Charlie, I'm going to challenge you on three things.
1. What exactly does the term 'woke' mean in the context that you're using it? Being 'too woke' doesn't make any sense, because being 'woke' is a descriptor. It's like trying to say a car is too 'metal.' You can't make it more metal. Either you are or you are not. And in the context yo…
Charlie, I'm going to challenge you on three things.
1. What exactly does the term 'woke' mean in the context that you're using it? Being 'too woke' doesn't make any sense, because being 'woke' is a descriptor. It's like trying to say a car is too 'metal.' You can't make it more metal. Either you are or you are not. And in the context you're using it, it sounds like you just mean 'everything that I don't like is woke.' Which I believe the newsletter from Tom Nichols you linked a few days ago would have something to say about.
2. On the matter of the mural, have you SEEN it? It depicts pretty stereotypical interactions between white settlers and native americans, you know, the ones those settlers then genocided. As soon as I saw it, I went 'oh, now I see why they wanted that removed.' That said, my opinion is the same as it was on those people who removed the statue of Jefferson; a free people can decide what they want around. I don't really care one way or another if they keep or remove it. And I'm not sure it's morally good or bad to keep or remove it either.
3. The main thing I want to point out is this: if they're being slagged for 'not keeping schools open' you might as well close down the bulwark and retire. Why? Because as far as I can find, the last time schools in San Francisco were closed was in August, meaning six months ago. If people are voting NOW about things that happened THEN, then nothing you or anyone else says has any actual importance anymore. I don't mean that in a hostile way. I mean that we have reached a point now where people's attitudes are set, and new information does not settle in. They're mad NOW about things that are so far in the past, that they are no longer happening.
It also means that no advice you or anyone else can give has any importance or merit, because it means that people are already set in stone about where they are. Again, if people are mad that schools were closed six months ago and haven't been closed since, but are mad about 'lockdowns' then we have reached a point where people are no longer reachable in any rational way. We have reached a point where everyone is mad about covid restrictions, but there really aren't any restrictions anymore anywhere.
As an aside, noticed you didn't say anything about your friend Youngkin passing a law in Virginia banning masks in schools. Guess when Democrats overreach, it's a catastrophe, but when the GOP uses the power of the state to stop localities from doing what they think is best, you're very quiet. But then, that's the paradox isn't it?
If things like the Bulwark and others have power to change minds, then they're spending their time supporting the GOP by being anti-anti-GOP. If they don't, then nothing they write matters, so they can write whatever they want.
But I can't help but think you would be better off if you tried to cut this Gordian knot, because again, if people are voting about how people acted months or years ago into the pandemic, then we might as well stop covering politics, because people no longer actually care about what's going on now, and are instead living perpetually in a fantasy world of their own making.
I don't understand the logic of your comment about school closing being "in the past" so why vote on this now. That's like saying "Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, but it's 2004 now so don't hold it against him." The decisions to keep schools closed in 2021 showed an astounding lack of sound judgment or concern for the wellbeing of children, with disastrous repercussions that are becoming more apparent as time goes by. It is perfectly reasonable to recall anyone complicit in those decisions today or at any point in the future.
Thanks for writing this post. While I support the Bulwark pointing out issues that the Democrats are not doing well, I sometimes think that there is a superficial reaction to that as are some of the points made in this Morning Shots as you point out. The lockdown comment particular resonates.
The thing is, I also support the Bulwark, that's why I subscribe to them. But it's also why I feel like readers should challenge them when they feel that things are somewhat off. The purpose of the Bulwark in the Trump years was simple: oppose him and his ilk. Because they were bad.
The thing that really sticks out to me about this one is that, well, you have two possible outcomes: either voters are entirely divorced for reality, to the point that political commentary no longer serves a purpose, or we have to look at things as they are, which is that democrats actually police their own when they feel they step out of line. Which should be a good thing.
Perhaps it's just me, I live on the east coast, and schools normally open in late august. So I can only imagine that schools have been open and thus not locked down elsewhere, if august was the last 'lockdown.'
The mural was painted in 1936 under the WPA artists program by Victor Arnautoff, the life long socialist who later returned to the Soviet Union. He evidently wished to depict the truth about colonial expansion, chattel enslavement and the slaughter of indigenous peoples.
I mean, that might have been true in 1936. I just looked at it and went 'yeah, I see why they wanted to cover that up.' But again, I don't particularly care one way or the other; I don't have skin in that game, and I figure people can decide who and how they want to venerate things.
Charlie, I'm going to challenge you on three things.
1. What exactly does the term 'woke' mean in the context that you're using it? Being 'too woke' doesn't make any sense, because being 'woke' is a descriptor. It's like trying to say a car is too 'metal.' You can't make it more metal. Either you are or you are not. And in the context you're using it, it sounds like you just mean 'everything that I don't like is woke.' Which I believe the newsletter from Tom Nichols you linked a few days ago would have something to say about.
2. On the matter of the mural, have you SEEN it? It depicts pretty stereotypical interactions between white settlers and native americans, you know, the ones those settlers then genocided. As soon as I saw it, I went 'oh, now I see why they wanted that removed.' That said, my opinion is the same as it was on those people who removed the statue of Jefferson; a free people can decide what they want around. I don't really care one way or another if they keep or remove it. And I'm not sure it's morally good or bad to keep or remove it either.
3. The main thing I want to point out is this: if they're being slagged for 'not keeping schools open' you might as well close down the bulwark and retire. Why? Because as far as I can find, the last time schools in San Francisco were closed was in August, meaning six months ago. If people are voting NOW about things that happened THEN, then nothing you or anyone else says has any actual importance anymore. I don't mean that in a hostile way. I mean that we have reached a point now where people's attitudes are set, and new information does not settle in. They're mad NOW about things that are so far in the past, that they are no longer happening.
It also means that no advice you or anyone else can give has any importance or merit, because it means that people are already set in stone about where they are. Again, if people are mad that schools were closed six months ago and haven't been closed since, but are mad about 'lockdowns' then we have reached a point where people are no longer reachable in any rational way. We have reached a point where everyone is mad about covid restrictions, but there really aren't any restrictions anymore anywhere.
As an aside, noticed you didn't say anything about your friend Youngkin passing a law in Virginia banning masks in schools. Guess when Democrats overreach, it's a catastrophe, but when the GOP uses the power of the state to stop localities from doing what they think is best, you're very quiet. But then, that's the paradox isn't it?
If things like the Bulwark and others have power to change minds, then they're spending their time supporting the GOP by being anti-anti-GOP. If they don't, then nothing they write matters, so they can write whatever they want.
But I can't help but think you would be better off if you tried to cut this Gordian knot, because again, if people are voting about how people acted months or years ago into the pandemic, then we might as well stop covering politics, because people no longer actually care about what's going on now, and are instead living perpetually in a fantasy world of their own making.
I don't understand the logic of your comment about school closing being "in the past" so why vote on this now. That's like saying "Bush invaded Iraq in 2003, but it's 2004 now so don't hold it against him." The decisions to keep schools closed in 2021 showed an astounding lack of sound judgment or concern for the wellbeing of children, with disastrous repercussions that are becoming more apparent as time goes by. It is perfectly reasonable to recall anyone complicit in those decisions today or at any point in the future.
Hindsight is always 20 / 20.
Thanks for writing this post. While I support the Bulwark pointing out issues that the Democrats are not doing well, I sometimes think that there is a superficial reaction to that as are some of the points made in this Morning Shots as you point out. The lockdown comment particular resonates.
The thing is, I also support the Bulwark, that's why I subscribe to them. But it's also why I feel like readers should challenge them when they feel that things are somewhat off. The purpose of the Bulwark in the Trump years was simple: oppose him and his ilk. Because they were bad.
The thing that really sticks out to me about this one is that, well, you have two possible outcomes: either voters are entirely divorced for reality, to the point that political commentary no longer serves a purpose, or we have to look at things as they are, which is that democrats actually police their own when they feel they step out of line. Which should be a good thing.
My son is a substitute teacher in Orange county and schools have open since August
Perhaps it's just me, I live on the east coast, and schools normally open in late august. So I can only imagine that schools have been open and thus not locked down elsewhere, if august was the last 'lockdown.'
The mural was painted in 1936 under the WPA artists program by Victor Arnautoff, the life long socialist who later returned to the Soviet Union. He evidently wished to depict the truth about colonial expansion, chattel enslavement and the slaughter of indigenous peoples.
I mean, that might have been true in 1936. I just looked at it and went 'yeah, I see why they wanted to cover that up.' But again, I don't particularly care one way or the other; I don't have skin in that game, and I figure people can decide who and how they want to venerate things.
Well put.