The ornery ramblings and occasional fiction of a former political science professor turned author
Do you require that all your friends agree with you on every topic?
Do you unfriend and quit seeing those who dare to disagree with you?
Do you require that all your coworkers agree with you on every topic?
Do you ask that coworkers who disagree with you be disciplined or fired?
Continue reading “You Just Might Be A Totalitarian”
The other day I ran across an FB post with the hashtag “LGBTQ rights are human rights” and it got me thinking. What rights, exactly, do people who use that hashtag believe are not recognized for LGBTQ folks or what rights are LGBTQ people unable to exercise due to government or social restrictions? Seriously, what are they missing? Marriage? Got it. Speech? Got it. Access to healthcare? Got it. Religion? Got it. Housing? Got it. Jobs? Got ‘em. What are they missing?
Continue reading “Friday Thoughts: What Rights Are You Missing?”
Before we get to the propaganda bits, let me just say: it’s been a good week, Tater! I’m writing… lots. This outlining process I’ve borrowed is working very well for me and I’m feeling good about finishing theAcademic Magic series. I’ve got Books 4, 5, and 6 planned out and am moving at good speed through Book #4 – it’s above 10k words right now. And, once I finish this post and get moving on it today, I’m hoping to get beyond 20k.
Continue reading “Friday Thoughts: Propaganda”
Twice in 2022 I wrote about banning books (here and here), but the recent hysteria over books that are being pushed by the LGBTQ community, and others, along with an FB post by a friend of mine brought the matter back to mind. As with so many issues these days, the left has taken a word and twisted it until they find a definition and use that suits their needs. Just as the government and its cronies created Newspeak in Orwell’s 1984, so the progressive left is creating their own version of newspeak. My friend walked into a Barnes and Noble to be faced with the display shown below. Now, yes, the signs under the books say “Challenged” which is indeed accurate. But notice the display sign – that says “Banned Books.” Whether this is a marketing ploy (likely), or not, someone at B&N is engaged in some serious misdirection and propagandizing.
Continue reading ““Banning” Books… Again”
Women are being erased, deliberately, from the main stage of culture and society. Again. Just the other day, after facing strong backlash, Johns Hopkins University removed their online glossary of LGBTQ terms in which they defined “lesbian” as a “non-man attracted to non-men.” See what they did there? Johns Hopkins defined “lesbian”, a woman sexually attracted to other women, around men rather than around women. They erased women from the definition of lesbian. Everything which involves women is once again revolving around men. Even more telling is that a small segment of women are upset that JHU deleted its definitions. I have to assume that the world in which these individuals live has a purple sky with pink polka dots. Because it definitely isn’t the world the rest of us inhabit.
Continue reading “I Am Woman, Hear Me Roar”
We were out driving the other day when “Stand” by Sly and the Family Stone came on the radio (okay, on the Sirius channel we were listening to). As I bounced in my seat and sang along, the lyrics suddenly struck me. I mean, I know the lyrics, but their application to today’s cultural and political madness struck me. After we got home, I looked up the song. It was written in 1969 by Sly Stone, was the title track on the album “Stand”, and performed at Woodstock.
Continue reading “Stop Sitting Down”
I’ve been going through a few weeks of… not really malaise, but just a sort of checked out feeling. I haven’t been writing like I want to/need to/should be in order to keep to my self-imposed publishing schedule and while I have been following news and events, and have opinions on things, I haven’t mustered up the energy or whatever to write about them here either. But over the last couple of days, I’ve done some introspection and pulled apart some things and reminded myself that this sort of disconnect is not really productive nor is it conducive to keeping my creative side, which is still newly emerging, engaged and active.
Continue reading “Back in the Game”
In A Wrinkle in Time, Charles Wallace Murray, Meg’s little brother, responds to a seemingly unworkable conundrum, posed by IT, shouting triumphantly “like and equal are not the same thing!” In our own version of Camazotz ruled by IT and the Black Thing, we are told that “equality” and “equity of outcomes” are the same thing. Like Charles Wallace Murray, we should all be shouting at IT “Equality and equity of outcomes are not the same thing!” because they are not.
Continue reading “Friday Thoughts: Equity, Equality and Outcomes”
Reading an article in The College Fix describing how several universities are changing “women” to “womxn” (I don’t even know how you would pronounce that) in order to be “more inclusive” during Women’s History Month, is the latest salvo in what is clearly a war on women by progressives. Women’s History Month celebrates women in history. How can it become more inclusive? And what, exactly is a “womxn”?
Continue reading “Progressives Announce: Men Are Better Than Women!”
A post from seven years ago floated up in my FB memories this morning. It was a rant from a former student about the loss of discourse and discussion in the classroom. At the time, this student was in a grad class and had raised a differing point of view only to be greeted with gasps of astonishment. I had copied the rant and posted it as Reason #47 for why I teach. In reality, rants like this, demonstrating the critical thinking skills of my students, remain Reason #1 for why I taught. Yes, I’ve left that world, and the inability to have constructive discussions and arguments in the classroom is my primary reason for leaving.
Continue reading “Academic Failure and the Loss of Discourse”