BE WARNED! This is a reaction piece. Not a ton of thought went into this one. This is “gut Lawrence” you’re getting here.
Aggressive Ignorance. I actually never heard that before I thought of it. I HAVE heard “Assertive Ignorance” once, but in my experience, ignorance tends to be aggressive.
Politicians tend to be ignorant. What some of them know is how to get elected. They may learn the exercise of power. Many will not.
But that isn’t really what I’m talking about today. Today’s topic is aggressive ignorance. I think that ignorance gained a toehold in our nation a LONG time ago. Some famous Americans were incredibly ignorant, and aggressive about it. Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford, Walt Disney. All of them. In their case, though, let’s substitute the word BIGOT for ignorant because their subset of ignorance was aimed at groups of people: black, Jewish, Catholic, hell, FAT people for all I know, which means me. Today’s administration is violently ignorant. Thousands of people have lost their livelihoods because of the bloated worm in office, not to mention its pustulant nazi toady (btw, not that this is connected to anything, but FUCK TESLA!!! Okay, THAT having been said . . .).
Is there bloat in our federal government? Yep.
Are there misguided pedagogical philosophies in our Department of Education? Yep (Oh, and I was a teacher. I taught everything from 1st graded to junior college, and everything from basic science to film and literature, so don’t talk to me about pedagogy! I breathed it for decades!).
Am I 100% okay with how our international aid goes out? Nope. Or at least probably not. I don’t know how it all goes down to the dollar.
SIDE NOTE: We won’t be able to say, “down to the penny” for much longer if the Second nazi has its way! No more pennies.
But is gutting the federal government the way to cut the bloat? Cutting thousands of jobs (resulting in plane crashes!!!)? Dismantling the Department of Education? At the very least, where are all the dollars from the Dept. of Ed going to go? Wait! I KNOW WHERE!! Tax cuts for billionaires! For the first and second nazi and all their ilk.
And now, now, Americans with student loan debt, some with CRIPPLING student loan debt are going to have to pay up to $200 more PER MONTH?
Okay, here we go with the aggressive ignorance thing from your “average American”, or, shall I say, your “average Murkan”.
A neighbor, a big time supporter of the cheez whiz-ard in charge, thinks it’s only fair and right that those lazy-ass college pukes should pay more! Like my friend who is in graduate school for social work? SHE’LL be making the BIG BUCKS right? She can afford it! I guess I’m lucky to be on social security, at least until the second nazi gets his hands on it, in that my student loan payments are income driven. I made my payments until I wasn’t making any money.
Actual cuts that have been made:
Second nazi has cut over $1,000,000,000 (yes, that is a BILLION dollars) to the Dept. of Education. Aren’t you glad our kids won’t be benefiting from that money? HOORAY!! Let’s keep them ignorant AND stupid!! Here’s a little piece about those cuts from a Newsweek article: “Some of the biggest were for long-term studies that track students’ learning from kindergarten through high school, a study evaluating strategies for teaching elementary school reading and research on the effectiveness of support for young people with disabilities, the AP reported, citing a list of the cuts it obtained. Also being cut is a study exploring how to accelerate math learning for students in fourth and fifth grade, the AP said.” (source https://www.newsweek.com/cuts-made-department-education-billion-dollars-cuts-savings-jobs-2029795)

The only way we are going to learn how and what best to teach our children is by studying the results. Going back to chalkboards and slates is NOT the answer. Canceling the studies that will enable us to give the children of the USA a fighting chance. A fighting chance. Funny I should use those words. Do I really think the wealthy of our nation WANT the children of this nation to succeed? No. They want THEIR children and the children of other “deserving” families (ie other billionaires’ children) to succeed. But what they DO want for the “lesser” children is for them, are you ready? Can you guess? I’ll give you a hint . . . what, historically, has been the most secure legal job for poor kids in the USA through history? Come on . . . Okay, the armed forces. How many millionaires’ or billionaires’ kids were on the line in Vietnam? The Gulf War? In Afghanistan or Iraq?
It’s a vicious, vicious cycle. Keep them ignorant, uneducated, untaught HOW to think . . . when they mature, there’s really only one avenue: the armed forces (not for all, but for many). Once there, use them up. Send them to hell and say it’s “For Freedom!” “For MURKA!” But really? It’s “So MY son doesn’t have to go!” and “Because MY kids are worth MORE than you!” But you’ll never ever hear that. Because they want you ignorant.