Herding CRT's Ideological Cats

[This commentary appeared as an Other Voices column here in the 27nov21 edition of The Union.]

‘It ain’t what you know that gets you into trouble; it’s what you know that ain’t so.’  Will Rogers and others.

George Rebane

Herding ideological cats is a job Union editor Alan Riquelmy is tasked with as the chair of the newspaper’s Editorial Board.  On the whole he does a commendable job in composing the EB’s weekly debate into a cohesive Our View column that appears in its Saturday edition.  Today’s topic (here) is a particularly hairy one – Critical Race Theory as taught in our K-12 schools.

The recent public forum on CRT was held at the high school board meeting with most attending being CRT’s ideological devotees, while denying that it is taught to Nevada County kids.  Their opposition was a group calling itself Protecting American Ideals whose members presented evidence that indeed the tenets of CRT are taught in our schools, and that such teachings are destructive to the kids’ learning and practicing American ideals.  As Riquelmy points out, neither side was there “to listen to the presentation”, but instead to “participate in the pageant” of people with made-up minds.  Moreover, our editor reveals that even the EB “couldn’t reach consensus on an issue this contentious”.

As Riquelmy sought to pour oil on the column’s troubled waters, he ran into a couple of items with which I have a nit or two.  First, our editor is of the common understanding that there exists only one history.  Serious students of history are the first to point out that there are countless histories, each of which aims to present a cohesive narrative of a period’s chronicled events.  The job of historians is to identify the causal basins and beams (sequences of ‘this caused that’, etc) of every notable milestone that they explicate.  And as we know, causality is both slippery and many-headed.  To every gathering of causal sequences, one can quickly come up with yet another one that tells a different plausible story of the times.

Another popular error embedded in our society can be laid at the feet of the late Sen Daniel Patrick Moynihan – ‘you can have your own opinion, but you can’t have your own facts.’  Wrong!  It is easy to see in this age of the internet, 500 plus media channels, and facile international communications, that there are many disparate sets of ‘facts’ that attend and characterize any issue or notion.  It is only the voluble talking heads and media pundits who each purvey their own facts as the gospel upon which their narrative finds footing and reflects their biases.  We consumers of history and facts have more than an ample smorgasbord from which to choose what suits our fancy or yields to our grasp.

Finally, CRT does have a widely accepted definition composed of tenets considered to be true.  These are collected and displayed on various websites – e.g. britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory.  The tenets presented generally agree; they are not a mystery.  But here is the meat of the argument about CRT being taught in our schools – ‘Critical Race Theory’ does not have to appear in a school’s syllabus in order to have its tenets be taught to students.  The tenets of any body of thought can be marbled piecemeal into any of a number of different courses to communicate its desired ideological perspective – today there are even handbooks to show teachers how to inject CRT into all STEM(!) subjects.  And that is demonstrably what students tell their parents what is happening, and that is what the parents are up in arms about here in Nevada County and across the country.

Our editor admirably concludes, “Sure, we want our children to learn about history without the politics of the day tainting it. We don’t want our kids saddled with the sins of the past. We want a vibrant new generation to leave school armed with knowledge and critical thinking skills, questioning a country they love when needed and fighting for it when required.”

And then he adds the kicker, “But we also want people who think like us going to the polls.”  It was ever thus.

Comments

[Gregory]

I prefer to begin at the begineing..

"In “Traditional and Critical Theory” (1937), Max Horkheimer "considered the socially conformist orientation of traditional political philosophy and social science with the brand of critical Marxism favoured by the institute. According to Horkheimer, the traditional approaches are content to describe existing social institutions more or less as they are, and their analyses thus have the indirect effect of legitimating repressive and unjust social practices as natural or objective. By contrast, critical theory, through its detailed understanding of the larger historical and social context in which these institutions function, would expose the system’s false claims to legitimacy, justice, and truth." [Brittanica]

This is Marxism 4.0 incarnate, and this is the precursor to Critical Race Theory.

[scenes]

"The job of historians is to identify the causal basins and beams (sequences of ‘this caused that’, etc) of every notable milestone that they explicate. "

I was thinking about that this morning and have to respectfully disagree, although many historians would go with your definition.

To me, a 'good' historian is one who collects up pertinent facts and presents them in an understandable summary. It isn't like the average historian has sufficient experience in life to build any kind of causality chain beyond the most obvious (the SF Fire caused people to move into the street) and a cynical old statesman will bring too much of a POV.

A poor but popular historian builds a novel that is loosely tied to some documentation.

We may well have to wait for our Robot Lords 'n Masters to find underlying threads, in the meantime the books will mostly contain dramas of palace intrigue and one barely understood battle after another. The need to find patterns in clouds is something we have to fight, otherwise everyone sounds like Mr. Emery's primitive attempts to attach Presidents to economies or Paul Krugman's laughable crystal balls.

[scenes]

CRT:

I'd say that the rot goes so deeply that merely yelling at some iron rice bowl administrator makes no difference at all.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/california-teachers-association-conference-instructed-teachers-to-undermine-parents-on-gender-identity-sexual-orientation/ar-AAQVev8

https://abigailshrier.substack.com/p/how-activist-teachers-recruit-kids

If you don't want Red Guards (or state-imposed mental illness) for children, it looks to me like one either fires everyone and starts over, or you get them out of the mitts of the public school system.

No doubt The State will have an increasing interest in charter/private/home schools, perhaps sending Kommissars by to make sure that the state religion is followed, but at least a first-order defense is in place. States run by Blue Mob Anthills are not going to change their ways anytime soon

[George Rebane]

scenes 702am - We do indeed have to respectfully disagree. I base my accepted definition that distinguishes between a chronicler and an historian on the teachings of historians Will Durant, VDH, and Page Smith (of the latter I was actually privileged to be his student at UCLA). Among many others, these historians make it clear that the work of chroniclers is focused on and limited to the capture and faithful recording of the factual framework surrounding an event or epoch. (Kings brought their own chroniclers to observe and record battles and other important events. Chroniclers of different patrons usually worked together and shared what they observed, even on the sidelines of battlefields. Of course, what they later wrote in their delivered copy reflected their desire for continued employment.)

Historians were counted as a definite cut above chroniclers for the important reason that they were supposed to possess a wide field of knowledge that enveloped and reached beyond the subject of their current work product. This body of knowledge made it possible for them to weave together the causal threads that gave rise to milestones and events which changed the course of kingdoms, empires, and the fortunes of princes. Without such causal bindings in his writings the appellation of historian was not bestowed. The real value of a history is that it is a text of potential wisdom for the student who seeks a deeper understanding of the past in order to plan and prepare for a more secure and rewarding future.

[Bill Tozer]

Closer to the stink....

Administrator banned from school grounds after exposing critical race theory ideology

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/administrator-banned-from-school-grounds-after-exposing-critical-race-theory-ideology

[Bill Tozer]

It’s official.

‘California's new educational guidelines say math is racist’

https://thepostmillennial.com/californias-new-educational-guidelines-say-math-is-racist?

[scenes]

re: BillT@10:43PM

I was keeping an eye on that when it was going down. The best place to get the flavor of the thing is his twitter feed.

https://twitter.com/TheTonus

[scenes]

One basic problem is that you are dealing with this sort of thing in MSM.

"In other words, if white men don’t cheat, steal, rape, control or kill the loose bodies of nonwhite people, the future of whiteness is in peril. "
https://news.yahoo.com/kyle-rittenhouse-proof-white-women-183033289.html

Barrages of 'news' that make Alex Jones sound like a middle-o-the-road kind of guy.

Honestly, I'd say that white men are indifferent to the 'loose bodies of nonwhite people', but maybe that's the worst crime of all if self-image drives your philosophy. No doubt, the Department of Useless Studies at a modern university gives a person a lot of canned phrases to pull a lanyard on.

There's no point in any attempt at logic or convincing the Blue Mob of much of anything. Religious zealots have the ability to double-down on dogma and (more importantly) too many of these people seriously profit from the fight. There's gold in them thar craziness.

[scenes]

lol. Perfect for the 2021 Holidays.

"A Salvation Army guide aimed at "courageous conversations about racism" asks "White Americans" to "stop trying to be ‘colorblind.’""

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/salvation-armys-woke-racism-guide-tells-white-americans-racism-is-systemic-and-colorblindness-is-harmful

https://www.newsweek.com/salvation-armys-donors-withdraw-support-response-racial-wokeness-initiative-1645658

Remember everyone, stay at your own end of the prison rec yard.

[George Rebane]

scenes 835am - To the Rebanes as lifelong supporters of the SA, this is a very sad report. The virulence of wokeness passeth all understanding.

[scenes]

More on The Army of Salvation.

https://www.lawofficer.com/salvation-army-critical-race-theory/

You can argue that you should have seen it coming. There's no reason for church (or churchly) organizations to avoid the poisoning at the administrative level that you see in schools or federal government.

This'll take a while, but I expect to see more and more schisms with those groups as a more conservative base tears off from their betters. Whether it's a lesbian Anglican minister repurposing a church as a community center and part-time Islamic meeting room, or the Pope shutting down traditionalist branches of Catholicism, church members will likely self-select to an agnostic variety that sticks around and eventually dies out and more conservative members that set up their own fandango.

It's a reason why I find the uber-traditionalist, the new interest in classics studies, self sufficiency, physical fitness, so interesting. No doubt it'll get called 'fascism' although that shows an ignorance of both fascism and classical learning. There's something there that might actually turn into something both interesting and valuable. Heterosexual Western men are bound to clique up around something and it might as well be something like that. I can smell it in the corners of the interwebs.

[scenes]

GeorgeR...

I happened to look at theunion and had to laugh at the stirred-up ant nest.

It seemed to me that your opinion piece really had nothing to argue about in it and was fairly presented. It had less POV than usual. There was no point in upset except that the commenters just *knew* what you really meant, and it probably involved D. Trump (and probably Hitler) somehow.

I did enjoy sea lawyer R. Cross noting that the column was 3 days early on a 1/month basis but then your politics "really doesn't deserve equal treatment.". Mild autism leads you to some odd places.

[George Rebane]

Scenes 723pm - Yes, our little microcosm here has all the trappings of what ails our nation.

[Don Bessee]

The low information folks who swamped you article with koolaid drinkers narratives should read this -

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/11/29/watch-detroit-school-superintendent-our-curriculum-is-deeply-using-critical-race-theory/

;-)

[Bill Tozer]

Federally funded critical race theory program removes 'critical race theory' from description

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/federally-funded-critical-race-theory-program-removes-critical-race

[scenes]

OP: " high school board meeting with most attending being CRT’s ideological devotees,"

I guess you could think of it as a growth experience to watch an expansionist religion at work. The word came down to explain away CRT as 'something just taught in graduate school' without seeing it's close relatives in their own lives. John McWhorter had some pretty good essays on this sort of thinking.

The whole damn thing happened pretty quickly, but that just shows my inability to smell undercurrents of crazy before they get traction.

It's probably safe to assume...
. You'll never convince the CRT advocates otherwise. They have too much emotional investment.
. School administrators are a lost cause. The have bought-in to the concept and have careers attached to it, especially specialty folks in the DEI industrial complex.
. They'll keep teacher training and materials absolutely as secret as possible. It's for the children. Occasional leaks will occur.
. In their own minds, schools have taken over the moral instruction of children.
. Without actually seeing reading lists and watching the teachers do their thing, it's hard to tell what's really going on. Schools have lost trust, but will tend to become more of a black box over time.

Thing is, you're not going to change this beast regardless of the number of parents-with-signs out front. I'd love to hear workable solutions, it's an interesting thought experiment.

[Bill Tozer]

Scenes 723pm - “Yes, our little microcosm here has all the trappings of what ails our nation.”

“Thing is, you're not going to change this beast regardless of the number of parents-with-signs out front. I'd love to hear workable solutions, it's an interesting thought experiment.”

But can we say we got our voices heard? Nothing is going to stop them, not deterrent too big. It’s in there nature. Why did the scorpion bites the frog carrying him across the river? It’s in his nature. Her nature.

I figure that 3% of the parents will either pull their kids from public school for good. The rest either cannot manage to be a stay at home mom (sacrifice too great), put the kids in a private school, or their kid are really into football and are on the team. Whatever, 3% gone, taking away our tax dollars from the public schools. It doesn’t look like more. 7% did not sound practical.

CRT is confusing to most. Sounds like an academic exercise with post grad stuff kicked around by . Don’t think 2-5th graders can comprehend legal theories which stretch beyond the letter and thr spirit of the law. When we are graduating students who are functionally illiterate, it’s safe to say that. The State Superintendent of Schools has already made his mind up. So have the teachers union boss and other shake down artists.

The ‘boys with penises in girls locker rooms’ is being taught as completely normal behavior and should be celebrated and emulated is a separate issue....until one understands the distain Marxist have for the family unit...parents in particular. You got a new family now and Santa has no snowballs.

I thought black history was taught in schools already. Like in Black History MONTH. That’s 1/9 on the school year right there. When I was in school, we studied California History which was all about Spanish Land Grants and Mexico and then Mexican history and Mexico City history and the Aztec history and what a horrid thing to this day that Cortez burned all the libraries and knowledge of the Aztec history and all that stuff. Learned a hell of a lot more of Spanish-Mexican history than California history. And learning a foreign language (Spanish) was taught in elementary school as a class. Same requirement taught in jr high. In high school, one could opt for German, French, Latin, or Spanish. Most took Spanish cause it was easier. Hot Dog is hog dog in Espanol. So is Coca-Cola the same in Spanish. And it was a non-union public school in a non-union school district. I learned today’s freshman bonehead Biology 101 in the 9th grade.

And we were taught where the Japanese Interim Camps were placed in the Ownes Valley. But no one ever walked into the girl’s shower rooms or bathrooms unless to put Saran Wrap over the top of the toilet bowl...under the seat.

[Bill Tozer]

‘Los Angeles Public Schools Host Critical Race Theorist To ‘Challenge Whiteness’ While Saying They Aren’t Teaching Critical Race Theory’

L.A. government schools told parents critical race theory isn't being taught despite bringing in a known critical race theorist to train teachers to 'challenge whiteness’

https://thefederalist.com/2021/11/30/los-angeles-public-schools-host-critical-race-theorist-to-challenge-whiteness-while-saying-they-arent-teaching-critical-race-theory/

Have you taken the privilege walk yet?

[Bill Tozer]

Matt Walsh on CRT

https://www.facebook.com/100044171722408/posts/481184583363928/

[Bill Tozer]

‘Kamala Stopped FBI From Monitoring Black Supremacists Like Waukesha Killer’
The Waukesha killer’s allies are sitting in the White House.

“Two years ago, Senator Kamala Harris, along with Senator Cory Booker and six other Democrat Senate members, attacked the Justice Department for monitoring black supremacists. The politicians signed a letter falsely claiming that black identity extremists was “a fabricated term based on a faulty assessment of a small number of isolated incidents”.

And they argued that monitoring black racists was racist.”..........

“Biden and Kamala issued statements on the Arbery verdict. Biden had previously issued a statement condemning the Rittenhouse verdict. Neither of them have issued statements about the massacre of six Americans by a racist terrorist. Democrats have adopted the critical race theory ideology which, like the racist killer, causes them to believe white people aren’t human.

That’s what Black Lives Matter means. Black lives matter. No one else’s lives matter.“

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/2021/12/kamala-stopped-fbi-monitoring-black-supremacists-daniel-greenfield/

[scenes]

Science education in Blue Mob America.

"Seattle-area teacher recorded during vulgar, anti-police Kyle Rittenhouse rant"

https://mynorthwest.com/3253161/rantz-seattle-area-teacher-recorded-during-vulgar-anti-police-kyle-rittenhouse-rant/

"Teacher uses science class to label white middle schoolers privileged oppressors"

https://mynorthwest.com/2937573/rantz-teacher-uses-science-class-to-call-white-middle-schoolers-privileged-oppressors/

"District tells staff to defend critical race theory, but deny they teach it"

https://mynorthwest.com/3133091/rantz-district-defend-critical-race-theory-deny/

"School diversity director out for memes calling Christians, Republicans racist"

https://mynorthwest.com/3059781/rantz-school-diversity-director-out-for-memes-calling-christians-republicans-racist/

etc. etc. Exciting times in Washington.

Question. Is it easier to fire 100% of school district staff and (let's say) 40% of the teachers, or just start over?

[Bill Tozer]

WHAT ARE THEY TEACHING OUR CHILDREN?

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2021/12/what-are-they-teaching-our-children.php