This has been on my mind for a few days, but an earlier diary made me decide to post this. Long story short - I'm sick of people talking about 'teachable moments' - in fact, I find the very term offensive. Let me explain why.
Let's just look at the term and deconstruct it. When you think of 'teaching' the image that this suggests is a classroom full of children and a wise teacher at the front. So right off the bad, you are equating the American people with unlearned children. I don't think of myself that way and nor, I suspect, do most citizens. That's the first thing that puts me off.
Then let's look at the other side - who is the teacher? It's either one of two choices. The most obvious is the President himself. He was a former professor at one point, after all, and he's been criticized for sounding professorial. While a president can effectively use the bully pulpit (Reagan was a master at this), it is a lot more effective when it's framed as the President being persuasive. Not 'let me teach you ignorant people' but 'let me convince you why my direction is the right one.' Even worse in this case, one of the first 'teachable moments' in this presidency was the Gates arrest brouhaha in which President Obama was one of those who went off half-cocked and needed to be 'taught' himself.
So who is the other candidate for 'teacher'? Why the oh, so wise punditocracy of course! They are quite prepared to write pages and pages sharing their wisdom with us ignorant peasants to bring us to the light. Sorry - not buying it from them. What I want from the media is facts; I can form my own opinions, thanks. And their record is hardly stellar in terms of getting things right, to boot.
Somehow I find myself thinking of Amanda Holden of Britain's Got Talent. When Susan Boyle came out all frumpy then blew everybody away with her version of I Dreamed a Dream, Amanda didn't say that it was a 'teachable moment', she said that it was a 'wake-up call' and admitted that she was one of those who needed it. She said that 'WE were all being very cynical' and that's what makes the difference.
Saying that you think of the American people as children ties into the worst sorts of stereotypes about Democrats. In the Sherrod case, the Obama administration blew it just as bad as everybody else - so did many in the media and the NAACP. Who is qualified to be the 'teacher' here? Why not drop the whole 'teacher' thing and use Amanda Holden's language. Say that such things are a 'wake-up call'. I think it would go over a lot better.