May 11, 2021

K&R

The whole "history won't be kind to them" meaningless/bullshit foreboding admonishment gets a raised eyebrow from me too. Like they give a fuck about what history has to say about them. Once a deed is done, all history can do is write about it. How it is written about can be manipulated. Facts can either be left out or so grossly distorted as to make them meaningless. They can be completely changed. Myths and lies can pass as history. Sure, the truth is out there. But so is a lot of garbage.

A society reaches an agreed upon narrative, however that agreement came about, and the truth doesn't matter one whit as long as enough people are willing to support/overlook or comply with the lie.

Just look at how the line between fact and opinion has been erased in certain quarters. Look at the media will say, "These are the facts" and in their next breath say "Now here is so-and-so to give their opposing opinion of the facts".

A fact is a fact regardless of anyone's opinion. An opinion is not the equal to a fact. The truth remains the truth no matter who walks around in angry disbelief.

Unless the lies win. Unless the lies are allowed to stand. Society can be shaped by lies. Entire nations can be built around a lie. By agreed upon (false) narratives.

Relying on history to correct any of that is ludicrous. Thinking history will sort all that out is madness.

Every right-wing Dinesh, Sean, and Karl writes what some claim to be history.

The Texas Board of Education changes history with a vote - and if falsehoods are taught as history then it will be the falsehoods that become the history - and their (Texas Board of Education) reach extends far outside of Texas when it comes to history textbooks - millions of children nationwide get the conservative agreed upon narrative of history and not the actual facts.

History won't treat them well? If they're writing it, it will.


Thank you, Tom Tomorrow.

May 5, 2021

A governing body legislating against the teaching of systemic racism and sexism

is an example of systemic racism and sexism.

Denial of systemic bigotry as an opinion is one thing - regardless of how uninformed, egregious, and just plain wrong said opinion is.

For legislative bodies to create laws to decree systemic bigotry a non-issue or untrue IS part and parcel to systemic bigotry.

It is the same systems that imposed - through laws - a structure of racism, sexism, homophobia, and laws favoring one religion over another (as in colonial times - and it did happen, look it up - and still exists with every single insistence that America is a Christian nation) that is now creating laws imposing denial of that same systemic bigotry as a legal standard.

This point is driven home by this current Arkansas law -

Removing from state governmental agencies (in this case) the ability to train against racism and sexism because they can't talk about the systemic nature of both - within the system of government - a government - either federal, state, or local - that imposed those systemic restrictions to begin with.