It is now bad to cheer for the USA in California
Link here. The story is about how the principal of a local high school sent an email to the families of all students telling them that they should reconsider chanting “USA!” at sports events, as such chants might offend some.
The school’s principal sent out an email to families, Wednesday and relayed the same message to students over the school’s PA system, clarifying any confusion.
She told students and parents that sometimes “We can communicate an unintended message.” She also said USA chanting is welcome, but it may be best to do it at what she says are appropriate times, like following the national anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance. School officials worry the chants could come across as intolerant and offensive to some.
You see, to these California officials, the United States is essentially an evil and racist nation whose only past achievement was to enslave minorities. To show pride in this country is to show pride in this vision, and they want to make sure their students all know this.
What a slander and lie. To me, this position not only illustrates the utter ignorance of these school officials, but their hatred of all things American. If I had a kid in this school I would now be homeschooling them.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Link here. The story is about how the principal of a local high school sent an email to the families of all students telling them that they should reconsider chanting “USA!” at sports events, as such chants might offend some.
The school’s principal sent out an email to families, Wednesday and relayed the same message to students over the school’s PA system, clarifying any confusion.
She told students and parents that sometimes “We can communicate an unintended message.” She also said USA chanting is welcome, but it may be best to do it at what she says are appropriate times, like following the national anthem or the Pledge of Allegiance. School officials worry the chants could come across as intolerant and offensive to some.
You see, to these California officials, the United States is essentially an evil and racist nation whose only past achievement was to enslave minorities. To show pride in this country is to show pride in this vision, and they want to make sure their students all know this.
What a slander and lie. To me, this position not only illustrates the utter ignorance of these school officials, but their hatred of all things American. If I had a kid in this school I would now be homeschooling them.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Umm, er. So go ahead and homeschool your kids. And at hourly intervals, no doubt, you’ll march them around the block, while shouting out “USA!” at the top of their lungs. Because that’s “education” in the modern world.
Doesn’t it strike you — possibly? — that there is something … not just silly, but seriously whacko — about people screaming “USA! USA!” at a high school sporting event? For that matter, what’s with this stuff about “Friday’s football game, where the theme is USA pride.”?
Huh? WTF? I used to go to high school basketball games, and the cheer leaders waved their pompoms and chanted “Barry! Barry! He’s our man!” and waved their arms while we kids shouted “Come on Beavers, Skin the Gators!” And that struck me, then and now, as enough partisanship for any sensible person at a friggin’ high school basketball game.
It annoys you, I gather. You want those kids and parents hollering out “USA!” at every opportunity because you’re a decent respectible American patriot who thinks other decent folks share your feelings and should be free to express them. Dandy. Suppose instead a high school basketball or football game where the cheering goes “Come on, Trannies! Stick it to those straights! Slip it in! Slip it in!” Would that strike you as normal, or even admirable behavior for teen age kids and their parents? Or would you find it repellant and give serious thought to how a political message so … unbalanced … had somehow become embedded in what is really entertainment for children?
Do you start to get my gut feeling about kids shouting “USA!” at a football game?
Mike Shupp: You miss my point completely. I ain’t advocating the chanting of USA. I am noting the obvious dislike for the United States that is repeatedly exhibited by modern college educated educators. If I was running this school, this would simply be a non-issue. If the kids want to show pride in their country, sure. If they want to cheer only for their team, sure. It ain’t my business to try to squelch these somewhat petty activities.
These people however are truly offended when someone says something like “Let’s make America great again.” The key question is why, and to me, it comes down to a deep-seated hatred of all things American. I saw this when I was getting my masters degree at NYU in the 1990s, and I see this continually when I have to deal with modern academics.
That is my point. I am sorry you missed it.
The reason why they don’t like chants of USA is that they think immigrants, legal and illegal, find it offensive. I am sure some of them may. We do see lots of Mexican flags waved at immigration rallies and students are inculcated in the hatred of the USA.
But why would anyone who wanted to move here be offended by chanting USA? Presumably, they view themselves as Americans and not citizens of another country. If they hate the USA, why move, or stay, here?
Let’s say the supporters for one team started chanting USA. The correct response if for supporters of the other team to also chant USA, not outlaw speech, engage in racist attacks, or engage in anti-American behavior.
Its like the old chant, “We got spirit yes we do. We got spirit how ’bout you?”
Returning the USA chant would actually show good natured sportsmanship.
Competing over who can yell the loudest is a better competition than who can come up with the best rhyming insult.
Hmm. I partially see your point — I don’t think there’s a way to just will ourselves into being “a great nation” — and I’ve taken a better look at the original website and I admit, it makes me sigh.
No, it’s not a case of anti-American educators trying to shut down patriotic students. It’s a case of soft minded educators concerned the rude voices of their student snowflakes will cause anguish to other snowflakes — who aren’t visible in any direction yet but who might possibly appear in the future. Groan!
Can we agree on being scornful of this sort of squishiness?
With that outlook, how long before the Pledge or Anthem is forbidden? For fear of triggering someone?
Mike Shupp: We can definitely agree on scorn for all this. I don’t know your experience, however. Mine, in the academic and intellectual work, makes me firmly believe that it isn’t merely “soft-minded educators” wishing to prevent some students from being offended. I have experienced first hand the hate the modern academic community has for America and its values. Trust me, this is an underlying aspect of their actions here.
https://www.obama.org/
Black Lives Matter, ANTIFA, “Safe Spaces”, “Trigger words”, Anti Free speech Fascist Fascists (that’s a good one), Soros funding, “Experiments In Modern Citizenship” etc. etc. Why argue over the details you can see and not first identify where the movement comes from and where they intend to go?
Not that Obama invented it all, but he has been a catalyst and has given the masses or true believers the vehicle and permission to act more overtly, even violently, and he endeavors to lead it in some manner.
Out of sight, out of mind.
Mr. Zimmerman —
I’m older, I gather. I was in college back in the mid to late 1960’s, working on an engineering degree. I met a fair number of students and professors who took objection to the Viet Nam War. An actually horrendous number, to be honest. People hated the war. People hated the politicians who had brought about the war. People hated the economic and political and social systems which they thought underlaid such a war. And so on — we were all very involved with this, as you’ve probably heard.
But the thing is, these academics weren’t anti-American as such. People were scornful of particular senators, for example; they didn’t demand that the Senate be abolished. They snarled about Coca Cola wanting to make profits in southeast Asia, while drinking Coca Cola themselves. They accused defense contractors of profiting from the war, but never dreamed of reducing the number of such firms. Nobody ever argued that senior generals and admirals were stupid. No one referred to the war as genocide — even after the My Lai Massacre came to light.
And so on. People were against the war, not the nation. Later on, at the end of the 1990s I was at another university, working on a masters degree in anthropology. Again, I didn’t see much anti-American sentiment. Some alienation perhaps, some willingness to stand on the outside so to speak and observe society critically, but that’s basically how anthropologists are supposed to operate. It wasn’t hatred.
So. I don’t think of myself as foolish or ill-educated, but I haven’t shared your experiences.
Mike Shupp: I am only a little younger than you. My experience in college in the early 1970s was very similar to yours. My previous comment was referring to my experiences since, beginning in the 1990s. Practically every publisher, editor, academic, and Washington policy think tank I have had to deal with has reeked with a dislike of the U.S. that sometimes bordered on outright hate. Because I honor freedom and the American values from which this country is based, I often found myself in bitter battles, because it is simply not acceptable to express any positive thoughts about the United States in the modern intellectual world.
There are exceptions, but those exceptions have proven the rule. The post here is simply another example of this. The American intellectual world today hates the U.S., not based on fact but on an unrelenting drumbeat of anti-American propaganda now for decades. It is important that ordinary Americans begin to recognize this.
Underlying much of the Vietnam protest movement was a defense of communism. It didn’t start out that way but that is how the protest movement finished. These activists then went into academia.
In the 1990’s there wasn’t a reason for them to be militant. Bill Clinton was President. Oil for Food in Iraq along with countless air raids were never a concern nor were terrorist attacks or wars in Africa. The Democrats were content because they were in power.
I was in college during the 1990’s and they had just started the identity politics mandatory education classes but postmodernism had been doctrine a long time. The situation varied based on the major and what level you were in. I saw some anti-American sentiment but discriminating against non-Democrats was prevalent in some of the fields I studied. There were even classes where people engaged in activism as classwork. Sucks to have your grade held hostage by being forced to participate.
The anthropology department was ok even though they were deep into the post modernism.
I went back several times after 2000 though. Things were much different. The Democrats were out of power. There were signs up on every door and window. Activists were active. It just got steadily worse through the early 2000’s.
Now, even the public library is being used by the academics as propaganda factories. The propaganda pushed is postmodernism. Western Civilization, capitalism, and the USA are the cause of all the evil in the world and are illegitimate. That the USA must be torn down in the great worker’s revolution and replaced with the utopian communist system.
Bernie would have won the Democrat nomination if Hillary and the DNC didn’t rig the contest. The anti-American left isn’t a myth, its the majority of their party.
Bottom line, children in America are being taught to hate America and have been since I left grade school.
I can’t say what’s guiding it, but the reality is absolute.
We are destroying ourselves from within. There are people that favor this.
Open borders and welfare seems to fit with Alinsky indicating intent.
Wodun: I’m not sure that Bernie would have won the Primary over Hillary sans rigging, but you are correct that it is greatly disturbing that he did so well and would have done even better…… His most recent Bill calling for Single Payer Healthcare now has several co-signers….. surely a sign of the End Times…. or at least the end of critical thinking….
Ken: You are right to bring up Alinsky. Reading his “Rules for Radicals” is like reading the newspaper these days.
So whether this School Principle did this out of fear of offending someone, or she used that fear as an opportunity to serve the deeper purpose of Alinsky’s “Rules” isn’t as important as whether she is allowed to get away with it.
Just as more Senators are now willing to out themselves as Socialists, more and more Educators are now willing to go to these lengths to impose their Fear and/or Hatred onto their captive audience. Who then in turn go on to repeat such behaviour and pass on that self-hatred.
That is why the schools have always been the target of the Left. Capture the minds of the next generation and most of your battle is won, your enemy will not even realize they have lost until it is too late……
Is it too late? It may already be, but I do know that is why I have already taken Mr Zimmerman’s advice and homeschool my son here in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts :-)
From the article: “There’s a time and a place to yell that and cheer that,” said CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Commissioner Mike Garrison.”
The time is almost any time, and the place is almost anyplace. The short list is of the times and places not to yell that: not near hospitals, usually not at funerals, not in the middle of the night in a residential neighborhood, etc. But at school, where we pledge allegiance, yes. That is the place, but not during class time.
From the article: “School officials worry the chants could come across as intolerant and offensive to some, but parents see it differently, as an expression of pride and acceptance.”
What is inappropriate and intolerant is denying the expression of national pride? And why isn’t it supposed to be more offensive to the many to deny their displays of pride than displaying that pride offensive to an unspecified few? Why do some minority groups get to display their pride but most majority groups do not?
From the article: “At some schools across the country, the chants appeared to be used in derogatory ways toward opponents of different ethnicities.”
Meaning what? Southerners taunting Yanks? Southern Californians taunting Northern Californians? Country folk taunting city folk? Or is it illegal aliens that are supposedly offended by pride in the country that they broke the law to enter? And if that is the case, then why aren’t those illegal aliens proud of the country that they so much wanted to be in that they broke the law to be here?
It keeps looking like our educators are not even as smart as our politicians — a very stupid lot.
Edward said:
“….And if that is the case, then why aren’t those illegal aliens proud of the country that they so much wanted to be in that they broke the law to be here? …”
THAT is the obvious question. And it will never be asked by the media since this would expose the absurdity of this attitude and also expose the deeper goals most of these so-called “educators” have.