Mastodawn

Tony, Pretty Much

So let me get this: instead of appealing to young voters and producing a slate of policies to address the needs of the country, the Republicans want control over universities and are running scared as they are often snubbed by young voters. They are just desperate and it smacks of fascism.

Please do what you can to fight this. Express your support for public education and vote for people who do, too.

Conservatives seek control over public universities with state bills-
https://wapo.st/45IE2Yu

Conservatives seek control over public universities with state bills

Conservative lawmakers have accelerated efforts to try to rein in what they see as liberal indoctrination on college campuses, with dozens of state bills igniting debates over academic priorities and how public universities should operate.

The Washington Post

SLCW💥Jun 4, 2023

@TonyStark An anti-intellectual party that is openly against education beyond the 8th grade, and believes that the Bible is the basis for objective fact has absolutely no business being in control of the nation's higher education centers.

Whitey Jun 4, 2023

@slcw @TonyStark It's ok, I'm wringing my hands online and that will stop them

DamnKimberlee Jun 4, 2023

@slcw people need to know Rupert Murdoch owns the Bible and evolves it to fit his twisted narrative.

Bellison22 Jun 4, 2023

@TonyStark nail on the head🎯

toxtethogrady Jun 4, 2023

@TonyStark You realize that all of this has failed them before and will fail them again. Because young people will not be controlled...

T. J. Bombadil Jun 4, 2023

@TonyStark For it to be a state university, doesn't the state have to fund it? Here in Colorado, the university system receives so little funding from the state, it might as well be a private college system.

Kevin Leecaster Jun 4, 2023

@TonyStark
During a recent forum, Republican candidates for local state Senate and House of Delegates seats said they disagreed with...early voting...

“Too many people have easy access to voting” in Virginia, said John Stirrup, who is vying for the Republican nomination to run for the House of Delegates’ 21st District seat in the June 20 primary. “Voting needs to be tightened up.” https://www.princewilliamtimes.com/news/local-gop-candidates-vow-to-tighten-va-voting-laws/article_04472152-006a-11ee-9a8b-3f53c24edbc4.html

Local GOP candidates vow to ‘tighten’ Va. voting laws

During a recent forum, Republican candidates for local state Senate and House of Delegates seats said they disagreed with Virginia’s law that allows 45 days of early voting and said

Prince William Times

Tony, Pretty Much Jun 4, 2023

@GreenFire Pretty clear that we only have one pro-democracy party in the United States. It’s fun if you agree with the current GOP platform, but eventually the time will come when many who don’t or change their minds won’t have much recourse unless they get involved with stopping Republicans now.

*edited for clarity in response to a comment from a helpful person.

BakerPoliticalWatcher004 Jun 5, 2023

@GreenFire I have no desire to make Virginia a second Florida.

ken Taylor Jun 7, 2023

@GreenFire @TonyStark well at least they'restarting to say how they really feel instead of hiding behind voter fraud.

a.d. 🗽🇺🇸Jun 4, 2023

@TonyStark they been running scare & hack our progress since the mid 90s. They’re emboldened as ever with their savior the trump… who is a #traitor

Heimdall 🏳️‍🌈Jun 4, 2023

@TonyStark Republicans are doing everything in their power to create little puritanical robots that will work for the absolute minimum and obey without question. Let’s not give them more power.

Pēteris Krišjānis Jun 4, 2023

@TonyStark they can't appeal to anyone because their base is so removed and far right from anyone else. This is last gasp.

CherylBlueWave Jun 4, 2023

Thank you for your post, Tony.

Universities in expose students to new ideas, enhance the way students see the world, and expand the way they think, at least in the U.S., Europe and much of Asia.

In some countries - some in the Middle East - don't want their students to think on their own, instead, wanting them to regurgitate verbatim the writings the leaders give them.

Having taught ESOL, I had to be aware of that and watch for it in their writing, so I could teach them to explain and analyze what they'd read.

If conservatives want to control the narrative, they need not decimate our educational system, they are welcome to move to a nation already doing so.

This is a slippery slope leading to Sharia Law.

Sel Jun 5, 2023

@CherylBlueWave @TonyStark

The slippery slope to uncritical thinking is a big problem. A mindset that just accepts whatever is put before without thinking it through or looking for backup.

CherylBlueWave Jun 5, 2023

@seldear @TonyStark

Well-said.

Doctor of Electricity Jun 5, 2023

@TonyStark I never thought I’d see the Christian Taliban gain this much power in my lifetime.

Mark Jun 5, 2023

@TonyStark public education in the US is completely globalist woke/democrat run. If not by law, then by practice.

Comparing this pushback with fascism shows that you are not only woke, but also ignorant.

It seems you cannot find real arguments so you revert to the tried and tested "fascists!". They are probably pedo's and terrorists to. At least that is what our government always uses when they want to pass a bill that nobody supports...

Try talking to them: ask WHY they want these bills...

arceuthobium Jun 7, 2023

@mark @TonyStark isn’t a university supposed to wake people’s minds up? That’s literally what they’re for. A US history class that doesn’t teach about racism is as worthless as a biology class that doesn’t teach about evolution.

Mark Jun 7, 2023

@theothersimo @TonyStark no, they are not intended to wake people's minds up. Right now they are intended to teach people what to think.

They should be to teach the mind how to think and question. Not provide narratives with ready given answers.

Did you know public schooling as we know it was (is?) originally intended to mold the populous so they would be obedient to the ruling class? Look it up!

Teaching about racism is fine. Teaching black over white: not so much. That IS literally racism.

arceuthobium Jun 7, 2023

@mark @TonyStark if by “ruling class” you mean white people… you want to talk about ruling elites (and you’re not wrong but seem confused about who the ruling elites are) but you want it to be illegal to talk about school segregation, “massive resistance,” and the school-to-prison pipeline.

Mark Jun 7, 2023

@theothersimo @TonyStark I know the (then) ruling class was all white.

But that is not the point: they suppress both white and black. And they are using the whole white/black to let us fight among ourselves whilst they still remain in power.

Quite possible whites are in for a century or so of segregation and discrimination now. They don't care: as long as they remain in charge.

I have no problem with black people. I do have a problem with people that have problems with whites or teach us so.

arceuthobium Jun 7, 2023

@mark @TonyStark I just don’t know what to say to a person so divorced from reality as to believe white people could be persecuted in the US or that schools are going to start teaching people to hate whites. That’s like Chris Rufo level psychopathy.

Mark Jun 8, 2023

@theothersimo @TonyStark strange.

They are already actively teaching this in schools in the US.

In NL we are now talking about reparations for the late-late-grand children of black slaves (paid for by people who never enslaved anyone).

My ancesters worked in labour camps mining peat: they had to work from the age of 6, buy their food from the shops owned by their bosses and where only given housing if everyone in the family worked for him. Do you think I will get reparations? Racism...

Mark Jun 8, 2023

@theothersimo @TonyStark but I will end the debate here. I do not think we will get anywhere constructive.

I've said my part, you think different. Fine.

arceuthobium Jun 7, 2023

@mark @TonyStark clowns: “Science isn’t about consensus!” Also clowns: “why don’t you ask people whose last science class was in tenth grade what should be taught in university science programs.”

Mark Jun 7, 2023

@theothersimo @TonyStark the clowns are often right...

Did you know a few hundred years ago the scientific consensus was that the earth was flat? And that it was the center of the universe?

Science is about doubt. If you are no longer allowed to doubt once there is "consensus" there is no science. Dogma/religion, not science.

arceuthobium Jun 7, 2023

@mark Science knew that the earth was round 2500 years ago. Science learns from new evidence. Whether popes or governors allow them to publish the new discovery is another question, or god forbid teach it in schools.