Thursday, March 25, 2010

First, we hang the lawyers. Immediately thereafter, we teach revisionist teachers how to breathe vacuum.

These days, the teachers at Langley High School in McLean, Virginia are teaching an interesting view of the Great Depression 1929-1940.  First, they combine English classes and with History, to make the lessons match up.  That way the students can be learn how to diagram sentences like "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs," and the teachers can do 50% of the work to prepare for class.

However, one of the teachers had a bone to pick--with evil, corporate America.  This teacher may have had a date at a weekend Michael Moore/Morgan Spurlock "Film" festival, or may just have not understood that Ray A. Kroc established the McDonalds Franchise in 1955, or that Iwo Jima was a battle fought in the Pacific during the Second World War (1939-1945), but she chose to pass around the following picture to make her point:



Now, it's bad enough that the average high school student is almost intelligent enough to breathe without cue cards, but deliberately confusing them about the reasons for a) the great depression b) the sacrifices made to mount a flag on Mt. Suribachi c) what McDonalds has actually done for America and the world, d) that corporations fought WWII e) that Mt. Suribachi is populated with muslims...

Just what was her point?  That we fight for corporate profits and greed?  Would she like to explain that to the families of these men?


And a few little facts about them Golden Arches:
Until the Balkan Conflict, Two countries that both contained a McDonalds had NEVER gone to war.
McDonalds opened up its first (of over 100) restaurants in Russia in 1990.  It was the first American restaurant to open in the Soviet Union.  McRussia serves over 200,000 people daily.
McDonalds supports the Ronald McDonald House Charities, with 289 local Chapters in 52 countries and regions
  • 291 Ronald McDonald Houses
  • 144 Ronald McDonald Family Rooms
  • 38 Ronald McDonald Care Mobiles 
I get that the point wasn't about her hatin' on the Ronald, but she could've picked a far worse corporation to spew her particular brand of hatred on.  Something like Nike, who runs sweatshops in east Asia, while paying the philandering ballsmiths of the world millions; or she could've picked positive images of all the good that non-western corporations and governments have done for the world:


She could've illustrated how various five-year-plans made Mao's Chinese Cultural revolution succeed.  Or how The Kims, (Sung and Il) have made North Korea bastions of freedom and lands of plenty.  Or how the Soviet model of communism has left a country that remains prosperous even under different forms of government.

If she was trying to make a point about the Military-Industrial complex, she's still a few decades off.  If she's trying to make a point about US consumerism as the cause of the current conflict, she could couch it with these pictures:
Terrorists attack consumerism @ marketplace in Mumbai





Terrorists attack consumerism at World Trade Center

Please contact the teacher's representative to the taxpayer and ask that she find some way to further shame the sacrifices of the other men who made it possible to raise that flag:


The Principal of Langley High School is Matt Ragone and you can let them know how you feel by calling 703-787-2700. School should NOT be a breeding ground for brainwashing and idiotic stupidity and ignorance. It should be a place of learning history, not spin and rhetoric. Make your opinions known and flood the Principal with your thoughts. You also email him at matthew.ragone@fcps.edu.

Maybe he could explain the differences between this:



And This:


--Chuck

No comments: