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Wednesday, October 5, 2016

CURMUDGUCATION: NEA's Concern Trolling + The Facts Problem

CURMUDGUCATION: NEA's Concern Trolling:

NEA's Concern Trolling


The NEA is concerned about bullying.

Specifically, they are concerned about the Trump Effect, which is one more name for one of the plumes of toxic smoke curling up from the dumpster fire that is Herr Donald's Presidential campaign.

There is reason for concern. Herr Donald's campaign has freed many folks from the restraint of what we could call "political correctness" or "general decent treatment of other human beings," and nothing bad ever gets loose in the general population that does not also breathe its toxic breath into the atmosphere of schools.



Anecdotes abound. The high school students who cheered "Build a wall" at their mainly-hispanic opponents. The endless supply of stories about children who are worried that the next President might deport them. There's absolutely no question that Trump's campaign has loosed some slouching beast into the political sphere, and that in turn has dropped a big bucket of ugly into schools across the country.

It's a topic worth discussing. Just not like this.

Instead of addressing the issue of bullying and the effects of our bad political discourse on the tiny humans of our nation, NEA has grabbed this issue and ground it up as campaign fodder.

A buttload of money will be spent to make ad buys in many, but not all, states, with a focus on 
CURMUDGUCATION: NEA's Concern Trolling:


The Facts Problem
We've had much discussion about living in a post-fact society, but I'm not sure we really appreciate just how much trouble the whole business of "facts" is in. I don't mean the obvious public signs, like a national Vice-Presidential candidate who simply lies his way through a nationally broadcast debate . I'm n