WARNING - image may offend sensible persons

[ashling]

I have deleted a lot of college friends from my facebook account - along with my crazy cousins - because of their conservative views and indiscriminate wild postings.

P.W. (I had written press releases for his dad when he ran for lieutenant governor) posted a rant last year during the healthcare "debate" telling anybody who would listen that everybody should go out to a Teaparty.

GONE!

Rick, who had accompanied me to the Navy Aviation recruiter on campus. I was about to graduate, and my draft number was 13) My eyes only qualified me for flight officer, but when I took the physical the doctor told me that I was disqualified because of the pin that held my ankle together when I had my foot broken a few years earlier playing soccer - with Rick; Rick was the first jet off the carrier during Desert Storm. He was beginning to post this type of stuff.

GONE!

My crazy cousin Grace who's father had been a Methodist minister in Mississippi during the heyday of the civil rights movement and wrote some inspiring sermons and articles - and also got some death threats. (He told another preacher on his circuit who had gotten a death threat from the local Klan that "it's good to see a preacher that has enough courage of his convictions that someone wants to kill him for it" - that preacher left - my uncle stayed) was always a little out there; we called her "Amazing Grace," Grace started sending out wild emails about Obama.

GONE! ... (ok, hidden -after all, she is my loony but lovable 1st cousin)

And now, Terry. Terry was a good guy in school - always a good friend. When he first saw me on facebook - and in the same town, no less - he called me up. Sounded as fun and upbeat as ever.

The other day I noticed that Terry had "Liked" a quote that was somewhat simple (as in "simpleton") and even more disturbing:

‎"You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they can and should do for themselves." -William J. H. BoetckerText

I decided to click on the link and found myself on a site called Being Conservative and face to face with the great communicator, the Teflon don himself.

I was as taken aback as you were when you opened this link. I think I would have lost my lunch if I had eaten.
The quote was on their wall along with some other simpleton quotes from various conservatives, including the Gipper.

The various thoughts spewed out on that board are the very ones that have oppressed people over the ages.

They have been fodder for one issue voters and the easily manipulated ... like some former Democrats who voted for the cardboard and celluloid figure staring at me from my computer monitor. (By the way, I am now in the market for a new monitor)

Cardboard slogans. That's all they are ... but they have yielded such damage to our communities, our economy, our nation - OUR PEOPLE.

Cardboard thoughts - as empty and simple as the people elected by the people that hold them. Thoughts held with good intentions, but that need to be subjected to some serious critical thinking.

Sometimes I think that our emphasis on participating in our democracy is seriously flawed.

Now don't get me wrong, I am a big proponent of participating in our democracy. In fact, in the online government classes I teach at community college I always emphasize participation and give extra credit for attending city council or other government meetings - getting involved. I always end with Thom Hartman's tag line: Tag, your it! Democracy only works when YOU get involved.

I do another thing that I think is equally important -- if not more important. I give my students critical thinking projects. I have them analyze political current events items. We deal with the standard information about government institutions. But we also analyze our own thoughts and positions on abortion, gay marriage, DADT, the nature and purpose of government, the link between political and economic inequality.

Some of my students come in ready for this kind of discussion and are excited by it. Many have never been asked to think critically about their own or opposing viewpoints. Sadly, some are ill equipped for this and probably never will be. Others leave the class with a new found - or enhanced - ability to assess their world and interact with it.

There are many in the academic community who emphasize critical thinking. But there are not enough, particularly in grades 1 - 12. Now, I am not going to get into the debate about merit pay, assessments, and tenure. I think Matt Damon can do that admirably for all of us. I am concerned with a much more basic problem for students, teachers, and school boards: Cardboard Thinking vs. Critical Thinking.

Cardboard students, cardboard teachers, cardboard school boards, cardboard legislators. In short, a cardboard democracy.

I didn't want to have to delete Terry from my friend's list too ... after all, that was the reason that I investigated this site in the first place. Thinking critically about the situation, I decided on another action. I decided I would put a quote in my status from someone I respected. So I posted this:

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.
~John Kenneth Galbraith

When I looked back at facebook today in writing this article. Terry's post was nowhere to be found. Maybe I hit a chord. Maybe with a little critical thinking Terry realized the limitations and hollowness of this cardboard thought.

Probably not. But at least I don't have do un-friend Terry...for now.

[yourout]

1. Opposite world.....with Reagan we got more governement, more taxes, WAY more....

spending, and way less freedom.

[Lint Head]

2. Raygun is still dead?

[Habibi]

3. The Galbraith quote is exquisite,

and I just posted it on my FB status, so's I can piss off my sweet conservative Christian sister. :) She might actually pause and think.

[ashling]

4. I love that one

I used to have it as my signature ... maybe I will re-set it.