I'm currently reading Charles Pierce's Idiot America. If you haven't read it yet, please do. You'll have studied ahead for an upcoming series here at Blogistan Polytechnic Institute. You'll also understand how Blogistan Polytechnic Institute came to be. And you'll understand how a handful of hyper-partisan Republican shills have turned an unremarkable presidential address encouraging kids to do well in school into a political firestorm.
More below the fold....
An Idiotic "Controversy"
As Food Vigilante diaried earlier this morning, some school districts have decided not to broadcast President Obama's back-to-school speech to our nation's schoolchildren Tuesday. The stated reason is because "a great deal of controversy has arisen" over whether it's worthwhile for the president to tell kids to come to school, pay attention, do their homework, and learn. As diaried by PLS, CNBC reporter John Harwood offers another take: "They are just stupid."
As Charles Pierce might write: welcome to Idiot America.
If you can't manufacture facts, manufacture controversy.
Pierce might also note this is straight out of the conservative playbook of false controversy that goes back to tobacco companies confusing the public on smoking-related health risks. Conservatism has introduced mass production to controversy, from global warming and evolution to birthers and deathers. Indeed it's been a non-stop stream of agnotology and manufactroversy during the Obama administration.
And now add whether the president should encourage kids to do well in school. "Study hard and do well in school" isn't controversial to most parents, but "And tell your parents to support my policies" would be. So out comes Jim Greer to say the president won't really be talking about doing well in school, but will instead be telling your kids to support his policies. Magnify that maybe-it-could-happen through the echo chamber of talk radio and the right-wing blogs until cable news picks up the story, and voila: another manufactured controversy.
And now that there's a "controversy"....
Our schools ought to be about facts and reason. Yes, that includes critical thinking, but critical thinking is not about controversy.
Critical thinking is about applying facts and reason to determine if an argument is valid. It may include but does not require an opposing argument. You can look at the premises and syllogisms of a single argument, in isolation, and ask whether its premises are supported by evidence or at least makes claims that can be tested against evidence, and whether its syllogisms are logically sound. If the evidence doesn't support its premises, or it makes claims that cannot be tested against evidence, or its syllogisms are fallacious, the argument is invalid. That may be an argumentation problem; the Pythagorean Theorem is true, even if you construct an invalid proof for it. It may also be that the underlying claim is simply false; you can't construct a valid argument for the claim that the U.S. was really founded in Australia and then moved to North America, because that claim is not true.
So while schools should teach critical thinking, that doesn't mean teaching or endorsing manufactured controversy. Yet that's exactly what many school districts have done, including the district cited in Food Vigilante's diary (linked above). Because Republicans have manufactured a controversy with the claim that President Obama might use his back-to-school address to advocate his policies, many school districts have decided not to carry that address in their classrooms.
The tacitly adopted premise is that separating fact from fiction is not a job for educated professionals, teaching and using critical thinking to evaluate arguments. Oh no. That's for parents to decide, based on their political affiliation.
And that's Idiot America.
Reread that last paragraph again. And again. It goes to the heart of what has gone wrong with our national discourse. Why listen to educated professionals about global warming, evolution, the president's birth, or end-of-life planning? Each of those issues is "controversial," so make up your own mind, based on your political affiliation. If an argument supports your team and your teammates agree, then it's a "real controversy" and society - including our schools - should treat it with respect.
Even if it's complete fiction.
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I apologize for not posting Morning Feature yesterday. I woke with my eyes burning and nose running and feeling like the only place I wanted to be was back in bed. It was only allergies, but it's hard to write with my eyes closed. I want to thank those posted a Morning Feature in my absence: etbnc, AJ in Camden, and winterbanyan. And please congratulate Morning Feature regular NLinStPaul for her rescued diary on the dynamics of change.
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Happy Saturday!