Daily Archives: March 19, 2017

Adam Mansbach: You know even the term "political correctness" at this point I feel like has been compromised, has been diluted, and means different things to different people in a way that is counterproductive. I would vote to retire the term entirely. I guess where I fall is, on one hand if you are whining about the way that political correctness and some culture of respect prevents you from being an asshole, then youre an asshole. If the political correctness of the world stops you, impinges your freedom of speech and prevention from being misogynistic, homophobic, racistthen fuck you, basically. I guess thats ultimately where I fall on it.

I dont really know any artists, any creative folks who feel like some restrictive culture is preventing them from doing their art, you know. The people I see are flourishing in this space. I think respect is important. I think calling people by the words and the names and the pronouns that they choose for themselves is critical. Theres no reason in any sense to do otherwise that I can think of.

But I feel like the term itself, as far back as the 90s, was being bandied about in this spirit of mockery, and I remember books being published, like The Politically Correct Handbook and like things that just take it to a level of absurdity.

The simple ideathat people of various marginalized discriminated against groups were claiming ownership of the words used to describe themwas taken and satirized and made absurd by the right, a group of people who are not known for their sense of humor. And it became kind of a battering ram. Like Oh, you know, we cant say blah, blah, blah. And like Well you cant say short anymore, you have to say vertically challenged. And it was very deliberate.

I mean it was part of the war around language which is a very critical part of political discourse. The control of terminology is really, really important in the way that peoples views are shaped. And its something that the right has had a lock on surprisingly for a pretty long time, you know. Pro-life sounds good but isnt. But the way that the words and the phrases and the terminology shape the debate is really critical. So the term in my mind goes back to that and yeah, at this point I think we could probably put it to death and come up with something better.

Excerpt from:

Why It's Time to Retire the Term "Political Correctness" | Big Think - Big Think

For those still unsure whether the nations public school system could use a reset, consider the recent news from New York.

Four years ago, the state introduced a literacy exam for prospective teachers and for good reason. Studies show that an effective, quality teacher is one of the most important factors when it comes to student achievement. They also reveal that too many education colleges accept students with subpar academic records. A 2016 report by the National Council on Teacher Quality found that 44 percent of the teacher preparation programs it surveyed accepted students from the bottom half of their high school classes, the Associated Press reported this week.

New Yorks Academic Literacy Skills Test was designed to ensure that those charged with educating the states children had acquired basic reading and writing skills.

The test results have been astounding. The AP notes that just 46 percent of Hispanics, 41 percent of African-Americans and 64 percent of white candidates passed the exam on the first try. The fact that virtually half of those seeking to become educators couldnt successfully navigate a test that the New York Post described as something a high school senior should be able to pass is another stunning indictment of teacher prep programs.

All of this, however, is apparently of no concern to New York education officials. Instead of applauding the examinations for identifying teachers who were likely to struggle in the classroom, the state Board of Regents on Monday voted to abolish the test requirement altogether thanks to the racial disparity reflected in the scores.

This is political correctness run amok. Certainly the state should strive to implement ways to improve the performance of minority candidates or to lure better minority students to the profession. But turning a blind eye to reality in an effort to promote diversity is to condemn thousands of New York kids to classrooms led by teachers ill-prepared for the rigors of the job.

Obviously, its not really about the children. Who knew?

This guest editorial was published by the Panama City News Herald, a Daily News sister paper with GateHouse Media.

See the original post here:

EDITORIAL: Political correctness runs amok in New York - Holmes County Times Advertiser

For those still unsure whether the nations public school system could use a reset, consider the recent news from New York.

Four years ago, the state introduced a literacy exam for prospective teachers and for good reason. Studies show that an effective, quality teacher is one of the most important factors when it comes to student achievement. They also reveal that too many education colleges accept students with subpar academic records. A 2016 report by the National Council on Teacher Quality found that 44 percent of the teacher preparation programs it surveyed accepted students from the bottom half of their high school classes, the Associated Press reported this week.

New Yorks Academic Literacy Skills Test was designed to ensure that those charged with educating the states children had acquired basic reading and writing skills.

The test results have been astounding. The AP notes that just 46 percent of Hispanics, 41 percent of African-Americans and 64 percent of white candidates passed the exam on the first try. The fact that virtually half of those seeking to become educators couldnt successfully navigate a test that the New York Post described as something a high school senior should be able to pass is another stunning indictment of teacher prep programs.

All of this, however, is apparently of no concern to New York education officials. Instead of applauding the examinations for identifying teachers who were likely to struggle in the classroom, the state Board of Regents on Monday voted to abolish the test requirement altogether thanks to the racial disparity reflected in the scores.

This is political correctness run amok. Certainly the state should strive to implement ways to improve the performance of minority candidates or to lure better minority students to the profession. But turning a blind eye to reality in an effort to promote diversity is to condemn thousands of New York kids to classrooms led by teachers ill-prepared for the rigors of the job.

Obviously, its not really about the children. Who knew?

This guest editorial was published by the Panama City News Herald, a Daily News sister paper with GateHouse Media.

Read more here:

EDITORIAL: Political correctness runs amok in New York - News ... - Santa Rosa Press Gazette

Fresno Bee

Drop the political correctness. We all make jokes Fresno Bee Steve Wayte, owner of Roll One For Mi, a sushi restaurant in northeast Fresno, addresses the media over comments he made on Facebook during a press conference outside the business March 12 in Fresno. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA The Fresno Bee.

Read the original here:

Drop the political correctness. We all make jokes - Fresno Bee

I was at my weekly watercolor class when, across the table, a woman said, I dont even know anyone who voted for Trump.

I do, I replied.

I wasnt kidding. My Chinese Dietician, an educated woman, voted for Trump. Many Filipinos I know also did. Some friends of friends in Nevada are ardent Trump supporters.

Why? Because Democrats are failing to speak to them in a nuanced way about complex issues. Take immigration for example. Many citizens, including Democrats, have complicated feelings about the topic. Immigration should be managed, they believe. To have completely open borders is just not realistic. They want to be compassionate and humane, but they also want to be rational.

Yet, after suffering a humiliating defeat in the general election, what was the Democrats first instinct? To double down on sanctuary cities.

This kind of bunker mentality does not serve as a substitute for policy, particularly in Middle America. No wonder the Democrats lost!

And dont tell me that Hillary won the popular vote, that without the interference of James Comey, Vladimir Putin, and Julian Assange, she would have pulled through, that sexism was to blame.

The truth is, beating Trump should have been a cakewalk.

Dont also tell me that Republicans blocked immigration overhaul; Obama could have pushed his agenda through during the first two years when he had a Congressional majority.

If Democrats dont stop making excuses, they will lose the next election, and the next election, and the election after that.

The trouble is, Democrats joined the Republicans long ago in handing over the country to Wall Street and industry. I was aghast recently when a friend told me of a sweetheart deal a well-known high tech giant had offered a twenty-something from India. Details escape me, but the starting pay was way higher than salaries at which most professionals retire.

If the industry had that kind of money to throw around, I wondered, why did it not do more to help Americas youth train for jobs of the future? Why was it that, after enjoying the infrastructure provided by Silicon Valley taxpayers, the company was not giving more back to the community?

Why were Democratic politicians not demanding more from the industry? Why were liberals not pushing for reforms in our education system, which failed to produce the kind of workers that the industry of tomorrow needed, while half way across the world, Indian tech institutes were fine-tuning their graduates to a t? Why was American K-12 education run by a low-paid workforce and consisted of a hodgepodge of liberal arts information? Why could a few symbol manipulators become millionaires and billionaires while the rest of us could not even earn a living wage?

I posted something along these lines on Facebook during my post-election despondency. The vitriol I received was unbelievable. I was labeled a racist, a sexist, a xenophobe and a Trumpian. I had to get off social media.

Yet, just the other day, an Indian-American friend, a staunch liberal, voiced similar sentiments, perhaps because her own child is struggling. I am afraid of talking about this; people will think I am a right wing reactionary, she added.

And that is the crux of the problem. People cannot even talk about their feelings of resentment and unfairness, let alone explore social and political remedies. Whats worse, Democratic politicians like Pelosi and Clinton dont see the angst, perhaps because they are the elite whose children havent experienced it.

I realize I am treading on thin ground as I write these words, that I am in danger of being misunderstood.

But I do believe that young people who were born here, who have nowhere else to go, who are living with their parents because their jobs dont pay them enough to cover the rent, should be a priority over people who want to come here. Only in a terribly lopsided world would we allow our industry to be so lazy as to do otherwise.

Does saying so make me a xenophobe? Or does it make me a patriot and a realist?

Even Bernie Sanders acknowledges that immigrant workers depress local wages. Right in our backyard, the University of California at San Francisco just announced a move of its information technology work to India, for example. Even as we hear stories of the displacement of American workers, we hear about high tech immigrants being underpaid. And all the while, a few others build mansions.

So, I want to ask Democratic politicians a question that has been roiling around in my head since November 8. How did Trump know what plagued the American working class? Sitting in his golden tower on Fifth Avenue, how did he feel the pulse of America? And why and how did the Democrats fail to sense it?

Dont get me wrong. I think Trump is a narcissistic power monger who is about to curb our civil rights, our press, and our judiciary. Whats worse, without regard to morality or the future of the planet, Republicans are abetting him for their own selfish gains.

This is why Democrats need to talk to middle America right now about these complex issues. They need to stop viewing the Midwestern voters through the prism of their old ideas and listen and see what is really plaguing them. They need to distinguish themselves from the Republicans by showing that they really do stand for the little guy.

Sarita Sarvate (www.saritasarvate.com) has published commentaries for New America Media, KQED FM, San Jose Mercury News, the Oakland Tribune, and many nationwide publications.

View original post here:

Trump is Right: Democrats' Political Correctness Is To Blame - India Currents