Context and Lies

 

My smartphone went off again this morning with another Amber alert.  You know the routine. You are startled with alarm as your phone starts to scream at you that it has some fresh new hell for you to absorb.  You read the alert and discover that yet another child has been “abducted.”  This alert is fine, I guess, at least on the surface.  But what I always notice about these alerts is that they provide lots of information without providing much meaningful context.  I always know the child’s sex and very often the sex of the “abductor.”  I often know what the child was wearing, and surprisingly often I know the kind of car and license plate number of the “abductor’s” vehicle.  What’s usually missing, though, is any information regarding how it came to be that the child was “abducted” and whether the child has a pre-existing relationship with his/her “abductor.”

Maybe you have noticed that I keep putting the word “abductor” in quotes.  That’s because, without any context, it’s impossible to know whether the “abductor” is really an abductor in any sense in which people normally understand the meaning of that word. (i.e., someone unknown to the child who really intends to do harm). If a child has been really and truly “abducted,” anyone within a reasonable distance should, of course, go to DEFCON 1. However, I do receive many alerts of “abductions” from hundreds of miles away.  Am I supposed to drive the highways on the lookout for distant vehicles which might have now arrived in my area? Can I at least wait to go looking until they have had time to drive to my part of the state? How long must I keep up this vigil?

I confess I am harassed by the suspicion that a lot (most?) of these alerts amount to dragooning the entire community of Amber Alert recipients into helping litigate some unfortunate family’s child custody dispute.  As it happens, conscripting free-born citizens into providing free labor has developed into something of a raison d’etre for a surprising number of state and local governments (cf. “recycling”). And if a continuous stream of context-free alerts creates the impression that we are living in a state of constant crisis? Well, so much the better for those power-mad bureaucrats who need everyone to feel — deeply — how important they are and how much we need them.

Anyway, it is this inclination of the authorities to deny alert recipients any context that has been bugging me for a while now.  I’ll observe that it is not unlike the behavior of various authorities during Covid: release some information but not quite enough for anyone to assess the actual risk. There’s an entire Ricochet post somewhere inside that phenomenon, but it’s not what I’m writing about here.  Context-free alarms of doom often create a false impression for the recipient about the actual state of play. The creation of false impressions is, as it happens, impossible to differentiate from the effects of propaganda.

Context always provides an interpretational lens through which understanding emerges.  Lacking context means that we are left entirely to our own imaginations, and our conclusions can be wildly at odds with the actual circumstances. (e.g., “Hands up, don’t shoot”)

I sometimes wonder if it is the issue of context that has conservatives and liberals often talking past each other. I’ve been thinking about this, especially as it relates to recent kerfuffles over children’s education.  Several government and education authorities have lately embraced the view that parents shouldn’t have a say over their children’s education. This understandably has conservative parents up in arms. And there is apparently no shortage of groomer and psycho hangers-on in the educational establishment who always seem eager to nudge parents to the side. But it may not be just the weirdies behind this idea.  I wonder if what’s happening is that education administrators and parents are viewing things through entirely different lenses.

If you are a parent in a functioning home, the idea that you should have less say over educating your children seems like madness.  But what if educators are not primarily engaged with parents from functioning homes? What if their vantage point is that there are more crazy parents than functioning ones?  And worse, what if their impression is actually right? What if we’re at a cultural tipping point in which American families are, in the main, in such chaos that the craziness is the context through which public educators see their clients?  What if the damage done to families by our cultural pathologies is so widespread that more children than not (in public schools, at least) have “crazy” parents? If that’s the case, then when these policymakers say “parents shouldn’t have a say over their children’s education,” they may be picturing a very different “parent” than the one that inhabits the imagination of conservatives.

I have a friend who is a counselor in an elementary school in an economically depressed part of town. And the stories she tells make every day sound like a veritable exploration in psychopathy. Her experience of “school” is nothing like the way any parent of a functioning family imagines “school” to be. Indeed, her experience of “parents” is, I suspect, wildly at odds with anything a Ricochet reader would consider remotely normal.  Her encounters with parents are not, of course, uniformly insane. But they are insane in sufficient quantity so as to craft an interpretational lens for her that is perverse when applied to parental normies.  Nevertheless, the lack of normal parents in her experience makes her reluctant to take much advice from the crazies who inhabit her world.  It’s a simple matter of intuition and probabilities.

During Covid. one of the unexpected (to me) phenomena that occurred was when people started lining up in long lines outside public schools to pick up their “free” lunches. There was much pearl-clutching and couch-fainting over the plight of these children who would, we were led to believe, go without food in their own homes if they couldn’t come to school. That may have been the moment I began to realize that the educational system has been acting as a gigantic anesthetic against society really feeling the extent of our cultural disintegration.

But there is a contextual gap between those who live in normal-world and those who have their noses rubbed in our social pathologies as they really are. And I wonder if some of the inability of the left and right to communicate is due, at least to some extent, to the very different contextual lenses through which we observe the world.  I feel certain that this doesn’t explain every differing perception, but I fear it may explain more than I would prefer.  At least, perhaps, for that continually shrinking community on the left who haven’t themselves already become part of the crazies.

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  1. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Several good points, but the fact may be that at the time an “Amber Alert” is issued, the context you wish that you had, may yet not even be available.

    That’s probably what the TV and radio announcers are for, in those situations.

    • #1
  2. Mad Gerald Coolidge
    Mad Gerald
    @Jose

    Often context is withheld to protect the privacy and rights of a victim, or even the accused.  Not sure that is always a good call, but to go beyond the one size fits all process, someone must take responsibility to make decisions.  That is risky business now-a-days.

    Like you I question someone co-opting my cooperation and participation without sharing the facts.  I believe that is rarely justified.  Good post.

    • #2
  3. sawatdeeka Member
    sawatdeeka
    @sawatdeeka

    Keith Lowery: If you are a parent in a functioning home, the idea that you should have less say over educating your children seems like madness.  But what if educators are not primarily engaged with parents from functioning homes? What if their vantage point is that there are more crazy parents than functioning ones?  And worse, what if their impression is actually right? What if we’re at a cultural tipping point in which American families are, in the main, in such chaos that the craziness is the context through which public educators see their clients?  What if the damage done to families by our cultural pathologies is so widespread that more children than not (in public schools at least) have “crazy” parents? If that’s the case, then when these policy makers say “parents shouldn’t have a say over their children’s education” they may be picturing a very different “parent” than the one that inhabits the imagination of conservatives.

    Thank you for giving this additional context, which isn’t provided often enough in conversations about public schooling. 

    During Covid. one of the unexpected (to me) phenomenon that occurred was when people started lining up in long lines outside public schools to pick up their “free” lunches. There was much pearl clutching and couch fainting over the plight of these children who would, we were led to believe, go without food in their own homes if they couldn’t come to school. That may have been the moment I began to realize that the educational system has been acting as a gigantic anesthetic against society really feeling the extent of our cultural disintegration.

    Your statements here resonate so much! 

    • #3
  4. JoelB Member
    JoelB
    @JoelB

    I turned off notifications. Never needed them before smartphones – don’t need them now.

     

    • #4
  5. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    sawatdeeka (View Comment):

    Keith Lowery: If you are a parent in a functioning home, the idea that you should have less say over educating your children seems like madness. But what if educators are not primarily engaged with parents from functioning homes? What if their vantage point is that there are more crazy parents than functioning ones? And worse, what if their impression is actually right? What if we’re at a cultural tipping point in which American families are, in the main, in such chaos that the craziness is the context through which public educators see their clients? What if the damage done to families by our cultural pathologies is so widespread that more children than not (in public schools at least) have “crazy” parents? If that’s the case, then when these policy makers say “parents shouldn’t have a say over their children’s education” they may be picturing a very different “parent” than the one that inhabits the imagination of conservatives.

    Thank you for giving this additional context, which isn’t provided often enough in conversations about public schooling.

    During Covid. one of the unexpected (to me) phenomenon that occurred was when people started lining up in long lines outside public schools to pick up their “free” lunches. There was much pearl clutching and couch fainting over the plight of these children who would, we were led to believe, go without food in their own homes if they couldn’t come to school. That may have been the moment I began to realize that the educational system has been acting as a gigantic anesthetic against society really feeling the extent of our cultural disintegration.

    Your statements here resonate so much!

    I particularly like the last bolded statement. 

    My suspicion, though, is that much of the education establishment perceives conservative values as the dangerous ones. 

    • #5
  6. sawatdeeka Member
    sawatdeeka
    @sawatdeeka

    TBA (View Comment):

    sawatdeeka (View Comment):

    Keith Lowery: If you are a parent in a functioning home, the idea that you should have less say over educating your children seems like madness. But what if educators are not primarily engaged with parents from functioning homes? What if their vantage point is that there are more crazy parents than functioning ones? And worse, what if their impression is actually right? What if we’re at a cultural tipping point in which American families are, in the main, in such chaos that the craziness is the context through which public educators see their clients? What if the damage done to families by our cultural pathologies is so widespread that more children than not (in public schools at least) have “crazy” parents? If that’s the case, then when these policy makers say “parents shouldn’t have a say over their children’s education” they may be picturing a very different “parent” than the one that inhabits the imagination of conservatives.

    Thank you for giving this additional context, which isn’t provided often enough in conversations about public schooling.

    During Covid. one of the unexpected (to me) phenomenon that occurred was when people started lining up in long lines outside public schools to pick up their “free” lunches. There was much pearl clutching and couch fainting over the plight of these children who would, we were led to believe, go without food in their own homes if they couldn’t come to school. That may have been the moment I began to realize that the educational system has been acting as a gigantic anesthetic against society really feeling the extent of our cultural disintegration.

    Your statements here resonate so much!

    I particularly like the last bolded statement.

    My suspicion, though, is that much of the education establishment perceives conservative values as the dangerous ones.

    What really puzzles me is the claim that there are all these people running around who can’t afford to feed their children. The food programs seem to foster and encourage dependence, and there were a lot of assurances during Covid that the food programs would continue. I could see a few locals needing help temporarily, but not a huge percentage of us being that poor. 

    • #6
  7. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    sawatdeeka (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):

    sawatdeeka (View Comment):

    Keith Lowery: If you are a parent in a functioning home, the idea that you should have less say over educating your children seems like madness. But what if educators are not primarily engaged with parents from functioning homes? What if their vantage point is that there are more crazy parents than functioning ones? And worse, what if their impression is actually right? What if we’re at a cultural tipping point in which American families are, in the main, in such chaos that the craziness is the context through which public educators see their clients? What if the damage done to families by our cultural pathologies is so widespread that more children than not (in public schools at least) have “crazy” parents? If that’s the case, then when these policy makers say “parents shouldn’t have a say over their children’s education” they may be picturing a very different “parent” than the one that inhabits the imagination of conservatives.

    Thank you for giving this additional context, which isn’t provided often enough in conversations about public schooling.

    During Covid. one of the unexpected (to me) phenomenon that occurred was when people started lining up in long lines outside public schools to pick up their “free” lunches. There was much pearl clutching and couch fainting over the plight of these children who would, we were led to believe, go without food in their own homes if they couldn’t come to school. That may have been the moment I began to realize that the educational system has been acting as a gigantic anesthetic against society really feeling the extent of our cultural disintegration.

    Your statements here resonate so much!

    I particularly like the last bolded statement.

    My suspicion, though, is that much of the education establishment perceives conservative values as the dangerous ones.

    What really puzzles me is the claim that there are all these people running around who can’t afford to feed their children. The food programs seem to foster and encourage dependence, and there were a lot of assurances during Covid that the food programs would continue. I could see a few locals needing help temporarily, but not a huge percentage of us being that poor.

    A lot of schools keep snacks on hand for students who aren’t being fed at home (or are they?). 

    • #7
  8. sawatdeeka Member
    sawatdeeka
    @sawatdeeka

    TBA (View Comment):

    sawatdeeka (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):

    sawatdeeka (View Comment):

    Keith Lowery: If you are a parent in a functioning home, the idea that you should have less say over educating your children seems like madness. But what if educators are not primarily engaged with parents from functioning homes? What if their vantage point is that there are more crazy parents than functioning ones? And worse, what if their impression is actually right? What if we’re at a cultural tipping point in which American families are, in the main, in such chaos that the craziness is the context through which public educators see their clients? What if the damage done to families by our cultural pathologies is so widespread that more children than not (in public schools at least) have “crazy” parents? If that’s the case, then when these policy makers say “parents shouldn’t have a say over their children’s education” they may be picturing a very different “parent” than the one that inhabits the imagination of conservatives.

    Thank you for giving this additional context, which isn’t provided often enough in conversations about public schooling.

    During Covid. one of the unexpected (to me) phenomenon that occurred was when people started lining up in long lines outside public schools to pick up their “free” lunches. There was much pearl clutching and couch fainting over the plight of these children who would, we were led to believe, go without food in their own homes if they couldn’t come to school. That may have been the moment I began to realize that the educational system has been acting as a gigantic anesthetic against society really feeling the extent of our cultural disintegration.

    Your statements here resonate so much!

    I particularly like the last bolded statement.

    My suspicion, though, is that much of the education establishment perceives conservative values as the dangerous ones.

    What really puzzles me is the claim that there are all these people running around who can’t afford to feed their children. The food programs seem to foster and encourage dependence, and there were a lot of assurances during Covid that the food programs would continue. I could see a few locals needing help temporarily, but not a huge percentage of us being that poor.

    A lot of schools keep snacks on hand for students who aren’t being fed at home (or are they?).

    Yes, and there’s a backpack program to send a few kids home with food for the weekend. 

    • #8
  9. Juliana Member
    Juliana
    @Juliana

    In the schools where I worked,  all children were encouraged to participate in the free breakfast program in order to keep the funding. Regardless of whether or not their parents were willing and able to provide a decent breakfast before they left for school. Keep in mind that the breakfast at school was a granola bar and apple in a plastic bag that the kids had to shove down before class started. Even when that changed to more substantial breakfasts (breakfast ‘pizza’, cereal & milk, ‘pancakes’ in a plastic pouch) children had a very short time to consume this meal, especially if the busses were late. I finally had to give up doing breakfast duty because I watched as the teachers on duty would constantly be reminding the kids, “the bell’s going to ring, the bell’s going to ring, hurry up.” The children had no choice but to throw what they could not eat into the trash. I watched as third and fourth graders would be shoveling cereal into their mouths as they were in line to throw away the containers and get to class. We had 60% of the students on free or reduced lunch, and it’s possible/probable many of them did not have food at home. In the last few years, free breakfast and lunch were offered for anyone in the community during the summer school schedule – no questions asked, you didn’t even have to have a student in the system. The public schools want the community to be dependent upon them.

    I also worked with my share of crazies in the public school system (but they weren’t all parents). I heard many teachers say, “Oh, if I could only take her/him home with me.” Yes, a portion of the students are in dire straits when it comes to family life – dad’s in jail, mom has two jobs and is never around, or parents are drug addicts which brings a lot of chaos to the house. Some kids don’t have their own bed, let alone their own room. Some kids are mentally ill and are not being treated because there is denial, or not enough funds, or parents are mentally ill themselves and cannot function. So the teachers naturally see themselves as the saviors…and as the model of the way the world should be, including how and what to think.

    • #9
  10. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Juliana (View Comment):

    I also worked with my share of crazies in the public school system (but they weren’t all parents). I heard many teachers say, “Oh, if I could only take her/him home with me.”

    Sometimes they do and their relationships with the children become distinctly iffy. 

    Yes, a portion of the students are in dire straits when it comes to family life – dad’s in jail, mom has two jobs and is never around, or parents are drug addicts which brings a lot of chaos to the house. Some kids don’t have their own bed, let alone their own room. Some kids are mentally ill and are not being treated because there is denial, or not enough funds, or parents are mentally ill themselves and cannot function. So the teachers naturally see themselves as the saviors…and as the model of the way the world should be, including how and what to think.

    And right here is where I think, ‘ok, we’ve got all these social services – and these are actual unfit parents. How likely is it that the state is going to act? 

    • #10
  11. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    I, too, believe the amber alerts are cell sound and fury that signify custody battles. 

    • #11
  12. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure you can set your phone to ignore those.  At least I can with mine.  You can set it to ignore everything but “Presidential Alerts” or something, those cannot be turned off.

    • #12
  13. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Keith Lowery: I have a friend who is a counselor in an elementary school in an economically depressed part of town. And the stories she tells make every day sound like a veritable exploration in psychopathy. Her experience of “school” is nothing like the way any parent of a functioning family imagines “school” to be. Indeed, her experience of “parents” is, I suspect, wildly at odds with anything a Ricochet reader would consider remotely normal.  Her encounters with parents are not, of course, uniformly insane. But they are insane in sufficient quantity so as to craft an interpretational lens for her that is perverse when applied to parental normies.  Nevertheless, the lack of normal parents in her experience makes her reluctant to take much advice from the crazies who inhabit her world.  It’s a simple matter of intuition and probabilities.

    I have a sister-in-law who’s about to retire from a SPED teaching position in a small rural community (mix of economic classes, but definitely a lot of poor). She also tells stories that cause premature greying. Even abuse she’s taken from students. And she’s an excellent, caring teacher with a solid conservative worldview (she’s even been known to remind the students that God loves them). Most of the students love her and will experience a terrible loss at her leaving. But, a person can only take so much.

    The thing is, though, it isn’t the dysfunctional families who are trying to advise school boards on the curriculum. For the most part, they wouldn’t be engaged at all except their kids act up and the school system has to initiate the engagement. This “mainstreaming” concept which started in public schools even before my 20-something-year-0ld kids started school (the left’s “equality” craze) has been severely detrimental to education. There are almost no consequences and no incentives for behavior. Problem kids used to be segregated in their own classes so that the rest of the school could function. That was lost a long time ago.

    I’m also a firm believer that those grades 9 to 12 are a waste of time for a huge portion of the student body. But, I think the whole of public education is irredeemable at this point. And, as you say, it’s directly related to societal and family degradation.

    • #13
  14. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    TBA (View Comment):

    sawatdeeka (View Comment):

    Keith Lowery: If you are a parent in a functioning home, the idea that you should have less say over educating your children seems like madness. But what if educators are not primarily engaged with parents from functioning homes? What if their vantage point is that there are more crazy parents than functioning ones? And worse, what if their impression is actually right? What if we’re at a cultural tipping point in which American families are, in the main, in such chaos that the craziness is the context through which public educators see their clients? What if the damage done to families by our cultural pathologies is so widespread that more children than not (in public schools at least) have “crazy” parents? If that’s the case, then when these policy makers say “parents shouldn’t have a say over their children’s education” they may be picturing a very different “parent” than the one that inhabits the imagination of conservatives.

    Thank you for giving this additional context, which isn’t provided often enough in conversations about public schooling.

    During Covid. one of the unexpected (to me) phenomenon that occurred was when people started lining up in long lines outside public schools to pick up their “free” lunches. There was much pearl clutching and couch fainting over the plight of these children who would, we were led to believe, go without food in their own homes if they couldn’t come to school. That may have been the moment I began to realize that the educational system has been acting as a gigantic anesthetic against society really feeling the extent of our cultural disintegration.

    Your statements here resonate so much!

    I particularly like the last bolded statement.

    My suspicion, though, is that much of the education establishment perceives conservative values as the dangerous ones.

    I think maybe it’s both. Maybe both happening at the same time.

    • #14
  15. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    TBA (View Comment):

    Juliana (View Comment):

    I also worked with my share of crazies in the public school system (but they weren’t all parents). I heard many teachers say, “Oh, if I could only take her/him home with me.”

    Sometimes they do and their relationships with the children become distinctly iffy.

    Yes, a portion of the students are in dire straits when it comes to family life – dad’s in jail, mom has two jobs and is never around, or parents are drug addicts which brings a lot of chaos to the house. Some kids don’t have their own bed, let alone their own room. Some kids are mentally ill and are not being treated because there is denial, or not enough funds, or parents are mentally ill themselves and cannot function. So the teachers naturally see themselves as the saviors…and as the model of the way the world should be, including how and what to think.

    And right here is where I think, ‘ok, we’ve got all these social services – and these are actual unfit parents. How likely is it that the state is going to act?

    Hell let’s slow our roll on that wanting the state to act against “unfit” parents. Actual physical abuse is one thing (does corporal punishment count?), but the progs have demonstrated that they are willing to torture language to change plain meaning and gut institutions simply so they can wear the skin suit and then force the rest of us to first destropy our own values then accept theirs. Speech is violence, standing your ground is aggressive, men can be pregnant and women can have penises, refusing the experimental covid vax is abuse, let’s have the kids pack bags with condoms and candy in order to pass them out in the school hallways. I do understand the empathy, but to a certain extent those situations need to play out without enabling additional situations.

    For many years I didn’t have my own room or a bed and it’s not like we were eating filet mignon every night or anything. I turned out just fine (ok peanut gallery, simmer down with all the snickering and snorting). It wasn’t bad parenting or drugs or anything like that, it was simply part of the progression that descendents of recent immigrants face, that larger families face, that most of humanity faces – mostly without detriment. We weren’t in dire straits despite our meager circumstances. On the other hand, yes there are parents who probably shouldn’t have been sometimes bordering on unfit. I think we should be leary of stepping in. Better to have a solid culture and community around to help the kids without directly enabling the unfit.

     

    • #15
  16. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    kedavis (View Comment):

    Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure you can set your phone to ignore those. At least I can with mine. You can set it to ignore everything but “Presidential Alerts” or something, those cannot be turned off.

    Well of course – after all, the Constitution clearly states that the POTUS has the authority to contact his citizens at any time day or night. 

    • #16
  17. carcat74 Member
    carcat74
    @carcat74

    Without reading the entire post or all the comments (I just retired November 30, after over 31 years, and I’m being lazy), the general gist seems to be, “The sky is always falling, somewhere.” Efforts to keep all of us in a constant state of worry and anxiety seem to be neverending.  How do we decide what is really worth the worry, or is just so much clickbait?

    • #17
  18. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):

    Juliana (View Comment):

    Yes, a portion of the students are in dire straits when it comes to family life – dad’s in jail, mom has two jobs and is never around, or parents are drug addicts which brings a lot of chaos to the house. Some kids don’t have their own bed, let alone their own room. Some kids are mentally ill and are not being treated because there is denial, or not enough funds, or parents are mentally ill themselves and cannot function. So the teachers naturally see themselves as the saviors…and as the model of the way the world should be, including how and what to think.

    And right here is where I think, ‘ok, we’ve got all these social services – and these are actual unfit parents. How likely is it that the state is going to act?

    Hell let’s slow our roll on that wanting the state to act against “unfit” parents. Actual physical abuse is one thing (does corporal punishment count?), but the progs have demonstrated that they are willing to torture language to change plain meaning and gut institutions simply so they can wear the skin suit and then force the rest of us to first destropy our own values then accept theirs. Speech is violence, standing your ground is aggressive, men can be pregnant and women can have penises, refusing the experimental covid vax is abuse, let’s have the kids pack bags with condoms and candy in order to pass them out in the school hallways. I do understand the empathy, but to a certain extent those situations need to play out without enabling additional situations.

    For many years I didn’t have my own room or a bed and it’s not like we were eating filet mignon every night or anything. I turned out just fine (ok peanut gallery, simmer down with all the snickering and snorting). It wasn’t bad parenting or drugs or anything like that, it was simply part of the progression that descendents of recent immigrants face, that larger families face, that most of humanity faces – mostly without detriment. We weren’t in dire straits despite our meager circumstances. On the other hand, yes there are parents who probably shouldn’t have been sometimes bordering on unfit. I think we should be leary of stepping in. Better to have a solid culture and community around to help the kids without directly enabling the unfit.

    You are right and the guy who wrote “ok, we’ve got all these social services – and these are actual unfit parents. How likely is it that the state is going to act?” was clearly irrational and should learn to chill before posting. 

    • #18
  19. Ed G. Member
    Ed G.
    @EdG

    TBA (View Comment):

    Ed G. (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):

    Juliana (View Comment):

    Yes, a portion of the students are in dire straits when it comes to family life – dad’s in jail, mom has two jobs and is never around, or parents are drug addicts which brings a lot of chaos to the house. Some kids don’t have their own bed, let alone their own room. Some kids are mentally ill and are not being treated because there is denial, or not enough funds, or parents are mentally ill themselves and cannot function. So the teachers naturally see themselves as the saviors…and as the model of the way the world should be, including how and what to think.

    And right here is where I think, ‘ok, we’ve got all these social services – and these are actual unfit parents. How likely is it that the state is going to act?

    Hell let’s slow our roll on that wanting the state to act against “unfit” parents. Actual physical abuse is one thing (does corporal punishment count?), but the progs have demonstrated that they are willing to torture language to change plain meaning and gut institutions simply so they can wear the skin suit and then force the rest of us to first destropy our own values then accept theirs. Speech is violence, standing your ground is aggressive, men can be pregnant and women can have penises, refusing the experimental covid vax is abuse, let’s have the kids pack bags with condoms and candy in order to pass them out in the school hallways. I do understand the empathy, but to a certain extent those situations need to play out without enabling additional situations.

    For many years I didn’t have my own room or a bed and it’s not like we were eating filet mignon every night or anything. I turned out just fine (ok peanut gallery, simmer down with all the snickering and snorting). It wasn’t bad parenting or drugs or anything like that, it was simply part of the progression that descendents of recent immigrants face, that larger families face, that most of humanity faces – mostly without detriment. We weren’t in dire straits despite our meager circumstances. On the other hand, yes there are parents who probably shouldn’t have been sometimes bordering on unfit. I think we should be leary of stepping in. Better to have a solid culture and community around to help the kids without directly enabling the unfit.

    You are right and the guy who wrote “ok, we’ve got all these social services – and these are actual unfit parents. How likely is it that the state is going to act?” was clearly irrational and should learn to chill before posting.

    Nah that guy is alright. 

    • #19
  20. Mad Gerald Coolidge
    Mad Gerald
    @Jose

    JoelB (View Comment):

    I turned off notifications. Never needed them before smartphones – don’t need them now.

     

    My phone runs an OS called Lineage, a version of Android without any Google components.  Notifications don’t work at all.

    • #20
  21. Flicker Coolidge
    Flicker
    @Flicker
    • #21
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