Ron DeSantis, the tyrant of Tallahassee, thought to eliminate all vestiges of dreaded liberal thought and basic egalitarianism from the Florida educational system with the passage of his “Stop Woke Act”, which is basically a set of laws protecting children and even adult University Students from being burdened by the imposition of too much history and humanity taught in their classes.
What the dime store dictator and his yahoo Florida Legislature did not count on was the “Stop Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees Act” running into a federal judge who had not only read the stridently anti-fascist George Orwell novel 1984 but was also prepared to cite passages from it in his ruling striking down many provisions of it.
“U.S. District Judge Mark Walker on Thursday specifically struck down parts of the law that prohibited college employees from teaching eight topics related to race and accused Florida of “doublespeak,” a reference to 1984, court documents show.
“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen,’ and the powers in charge of Florida’s public university system have declared the State has unfettered authority to muzzle its professors in the name of ‘freedom,'” Walker wrote, further citing from the novel.”
Dayum, Judge Walker, tell it like it is. Please do go on:
“The law officially bans professors from expressing disfavored viewpoints in university classrooms while permitting unfettered expression of the opposite viewpoints.
Walker ruled that the speech of professors in the classroom is protected by the First Amendment and that provisions in the law were vague as he compared Florida to the novel’s Ministry of Truth, which is in charge of propaganda in the book.
“The State has responded to fears of ‘woke indoctrination’ in university classrooms. But rather than combat ‘woke’ ideas with countervailing views in the ‘marketplace of ideas,’ the State has chosen to eliminate one side of the debate,” Walker wrote.
Walker also referenced Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in the notes of his decision, writing that, “although we may have recently celebrated Halloween, that is no excuse to stitch together a new legal test resembling Frankenstein’s monster.”
I love it. Not only did Judge Walker correctly equate the little dictator with Big Brother, he then likened this monstrosity of legislation to Frankenstein – who attacked his creator and ran amok terrorizing the townsfolk.
Pretty much what DeSantis to a tee, excepting Frank was taller and better looking than Ron Con.
The only way Walker’s ruling might have been better would be if it had included this passage from the Orwell classic:
“Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
For that is the end game for these Republicans – deprive children and young adults of the critical thinking skills required to call bullshit on the inane and hateful prejudices of their parents, in some cases, and to shield from criticism the lawmakers who wish only to cater to their basest voters in order to retain power.
Thank goodness for judges who read literature.
Here is the text of a letter that I wrote to the editor of the local paper, and it got published.
Here is the dictionary definition of Woke when used as a slang term: aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues (especially issues of racial and social justice). Republicans would have us believe that being “Woke” is a bad thing…and to them it is! Because being “Woke” has come to mean being aware of the stealing, cheating, lying, and downright dastardly deeds of those Republicans! It means becoming aware that everything that these Republicans do is destructive! Destructive to the majority of Americans, destructive to to the programs (like Social Security, Medicaid, Medicare, etc…!) and institutions (like the Post Office!) that Americans depend upon, destructive to law and order, and DESTRUCTIVE TO OUR DEMOCRACY!!
I say that the more people that are “Woke” the better! The better to make sure that we VOTE OUT EVERY SINGLE REPUBLICAN EVERYWHERE, at every level of federal, state and local government!
Your letter to the editor was just perfect. We have a weekly paper here in my little town in the middle of Klan Land. They actually do some editorials that are tough on the right sometimes. A few months ago our editor had an editorial on fascism. He showed how the Republicans are turning into fascist. I will sometimes read the paper, but my wife likes to read the obituaries so she grabs it up right away. One night she brought the paper to me to show me this editorial. I was so proud of him I composed a letter thanking him and giving my observations/opinions on the subject. I sent the email at around two in the morning. Damn if he didn’t respond within minutes and asked if he could publish my letter. The week he published mine and a few more letters his wife wrote a pro-democracy editorial. He mysteriously left the paper within a month. And he hasn’t been replaced. However, they still have some pretty good editorials.
From your lips Nonya to the God/dess ears. Blessed be!
GOP politicians have been eliminating the encouragement of critical thinkins skills for several decades now, by clouding the concept of teacher training through empowering schools of education to require more hoops to get a degree in education, while minimizing the curriculum of core subjects. Primary and middle school teachers must now get a degree in education while taking a minimum number of basic core courses, i.e. math, science, social studies, English, etc to certify in those areas, without getting in-depth understanding of the subject concepts. The PRAXIS (national teacher exam) is more essential than classroom content. Lesson plans and IEPs (indivualized ed. plans) and non educational paperwork take priority over quality teadhing. Administration is top heavy. Them politicians systematically have underfunded and undermined schools through limiting teacher salaries, cutting supply budgets, influencing textbook content, and, in more subtle ways, discouraging a liberal education to inspire critical thinking by eliminating art, music, literature, and foreign language training, while teaching to achieve certain test scores rather than demonstrating an genuine understanding of the matter a subject involves. Universities have transmogrified into training schools for docile middle managers, with business and education schools being too influential in how other departments create course content for students, just as the Prussian method of education was implemented in the USA to train docile workers, rather than to actually understand the world in which we live. There is no wonder that people have become so accepting of propaganda and choose not to think for themselves or accept responsibility to make hard decisions, if only some charismatic character will tell them what and how to think. In short, in out society of capitalism run amok, education has become an industry rather than a process based on sincere intellectual inquiry and love of learning. When I attended university, my goal was to get the most out of courses I had no intention to pursue professionally. Now were I like most students that passed through my university writing courses, I would likely do what I had to do to get the graduation credit, all the while whining about what a waste of time it was to take the course when I could be taking something else to get a better salary and buy stuff, like the latest iPhone.
Fred,
Your mention of the Prussian method of education, sparked my interest and led to some general reading about the origins and philosophy of education. Thanks!