Banning CRT

Uncategorized

…of course I’ve been reading about this ad Infinitum as you have. CRT is mad, bad, and dangerous to know. But WTF IS it?
if we don’t know, how can we ban it?
History is a huge, impenetrable labyrinth of facts. To tell a story, Or to reduce it to some narrative of which you can form a useful memory, you have to choose what to emphasize.
We all know, and we’ve always known, that most of the Founding Fathers owned slaves. You’d think from some voices on the Left that this fact had been covered up, but it never was, right? It’s just, we used to view it like: isn’t it wonderful that although they came from that class and culture, they were able to draft documents like the Declaration and the Constitution, sturdy temples to Liberty which have proven able to accommodate her as she grew and matured.

From that same fact (the slave owning) CRT a deduces that the Founders were racist bigots and their aspirational freedoms were only for white men.

But the thing is, in both views, there is only ONE “fact”: the slave ownership. How we view it and how they view it are opinions. Are we gonna ban people from expressing opinions they form about historical facts?

I think we can ban “race-shaming”, like making the white kids in an elementary school class apologize en masse to the black kids. For one thing that’s an action, and for another, the First Amendment protects our right not to be forced to profess anything.

But can we ban teachers from quoting portions of Lincoln’s stump speeches in which he personally comes off as a bigot? Assuming the historical source is accurately quoted, how can we ban mention of it? Or will we just say okay he said these things so you can teach or assign them—but you can’t tell your students that Lincoln was a white supremacist. And you can’t teach that there is such a thing as white supremacy.

in other words, how can we “ban” certain people’s worldview?

Much as I hate CRT and would love to return to the days when our schools taught “civic pride”, I simply don’t think we can accomplish that by any governmental prohibition.

Unknown's avatar

Published by Hypatia

Published

24 thoughts on “Banning CRT”

  1. Homeschooling, school choice, put parents in charge of what their children are taught. Until recently, most parents didn’t seem to be interested, but between Covid and CRT, that is changing, Thank God!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

  2. CRT is an unprovable yet ridiculous opinion. It does not even rise to the level of a theory. Yet we tie ourselves up into innumerable knots over it instead of merely stating the obvious truths about racism.

    P.S. Being white in Thailand does not mean you are in the majority.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

      2. Just sayen’ and many other expressions they heard from me first, but they used to be more subtle about plagiarizing me. It is now more in my face. I suppose they would rather focus their hate on me than get off their arses and do something about the State of the Union.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. The more backstory I read on your fraught relationship with R> and its denizens, the more I realize they can’t get used to losin’ you, as the song sez. This will be over when you and we Ettes are all dead. (So, like, not for decades, I hope! ) As Yeats wrote:

        “A girl I had and she followed another,
        Money I had and it went in the night—
        Strong drink I had and it brought me to sorrow,
        But a good strong cause and blows are delight!”

        Liked by 2 people

  3. Local school boards; state boards of education, parents who monitored ‘remote learning’ by their kiddos during CCP-virus lockdowns, are all starting to push back. Don’t lose hope yet, Hypatia!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  5. “History is a huge, impenetrable labyrinth of facts. To tell a story, Or to reduce it to some narrative of which you can form a useful memory, you have to choose what to emphasize.”

    I do know that the infamous story we were all told as kids about Washington and the cherry tree is most definitely not in the curriculum today! I don’t care if it was merely a myth but served as a perfect metaphor for the private virtues that contributed to his public greatness.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

  6. The cherry tree story did so serve. I would consider that a “legend”and I think as you say, everybody knows it may not be true, can’t be proven to be true, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is li’l Georgie’s solemn, “I cannot tell a lie”. CRT isn’t going after such legends, they’re beneath its notice. It’s going after the idea that the founders actually believed in freedom and equality. We have the Dec and the Const to prove they SAID so. From their words, you and I conclude that they believed it; CRT contends they were a buncha hypocrites. And the fact is both of those beliefs are just opinions. Neither side knows what they were thinking or “really” intended.

    Liked by 4 people

    Reply

      1. Red hot coals upon their heads – no?

        I usually pray that they get what they deserve from karma both in this life and after death. Amen

        Liked by 2 people

  11. BTW we say ‘long’ r0w to hoe because they were all tough and hard. I know because I have ch0pped more cotton than any living human being other than my mom and perhaps my older bro.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.