Their greed has them unable to look past the next fiscal quarter, and they really don't care if right wing Christian colleges are punished by this. Those colleges will still pump out NSGOP voters, and even fewer people will get an education.
Their ultimate goal is not to prioritize earning potential, but to eliminate education for everyone but the wealthy.
There was a time that I never thought racist, idiotic and ignorant people would trade being materially worse off, even if it gave them the perceived social power or hierarchy they were looking for. But they really will cut their nose to spite their face...
Who's running the show? The wife of a man who runs an organization that is ALL ABOUT APPEARANCE and damned little about SUBSTANCE. Vince McMahon may very well be a modern day P. T. Barnum.
And his wife clearly has been taking lessons from him.
tRump is a vastly ignorant man in possession of imbecilic-level stupidity, brutal bigotry, and quite pleased with the whole lot. Someone said he is like if Dunning and Kruger made a kid together. And I truly think the MAGA faithful are in thrall to him because he is the worst of them.
They are at least dimly aware that critical thinking and facts about reality tend to have a liberal bias. The more people who can think and understand reality, the more people that can see through their power grabbing bullshit.
Just like creationists stupidly going after a science book because it has "evolution" in the title that's not written in their favor. Case in Point: "Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth" by Andrew H. Knoll
We have an Education Secretary who does not have so much as a relevant bachelors degree in the field of education. A field she has never worked in. She does, however, have a head full of Republican bombast, and little else. This is the Republican mentality at its worst. If something isn’t making money for a big corporation, it’s worthless. They would reduce our best universities to trade schools serving narrow-minded corporate America.
Their older children to, at worst. death from easily preventable childhood diseases, at best brown and rotting teeth (from lack of flouride.) (>1M miscarriages each year is the result of mothers breathing toxic air, but that seems "acceptable". That each surviving newborn likely inhales more different toxins, chemicals & poisons in their first breath than in a LIFETIME of vaccines also seems "acceptable", at least to them. (But not to me.)
"MAGA hates the things they hate more than they love the things they love." You've just proven this, RJ. And my fear is that these poor, sad fools will be firmly attached to Trump's butt until they have nothing left to sacrifice to Trump and MAGA.
It's actually really funny (funny peculiar rather than proper funny) to observe how some parts of the MAGAverse support the decimation of social programmes because they think that 'others'* benefit without realising that they are the biggest beneficiaries.
(* others - i.e. the feckless, lazy, layabouts, non-working ... add additional adjectives to this list. Maybe even some which refer to the melanin content of people's skin)
Imagine living in America your whole life, voting Republican your whole life, and not realizing that Republicans worship money and capitalism, not Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is just the adopted mascot of the corporations and Empire. Being dead or unable to speak for himself, he can really be adapted into whatever sort of mascot is needed at any given moment by those with an agenda that is definitely not "the first will be last and the last will be first."
Really, though, The Trump administration will probably exempt these programs because it's an interest group that votes for them.
Everyone else will be screwed because knowledge isn't valued in America unless one of the oligarchs can exploit you and profit off of your knowledge.
As I've presented (FAR too many times) in the form of a question:
Can you name any legislation...
1. Either proposed or even simply supported by the GOP
2. For the purpose of benefiting middle-income, working-class Americans...
3. In the past SEVENTY FIVE YEARS?
In the years I've been asking I've only been offered one accurate answer to add to the one I discovered.
But both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) have substantially been damaged by Trump in the past year, so we're back to ZERO. (Considering how almost everything for the middle-class was actively fought by the GOP, I'm kinda surprised I could even find these two...to now forget again.)
But it doesn't even matter. Even when I present this face-to-face, they just don't care. As long as they "own the libs", they don't really care the price they pay.
As a friend puts it, "They don't mind getting shot in the foot, as long as some total stranger from a demographic they're told to hate gets shot in the knee."
And if I may, I'd like to offer a suggestion in return.
I've been reading a gifted, but almost criminally unknown (I think) Substack writer named Joe Zeigler on Burnt Ground. He has true insight, as he has proven in numerous books on contemporary politics (as well as sci-fi!)
He is a truly a gift, one that I offer to each of you.
European here. I hesitate to make pronouncements for the whole of Europe, but my gutfeel is no. Germany likes to think of itself as the land of the 'poets and thinkers', France likes its great schools such as the 'Sciences Po' and in many other countries there is a great pride in the achievements which have only been possible because people learned things and then applied their learnings by eg building those amazing ancient monuments or medieval cathedrals.
Can I however also offer a counter example to the above? About ten years ago Michael Gove said 'we have enough of experts', he said it in relation to Brexit because every economics expert on the planet pointed out that it was a daft idea, that it would damage the economy. Brexit was a case of anti-intellectualism, inasmuch as the decision was largely based on emotional factors rather than a sober, rational look at the issues.
Thanks for the reply, so it is mostly unique to the United States. I hope that anti intellectualism doesn’t spread to Europe or Asia, through the Evangelical movement (it seem that evangelical movement and anti intellectualism go hand and hand) that seems to be pushing itself onto Europe and other parts of the world! I also hope that the United States can reverse it course of anti intellectualism, and realize that funding academia is what help develop the United States into a superpower. I will not hold my breath on that!
I wish we had some similar national education/arts elements or institutions that U.S. Americans had been taught to admire and aspire to, rather than sneer at.
Instead, I remember constant references to some vague concept of "American Exceptionalism" implying that the U.S. and its citizens were somehow inherently special through no effort of their own and that just by virtue of U.S. citizenship they were already a cut above everybody else.
So, whut the hell do we need all that there fancy edicatin' fer?
Lynn, have you come across @Jess Piper ? She writes - among other things - about education in a rural (red) state. You might find her thoughts interesting.
I grew up in an environment of anti-intellectualism. I would love to read a good book exploring the pervasive anti-intellectualism and anti-education sentiment in the US, explaining why it's so prevalent,* etc. Part of it is religious poisoning, but I am sure there are other faucets as well.
*I mean, of course it's so prevalent because the GOP pushes it, but why do ordinary people embrace it?
I have no idea why the average republican voter supports the idea that stupid is the way to go! That is why I am curious to know if this anti intellectualism is also found in Europe or Asia, or is it truly unique to the U.S. If it is not prevalent in Europe or Asia what are they doing to prevent such a level of anti intellectualism from happening? I would appreciate an explanation for this! Please and thank you in advance!
Trump has promised (and kept the promise) to change history to protect white Americans from ever being "white-hurt" again.
And since MAGA already has a place in Heaven (thanks to some "white guy" named Jesus), now they just need their sins forgiven, as Trump is doing by erasing history.
And all MAGA has to do in return is to abandon all sense of personal responsibility, and continue to hate (and to remember to breath, of course.)
Trump has created a victim class in America unlike any I can remember. And they get everything they want in return...as long as they only want to throw themselves into sewage to protect Trump's shoe soles.
"MAGA hate what they hate more than they love what they love."
Obviously there's more, Lynn. But they really seem to love being victims.
I imagine nobody in the administration thought far enough ahead to realize this would penalize Christian schools. As we've seen with most things the administration has attempted over the last couple years, this was poorly planned and meant to score culture war points, instead of address any real problem.
If any of them thought that far ahead, they thought that the collateral damage was an acceptable price to pay in order to punish the "liberal" universities.
You know how the Department of Defense was renamed to the Department of War. I'm surprised the Department of Education hasn't been renamed the Department of Ignorance.
How about that? I actually agree with the Trump administration on something! Young adults should not be saddled with lifetime debt that they can never hope to pay off. How to fix that is where we part ways though.
I believe in socialization of many aspects of our lives that serve the public good. In the case of health care, socialization would save everyone money. It's a clear conservative issue. We pay more for health care in this country than other first world nations. Free health care for all would mean an increase in taxes, sure, but it would also eliminate health insurance premiums, co-pays and crippling lifetime debt. The only group that would lose money is the private equity, religious institutions and stockholders that take money from the system faster than it goes in.
Education, on the other hand, is a tougher sell to 'conservatives' who only worry about next quarter profits. We can't justify free college by just pointing out that college grads pay more taxes because the math doesn't work out, especially since tuition has risen faster than inflation. But I submit that socializing education is still a conservative issue. It's just that it takes a longer time to pay benefits. Today's 'conservatives' don't want an educated population because education enables people to actually do their own research and discover when they are being scammed. Trumpism is not conservative, it's a fascist regime whose only plank in their platform is 'owning the libs'.
It's getting to the point where "owning the libs" is amounting to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, or fiddling while Rome burns. The game can only go on so long before the long-term consequences come into evidence.
First this: “ It’s an existential threat to the future of religious higher education in the US—I don’t think that’s an overstatement,”
Nor is it an overstatement to note that religious higher education is a contradiction in terms. By way of comparison, you don’t go to medical school to learn all about medicine, or as an alternative, go to Joe’s college of surgery to learn all about leeches.
Then this: “Financial outcomes matter, but they don’t totally measure whether an education is worthwhile,” of course they don’t. I have 3, and I did well in all of them. But the financial outcome actually was from a career in a completely different and unrelated field: Photography. But still, my education was incredibly worthwhile…
To make me even more informed citizen of the world, to teach me about compassion, to understand when politicians or pastors are trying to put something over on me, to understand that war is a terrible method of conducting international relations, and the difference between the dismal science of economics and the hard science of physics. Education comes from the two Latin words”e duco”— to lead out of.
Religion doesn’t lead you out of anything— Except if you’re lucky, religion.
“To make me even more informed citizen of the world, to teach me about compassion, to understand when politicians or pastors are trying to put something over on me, to understand that war is a terrible method of conducting international relations, and the difference between the decimal science of economics and the hard science of physics.”
That is the problem right there. They don’t want people who can think or understand the real world.
This administration has made it clear it will only apply their own rules at their convenience. Try and apply this "earning" nonsense on Christian colleges and it will be labeled as "Christian Prosecution".
“This rule would prohibit those students from taking out loans for college if “the typical graduate of an undergraduate program does not earn as much as a high school graduate.” By extension, that prohibition would harm schools that offer those programs.”
So, instead of pressuring employers who require college degrees to pay for the college educated employees to compensate for the financial, time and effort an employee spent just to work for them, they punish the students and schools further. Sounds about white.
This also sounds like another attack on teachers, since the system has set up a program where teaching isn’t a profession despite requiring a Bachelor degree minimum and has been changing to Master degrees and doctorates, just to be employed. And yet teachers are paid well below minimum wage in nearly all places. When I went through my art teaching degree, I was specifically told why teachers aren’t professionals, and that we should not be paid more so that we do it out of passion for educating children rather than a paycheck and blah blah blah. I also know teachers that were forced to get the master’s degree just to qualify for the classroom only to be paid the same as they did before they went back to school.
And why are we comparing apples and oranges? It makes sense that specialized trades with plenty of experience get high salaries, while an entry level position that requires college but is in an office might be a bit less. But let’s also consider that nursing requires college and is back breaking physically demanding but is not that well paying compared to construction or other trades. You know why.
This is a direct attack on women and minorities because they are outstripping white men for college admissions and graduation, despite the end of affirmative action or DEI or whatever the right is getting rid of.
They don't want anyone but their inbred spawn to have a place at the deploma mill they buy worthless degrees at. In their parasite eyes everyone else is only fit to be either slaves or breeding stock.
The way they’re working it, no one will ever be educated. Their progeny are too lazy and out of touch to actually learn anything, but they’re the only ones able to afford an education. Everyone else will not be able to attend college because it is priced out of reach.
But then what? Who will be doctors? Who will be tech bros? Who will be engineers to build the big buildings with Trump plastered all over? Who will be able to plan the wars? Who will figure out how to make things work or fix what’s wrong or scrape together the pieces of our world? No one in the USA, that’s for sure.
The rest of the world will keep on keeping on, and leave the USA in the dust. We will become the third world we spit on so heartily. We are halfway there already. And that was before Trump, but a result of Republican policy, Democratic gluttony, and Oligarchy rule.
The USA is already giving up the advantage it has had in science and research. Via DOGE, MAHA, the anti-DEI policies and the immigration policies it is hollowing out some great research institutions.
We're essentially fighting a battle of attrition, with nature and science on our side.
And each time one of their measles-infected kids runs home in tears after being beat up by a bully at school, perhaps a few of them may be thinking, "Why does all of this feel SO familiar?"
(It's a comforting fiction, and hopefully it harms no one.)
That second quote is one which should stick in the craw of any would-be religious educator. If they actually had something of VALUE to teach and that value was recognized outside of the religious discipline, one would think support would be all but automatic. The very fact that religious educators are depending on federal funds tells you that such institutions are more than a little problematic.
Fine. They can say, "Gimme!" all they want. Doesn't mean they should GET ANYTHING from the feds or the states. For the longest time, religious schools have thought of themselves as entitled.
It's past time they were weaned off the government tit!
Not just lame but seriously problematic, as is anything that is "omni-whatever." It's an absolute in a relative environment, which makes it both artificial and damned unlikely!
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a video statement likewise claimed Christianity defined the nation from the beginning. “With the dark storm clouds of war looming on the horizon, they did what Christians have always done across place and time for 2,000 years,” Rubio said of the Founders. “They turned their eyes to heaven and placed their faith in the hands of God.”
_________________
No, Li'l Marco Little Feet, they did what successful revolutionaries have done since the beginning of time. They hunkered down and did the work required -- the planning, the strategizing, the marching, the starving, the freezing, the fighting, and the dying.
Individuals may have offered up quick prayers here and there, like soldiers in an older civilization might have touched an amulet to their foreheads before heading into battle. Some may have even believed victory was ordained by God. But they still realized that the war would be won with muskets and cannon fire, not prayer rallies. IOW, they had to put in the actual work to achieve that goal, whether they thought gawd blessed it or not.
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑝𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑. 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑠 𝑠𝑜 𝑏𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑦, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝐶ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑛 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑒𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒.
Their greed has them unable to look past the next fiscal quarter, and they really don't care if right wing Christian colleges are punished by this. Those colleges will still pump out NSGOP voters, and even fewer people will get an education.
Their ultimate goal is not to prioritize earning potential, but to eliminate education for everyone but the wealthy.
There was a time that I never thought racist, idiotic and ignorant people would trade being materially worse off, even if it gave them the perceived social power or hierarchy they were looking for. But they really will cut their nose to spite their face...
Very sadly true.
Real issue is that they are stabbing us regular folk in the back as they cut their noses off.
They'll just blame the democrats anyway.
Once the regime realizes this, we might reasonably assume they’ll make a carve out for White nationalist institutions.
From our Dear Leader at Trump University Commencemnt (c):
https://youtube.com/shorts/QNRN1sGsF6E?si=M8kcyhm2gamOAisT
Anyone really surprised? This is far and away the most anti-public education administration ever.
Just look who's running the show.
Who's running the show? The wife of a man who runs an organization that is ALL ABOUT APPEARANCE and damned little about SUBSTANCE. Vince McMahon may very well be a modern day P. T. Barnum.
And his wife clearly has been taking lessons from him.
FWIW, when I said "Just look who's running the show," I was referring to Trump. An incredibly ignorant man who despises educated people.
Well, he did say He loves uneducated (which none of his followers understood that he was calling them stupid).
Stupid, ill- or uninformed, indoctrinated, unwilling to learn, unobservant, unskilled at critical thought, incurious...
And those are just the adjectives that quickly come to mind.
Yes, all of above and more!
tRump is a vastly ignorant man in possession of imbecilic-level stupidity, brutal bigotry, and quite pleased with the whole lot. Someone said he is like if Dunning and Kruger made a kid together. And I truly think the MAGA faithful are in thrall to him because he is the worst of them.
Trump is, indeed, the poster child-man for the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Until now, I really just thought tRumpstein was a one-dimensional creature: greed. But now you've opened my mind to seeing another dimension of him.
Like attracts like ... 😝
I wish they'd take a lesson From ol' P.T....
And "egress" from the building immediately!.
This way, please...
https://ibb.co/wrYrfhNy
Cool!
Thank you, T!
American conservatives tend to view education like a dreaded disease. They live in fear of well-educated people.
They are at least dimly aware that critical thinking and facts about reality tend to have a liberal bias. The more people who can think and understand reality, the more people that can see through their power grabbing bullshit.
Daddy was rich enough that he could buy him the degrees he holds.
I wonder if their whole idea is to punish liberal arts because it has "liberal" in the name.
A very good chance of that.
Just like creationists stupidly going after a science book because it has "evolution" in the title that's not written in their favor. Case in Point: "Life on a Young Planet: The First Three Billion Years of Evolution on Earth" by Andrew H. Knoll
Another book title to add to my wishlist.
I wouldn't doubt it. They ARE that stupid.
Remember that 'arabic numerals' make them cry.
I used to trigger our workplace conservative literally by saying "liberal arts."
We have an Education Secretary who does not have so much as a relevant bachelors degree in the field of education. A field she has never worked in. She does, however, have a head full of Republican bombast, and little else. This is the Republican mentality at its worst. If something isn’t making money for a big corporation, it’s worthless. They would reduce our best universities to trade schools serving narrow-minded corporate America.
They may lose their gub'mint handouts, but at least they got to own the Libs.
They've already lost their parents and grandparents to the Trump/Covid Sacrificial Pyre.
Their newborns to the lack of a necessary vitamin K shot at birth.
https://www.propublica.org/article/more-parents-decline-vitamin-k-shot-newborns?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=river
Their older children to, at worst. death from easily preventable childhood diseases, at best brown and rotting teeth (from lack of flouride.) (>1M miscarriages each year is the result of mothers breathing toxic air, but that seems "acceptable". That each surviving newborn likely inhales more different toxins, chemicals & poisons in their first breath than in a LIFETIME of vaccines also seems "acceptable", at least to them. (But not to me.)
"MAGA hates the things they hate more than they love the things they love." You've just proven this, RJ. And my fear is that these poor, sad fools will be firmly attached to Trump's butt until they have nothing left to sacrifice to Trump and MAGA.
Sorry, RJ. I've been angry.
I've been angry too. I've been enraged, I've been furious. And I'm exhausted by all of it.
It's actually really funny (funny peculiar rather than proper funny) to observe how some parts of the MAGAverse support the decimation of social programmes because they think that 'others'* benefit without realising that they are the biggest beneficiaries.
(* others - i.e. the feckless, lazy, layabouts, non-working ... add additional adjectives to this list. Maybe even some which refer to the melanin content of people's skin)
Imagine living in America your whole life, voting Republican your whole life, and not realizing that Republicans worship money and capitalism, not Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus is just the adopted mascot of the corporations and Empire. Being dead or unable to speak for himself, he can really be adapted into whatever sort of mascot is needed at any given moment by those with an agenda that is definitely not "the first will be last and the last will be first."
Really, though, The Trump administration will probably exempt these programs because it's an interest group that votes for them.
Everyone else will be screwed because knowledge isn't valued in America unless one of the oligarchs can exploit you and profit off of your knowledge.
OMS,
As I've presented (FAR too many times) in the form of a question:
Can you name any legislation...
1. Either proposed or even simply supported by the GOP
2. For the purpose of benefiting middle-income, working-class Americans...
3. In the past SEVENTY FIVE YEARS?
In the years I've been asking I've only been offered one accurate answer to add to the one I discovered.
But both the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) have substantially been damaged by Trump in the past year, so we're back to ZERO. (Considering how almost everything for the middle-class was actively fought by the GOP, I'm kinda surprised I could even find these two...to now forget again.)
But it doesn't even matter. Even when I present this face-to-face, they just don't care. As long as they "own the libs", they don't really care the price they pay.
As a friend puts it, "They don't mind getting shot in the foot, as long as some total stranger from a demographic they're told to hate gets shot in the knee."
"Owning the Libs" while having their pockets empted y those who they support.
If you'e interested in this, can I suggest that you read the pieces by Thom Hartmann? https://substack.com/@thomhartmann
He often writes very interesting articles about this.
Thank you, Claudia!
I agree 100%, and try to read him most days.
Claudia,
And if I may, I'd like to offer a suggestion in return.
I've been reading a gifted, but almost criminally unknown (I think) Substack writer named Joe Zeigler on Burnt Ground. He has true insight, as he has proven in numerous books on contemporary politics (as well as sci-fi!)
He is a truly a gift, one that I offer to each of you.
https://josephzeigler.substack.com/
or
https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#search/burnt+/FMfcgzQgLrzdrTSLgHvrMgGVxSgjLpDt
Thank you, I'll have a look his Substack.
Is this level of anti-intellectualism prevalent in Europe or Asia or is it unique to the United States and why is it so prevalent in the U.S.?
European here. I hesitate to make pronouncements for the whole of Europe, but my gutfeel is no. Germany likes to think of itself as the land of the 'poets and thinkers', France likes its great schools such as the 'Sciences Po' and in many other countries there is a great pride in the achievements which have only been possible because people learned things and then applied their learnings by eg building those amazing ancient monuments or medieval cathedrals.
Can I however also offer a counter example to the above? About ten years ago Michael Gove said 'we have enough of experts', he said it in relation to Brexit because every economics expert on the planet pointed out that it was a daft idea, that it would damage the economy. Brexit was a case of anti-intellectualism, inasmuch as the decision was largely based on emotional factors rather than a sober, rational look at the issues.
Thanks for the reply, so it is mostly unique to the United States. I hope that anti intellectualism doesn’t spread to Europe or Asia, through the Evangelical movement (it seem that evangelical movement and anti intellectualism go hand and hand) that seems to be pushing itself onto Europe and other parts of the world! I also hope that the United States can reverse it course of anti intellectualism, and realize that funding academia is what help develop the United States into a superpower. I will not hold my breath on that!
I wish we had some similar national education/arts elements or institutions that U.S. Americans had been taught to admire and aspire to, rather than sneer at.
Instead, I remember constant references to some vague concept of "American Exceptionalism" implying that the U.S. and its citizens were somehow inherently special through no effort of their own and that just by virtue of U.S. citizenship they were already a cut above everybody else.
So, whut the hell do we need all that there fancy edicatin' fer?
A kind of national hubris, I suppose.
Lynn, have you come across @Jess Piper ? She writes - among other things - about education in a rural (red) state. You might find her thoughts interesting.
I’ll check it out. Thanks!
I grew up in an environment of anti-intellectualism. I would love to read a good book exploring the pervasive anti-intellectualism and anti-education sentiment in the US, explaining why it's so prevalent,* etc. Part of it is religious poisoning, but I am sure there are other faucets as well.
*I mean, of course it's so prevalent because the GOP pushes it, but why do ordinary people embrace it?
I have no idea why the average republican voter supports the idea that stupid is the way to go! That is why I am curious to know if this anti intellectualism is also found in Europe or Asia, or is it truly unique to the U.S. If it is not prevalent in Europe or Asia what are they doing to prevent such a level of anti intellectualism from happening? I would appreciate an explanation for this! Please and thank you in advance!
Trump has promised (and kept the promise) to change history to protect white Americans from ever being "white-hurt" again.
And since MAGA already has a place in Heaven (thanks to some "white guy" named Jesus), now they just need their sins forgiven, as Trump is doing by erasing history.
And all MAGA has to do in return is to abandon all sense of personal responsibility, and continue to hate (and to remember to breath, of course.)
Trump has created a victim class in America unlike any I can remember. And they get everything they want in return...as long as they only want to throw themselves into sewage to protect Trump's shoe soles.
"MAGA hate what they hate more than they love what they love."
Obviously there's more, Lynn. But they really seem to love being victims.
I imagine nobody in the administration thought far enough ahead to realize this would penalize Christian schools. As we've seen with most things the administration has attempted over the last couple years, this was poorly planned and meant to score culture war points, instead of address any real problem.
If any of them thought that far ahead, they thought that the collateral damage was an acceptable price to pay in order to punish the "liberal" universities.
When your political imperative is "owning the libs," it doesn't matter where the overspray ends up.
Overwhelmingly, it seems, on RED states.
Big if...
You know how the Department of Defense was renamed to the Department of War. I'm surprised the Department of Education hasn't been renamed the Department of Ignorance.
I thought I read recently that the FBI will be renamed the Federal Bureau of Intoxication.
[HIC!!!] BURN! 🔥🔥🔥
Patel hates to be called J. Edgar Boozer. Sure hope no one decides to take that and run with it. 😉
If he doesn't like the heat, the door to the kitchen is THAT way! ===>
With those eyes of his, he'd probably run into the door.
Awww, does that hurt his widdle fee-fees?
How about that? I actually agree with the Trump administration on something! Young adults should not be saddled with lifetime debt that they can never hope to pay off. How to fix that is where we part ways though.
I believe in socialization of many aspects of our lives that serve the public good. In the case of health care, socialization would save everyone money. It's a clear conservative issue. We pay more for health care in this country than other first world nations. Free health care for all would mean an increase in taxes, sure, but it would also eliminate health insurance premiums, co-pays and crippling lifetime debt. The only group that would lose money is the private equity, religious institutions and stockholders that take money from the system faster than it goes in.
Education, on the other hand, is a tougher sell to 'conservatives' who only worry about next quarter profits. We can't justify free college by just pointing out that college grads pay more taxes because the math doesn't work out, especially since tuition has risen faster than inflation. But I submit that socializing education is still a conservative issue. It's just that it takes a longer time to pay benefits. Today's 'conservatives' don't want an educated population because education enables people to actually do their own research and discover when they are being scammed. Trumpism is not conservative, it's a fascist regime whose only plank in their platform is 'owning the libs'.
It's getting to the point where "owning the libs" is amounting to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, or fiddling while Rome burns. The game can only go on so long before the long-term consequences come into evidence.
Would that you could tell them that.
First cuppa.
First this: “ It’s an existential threat to the future of religious higher education in the US—I don’t think that’s an overstatement,”
Nor is it an overstatement to note that religious higher education is a contradiction in terms. By way of comparison, you don’t go to medical school to learn all about medicine, or as an alternative, go to Joe’s college of surgery to learn all about leeches.
Then this: “Financial outcomes matter, but they don’t totally measure whether an education is worthwhile,” of course they don’t. I have 3, and I did well in all of them. But the financial outcome actually was from a career in a completely different and unrelated field: Photography. But still, my education was incredibly worthwhile…
To make me even more informed citizen of the world, to teach me about compassion, to understand when politicians or pastors are trying to put something over on me, to understand that war is a terrible method of conducting international relations, and the difference between the dismal science of economics and the hard science of physics. Education comes from the two Latin words”e duco”— to lead out of.
Religion doesn’t lead you out of anything— Except if you’re lucky, religion.
“To make me even more informed citizen of the world, to teach me about compassion, to understand when politicians or pastors are trying to put something over on me, to understand that war is a terrible method of conducting international relations, and the difference between the decimal science of economics and the hard science of physics.”
That is the problem right there. They don’t want people who can think or understand the real world.
This administration has made it clear it will only apply their own rules at their convenience. Try and apply this "earning" nonsense on Christian colleges and it will be labeled as "Christian Prosecution".
And people will never catch on.
“This rule would prohibit those students from taking out loans for college if “the typical graduate of an undergraduate program does not earn as much as a high school graduate.” By extension, that prohibition would harm schools that offer those programs.”
So, instead of pressuring employers who require college degrees to pay for the college educated employees to compensate for the financial, time and effort an employee spent just to work for them, they punish the students and schools further. Sounds about white.
This also sounds like another attack on teachers, since the system has set up a program where teaching isn’t a profession despite requiring a Bachelor degree minimum and has been changing to Master degrees and doctorates, just to be employed. And yet teachers are paid well below minimum wage in nearly all places. When I went through my art teaching degree, I was specifically told why teachers aren’t professionals, and that we should not be paid more so that we do it out of passion for educating children rather than a paycheck and blah blah blah. I also know teachers that were forced to get the master’s degree just to qualify for the classroom only to be paid the same as they did before they went back to school.
And why are we comparing apples and oranges? It makes sense that specialized trades with plenty of experience get high salaries, while an entry level position that requires college but is in an office might be a bit less. But let’s also consider that nursing requires college and is back breaking physically demanding but is not that well paying compared to construction or other trades. You know why.
This is a direct attack on women and minorities because they are outstripping white men for college admissions and graduation, despite the end of affirmative action or DEI or whatever the right is getting rid of.
Glad it’s hurting the pedos with crosses too.
Teaching ... let's just have a look at the gender profile of teachers.
Exactly.
Case closed.
Jobs that should only require a High school diploma and demand a College degree instead need to be dealt with as well.
They don't want anyone but their inbred spawn to have a place at the deploma mill they buy worthless degrees at. In their parasite eyes everyone else is only fit to be either slaves or breeding stock.
The way they’re working it, no one will ever be educated. Their progeny are too lazy and out of touch to actually learn anything, but they’re the only ones able to afford an education. Everyone else will not be able to attend college because it is priced out of reach.
But then what? Who will be doctors? Who will be tech bros? Who will be engineers to build the big buildings with Trump plastered all over? Who will be able to plan the wars? Who will figure out how to make things work or fix what’s wrong or scrape together the pieces of our world? No one in the USA, that’s for sure.
The rest of the world will keep on keeping on, and leave the USA in the dust. We will become the third world we spit on so heartily. We are halfway there already. And that was before Trump, but a result of Republican policy, Democratic gluttony, and Oligarchy rule.
The USA is already giving up the advantage it has had in science and research. Via DOGE, MAHA, the anti-DEI policies and the immigration policies it is hollowing out some great research institutions.
The momentum is moving elsewhere.
Plan wars? Haha, we don’t do that!
I have heard you can even buy a degree from Penn if you have enough money and influence.
And bonespurs.
Ooooh, nice one!
I PREDICT....
That soon, this regime will start pushing the narrative of Job, and all his suffering and sacrifices.
WAIT for it!!
TRUMP SPOX: "Remember how Job suffered and sacrificed, but was rewarded in the end!"
MAGAts: "What's all this suffering and sacrifice bullshit? We're here to kick ass and own libs! And we're all out of libs!"
No shortage of those, I fear, Lynn.
But when each MAGA looks around them and FINALLY sees....
Parents and grandparents dead.
Children with measles.
Wife dead due to a complicated pregnancy in a Red state
Dog shot by Kristi Noem
Cat run over, with only "Ka$h wuz here" sign as clue
Only local employer shut down due to tariffs
Pregnant girlfriend w/o insurance in an area with a closed hospital.
EVENTUALLY, some MAGA (may) notice the pieces aren't fitting together properly.
And then they'll blame the Democrats....
Not all, but many will.
We're essentially fighting a battle of attrition, with nature and science on our side.
And each time one of their measles-infected kids runs home in tears after being beat up by a bully at school, perhaps a few of them may be thinking, "Why does all of this feel SO familiar?"
(It's a comforting fiction, and hopefully it harms no one.)
𝐼𝑡’𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑢𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑈𝑆—𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡.
-- from the article
Well ... as it comes to that [jeez, do I have to break this out AGAIN???]:
𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑, 𝐼 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓; 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐺𝑜𝑑 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑡, 𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟, '𝑡𝑖𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛, 𝐼 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑒ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑑, 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑏𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑒.
-- Benjamin Franklin
That second quote is one which should stick in the craw of any would-be religious educator. If they actually had something of VALUE to teach and that value was recognized outside of the religious discipline, one would think support would be all but automatic. The very fact that religious educators are depending on federal funds tells you that such institutions are more than a little problematic.
And NO ... they do NOT deserve those funds.
TS, I agree that this concept should evolve organically (almost by definition.)
But what we must never forget....
Just about the ONLY concept from the "Christian origin story" that MAGA still follows is prayer. (Imagine that...)
As long as these poor ignorant fools actually believe that Gawd WANTS to hear their long lists of "gimmees", they'll believe almost anything.
Fine. They can say, "Gimme!" all they want. Doesn't mean they should GET ANYTHING from the feds or the states. For the longest time, religious schools have thought of themselves as entitled.
It's past time they were weaned off the government tit!
My point has always been, "You follow an "omniscient" Gawd who has to be TOLD what his supporters fondest wishes are?!"
Kinda lame...
Not just lame but seriously problematic, as is anything that is "omni-whatever." It's an absolute in a relative environment, which makes it both artificial and damned unlikely!
They should then pray that their gawd will give them the money and not the government.
OT:
Trump-backed Christian nationalist rally falls flat on National Mall
https://ffrf.org/news/releases/trump-backed-christian-nationalist-rally-falls-flat-on-national-mall/
Didn't we call it? Didn't we say attendance at this bund rally would fall far below expectations?
NatCs aren't quite as powerful or as popular as they believe themselves to be. Gladdens the heart, it does.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a video statement likewise claimed Christianity defined the nation from the beginning. “With the dark storm clouds of war looming on the horizon, they did what Christians have always done across place and time for 2,000 years,” Rubio said of the Founders. “They turned their eyes to heaven and placed their faith in the hands of God.”
_________________
No, Li'l Marco Little Feet, they did what successful revolutionaries have done since the beginning of time. They hunkered down and did the work required -- the planning, the strategizing, the marching, the starving, the freezing, the fighting, and the dying.
Individuals may have offered up quick prayers here and there, like soldiers in an older civilization might have touched an amulet to their foreheads before heading into battle. Some may have even believed victory was ordained by God. But they still realized that the war would be won with muskets and cannon fire, not prayer rallies. IOW, they had to put in the actual work to achieve that goal, whether they thought gawd blessed it or not.
They ain't such hot stuff as they think they are ... and sometime or other, their presumption and hubris are going to catch up with them.
OT -- I was wondering if anyone has heard anything from BH & DM mourner?
I've missed a few days here and there, but I keep looking for her in the comments....miss her special brand of snark.
Not a peep from her or dammit barry.
They both had major health issues. Sorry to say, but I think both are gone.
Agreed. I MISS HER!!!