October 5, 2007

• Topic: Conservative politics, Barack Obama, and my little school in Brooklyn

  I just read an article by Paul Krugman, describing an interesting phenomenon involving George Bush. 

  Mark Crispin Miller, the author of “The Bush Dyslexicon,” once made
  a striking observation: all of the famous Bush malapropisms — “I know
  how hard it is for you to put food on your family,” and so on — have
  involved occasions when Mr. Bush was trying to sound caring and
  compassionate.

  By contrast, Mr. Bush is articulate and even
  grammatical when he talks about punishing people; that’s when he’s
  speaking from the heart. The only animation Mr. Bush showed during the
  flooding of New Orleans was when he declared “zero tolerance of people
  breaking the law,” even those breaking into abandoned stores in search
  of the food and water they weren’t getting from his administration.

  The article itself was mostly about the mentality of conservative leaders, both in government and the media.  Krugman discussed how Reagan once remarked that if there were 17million hungry people in America, they were those who were on a diet.  Bush once remarked that there is no health insurance problem in this country, “You just go to an emergency room.”  And Rush Limbaugh remarked on a Michael J. Fox commercial about stem-cell research, “In this commercial, he is exaggerating the effects of the disease. He
  is moving all around and shaking. And it’s purely an act.”  Just the other week, Bill O’Reily made a comment about how surprised he was to discover a famous black restraurant, was actually a civilized place.

  These comments reveal the sad truth that our society is influenced largely by the ignorant, and the spiteful.  I had an opportunity to hear Barak Obama speak in NYC the other week, and it was the first time in my life that politics seemed relevant.  Here was a person who generally gets is, who was able to reach that part of me that has been wondering, “Why isn’t there a single person in politics who is inspiring in some way?”  I specifically like how he shared a personal story of his mother, who died of cancer, and on her death bed was worried about paying her bills.  I like how he is one of the few candidates who had the foresight to criticize the Iraq war before it began.  I like how he announed he doesn’t wear an American flag pin, to make the point that patriotism in America has been turned into a farce, and that he wants to shift the conversation towards rationality.

  On another note, I am in the 5th week of my 2nd year of teaching, and my thoughts are brewing on the subject of education.  As I’ve written before, I believe change in education must be a bottom-up type of change.  This is certainly true in my school, where so many teachers criticize those above us, when the truth is we weild an incredible amount of power with whatever we bring to our students each day.  Certainly, 40-50 teachers should have as much of an effect on a school, as 4-5 administrators.  What I’ve noticed, is that many teachers have gone through their entire teaching careers lacking a leader, whether an administrator, or a teacher, who has inspired them to see the potential in education.  I hope that in time, I can role model what I hope to see in teaching, and can unite with my colleagues to truly revolutionize education in a low-income school in Brooklyn.

  • 11:37 pm
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