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Sep 4, 2009 10:00 AM
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Tue Feb 9
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"As far as I am concerned, this is not civics education - it gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality." What. The. Fuck. How did a speech asking students to work hard become a political clusterfuck?
Everything I type keeps coming out "Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FOR THE FUCK OF SHIT FUCK I'M MOVING TO FUCKING CANADA!"
So please enjoy your morning dose of Rage while I get myself together:
Slightly better.
Now on to the actual story. Obama had planned to give a speech to schoolchildren, encouraging them to work hard and stay in school, similar to one George H. W. Bush did in 1991. Conservatives caught wind of this and decided to create a new rage-filled campaign about socialism and indoctrination. The Politico reports:
School districts from Maryland to Texas are fielding angry complaints from parents opposed to President Barack Obama's back-to-school address Tuesday – forcing districts to find ways to shield students from the speech as conservative opposition to Obama spills into the nation's classrooms.
The White House says Obama's address is a sort of pep talk for the nation's schoolchildren. But conservative commentators have criticized Obama for trying to "indoctrinate" students to his liberal beliefs, and some parents call it an improper mix of politics and education.
Now, the speech is optional for schools. The speech will be broadcast during school hours and made available online to students who want to watch it. And I can understand the objection to having political figures in schools. But, as usual, an actual conservative response and the bullshit being peddled are completely different.
As an example, take fucknut Jim Greer, the Florida GOP Chairman, who compared Obama to the Pied Fucking Piper and referred to the speech as "liberal propaganda." Two minutes in to a segment on Hardball last night, Greer tried to explain his willful misinterpretation:
Do parents have a right to be concerned with a presidential speech being shown during school hours. Yes. So where the fuck does socialism come into this? Or comparisons to a dictatorship? Or discussions about the cult of personality?
And when you look at Greer's actual quotes, it's a series of leaps of logic:
But, what infuriates me most about this situation is that none of these refutations are going to do a damn thing for intelligent political conversation. It's all about talking points, the big grab, the soundbytes. And, to the GOP, it doesn't matter if what they say is true or false, if it undermines their constituents, and deprives students of a motivational speech from a president that can actually inspire people. Fuck it. Score the points.
The White House is planning to release the speech online on Monday so parents can review it ahead of time, but I doubt that will matter. The reason that talking points are more effective than actual dialogue is because they are easily remembered and easily adopted by people who can't be bothered to look up the facts for themselves. And our nation is full of people like Brett Curtiss.
"The thing that concerned me most about it was it seemed like a direct channel from the president of the United States into the classroom, to my child," said Brett Curtiss, an engineer from Pearland, Tex., who said he would keep his three children home.
"I don't want our schools turned over to some socialist movement."
Obama Speech To Students Sparks New Controversy [AP]
School Speech Backlash Builds [Politico]
Jim Greer On Hardball [MSNBC]
Anderson Cooper 360 [CNN]
Some Parents Oppose Obama School Speech [New York Times]
Send an email to Latoya, the author of this post, at latoya@racialicious.com.
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