Embracing Crazy, Part I

IT BEARS REPEATING: The big problem with America is not merely Donald Trump, and the Trump movement, athough that is certainly a big enough problem. Nor is the problem merely the Republican party, horrible problem though that is.The G.O.P. has clearly morphed into a criminal, terrorist organization. The problem is bigger still. The problem is the agenda, the core beliefs and values, of contemporary American conservatism. Consider this: in red state after red state, far right wing extremist legislatures are making it illegal to acknowledge or even mention the existence of gay and LGBTQ people in public schools. Why? Because to do so,according to conservatives,is promoting a gay and LGBTQ culture and lifestyle, indoctrinating students in favor of it. Discrimination, preferential treatment for a minority, it seems. You can't make this stuff up, as we say. Same with racism. It must never be mentioned, its existence never acknowledged, in the public schools in any state dominated by Republicans and conservative ideology. Why? Because to do so would be to run the risk of making white students feel uncomfortable, or guilty, or ashamed. That's why books like "To Kill A Mockingbird" and "Native Son" are being banned; they might make crackers feel "uncomfortable". Oh, heaven forbid that! We must surely protect the fragile feelings of American white children, precious little conservative snowflakes! Hint: the very reason, message, and purpose of Harper Lee's classic novel is to do precisely that: to make people feel uncomfortable, to educate people,to make people think and question their own beliefs and vlues. Likewise, these same red states are passing laws banning the teaching of inclusion, equality, and acceptance of all people, races, cultures, ethnicities, and sexual orientations in public school lessons. To support teaching inclusion in schools requires accepting the reality that inclusion needs to be taught, that we as a society need to encourage it, that we remain a society which has insufficient levels of equality and inclusion. Heaven forbid. Conservative extremists, meaning mainstream conservatives, claim that such lessons are divisive, because they acknolwedge, and thus encourage differences, divisions among people. In reality, obviously such differences really do exist, and the problem is not their existence, but our reaction to them, and the way we treat different people. Conservatives would prefer to pretend that such differences simply do not exist, giving them an excuse to do nothing about eliminating the societal exclusion, which is also very real, based upon these differences. White privilege really exists, whether we admit it or not. White privilege can continue only of we allow it by ignoring it, and that is the conservative preference. No legislation forbidding knowledge is needed or wanted by reasonable people. Legislation intended to make people ignorant is malignant, evil. Teachers, administrators, parents and students are capable of deciding what to talk about in and out of school, without government meddling. Especially teachers and students. They're smart. Let them decide. Republicans, supposedly champions of limited government, suddenly prefer big government intervention when they feel their agenda is treatened. Their agenda, inherently wrong, is what needs to be eliminated, not education.