On our education wars, Tibet, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Sahith Theegala, Queen Elizabeth II, Josh Hawley, P.J. O’Rourke, and more
It is an old theme, by now: the Balkanization of America, or the “disuniting of America,” as Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. called it. Have you seen the latest out of Montgomery County, Md.? The school system is reviewing its social-studies curriculum for all of its students, pre-K through senior year. Administrators promise to fashion a curriculum that “strengthens students’ sense of racial, ethnic, and tribal identities.”
In my view, this is one of the last things our country needs. People’s sense of racial, ethnic, and tribal identities is all too strong. It could stand to be weakened. What should be strengthened is an appreciation of our national motto: E pluribus unum (“Out of many, one”).
(To see the relevant Montgomery County webpage, go here.)
In 1991, Schlesinger published his remarkable book, The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society. I was moved to re-read and write about it in 2020. (For my piece, “Against Disunion,” go here.) Maybe I could quote just two sentences from the book:
Our task is to combine due appreciation of the splendid diversity of the nation with due emphasis on the great unifying Western ideas of individual freedom, political democracy, and human rights. These are the ideas that define the American nationality — and that today empower people of all continents, races, and creeds.
• Voters in San Francisco have recalled three members of their school board. They did so in a “landslide decision,” as a report in the San Francisco Chronicle put it.
The paper says,
The recall divided the city for the past year, with a grassroots effort of frustrated parents and community members pushing for the trustees’ removal over the slow reopening of schools during the pandemic and the board’s focus on controversial issues like renaming 44 school sites and ending the merit-based admission system at Lowell High School.
Everything in the Chronicle’s report is highly interesting. But, for me, the prize goes to a single sentence, which made my eyes widen:
Board of Supervisors President Shamann Walton slammed the recall as being driven by “closet Republicans and most certainly folks with conservative values in San Francisco, even if they weren’t registered Republicans.”
Probably no one wants a lousy, flaky, ideology-besotted school system. And that includes San Francisco Democrats.
• Before leaving the subject of education — and school boards, in particular — I would like to call attention to this investigation by three reporters from Reuters. The heading of their report is “School boards get death threats amid rage over race, gender, mask policies.”
In my experience, many people want to look away from this issue: from threats of violence against school-board members, election officials, and others. In fact, they get mad if you bring it up. They want to talk about other things.
But I can hardly think of an issue more important — because people ought to be able to go about their work in an atmosphere free of violence. A recall election, for example, is better than a gun or a bomb.
• When I was a kid, I noticed something. I called myself on something, you could say. The smoke of people I liked, didn’t bother me. The smoke of people I didn’t like — did.
A more recent observation: People don’t mind traffic blockades by people they like. Blockades by people they don’t like, they mind very much.
• In the run-up to the Beijing Summer Games in 2008, Tibet was a very big deal. The Chinese government was cracking down hard on Tibet. There were calls to boycott the 2008 Games over this issue, and over Darfur, too. Darfur? The region in western Sudan where the government in Khartoum was committing genocide? Yes. Beijing was the chief backer of Khartoum.
Now, of course, the Chinese government is committing genocide in its own country: against the Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province, or East Turkestan, as the Uyghurs themselves call the region.
About Tibet — and from Tibet — you barely hear a peep.
This article from the Associated Press is very, very sobering. Its heading is, “This time, Tibet stands silent as Olympics return to China.” Tibet, it seems, has been subdued. Crushed (bodily and spiritually). Sinicized, which is to say, made Chinese. I wonder whether Tibetan identity and consciousness will one day fade out.
A somber — indeed, evil — chapter in recent history.
• You may well have seen or heard news about Prince Andrew. A report begins,
Britain’s Prince Andrew, accused in a lawsuit of sexually abusing a 17-year-old girl supplied to him by financier Jeffrey Epstein, has agreed to settle by making a substantial donation to his accuser’s charity and declaring he never meant to malign her character, a court filing revealed Tuesday.
The deal avoids a trial that would have brought further embarrassment to the monarchy.
On the Epstein matter, I will say again what I have said before: A lot of us, I think, want the truth to come out. We simply want to know the truth, and if it embarrasses Republicans, Democrats, or royals — too bad.
• Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Republican congresswoman from Georgia, sat for an interview with Alex Jones, the famous, or infamous, conspiracy theorist and rabble-rouser. Greene was holding forth on vaccines, doctors, ivermectin, and so on. See it here.
MTG is a rock star on the GOP fundraising circuit. Could she be a presidential candidate someday? In the 2016 cycle, you may recall, Donald Trump sat for an interview with Jones. What at first seems shocking may soon be normalized.
Back in the 2016 cycle, Trump said to Jones, “I just wanted to finish by saying that your reputation is amazing. I will not let you down. You’ll be very, very impressed, I hope, and I think we’ll be speaking a lot.”
• Would you like to see an update on the message in a bottle? This story begins,
A small boat launched in October 2020 by some New Hampshire middle school students and containing photos, fall leaves, acorns and state quarters has been found 462 days later — by a sixth grader in Norway.
I’m glad this kind of thing — updated or not — still exists. It’s part of the romance of life.
• Sahith Theegala is a young American golfer, perhaps a budding superstar. He came close to winning the Phoenix Open last weekend. Making the rounds is a video of him, in emotional moments with his parents after the tournament. Here you go.
I have two things to say. (1) Wonderful. But (2) I wish videos such as this did not exist. They are too . . . intrusive. See that boom mike, for example? Gross.
• It has now been 70 years — 70 years that Queen Elizabeth II has sat on the British throne. Only three monarchs, anywhere in the world, have reigned longer, so far as we know. What do I mean, “so far as we know”? I mean in recorded history.
One of the three monarchs is Louis XIV of France — who kinda-sorta doesn’t count, because he was crowned at the age of four (and died at 76). Elizabeth was crowned at 27 (and is 95).
During her reign, Elizabeth has had 14 prime ministers — starting with Churchill. Incidentally, there have been 14 U.S. presidents — starting with Truman.
When she hit 70 — in reigning years, I mean — there were many tributes to Elizabeth. I loved a remark by Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury: “She takes her duties seriously, but she doesn’t take herself very seriously.”
• You remember that picture of Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), pumping his fist at the January 6 people? He has put it on a mug — his mug (and fist) on a mug — which sells for $20. Read about in the Kansas City Star, here.
A Hawley fundraising e-mail says,
Liberals are so easily triggered, and this new mug is really whipping the left into a frenzy! Josh isn’t scared — he’s show-me strong! This Made in America mug is the perfect way to enjoy Coffee, Tea, or Liberal Tears! Check it out below, and order one for yourself or any woke friend or family member that you want to trigger!
That’s the modern GOP spirit.
The story has a wrinkle. Reports the Star,
Similar Hawley mugs appeared at Lincoln Days in St. Charles this weekend, where Hawley endorsed Rep. Vicky Hartzler in the competitive primary for U.S. Senate.
Rep. Billy Long, who is also running for U.S. Senate, posted on Twitter that the mugs handed out at Lincoln Days had “Made in China” stickers on them. The fundraising email specifies that the $20 mug is made in America.
• I have a young friend who is a beginning teacher. He is subbing (which is an especially hard job, I think). Some students were smarting off. “Hey!” said one. “Do you know what the longest word is?” There was a random question. At any rate, the teacher said, “What?” The student said, “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.” The teacher said, “No, it isn’t. I’ll tell you what it is.”
He went to the blackboard and wrote “smiles.” “You see?” he said. “Between each ‘s,’ there’s a mile.”
• There have been many articles about P.J. O’Rourke, the writer, who passed away earlier this week. I might say simply this: He was kind. Very kind. Full of goodwill. He made you feel good, just to interact with him. A prince — with a great deal of mischief in his eye.
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