywhere actually is. The current direction of education in America will only serve to divide is further; initially by race, but eventually by economics too as our nation's education gap grows.
There are some very consequential issues upon which "the right" (excluding the "far right") and "the center" and the "center left" agree. These three loosely defined groups make up, probably, around 75% of the population. I they could work together they would be unstoppable. And that is what terrifies the elites and the oligarchs, and why they are furiously trying to divide us by any and all means necessary.
Bari, I agree with you. What we're facing terrifies me. I think one of the biggest challenges we face is move people out of positions they they have made a(n emotional) commitment to (Number 2 below).
I'm not sure what to do about it but it might prove useful to take a side trip into how persuasion (including self-persuasion) works.
After all, we have to deal with "those-who-have-been-persuaded" and if we can understand how that persuasion happened we might be in a better position to undo it.
The best primer I've come across is entitled "How to Sell a Pseudoscience" by Anthony Pratkanis. It's a 12 step "how to" manual and is a very easy and quick read. If you are of a mind to, you can find it here: https://tinyurl.com/yaznu9zb
The first two points begin as follows:
1. Create a phantom — The first thing we need to do is to create a phantom __ an unavailable goal that looks real and possible; it looks as if it might be obtained with just the right effort, just the right belief, or just the right amount of money, but in reality it can't be obtained. Most pseudosciences are based on belief in a distant or phantom goal [...snip...].
2. Set a Rationalization Trap — The rationalization trap is based on the premise: Get the person committed to the cause as soon as possible. Once a commitment is made, the nature of thought changes [...snip...].
Thanks for the Kansas City Chiefs support! We have two daughters who are public school teachers. We have these conversations all of the time around the dinner table. We have made so much progress it is frightening to see where education is heading.
Bari- thanks for reporting on the schools. As a mother of young kids I’ve been following this story closely. I’ve been remiss that the NYT and other outlets have overlooked the inconvenient truth that mostly black kids have been denied in person education for a year because of the teachers unions refusal to return to the classroom, while mostly white districts have gone back. If anything is an actual example of systemic racism, this is it. Yet the NYT glosses over this point, saying it’s complicated, people are scared, blah blah blah. If anyone really cared about uplifting black kids, they would be up in arms about this. Oh wait... you are. Thanks!
Ok, don't get me wrong, I'm encouraged that the people who have been canceled by the monsters that some of them helped create are finally seeing the error of their ways; better late than never. I do however want hear some level of contrition from those who only came to their senses when the guillotine was being sharpened for their neck. I want to hear from them what allowed them to be part of this madness in its infancy or middle stages. Like the lyrics from the song "I was country, when country wasn't cool," I began confronting this monster long before the existence of the safety net that exists now for those fleeing these wokified jackals. In my 11th year of teaching, before I started my second career as a criminal defense attorney, I attended a new teacher "indoctrination" where I was told that the reason for the disparity between black and white academic achievement, in the school I was about to teach at, was because of white teachers' "insensitivity" to the needs of black students. At the time I had 3 children and bills to pay so I silenced myself in the face of such vile racism. The next year, following a teacher institute day where more of this poison was regurgitated, I wrote my black principal a letter protesting this rot but received no response. That next year I began my twenty year career as a Public Defender in Chicago. I'm sure that if I had confronted the principal of that school today he would have done everything in his power to derail my job as a public defender. Within the last 10 years I have become estranged from three of my four radically left sisters after they slandered me for challenging their BLM narrative and for recommending they read Heather McDonald's book "The War On Cops." My wife of almost 40 years, who is left of center and non confrontational, resents me for standing up to my family members and our marriage is in ruins. What I'm trying to say is that I resent the Johnny Come Latelys who are only now seeing the light because the monster they created is now eating them and their children. In a recent article written by Caroline Graham on an elite Hollywood school's (Harvard-Westlake) CRT program, Ms. Graham quotes one of the mother's at this school as saying; "I marched in the BLM protests last summer but I have a problem with teachers telling MY SON that because he is WHITE, he is by definition, a RACIST. I'm sorry, but if she needs my sympathy I need to hear some kind of Mea Culpa from her for supporting a hate group that tells cops who are white that they are by definition, homicidal racists. Lastly, we need more than talk. While these articles are marvelously informative, we need more. We need to organize and become of show of force at these schools who are hurting our children like this. We need to attend school board hearings and protest with signs in front of the schools who are promoting this anti white racism. I'm growing tired of reading and writing about all of this. We must ACT if we are to be heard. We need to put ourselves out there and these bullies and these cowards need to feel our presence. Activism isn't something that comes naturally to moderate and conservative voters but we must get better at this. I'm looking forward to attending something at the direction of Ms. Weiss. It's time for us to start making our presence known and to start making these purveyors of division and hatred feel the discomfort of our anger. Tell me where and tell me when and I will be there!
Bari, I love your column but this week I'm thanking you for the link to Nellie's essay. Profoundly affected me. Just wow.
This is what I don’t understand. Shouldn’t all people treat all people w/respect and dignity? Peoples’ skin color has nothing to do with anything besides tell you where their ancestors or they came from originally. It’s totally irrelevant. Isn’t that what anti-racism should be?
I grew up in the 412 also. So let me gently correct you; it's called The Terrible TAHL (lol).
Must be a large reason why Nashville real-estate is exploding. Escape this non-sense and get your kids back in school.
Bari, point of information... The Kansas City Chiefs are located in Kansas City, MISSOURI. That said, public schools don't teach common geography the way we all learned it in the past. Now it's focus is on geo-ethnicity and religious migration. I had to teach my daughters the entire globe (political and geological), otherwise they'd have no idea where anywhere actually is. The current direction of education in America will only serve to divide is further; initially by race, but eventually by economics too as our nation's education gap grows.
There are some very consequential issues upon which "the right" (excluding the "far right") and "the center" and the "center left" agree. These three loosely defined groups make up, probably, around 75% of the population. I they could work together they would be unstoppable. And that is what terrifies the elites and the oligarchs, and why they are furiously trying to divide us by any and all means necessary.
Love your stuff and have been reading you for years. How do I contact privately? Shabbat Shalom.
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I am grateful you began this newsletter.
What happened to Ann Bauer’s tweets? Anyone know why she deleted her account?
https://twitter.com/annbauerwriter?lang=en
Bari, I agree with you. What we're facing terrifies me. I think one of the biggest challenges we face is move people out of positions they they have made a(n emotional) commitment to (Number 2 below).
I'm not sure what to do about it but it might prove useful to take a side trip into how persuasion (including self-persuasion) works.
After all, we have to deal with "those-who-have-been-persuaded" and if we can understand how that persuasion happened we might be in a better position to undo it.
The best primer I've come across is entitled "How to Sell a Pseudoscience" by Anthony Pratkanis. It's a 12 step "how to" manual and is a very easy and quick read. If you are of a mind to, you can find it here: https://tinyurl.com/yaznu9zb
The first two points begin as follows:
1. Create a phantom — The first thing we need to do is to create a phantom __ an unavailable goal that looks real and possible; it looks as if it might be obtained with just the right effort, just the right belief, or just the right amount of money, but in reality it can't be obtained. Most pseudosciences are based on belief in a distant or phantom goal [...snip...].
2. Set a Rationalization Trap — The rationalization trap is based on the premise: Get the person committed to the cause as soon as possible. Once a commitment is made, the nature of thought changes [...snip...].
JFWIW
Love that you got super bowl tickets for Chaplain Walker.
Please look into the children that are coming to the emergency rooms in Indiana (and probably other states) who are suicidal. We have a crises.
Awesome news about Rocky for the Super Bowl! I love stories like that.
It also serves as a good reminder that loving, kind people– not government or elites or CRT warriors– will change the world, one heart at a time....
Thanks for the Kansas City Chiefs support! We have two daughters who are public school teachers. We have these conversations all of the time around the dinner table. We have made so much progress it is frightening to see where education is heading.
Bari- thanks for reporting on the schools. As a mother of young kids I’ve been following this story closely. I’ve been remiss that the NYT and other outlets have overlooked the inconvenient truth that mostly black kids have been denied in person education for a year because of the teachers unions refusal to return to the classroom, while mostly white districts have gone back. If anything is an actual example of systemic racism, this is it. Yet the NYT glosses over this point, saying it’s complicated, people are scared, blah blah blah. If anyone really cared about uplifting black kids, they would be up in arms about this. Oh wait... you are. Thanks!