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Aug 30, 2023·edited Aug 30, 2023

Some highlights from George Carlin's classic hbo special:

Education will never be fixed because the owners of our society don't want that.

I'm talking about the real owners, not the politicians. Forget the politicians - they are out there to give you the impression you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have owners. They own you, they own everything important, they own the land, corporations, the media. They spend billions lobbying to get what they want but we know what they want - more for them, less for everyone else.

I'll tell you what they don't want - a well-educated population capable of critical thinking. They don't want that. They don't want informed citizens. No they don't want that - it's not in their interest.

Obedient workers - that's what they want. Obedient workers. People who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, but dumb enough to accept the increasingly shittier jobs, and reduced benefits. And now they're coming for your social security - they want their money back....

https://youtu.be/H-PSCqhkWhg

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Aug 30, 2023·edited Aug 30, 2023

The 2006 movie idiocracy describes the America of George Carlin. It is produced and owned by Fox, and was taken off the market with the election of Trump. I have the CD

However via Prime Video you can watch it here $0.00 if you have Amazon Prime.

https://www.amazon.com/Idiocracy-Luke-Wilson/dp/B0040D4F1S/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=idiocracy&qid=1693410148&s=instant-video&sr=1-1

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George Carlin warned us about so many things and we laughed. The old adage "there is much truth in jest" has never been more true —now here we are!

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Robert Heinlein once wrote that a crime in every time and place was to tell young people the truth. Be that as it may, I did notice in my 24 years of teaching at a for-profit "college" (now mercifully put to sleep) that few of the students understood either their rights at citizens or the purposes of government. In my science classes I would slip in these topics, but if these folks (mostly younger, lower income, and some who were veterans) had ever been exposed to civics it didn't stick. If that was typical, and I've not seen much better substituting in urban high schools, it is hard to see how we can long have a functioning democracy.

In short, a lot of marginalized people in this country may feel powerless and have no sense of where they are in history. So what happens to them seems just episodic and out of their control. Voting is not a high priority as they are concerned with just getting by and unless really reached could believe it is useless anyway. While certainly some are trying to get ahead with good educations (and at the for-profit I’d take those aside and tell them where to really get it), that route is increasingly seen as being out of reach. If nothing else student debt is crushing the hopes of those who know how to think and have made it through the systems left for the have-nots. And that is precisely the point.

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“Republican President Dwight Eisenhower issued a direct challenge to that belief when he built thousands of brand-new schools across America and rolled out programs in elementary grades for gifted working class kids (I was in one in the 1950s).”

I WAS TOO! As was my brother.

For which I am ever grateful.

I went on to university and then to medical school. He earned a Ph.D. In engineering.

Don’t know if that would have happened without those programs.

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When I taught in an International School in the Dominican Republic early in my teaching career, I got to live in a place where most people did not have access to education for their children because it was not free. Our building was filled with old American, Canadian and European men with their 15-year old girlfriends whose children did not generally live with them, but the men still paid for their schooling. The problem was that if the women went to visit their children who were usually with their moms in the capitol, the men would move in new girlfriends, threatening the financial status of girlfriend number one. There would be a lot of fighting with these young women. There is more about this experience that was both enlightening but sickening that I won't share, but suffice it to say. Tom Hartmann's description of where Red State education is headed in the USA is both obvious, and much like the DR was when I lived there. I hate to think of how racism makes this country and this world lesser, but it certainly does. Let us hope that the majority nonbillionaires can get the representation we deserve. I would love to send the right wing billionaires packing.

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That business of American & EU males going to live in places like that is entirely because they can easily find willing baby girl friends. Never let it be said they are pedophiles - they are only doing what the law of the land says is ok where they are living, so they are not penalized & the 'baby girls' of young years are looking for their ticket out of poverty - so it's a mutual business, but still sickening ! You cannot tell me that those relationships are anything but sexual on the part of the males, they are too obvious ! Epstein would totally approve of their choices ! So my opinion is - why doesn't society decide to be honest about this business & tell it like it is - they are basically dirty old men who want a young vibrant sexual partner, because it makes them feel manly & like 'conquerors' & fulfills their basest dreams as males ? I'm sure Viagra is available in those places too, or there is a great mail order system to assist with the plan !!!

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I lived there before Viagra was on the market, but I understood the sexual dynamics. We lived in.a complex that had a pool. Afternoons I would be in the pool, and the men would be in the pool too talking about how their girlfriends had to have a siesta as if this were a legitimate relationship of equals. Most of them were retired, or close to it. I remember the wife of one of the men came and she was at the poolside talking to him and later on, when she went off to do something the men asked him if she was his mother. She was there age, in fact, might have been a bit younger, but their views of women were so skewed that they did not recognize how crazy they all seemed at least to me. I was right out of grad school teaching there. I think the fact that the women all had children, which I understood was why they were in these relationships, to have something better for their children. I thought it must be so hard to be away from their children. It is like working away from home. Some of the families on the island intentionally crippled their children so they could more effectively beg on the beaches, and I was reading that a lot of North Americans were coming for eyes and organs of Dominican children for transplants, so this seemed like a much better deal. In the school I taught there were foreign men who went into a village and got a young child from their family and then raised them as their own. We had a boy like that in our school, and he was very sexualized in his behavior. It was hard to tell if it was normal or whether he was acting out things that were happening to him, but there were absolutely no authorities to report anything to. This is the world the Republicans want to create here.

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This is horrible.

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Agreed! And because I lived it, I can really picture what third world life looks like.

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I live in Az. and belong to Save Our Schools. Koch money and ALEC have been here a long time. They helped build up the Republican legislature that we have. While people thought for years that voting for state government wasn't important, the crazies got elected. And as a former field interviewer I've talked to many older people raised in rural communities throughout the country that truly lack the ability to use critical thinking. The current voucher system will cost us 900 million this year, mostly going to the wealthier parents that can already afford tuition. It is also going to the Charlie Kirk school of fascism.

Meanwhile Mesa Public Schools is having an override election and the same people that are ok with the voucher money are telling everyone that the public schools waste money. Our new governor may be the only one to save us from that. Please vote for every office. They all matter! 67% of my neighbors did not vote down ballot and this is what you get.

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founding

As I walk my neighborhood here in Arizona I see many of my neighbors flying the American Flag in support of Labor Day. It makes me wonder and want to ask them, "So as a proud American Patriot supporting Labor Day does that mean your a union supporters and also have concerns for those immigrants here that are doing the hard work in our agriculture industry, landscaping industry, manual labor ( construction, remodeling, etc... ) industries, child care services and the many other services that they perform for us???

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I live in rural Arizona and I see the American flag being flown often right next to the Trump flags, I take it to mean they're proud to live in America where they can turn the country into a dictatorship and a third world failed nation.

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Biden one Maricopa and Pima county which has Phoenix and Tucson in it. Why do you spread this information?

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I hope the Hispanics decide to vote Democrat? Many are opposed to abortion and oppose equal rights for women and for gays. Just like the GOP Cult. When they don't have a minimum wage and can't afford housing or food they will start looking for another country. Somehow, the religious right wingers will blame the left for turning God against America.

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Ohio just expanded their voucher system. Unfortunately, I think you are correct in what right wing billionaires want. They do want to make us a bunch of uneducated serfs. They are easier for them to control.

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It is very important to note not only that Americans overwhelmingly support public education and are satisfied with the public education that their children are receiving but also, what those who are *dissatisfied* are concerned about. It is perhaps not what we think and certainly not what we're hearing:

"Overwhelmingly, parents who say that they are dissatisfied with the institution of public education are concerned about curriculum and educational approach (65%) including poor and outdated curriculum and whether our educational system stacks up against the educational systems in other countries. These parents are also concerned about lack of resources (28%) including unequal access and opportunities for low-income students and racism, lack of funding, low teacher pay, and not enough teachers. Third on their list is school climate (12%) with a lack of care and empathy for students and proper attention with one-on-one support being of top concern.

However, despite the current loud narratives being tossed around, concerns about political agendas being taught weighs in at only 10% of parents who expressed dissatisfaction with public education. Transgender, gender issues, and sex education being taught coming in at 4% of dissatisfied parents, and CRT (not specifically defined) weighing in at just 3%. 1% of dissatisfied parents complain about too much governmental “interference.”

Admittedly, the “sky is falling” rhetoric has been loud but at the same time, largely non-substantive. We haven’t asked politicians, policy makers, or school board dissidents to cite their sources. They would get a failing grade if they turned in their paper titled The Dumpster Fire of the American Public School System with no facts or citations to back up their thesis statement. Critical thinking doesn’t seem to be a staple in the public appetite for negative news. Unfortunately, that lack of questioning has allowed a movement to grow and gain momentum to the point where now the Dumpster Fire theory may be self-fulfilling."

https://danismart.substack.com/p/public-education-time-to-cite-our

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founding

Over the past 6 years our community has been infiltrated with GOP operatives, opportunists, and sycophants. They have influenced our county board to the point of unapologetic racism and homophobia (as reported by NY Times journalist, Reid Epstein).

Our school board has been overthrown by the same lot. They are in the process of deconstructing our local education system with the familiar strategy of infiltrate, take over, sabotage, offer sham alternative (think USPS and Louis DeJoy).

Our County Clerk has been investigated on ethics concerns after she stated in a private FB group message that she would do whatever she could "behind the scenes" in an attempt to recall a democratic school board member.

This is taking place in a community of 40,000 people. I think that clearly illustrates just how deep this parasite has burrowed into the fabric of America. And I know it's not just here. It's everywhere.

It's time America has a #HereToo movement...

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Aug 30, 2023·edited Aug 30, 2023

"...wealthy conservatives have argued for centuries that society should be run by the rich and virtuous — and the rest of us should shut up and quietly do our jobs in the rich men’s stores and factories."

This is the core tenet of the Federalist Society and the Federalist Society owns the SCOTUS. See the grifting of Thomas, Alito, and Roberts, for a start.

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The fascist tyrants argued that society should be run by only the rich. The rational thinkers have argued that society should be ran by the virtuous, not a bunch of sadists.

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Problem is that giving someone a billion dollars almost always corrupts them to thinking they are somehow superior by dint of their money. Nobody.....NOBODY.....should have a billion dollars while people go hungry and without medical care in this country. Think of it this way: "The magnitude of difference between a million and a billion can be illustrated with this example of the time scale: A million seconds is 12 days. A billion seconds is 31 years." People can make a lot of money and have enough to buy pretty much anything they want throughout their life, but the rest should go back to the community that enabled them to aggregate so much wealth. Too much money breeds too much arrogance and, eventually, cruelty and self-regard. This is especially true for unearned, inherited wealth. I have known many of these little sh1ts. They think they were born above the rest because daddy and mommy have money. Affluenza.

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Where is the America that sent young men and women around the world as a peace corps, to teach, dig wells, and show modern methods of raising crops? Where is the America that invented ASPAU (African Students Program of American Universities) that enabled young Africans to attend American Universities in order to broaden their horizons and enhance relationships with newly independent African countries? Where is that America whose universities have educated and benefited from youths around the world? When did America close her mind?

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Thank you for this. We all need to be paying attention. I wrote an op-ed earlier this week about book bans and their connection to the move to dismantle public libraries and public schools. It has sparked some good conversation and I hope, some unveiling of what is truly going on and why we should pay attention. "Book bans are not so much about the content of specific books as they are about instilling fundamental Christian nationalism, packaged in a glossy white box with a pink OR blue bow, and sold to Americans as “grassroots efforts to protect our children.” The movements hawking that box are proclaiming loudly that American will be safe when it is white, straight, wealthy, patriarchal, and bound by biblically self-justified moralistic rules, handpicked from a 2000-year old text.

This may seem like an extreme interpretation about the actions of a few, “innocent” soccer moms who have proclaimed themselves to be “moms for ‘liberty’” and “joyful warriors” but their end game is far from innocent and far more insidious than they let on. The short-game is to destabilize and create chaos. The long-game is to dismantle public libraries and privatize public schools using voucher systems. Private schools where the white nationalistic narrative can be indoctrinated and strictly controlled..."

https://danismart.substack.com/p/book-bans-are-not-about-books

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If the current trend of robotics and AI continues, there will be fewer and fewer jobs. Since they rely on most people being too busy to notice what they are doing, how are they going to cope in the future? WHen will AI take over their role too?

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What got me thinking about that was remembering that public schools started out as a way to prepare people to be obedient factory workers.

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With $1,500 a month rent and high utility bills and expensive food and no medical, what could go wrong?

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Of course the destruction of these far right groups regarding Public Education has been devastating .

But people are beginning to see the deep sickness in this movement and are looking to counter it. And yes they ( wealthy)

definitely have the funds to destroy democracy, of which education is central .

But we on the left are on to them and collectively need to reproach them always.

The public has heard the authoritarian lies that have been flying around for many years.

Trump is the glue that made any lie, no matter how extreme , hold together the misfits of society .

Namely the wealthiest

most blatant robber barons.

Who care only for their own grandiose selves, to step all over people who are insisting on a democratic system of government, including quality education available to all.

I think those who love and support freedom are in place to protect and clean up disastrous abuses by these fake Christians.

We must .

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Iowa has a school voucher program too.

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The libertarian and conservatives have never met a middle-man they didn't want to force us to PAY. And pay we will, just like with our healthcare or should I say insurance care system.

"Organized" religions suck at providing spiritual guidance, not to mention getting their rank and file to follow their own tenets.

All I can think about are the children that truly have no one "in their corner". Who's going to school-shop for them?

What happens when your local private, charter, or church school goes out of business? I'd like the TRUTH about whether their results are significantly different. I don't buy it.

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