Alternative Math

 

Rarely do we have the opportunity to laugh at the antics of the Left and the irrationality of their ideas. Instead, we bemoan the distortions of truth and call out for rational, sensible behavior. Sometimes, it’s satisfying to just laugh at all of it.

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Published in Culture
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  1. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    kidCoder (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    My husband pointed out an “error”; she should have put $2,000 next to $2,000 and told them they owed her $20,002,000. I hate new math.

    I made the same comment to Serif!

    Great minds, huh? Good to hear from you @kidcoder!

    • #31
  2. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    My husband pointed out an “error”; she should have put $2,000 next to $2,000 and told them they owed her $20,002,000. I hate new math.

    First thing I noticed.

    • #32
  3. Al French, sad sack Moderator
    Al French, sad sack
    @AlFrench

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Jager (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Extremely well done.

    However, didn’t I detect, during the segment on the talking heads, that it was conservative attitudes being skewered in two places?

    Yeah, most of the conservative and apolitical parents I know are the ones who dislike common core and the “new” way of doing math.

    ..

    I love Tom Lehrer. When I was a kid we had an album with that song. But, being a record, it didn’t have this:

    • #33
  4. Al French, sad sack Moderator
    Al French, sad sack
    @AlFrench

    kidCoder (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    My husband pointed out an “error”; she should have put $2,000 next to $2,000 and told them they owed her $20,002,000. I hate new math.

    I made the same comment to Serif!

    How are the newlyweds doing? Back from the honeymoon?

    • #34
  5. Qoumidan Coolidge
    Qoumidan
    @Qoumidan

    Isn’t 2 + 2 = 22 called concatenating?  Or is that equation written differently?

    I didn’t make past the beginning of video:(

    • #35
  6. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    Qoumidan (View Comment):
    Isn’t 2 + 2 = 22 called concatenating?

    Yes.

    • #36
  7. LC Member
    LC
    @LidensCheng

    I mean who’s to say her $4000 answer is wrong?

    • #37
  8. Midget Faded Rattlesnake Member
    Midget Faded Rattlesnake
    @Midge

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Extremely well done.

    However, didn’t I detect, during the segment on the talking heads, that it was conservative attitudes being skewered in two places?

    Oh, way more than just two! And not just in the talking heads segment, either.

    Still funny, though!

    • #38
  9. Midget Faded Rattlesnake Member
    Midget Faded Rattlesnake
    @Midge

    Hoyacon (View Comment):
    I wish that I could see this as an attempt at balance, but it’s led me to wonder if the filmmakers see the relativism and coddling of students in the video as something not squarely at the feet of the left.

    My guess is the filmmakers don’t see it as something laid squarely at the feet of the left. 

    I get the sense they’re mocking an American phenomenon, not just a left-wing phenomenon. I have little reason to doubt my left-leaning friends who went into education would find this just as funny as we do. 

    • #39
  10. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Let us look on the bright side. At the end of the video, the Truth won out. People can run from the Truth as hard as they can but in the end the Truth always comes back.

    • #40
  11. Songwriter Inactive
    Songwriter
    @user_19450

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Jager (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    Extremely well done.

    However, didn’t I detect, during the segment on the talking heads, that it was conservative attitudes being skewered in two places?

    Yeah, most of the conservative and apolitical parents I know are the ones who dislike common core and the “new” way of doing math.

    Panel member: “So, this teacher . . this liberal elitist . . .”

    Commentator (Rush type?): “If you hate America that much, why don’t you go teach in Commie France.”

    I wish that I could see this as an attempt at balance, but it’s led me to wonder if the filmmakers see the relativism and coddling of students in the video as something not squarely at the feet of the left.

    That’s what I saw, also. The Left doesn’t even recognize that they are the ones screwing up the school system, even as they mock the screwing up of the school system.

    • #41
  12. Valiuth Member
    Valiuth
    @Valiuth

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    aardo vozz (View Comment):

    I just have to keep repeating to myself “It’s only satire… It’s only satire…” There now . Feeling calmer. At least until it happens for real.

    Don’t want to raise your blood pressure but I’d bet some version of it is already going on. Sigh.

    Isn’t the most memorable example of this kind behavior by parents against teachers the teaching of evolution in schools? 

    • #42
  13. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Valiuth (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    aardo vozz (View Comment):

    I just have to keep repeating to myself “It’s only satire… It’s only satire…” There now . Feeling calmer. At least until it happens for real.

    Don’t want to raise your blood pressure but I’d bet some version of it is already going on. Sigh.

    Isn’t the most memorable example of this kind behavior by parents against teachers the teaching of evolution in schools?

    That’s the one that the media makes the most fuss about. For my money, the lack of basic economics and the glorification of the Howard Zin approach of American history is a bigger deal but that is so commonly accepted by media people they don’t make a fuss. 

    • #43
  14. Henry Castaigne Member
    Henry Castaigne
    @HenryCastaigne

    Whistle Pig, Timely Rain (View Comment):
    Our firm uses self-evals as part of the evaluation process. Up until last year it included a requirement for some self-statement of EEO principles. Each year I’ve used the same language about how I endeavor to treat each member of staff, each associate and each of my partners with the curtesy, respect and dignity which is their due as an individual. Since the election the SJW diversity efforts have ramped up big time. Last year the diversity question was changed to a statement of the firm’s diversity standard and a request for a clear certification from each partner that he/she/it/zir/whatever agrees to same. I included my same statement. I didn’t hear anything back.

    • #44
  15. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Henry Castaigne (View Comment):

    Whistle Pig, Timely Rain (View Comment):
    Our firm uses self-evals as part of the evaluation process. Up until last year it included a requirement for some self-statement of EEO principles. Each year I’ve used the same language about how I endeavor to treat each member of staff, each associate and each of my partners with the curtesy, respect and dignity which is their due as an individual. Since the election the SJW diversity efforts have ramped up big time. Last year the diversity question was changed to a statement of the firm’s diversity standard and a request for a clear certification from each partner that he/she/it/zir/whatever agrees to same. I included my same statement. I didn’t hear anything back.

    Thanks so much, @henrycastaigne! Peterson is always awesome. Ban radical stupidity!!!

    • #45
  16. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    On the Dr. JBP clip:

    1. I think he would appreciate my hierarchy of inefficiency, and
    2. Sometimes you just have to double down on the stupid. If someone told me I couldn’t use flip chart because “Flip” can be a derogatory term for a Filipino, I would publish a list of ten thousand words we can’t use anymore because somebody might get offended, and I would scream and shout until the boss recanted and started allowing flip chart again.
    • #46
  17. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Arahant (View Comment):

    On the Dr. JBP clip:

    1. I think he would appreciate my hierarchy of inefficiency, and
    2. Sometimes you just have to double down on the stupid. If someone told me I couldn’t use flip chart because “Flip” can be a derogatory term for a Filipino, I would publish a list of ten thousand words we can’t use anymore because somebody might get offended, and I would scream and shout until the boss recanted and started allowing flip chart again.

    Excellent, @arahant! We rebels-in-waiting will follow you! 

    • #47
  18. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    This post is a PowerLine pick today! Nice cross-promotion with overlapping but not identical audiences.

    • #48
  19. Clifford A. Brown Member
    Clifford A. Brown
    @CliffordBrown

    How far we have come from Ma and Pa Kettle doing math! The humor then assumed common knowledge and agreement on basic arithmetic.

    • #49
  20. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Clifford A. Brown (View Comment):

    This post is a PowerLine pick today! Nice cross-promotion with overlapping but not identical audiences.

    Cool! Anyone want my autograph?  (Seriously, it is neat.  ;-))

    • #50
  21. Joseph Stanko Coolidge
    Joseph Stanko
    @JosephStanko

    Songwriter (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    I wish that I could see this as an attempt at balance, but it’s led me to wonder if the filmmakers see the relativism and coddling of students in the video as something not squarely at the feet of the left.

    That’s what I saw, also. The Left doesn’t even recognize that they are the ones screwing up the school system, even as they mock the screwing up of the school system.

    I don’t think it’s an attempt at “balance,” and I’m not so sure this film was even intended as a commentary on the school system.  I think they might be straight-up liberals who set out to make a film mocking conservatives.

    My first clue was the title “Alternative Math,” which I took to be a play on “alternative facts,” and sure enough I found this from an interview with the director:

    What inspired you and your team to make this film and how did you come up with the title? “Kellyanne Conway using the term “Alternative Facts.”

    He also confirms there’s a political message to the film, without actually saying what it is:

    What made the actors interested in being a part of your film? “They loved the script, and liked the political message.”

    My theory is the film started with liberals rolling their eyes at Trump-supporting conservatives with their “alternative facts” and asking something like “surely even Trump voters couldn’t deny that 2+2=4, could they?  Wait, what if they did?”  And then the school setting was almost incidental, it was just the logical place for a story about a world where even arithmetic falls within the domain of “alternative facts” subject to political spin.

    • #51
  22. Susan Quinn Contributor
    Susan Quinn
    @SusanQuinn

    Joseph Stanko (View Comment):
    My theory is the film started with liberals rolling their eyes at Trump-supporting conservatives with their “alternative facts” and asking something like “surely even Trump voters couldn’t deny that 2+2=4, could they? Wait, what if they did?” And then the school setting was almost incidental, it was just the logical place for a story about a world where even arithmetic falls within the domain of “alternative facts” subject to political spin.

    What I find amusing is that they may have intended to ridicule conservatives, but I think they did an excellent job of caricaturing themselves. It’s just another example of how the left is unable to reflect on their own attitudes and behaviors and how they try to blame others. Depending on one’s viewpoint, they were a huge success or a dismal failure. I’ll take the latter.

    • #52
  23. Midget Faded Rattlesnake Member
    Midget Faded Rattlesnake
    @Midge

    Joseph Stanko (View Comment):

    Songwriter (View Comment):

    Hoyacon (View Comment):

    I wish that I could see this as an attempt at balance, but it’s led me to wonder if the filmmakers see the relativism and coddling of students in the video as something not squarely at the feet of the left.

    That’s what I saw, also. The Left doesn’t even recognize that they are the ones screwing up the school system, even as they mock the screwing up of the school system.

    I don’t think it’s an attempt at “balance,” and I’m not so sure this film was even intended as a commentary on the school system. I think they might be straight-up liberals who set out to make a film mocking conservatives.

    My first clue was the title “Alternative Math,” which I took to be a play on “alternative facts,” and sure enough I found this from an interview with the director:

    What inspired you and your team to make this film and how did you come up with the title? “Kellyanne Conway using the term “Alternative Facts.”

    He also confirms there’s a political message to the film, without actually saying what it is:

    What made the actors interested in being a part of your film? “They loved the script, and liked the political message.”

    My theory is the film started with liberals rolling their eyes at Trump-supporting conservatives with their “alternative facts” and asking something like “surely even Trump voters couldn’t deny that 2+2=4, could they? Wait, what if they did?” And then the school setting was almost incidental, it was just the logical place for a story about a world where even arithmetic falls within the domain of “alternative facts” subject to political spin.

    I’m not sure the school setting was entirely coincidental. @valiuth mentioned the Evolution Wars earlier, and I think there’s something to that.

    Conservatives, of course, have a hard time relating to parents who don’t expect their child to be punished for getting arithmetic wrong. Generally, conservatives complain that children aren’t punished enough for poor arithmetic. But conservative parents also care very much about schools respecting parental authority. Which means if there were conservative parents who sincerely believed 2+2=4 was a liberal lie, they would be likely to support their child in the way parodied. 

    Rather than thinking of this as an example of liberal lack of self awareness, I’m inclined to think of it as just successful comedy about American life. It succeeds in being funny for all of us, capturing tensions in American culture we can all relate to.

    • #53
  24. CarolJoy Coolidge
    CarolJoy
    @CarolJoy

    Whistle Pig, Timely Rain (View Comment):

    Susan Quinn (View Comment):

    aardo vozz (View Comment):

    I just have to keep repeating to myself “It’s only satire… It’s only satire…” There now . Feeling calmer. At least until it happens for real.

    Don’t want to raise your blood pressure but I’d bet some version of it is already going on. Sigh.

    Our firm uses self-evals as part of the evaluation process. Up until last year it included a requirement for some self-statement of EEO principles. Each year I’ve used the same language about how I endeavor to treat each member of staff, each associate and each of my partners with the curtesy, respect and dignity which is their due as an individual. Since the election the SJW diversity efforts have ramped up big time. Last year the diversity question was changed to a statement of the firm’s diversity standard and a request for a clear certification from each partner that he/she/it/zir/whatever agrees to same. I included my same statement. I didn’t hear anything back.

    One of my conservative partners is in management and has used similar language. He got a call asking for a clearer statement of support. He said his statement was perfectly clear. As far as he knows there have been no repercussions. Retirement is 5 years, 5 months 27 days away. Neither of us expects to get there on the current trajectory. Our commitment to judge people on their merits isn’t likely to be tolerated.

    Four legs good, two legs better.

    And “what is important right now is equal outcome, not equal opportunity. Which means for any people who have the privilege of being born in this country, you better learn to take a back seat to new arrivals, and learn some Spanish while you’ re at it.”

    • #54
  25. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    CarolJoy (View Comment):
    …and learn some Spanish while you’ re at it.”

    No hablo Español.

    • #55
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