Thank You, Dean, for your article today, it's been a Long Hard Kick to Democracy and for the Rule of Law. You've been a guiding light and leading the Charge for the Facts and the Truth all the way. You are, and have always been ,our source of information, and need you now more than Ever. Blessings to you 🙏 and will reStack ASAP 💯👍🇺🇸
“Former Georgia Gubernatorial candidate and activist Stacy Abrams, Esq. stated about two weeks ago that the Republican Party has deliberately operated a targeted propaganda campaign to politically disaffected Black men under age 50 over the last 3 major election cycles. They post propaganda and misinformation all over social media targeting these younger men and it worked…”
Wow, this is so important, Leslye. And Republicans are trying to dumb us down even more. I am a former librarian and I know what you mean about no one listening to us. I recently joined the Freedom to Read Foundation but what we really need is much more support for public education. Unfortunately that's exactly what Republicans are trying to decimate.
A lot of Musk’s money went straight to specifically targeted groups; men, Hispanic men over LGTB issues. The right wing churches and their vile preachers spewing hate and anti abortion bile all over their packed congregations Sunday after Sunday all did their damage.
21 % of American adults are illiterate and 54% read below the 6th grade level you have a majority population that almost never reads and definitely doesn’t do any research.
It’s terrifying because school systems aren’t exactly paying teachers what they’re worth. So, in addition to these frightening numbers about literacy, we have teacher shortages all over the place.
I’m from a family of teachers—5 generations and counting. The tragedy is that the average school teacher makes 30% less than other adults with the same amount of education in other fields.
I am sure states like Florida and Texas would have a huge shortage of teachers! If arrest is a consequence for teaching a subject just one parent objects to why would you stay in that job?
Make sure they can read to you. Ask the children how they figure out words - memorize? Guess? Pictures? Or sound out words using the letters (to decode)?
Don’t rely on what teachers say. I’m in KY and there was a big row in public at a Legislative Ed Committee. I feel certain the only reason the moms were allowed to testify (they brought their children) was due to them being from a Red county, the wealthiest in the state that is not too diverse.
The moms brought data & said teachers believe what they are seeing is normal. That is quite possible because these failed methods have been taught here per state policy since 1998. Universities stopped instructing teaching students in teaching reading because states & school districts relied on contractors. Contractors said a 3rd party held their data & owns it. Proprietary so no sharing. Also, said some children just don’t learn to read well.
25 years of failure because they advised things like this:
“If a child has bias towards using mainly letters, the teacher may orient the child to a picture as a source of meaning.” (Readers are supposed to be biased toward letters.)
3 cues: 1st letter of a word, guess using context, pictures to figure out what word would fit. Pony or a horse? No worries the “reader” has a “general understanding.”
The state funded this failure and because of the moms their contract was canceled. Sadly the state Dept of Education had a good program for yrs. At least now they can use it. Teaching literacy the right way is harder than letting kids guess. It’s hard to get teachers to switch.
I work in a biotech helmed by a Black woman (scientist/physician//business visionary) from Ghana. We are poised to overtake our competitors, based on her vision, intelligence and ability to inspire. When her promotion was first announced, our stock tanked. It's doubled in the past year. Fortunately, the priior CEO recognized her talents. Also fortunately, she didn't have to suffer the ignorance of the US electorate. People underestimate women in CEO roles at their peril. Thanks for the insightful take on this topic.
Can we finally talk about how the massive radical right social media and the Republican Party convinced their followers to believe lies instead of truth.
Can we finally talk about how voters were convinced to believe that trump was the most successful president in our history!
Can we finally talk about how trumpers were convinced to believe the “big lie” and the insurrection was an “inside job.”
Can we finally talk about how trumpers were convinced to believe that trump was “anointed by God” to be president.
Can we finally talk about how voters were convinced to revere a convicted felon, a pathological liar and bully, a man devoid of character, morals or integrity.
Can we finally talk about why the Republican Party was unwilling to honor their oaths to the Constitution but chose instead to support and defend a pathological liar, sociopath and psychopath.
Once we talk about those things, talking about racism and sexism will pale by comparison.
This is good information, however our ruby red state has a female republican governor, attorney general, senator and two out of 4 representatives. They all happen to be white and republican. It seems a republican woman has an advantage over any democrat.
Our state had a maga Black male AG who ran for governor against our white male Dem who was running for a 2nd term. The most extreme maga (including a former trump appointed ambassador with a billionaire husband) lost in the GOP primary.
The Dem won a 2nd term. The other 3 statewide offices are bright red & the legislature is veto-proof red. 2 white men and a white woman.
2 male senators. 6 male Congressman - 1 of whom is a Dem. All white.
Our state Supreme Court will soon seat its first Black woman. She will take a seat vacated by a white male. The court will shift from 4 men and 3 women to 4 women and 3 men. For the first time the Chief Justice will be a woman. The new justice, a registered Independent, supported by Democrats including the governor during the campaign, will also shift the court’s political leanings away from 4:3 GOP
L Garcia I think like you. It is the greatest con of all time!
The way sexism wormed its way in IMHO was through the anti-woke fury. Intersectionality, race politics, DEI etc, all those ideologies are largely woman-driven. Having said all that, I’m in interested in the women who actually did vote for trump. I suspect there may be some creepy daddy’s-girl psychology going on there.
America remains ignorant because they want to be ignorant. They see that Trump denies and lies about not knowing anything that gets him into trouble. Therefore his MAGA maggots find it very easy for them to stay ignorant and refuse to even attempt to know the truth.
The majority of Americans who support Trump are either willfully ignorant, uneducated, insecure, racist, or selfish. And if/when Trump tanks this country, they'll be the last to accept accountability, just like their president.
Most of the reasons people cited for voting for Trump are inaccurate, based on lies and overall ignorance of voters, too often willful ignorance, and, of course, the sexism and racism that runs through the veins of this country.
Trump spitting in our faces 248 year old Constitutional republic, representative democracy!
I will be wearing this "We the People means EVERYONE" t-shirt the next four years 👇
I am so glad you have pointed out that racism and sexism are why Harris lost the election. That's what I thought all along, especially after hearing that Latino men had a negative attitude toward a woman as president. Weird, since Mexico elected a female president. That tells me that people might be corrupted by being part of the US. If you watch Mexican TV you see that women are viewed as objects for showing off, as creatures who are intended to be sexy. But they still elected a female president. Go figure. I wish we could do the same. I don't know how anyone could look at or listen to Harris and not see that she is all business and was very well qualified for a job. I will never understand why people use their biases to vote against their own best interests. This stuff is crazy making.
On November 6, I told my sister that it was racism and sexism that caused him to win. As a woman, I am well aware of the prejudice against women. I often lost a promotion to a man who was less qualified than I. Since I’m 84, I realize that years ago when I was working, that women rarely got to the top. It’s sad that it’s still the same.
Thank you for addressing this. Im surprised at how little these issues were discussed. Maybe I shouldn’t be. I think we’re still at the ‘admitting there’s a problem’ stage… I still think we should avoid nominating another woman in the future. Especially if the opposition is another rabbit blossom like the current one. Addressing bigotry and bias seems like a luxury right now. If the next four years are bad enough, we might be able to get a woman in on backlash votes, but I don’t know if that’s the best way to go about it. It might end up slamming the door and locking it behind her.
Honestly Lana I think it could happen if the woman drew a clear line against far-left ideology. I could be wrong of course, but one can’t help but notice there’s been an intense and vicious anti-woke backlash.
I sure hope so. I don’t plan on giving up at any point. I don’t think I got that gene 🧬 But sometimes I see writing on the wall and it’s demoralizing. 😪
Race, gender politics and DEI to the point where meritocracy is worth less than someone’s level of victim-hood as measured by intersectionality theory. The dividing of people into victims and oppressors. I could go on. Why do you ask, and how do you define it?
I asked because I wanted more clarity on your pov. In the United States, there is no functional "far-left" by any political science standards. We would term most of them "anarchists". The Left in the United states would be the center in most other democracies of the world. The Right in the United states has gone so far off the edge they may almost be considered "far-left" (by some). As I label a solid 25-40 % of the current USA Right Wing to be closer to anarchists than the L/R divisions of the first 200 years.
Why label them anarchists you ask? For one, deporting American citizens because they are the "wrong" color sure seems un-American to me. Two, claiming that homelessness is a "choice" sure seems un-American to me. Third, the USA right have no solutions for a society which would include ALL AMERICANS. They wish to divide and conquer, placing millions of citizens at peril due to their healthcare options, lifestyle choices, or color of their skin.
in conclusion, there has NEVER been "meritocracy" in these United States. Study our history and you will see it has mainly been the "battle of the fittest" no holds barred white supremacy.
“The Left in the United states would be the center in most other democracies of the world.” I’ve heard that, but I’m not seriously qualified to have a bonafide discussion. I tend to use the popular lingo rather than the historical context. But I’ll give it a shot:
I have read people in acedemia (philosophy, social science) declare that “meritocracy” doesn’t exist. Theyve been educated to see the world through a lense that evaluates people by their class, socio-economic status, and other factors, but not as individuals. So if I understand their argument correctly, if you were lucky enough to have been born into a privileged family, your background and elite education means you have a leg-up, whereas someone smarter than you will not succeed due to the burden of where they come from. Maybe so, but the measures taken to correct this have, in my opinion, gone beyond the good intentions they started with.
When I refer to meritocracy, I’m looking at life on the ground. Where companies, universities, and so on have a hiring quota that means filling spaces with the correct colour, gender or physical handicap, regardless of merit (as long as the person is at least adequate). I have no problem with this until we get into niche spaces where a highly qualified individual is crucial, and political correctness should not be taken into consideration. I’m someone who is quite sanguine about more males being represented in STEM for instance, or more women in the Nursing and Psychology professions. Equality of opportunity, yes. Equality of outcome, no.
After all that I’m not even sure if I answered your question, or if you even had one!
Hmmm, I find your words have merit. This is a legitimate, empathetic response to the current economic opportunities in this country:
"I’m someone who is quite sanguine about more males being represented in STEM for instance, or more women in the Nursing and Psychology professions. Equality of opportunity, yes. Equality of outcome, no."
I am the opposite of you. As a privileged male whose family afforded for me to go to a major University in this country (early 1980's) I might agree that social research, separating population into demographics which can be "consistently used" for separating people into "objectively observable" categories, THEN attempting to create nationwide education which "pulls people into the middle" can result in what you term "uneven outcomes". My mother was a special education teacher, then administrator in Texas for 45 years. I REFUSE to believe she and her co-workers were "indoctrinating the woke mob" as SO MANY people have told me on Twitter etc.
This is because I was also privileged to share in many of those outcomes. Down syndrome kids getting HS degrees, marrying and holding jobs for life is one of her legacies. Federal funds were used for all of those kids. LOTS of Texas teachers, administrators, school workers can tell you with 100% confidence they helped for society to become a more "even" place by not thinking of children with disabilities as "burdens" to be cared for the entirety of their lives. It turned out that if you pay "special" attention to them, they turn out with more fulfilling lives, for themselves, their parents and society. Until the 1970's early 1980's these children were sequestered in their homes rarely to be seen or appreciated by the rest of us.
That is equal opportunity without expecting equal outcome. Their limitations did not allow for equal outcomes, but the willingness of society at that time to attempt to offer a life more closely resembling the rest of us seems noble to me.
As for males in STEM, which was my plight. I would have rather there been more females, maybe the IT world wouldn't be so sickly misogynistic. Then again, my first wife became an Electrical Engineer at the same University. Her father told her she was there to find a husband and "settle down". She certainly was not and I feel her outcome was MUCH better than the typical societal "plans" for her, at least as her father saw it. She was a victim of sexual abuse when she was a child by this same man and his brother. I did not learn of this until 4 years into the relationship. It took a LOT of restraint not to go down to his home and beat the living shit out of him. His Irish Catholic version of equal opportunity did not include women. I am glad society moved away from that for a while.
I am afraid the current levels of education which has many adults reading at a 6th grade level is contributing to the playing fields being tilted back toward patriarchy, cruelty, and neglect of poor people and children. Add to it a society which values Billionaires (read MONEY, cash, moolah, BIG BANK Accounts) more than proper education and you get these United States.
sorry to be so wordy, but now I ask of you: Is it worth it as a society to have these playing fields so uneven most people can see it but wish to ignore it? Should 8 men have more money than 80% of the rest of us? Where is the meritocracy in that?
It’s not being said enough. It was about racism and sexism. The American people weren’t willing to make a Black woman president.
The salient fact of the past election remains this: Trump got only about 1 million more votes than he did in 2020, Harris got 7 million fewer votes than Biden did in 2020. In total, noticeably fewer people voted in the 2024 presidential election than in the 2020 presidential election. I could be wrong, but I believe it was the first time in a long time that the turnout in a presidential election was lower than the turnout in the previous presidential election.
Potential Democratic voters stayed home. That’s the alpha and omega of it. I can see no other explanation than the reluctance to vote for a Black woman.🤔😉😊
Of course racism & sexism/misogyny played an outsize role in the election. It doesn’t matter how much data you can muster showing that more women on the board of directors, in the C-suite, in upper management… the healthier the firm’s profits, or the more efficient the not for profit. As the nation’s very first PhD qualified economist to be hired into a Women’s Studies department I can’t begin to describe how friggin difficult near impossible it is to get otherwise curious students … female, male, lgbtQ … to accept perfectly legit data on the zillions of ways women are disadvantaged in the U.S./EU/World. It’s easier to convince them they’ll still get an A even if they never do the assignments or come to class. Magical thinking is the norm on these issues. It’s a stunning collective mental block. Keep on beating this drum.
Maybe you have a conduit to the White House? Of course, my letters to my Senators and House members, have gone unanswered. But, I would have VP Harris and President Biden receive these words: all positive Legacy ( and there is plenty) will be forgotten, unless a calculated plan is not carried out to block Criminal #4547, from reinfesting the Office. Hand recounts should be ordered. Possibly, delay inauguration, awaiting results. Certainly order security clearance on all nominees. Trump’s clearance should be denied- he was tried and convicted. Musk, too. Please stop the insanity looming over us. Act, please. 1/2 of America is with you! We’ll never get them out, if they get in. If I believed the election was fair and not skewed by computer interference, that’s different. Has no one in current office, asked for hand counts ?
The silence from DC is eerie. I so want to believe calculated action is in place to reveal the duplicity, with proof.! Without it, I am afraid for the whole World.
Missing from the conversation is the fact that he almost certainly did NOT win the election! At a minimum, the election was seriously compromised.
Other democratic countries see we need a forensic audit and hand recounts. They would have performed these far sooner. But not us? We had record turnout yet fewer votes(!), around 80 bomb threats, mass voter purges, countless missing ballots, voluminously improbable split tickets, software glitches, suspected hacking, and statistical implausiilities galore. Yet, nothing appears to be happening to address what, I believe, is the most important moment in our country's history
Verifying the integrity of an election is not denial, nor is it conspiracy theorizing. That can only happen after an election is proven valid, as happened after the 2020 election when Trump lost the 60+ lawsuits he filed due to the conclusive evidence.
All I want for Christmas is for this election to be fully investigated.
Source Article: America needs an official forensic audit into the US presidential election to save its democracy
It's hard to believe surveys that show men are thought to be better analytical thinkers than women. Did they survey any women? Oh, of course not; that would require the ability to analyze.
I’ve said this from the very beginning. Predicted a black president before a woman president. Felt this election result was mostly due to misogyny and a smaller amount of racism.
Thank you, I agree 100%. Even in lengthy podcasts with Harris' top 4 campaign staff racism and sexism are not even mentioned as possible factors.
It would be hard to report a fact you don’t think is possible.
Thank You, Dean, for your article today, it's been a Long Hard Kick to Democracy and for the Rule of Law. You've been a guiding light and leading the Charge for the Facts and the Truth all the way. You are, and have always been ,our source of information, and need you now more than Ever. Blessings to you 🙏 and will reStack ASAP 💯👍🇺🇸
Thanks!!
Preach. I don’t know if I shared this with you or not…We also have another problem that complicates the whole problem of sexism and racism.
The USA Literacy Crisis & This Election by ©️Leslye Joy Allen
“Former Georgia Gubernatorial candidate and activist Stacy Abrams, Esq. stated about two weeks ago that the Republican Party has deliberately operated a targeted propaganda campaign to politically disaffected Black men under age 50 over the last 3 major election cycles. They post propaganda and misinformation all over social media targeting these younger men and it worked…”
The rest of this is on my blog at:
https://leslyejoyallen.com/2024/11/13/the-usa-literacy-crisis-this-election/
Wow, this is so important, Leslye. And Republicans are trying to dumb us down even more. I am a former librarian and I know what you mean about no one listening to us. I recently joined the Freedom to Read Foundation but what we really need is much more support for public education. Unfortunately that's exactly what Republicans are trying to decimate.
Librarians Rock! That’s my permanent mantra. I’m going to keep sounding this alarm! Thanks for all you do.
😀
A lot of Musk’s money went straight to specifically targeted groups; men, Hispanic men over LGTB issues. The right wing churches and their vile preachers spewing hate and anti abortion bile all over their packed congregations Sunday after Sunday all did their damage.
I totally agree with you. Yet, when
21 % of American adults are illiterate and 54% read below the 6th grade level you have a majority population that almost never reads and definitely doesn’t do any research.
Honestly, I am floored about how many people are either illiterate or have a 5th grade education.
It seemed to really stick out this election.
I am very concerned.
Making sure that my grandchildren and now great grandchildren are better educated.
Thanks to their parents, and their intelligence. Still a long difficult process to educate them.
One set is homeschooling in the correct way, and those grand kids are further ahead than the public school grandkids
Luckily, the public school grandkids strive and thrive in their education, as they want the good grades and to learn.
My boys were.
It’s terrifying because school systems aren’t exactly paying teachers what they’re worth. So, in addition to these frightening numbers about literacy, we have teacher shortages all over the place.
I’m from a family of teachers—5 generations and counting. The tragedy is that the average school teacher makes 30% less than other adults with the same amount of education in other fields.
What a marvelous family legacy!
Teachers are WAY underpaid ..(retired teacher here)
Amen!
from another retired teacher
I am sure states like Florida and Texas would have a huge shortage of teachers! If arrest is a consequence for teaching a subject just one parent objects to why would you stay in that job?
No kidding!
Biden said he would increase teachers wages in his union address. Let’s ask him to see to that.
Honestly, I wish Biden would step aside, let Kamala put some things in place between now and January 19, 2025.
Make sure they can read to you. Ask the children how they figure out words - memorize? Guess? Pictures? Or sound out words using the letters (to decode)?
Don’t rely on what teachers say. I’m in KY and there was a big row in public at a Legislative Ed Committee. I feel certain the only reason the moms were allowed to testify (they brought their children) was due to them being from a Red county, the wealthiest in the state that is not too diverse.
The moms brought data & said teachers believe what they are seeing is normal. That is quite possible because these failed methods have been taught here per state policy since 1998. Universities stopped instructing teaching students in teaching reading because states & school districts relied on contractors. Contractors said a 3rd party held their data & owns it. Proprietary so no sharing. Also, said some children just don’t learn to read well.
25 years of failure because they advised things like this:
“If a child has bias towards using mainly letters, the teacher may orient the child to a picture as a source of meaning.” (Readers are supposed to be biased toward letters.)
3 cues: 1st letter of a word, guess using context, pictures to figure out what word would fit. Pony or a horse? No worries the “reader” has a “general understanding.”
The state funded this failure and because of the moms their contract was canceled. Sadly the state Dept of Education had a good program for yrs. At least now they can use it. Teaching literacy the right way is harder than letting kids guess. It’s hard to get teachers to switch.
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2022/11/02/kentucky-lawmakers-question-reading-recovery-phonetics-science-of-reading-lack/69597172007/
I work in a biotech helmed by a Black woman (scientist/physician//business visionary) from Ghana. We are poised to overtake our competitors, based on her vision, intelligence and ability to inspire. When her promotion was first announced, our stock tanked. It's doubled in the past year. Fortunately, the priior CEO recognized her talents. Also fortunately, she didn't have to suffer the ignorance of the US electorate. People underestimate women in CEO roles at their peril. Thanks for the insightful take on this topic.
Congratulations!🎉
Can we finally talk about how the massive radical right social media and the Republican Party convinced their followers to believe lies instead of truth.
Can we finally talk about how voters were convinced to believe that trump was the most successful president in our history!
Can we finally talk about how trumpers were convinced to believe the “big lie” and the insurrection was an “inside job.”
Can we finally talk about how trumpers were convinced to believe that trump was “anointed by God” to be president.
Can we finally talk about how voters were convinced to revere a convicted felon, a pathological liar and bully, a man devoid of character, morals or integrity.
Can we finally talk about why the Republican Party was unwilling to honor their oaths to the Constitution but chose instead to support and defend a pathological liar, sociopath and psychopath.
Once we talk about those things, talking about racism and sexism will pale by comparison.
This is good information, however our ruby red state has a female republican governor, attorney general, senator and two out of 4 representatives. They all happen to be white and republican. It seems a republican woman has an advantage over any democrat.
Our state had a maga Black male AG who ran for governor against our white male Dem who was running for a 2nd term. The most extreme maga (including a former trump appointed ambassador with a billionaire husband) lost in the GOP primary.
The Dem won a 2nd term. The other 3 statewide offices are bright red & the legislature is veto-proof red. 2 white men and a white woman.
2 male senators. 6 male Congressman - 1 of whom is a Dem. All white.
Our state Supreme Court will soon seat its first Black woman. She will take a seat vacated by a white male. The court will shift from 4 men and 3 women to 4 women and 3 men. For the first time the Chief Justice will be a woman. The new justice, a registered Independent, supported by Democrats including the governor during the campaign, will also shift the court’s political leanings away from 4:3 GOP
Yup, right here in little ol’ Kentucky.
Can we really be surprised about trumpers when all they hear from the Republican Party and rightwing social media is LIES. Outright LIES!
Under traitor trump and the Republican Party, lies were repeated so much and for so long that lies became truth. And to trumpers, TRUTH became lies!
L Garcia I think like you. It is the greatest con of all time!
The way sexism wormed its way in IMHO was through the anti-woke fury. Intersectionality, race politics, DEI etc, all those ideologies are largely woman-driven. Having said all that, I’m in interested in the women who actually did vote for trump. I suspect there may be some creepy daddy’s-girl psychology going on there.
Maybe, not the last sentence.
America remains ignorant because they want to be ignorant. They see that Trump denies and lies about not knowing anything that gets him into trouble. Therefore his MAGA maggots find it very easy for them to stay ignorant and refuse to even attempt to know the truth.
The majority of Americans who support Trump are either willfully ignorant, uneducated, insecure, racist, or selfish. And if/when Trump tanks this country, they'll be the last to accept accountability, just like their president.
Most of the reasons people cited for voting for Trump are inaccurate, based on lies and overall ignorance of voters, too often willful ignorance, and, of course, the sexism and racism that runs through the veins of this country.
Trump spitting in our faces 248 year old Constitutional republic, representative democracy!
I will be wearing this "We the People means EVERYONE" t-shirt the next four years 👇
https://libtees-2.creator-spring.com/listing/wtpmelb
I saw a few weeks ago just before the election a tee-shirt that said: What do you mean Don't Tread on ME, Don't tread on the Constitution,
I am so glad you have pointed out that racism and sexism are why Harris lost the election. That's what I thought all along, especially after hearing that Latino men had a negative attitude toward a woman as president. Weird, since Mexico elected a female president. That tells me that people might be corrupted by being part of the US. If you watch Mexican TV you see that women are viewed as objects for showing off, as creatures who are intended to be sexy. But they still elected a female president. Go figure. I wish we could do the same. I don't know how anyone could look at or listen to Harris and not see that she is all business and was very well qualified for a job. I will never understand why people use their biases to vote against their own best interests. This stuff is crazy making.
It would be ironic indeed if some of the Mexican heritage men in America are here because Mexico was bold enough to elect a female President.
Yes, it would be.
On November 6, I told my sister that it was racism and sexism that caused him to win. As a woman, I am well aware of the prejudice against women. I often lost a promotion to a man who was less qualified than I. Since I’m 84, I realize that years ago when I was working, that women rarely got to the top. It’s sad that it’s still the same.
Thank you for addressing this. Im surprised at how little these issues were discussed. Maybe I shouldn’t be. I think we’re still at the ‘admitting there’s a problem’ stage… I still think we should avoid nominating another woman in the future. Especially if the opposition is another rabbit blossom like the current one. Addressing bigotry and bias seems like a luxury right now. If the next four years are bad enough, we might be able to get a woman in on backlash votes, but I don’t know if that’s the best way to go about it. It might end up slamming the door and locking it behind her.
More discussion necessary. 🌱
Honestly Lana I think it could happen if the woman drew a clear line against far-left ideology. I could be wrong of course, but one can’t help but notice there’s been an intense and vicious anti-woke backlash.
I read to substitute
human rights for the word “Woke” You can feel the ground shift.
I sure hope so. I don’t plan on giving up at any point. I don’t think I got that gene 🧬 But sometimes I see writing on the wall and it’s demoralizing. 😪
Nevertheless, we persist 💪🏽
Hell ya!
What qualifies as "Far-left ideology" for you?
Race, gender politics and DEI to the point where meritocracy is worth less than someone’s level of victim-hood as measured by intersectionality theory. The dividing of people into victims and oppressors. I could go on. Why do you ask, and how do you define it?
I asked because I wanted more clarity on your pov. In the United States, there is no functional "far-left" by any political science standards. We would term most of them "anarchists". The Left in the United states would be the center in most other democracies of the world. The Right in the United states has gone so far off the edge they may almost be considered "far-left" (by some). As I label a solid 25-40 % of the current USA Right Wing to be closer to anarchists than the L/R divisions of the first 200 years.
Why label them anarchists you ask? For one, deporting American citizens because they are the "wrong" color sure seems un-American to me. Two, claiming that homelessness is a "choice" sure seems un-American to me. Third, the USA right have no solutions for a society which would include ALL AMERICANS. They wish to divide and conquer, placing millions of citizens at peril due to their healthcare options, lifestyle choices, or color of their skin.
in conclusion, there has NEVER been "meritocracy" in these United States. Study our history and you will see it has mainly been the "battle of the fittest" no holds barred white supremacy.
“The Left in the United states would be the center in most other democracies of the world.” I’ve heard that, but I’m not seriously qualified to have a bonafide discussion. I tend to use the popular lingo rather than the historical context. But I’ll give it a shot:
I have read people in acedemia (philosophy, social science) declare that “meritocracy” doesn’t exist. Theyve been educated to see the world through a lense that evaluates people by their class, socio-economic status, and other factors, but not as individuals. So if I understand their argument correctly, if you were lucky enough to have been born into a privileged family, your background and elite education means you have a leg-up, whereas someone smarter than you will not succeed due to the burden of where they come from. Maybe so, but the measures taken to correct this have, in my opinion, gone beyond the good intentions they started with.
When I refer to meritocracy, I’m looking at life on the ground. Where companies, universities, and so on have a hiring quota that means filling spaces with the correct colour, gender or physical handicap, regardless of merit (as long as the person is at least adequate). I have no problem with this until we get into niche spaces where a highly qualified individual is crucial, and political correctness should not be taken into consideration. I’m someone who is quite sanguine about more males being represented in STEM for instance, or more women in the Nursing and Psychology professions. Equality of opportunity, yes. Equality of outcome, no.
After all that I’m not even sure if I answered your question, or if you even had one!
Hmmm, I find your words have merit. This is a legitimate, empathetic response to the current economic opportunities in this country:
"I’m someone who is quite sanguine about more males being represented in STEM for instance, or more women in the Nursing and Psychology professions. Equality of opportunity, yes. Equality of outcome, no."
I am the opposite of you. As a privileged male whose family afforded for me to go to a major University in this country (early 1980's) I might agree that social research, separating population into demographics which can be "consistently used" for separating people into "objectively observable" categories, THEN attempting to create nationwide education which "pulls people into the middle" can result in what you term "uneven outcomes". My mother was a special education teacher, then administrator in Texas for 45 years. I REFUSE to believe she and her co-workers were "indoctrinating the woke mob" as SO MANY people have told me on Twitter etc.
This is because I was also privileged to share in many of those outcomes. Down syndrome kids getting HS degrees, marrying and holding jobs for life is one of her legacies. Federal funds were used for all of those kids. LOTS of Texas teachers, administrators, school workers can tell you with 100% confidence they helped for society to become a more "even" place by not thinking of children with disabilities as "burdens" to be cared for the entirety of their lives. It turned out that if you pay "special" attention to them, they turn out with more fulfilling lives, for themselves, their parents and society. Until the 1970's early 1980's these children were sequestered in their homes rarely to be seen or appreciated by the rest of us.
That is equal opportunity without expecting equal outcome. Their limitations did not allow for equal outcomes, but the willingness of society at that time to attempt to offer a life more closely resembling the rest of us seems noble to me.
As for males in STEM, which was my plight. I would have rather there been more females, maybe the IT world wouldn't be so sickly misogynistic. Then again, my first wife became an Electrical Engineer at the same University. Her father told her she was there to find a husband and "settle down". She certainly was not and I feel her outcome was MUCH better than the typical societal "plans" for her, at least as her father saw it. She was a victim of sexual abuse when she was a child by this same man and his brother. I did not learn of this until 4 years into the relationship. It took a LOT of restraint not to go down to his home and beat the living shit out of him. His Irish Catholic version of equal opportunity did not include women. I am glad society moved away from that for a while.
I am afraid the current levels of education which has many adults reading at a 6th grade level is contributing to the playing fields being tilted back toward patriarchy, cruelty, and neglect of poor people and children. Add to it a society which values Billionaires (read MONEY, cash, moolah, BIG BANK Accounts) more than proper education and you get these United States.
sorry to be so wordy, but now I ask of you: Is it worth it as a society to have these playing fields so uneven most people can see it but wish to ignore it? Should 8 men have more money than 80% of the rest of us? Where is the meritocracy in that?
It’s not being said enough. It was about racism and sexism. The American people weren’t willing to make a Black woman president.
The salient fact of the past election remains this: Trump got only about 1 million more votes than he did in 2020, Harris got 7 million fewer votes than Biden did in 2020. In total, noticeably fewer people voted in the 2024 presidential election than in the 2020 presidential election. I could be wrong, but I believe it was the first time in a long time that the turnout in a presidential election was lower than the turnout in the previous presidential election.
Potential Democratic voters stayed home. That’s the alpha and omega of it. I can see no other explanation than the reluctance to vote for a Black woman.🤔😉😊
And I am still pissed Dems chose not to vote. We may have seen a much better outcome.
Of course racism & sexism/misogyny played an outsize role in the election. It doesn’t matter how much data you can muster showing that more women on the board of directors, in the C-suite, in upper management… the healthier the firm’s profits, or the more efficient the not for profit. As the nation’s very first PhD qualified economist to be hired into a Women’s Studies department I can’t begin to describe how friggin difficult near impossible it is to get otherwise curious students … female, male, lgbtQ … to accept perfectly legit data on the zillions of ways women are disadvantaged in the U.S./EU/World. It’s easier to convince them they’ll still get an A even if they never do the assignments or come to class. Magical thinking is the norm on these issues. It’s a stunning collective mental block. Keep on beating this drum.
Maybe you have a conduit to the White House? Of course, my letters to my Senators and House members, have gone unanswered. But, I would have VP Harris and President Biden receive these words: all positive Legacy ( and there is plenty) will be forgotten, unless a calculated plan is not carried out to block Criminal #4547, from reinfesting the Office. Hand recounts should be ordered. Possibly, delay inauguration, awaiting results. Certainly order security clearance on all nominees. Trump’s clearance should be denied- he was tried and convicted. Musk, too. Please stop the insanity looming over us. Act, please. 1/2 of America is with you! We’ll never get them out, if they get in. If I believed the election was fair and not skewed by computer interference, that’s different. Has no one in current office, asked for hand counts ?
The silence from DC is eerie. I so want to believe calculated action is in place to reveal the duplicity, with proof.! Without it, I am afraid for the whole World.
I agree
I feel like I am shouting into the wind and no one is listening.
Trust me, I have and continue to write letters to the powers that think they be.
Unfortunately, all of my representatives are Red
Also think that muskmelon had some to do with the star election. Really fishy how it came down in my state.
You mean when Drumpf said we have enough votes, we don't need anymore votes PRIOR to the election? He always says the quiet part out loud.
You folks are on fire !!
Count the votes !!
Missing from the conversation is the fact that he almost certainly did NOT win the election! At a minimum, the election was seriously compromised.
Other democratic countries see we need a forensic audit and hand recounts. They would have performed these far sooner. But not us? We had record turnout yet fewer votes(!), around 80 bomb threats, mass voter purges, countless missing ballots, voluminously improbable split tickets, software glitches, suspected hacking, and statistical implausiilities galore. Yet, nothing appears to be happening to address what, I believe, is the most important moment in our country's history
Verifying the integrity of an election is not denial, nor is it conspiracy theorizing. That can only happen after an election is proven valid, as happened after the 2020 election when Trump lost the 60+ lawsuits he filed due to the conclusive evidence.
All I want for Christmas is for this election to be fully investigated.
Source Article: America needs an official forensic audit into the US presidential election to save its democracy
https://www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2024/11/19/forensic-audit-us-presidential-election/#google_vignette
Please, oh please. 🤞🤞🤞
Yes. Agreed !!!!
Me too!
It's hard to believe surveys that show men are thought to be better analytical thinkers than women. Did they survey any women? Oh, of course not; that would require the ability to analyze.
I’ve said this from the very beginning. Predicted a black president before a woman president. Felt this election result was mostly due to misogyny and a smaller amount of racism.
Exactly!!
Thank you, Dean, for this great information and insight into what actually happened. This makes total sense, unfortunately.
I’m giving this a heart and a restack. And will share it with certain people.