Teach Them to Think?
Yes. Be shocked and outraged. Be horrified!
This was a horrible thing for a person of influence and especially a teacher to post. It set a terrible example for his students and it was immature and irresponsible, for Matt Baish to publicly imply that he would kill a child if he could.
The only repercussion, so far is that he was placed on administrative leave.
On top of it being an immature and irresponsible thing for Mr. Baish to say, publicly, it was ridiculous and hypocritical. Here’s why:
In the first place, a teacher’s job is to teach children not just that two and two are four, and that in 1800 and forty two Columbus sailed the ocean blue, (memorizing of facts) but how to think……critically.
This teacher is revealing that it’s only okay for students to think for themselves, when their opinions reflect this teacher’s own opinions. This teacher is also telling us quite clearly, that he condones violence being done against those whose opinions differ from our own.
That is wrong on SO MANY LEVELS. ……..
It is wrong because a teacher should know that a democracy allows for EVERYONE to have an opinion…….on EVERYTHING. Any grown-up that would condone violence against someone for having an opinion, no matter what age/gender/color they are obviously doesn’t understand the concept of “democracy” and shouldn’t be entrusted with the education of our students.
In the second place, any grown-up that publicly condones violence at all, MUSTN’T be placed in a position of influence or power over our children. Not only is there a danger that this person would do violence on his students, but there is the FACT that he has ALREADY influenced his students and others to do violence on protesters and anyone with an opinion that differs from their own.
That is the most undemocratic modus operandi I’ve ever heard of, and there-fore, the most UN-AMERICAN.
Definition of democracy- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democracy
a: government by the people
especially : rule of the majority
b: a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
We live in a democratic republic, and Greta Thunburg is doing her civic duty, by making a public spectacle of herself (in a good way) in order to bring attention to a very real emergency. She has every right to do what she is doing, and where we are continuing to do great and worsening harm to our environment, and there-fore her future, she is doing NO harm, by creating a movement of concerned citizens who are fighting for our children’s clean air and water.
So Greta is the personification of what we aspire, as teachers, to instill in our students.
She has taken the time to think for herself, and to understand the reality of climate change. She clearly sees that there is a need for the people to come together in this quest to make our politicians understand that rolling back policies that protect our environment is BAD.
Greta has been a catalyst, and has made people want to rally to this cause of saving our planet in order to save our children and grandchildren. Are we being “drama queens”? (Piers Morgan’s description of Greta Thunburg). Let’s answer that by looking at why she might be fighting this battle.
Let’s look at what happened in Flint Michigan.
And let’s look at oil pipelines leaking oil into our oceans along with spills from our ships and drilling platforms, kill marine life, and rob fishermen of their food and livelihoods:
Not only are we ruining the planet in order to benefit from a dirty and disappearing fossil fuel, when we could and should be seeking more ways to harness and use clean energy, but we are HARMING PEOPLE in order to get at those vanishing fossil fuels:
That land had been given to the Native Peoples of that region in a treaty, a long time ago, and it was broken, for the sake of dirty fuel profits. And we’re still breaking treaties with our Indigenous populations left and right:
It is because so many don’t even know or have already forgotten about the 300 protesters who were injured by police, as they tried to protect the land and water that was their’s from the pollution that they knew would follow the laying in of an oil pipeline, that we need Greta.
Greta is keeping the climate in the public eye, and no matter what we or YOU Matt Baish may think of how she does it, she has a right to do the job.
No matter what you may think of her manner, her words, or her style of dress, she has every right to step up to the plate and do what she sees needs doing. And none of us has any right to get in her way. We have no right to shoot her or even threaten to shoot her for her opinions or her activism.
We have all the same rights that she has, to express our own opinions, because that’s what democracy is, but we have no right to suppress anyone else’s opinion.
Sadly suppression and oppression are what America is best at. We have a long and sordid history of doing it, and we don’t even realize it, when we’re still doing it, so it’s going to be a hard habit to break…….
Women had to fight to vote, because men were suppressing their voices:
Black people had to fight for the vote, because White people were suppressing their voices:
Native Americans had to fight for the vote, because White people were suppressing their voices:
And now a lot of religious freaks in high places are trying to divide us from each other again, by disallowing gay adoption.
(Gays have only recently obtained the right to marry, in most and not all states).
So what is it that this back water oligarchy is scared to hear? Why does it constantly seek to keep “minorities” in their “place” and how can we topple the oligarchy?
More importantly, how can we ensure that once California is rid of her ties to the US oligarchy, we don’t become what we have, for so long, reviled?
The Calexit movement and Return California would love to have your input on those last items, if you have some ideas. Ask me.