Scary - "What's WMD?"

[radfringe]

My head is still reeling -- and I can only conclude "No wonder bush won"..

The receptionist at work has a 26 year old daughter who is an High School English teacher. One of the classes she teaches focuses on satire and includes a section on Political Cartoons.

The other night, as she prepared for a class, she was looking at a political cartoon and said "I don't get it. What's WMD?"

Her mother's jaw hit the ground. "Don't you watch the news? WMD stands for Weapons of Mass Destruction."

The reply: "Oh, that's in Iraq or Iran right?"

Her mother rolled her eyes -- "you really should be watching the news or at least read the papers."

The daughter nods -- "remind me to pick up a newspaper on the way home tomorrow..."

Her mother then went into a "reader's digest" version of the events and blather leading up to invading Iraq. Her daughter shook her head and said "I don't want to hear about it..."

I didn't ask if the daughter voted in November nor who she may have voted for -- whatever the vote -- it was an uninformed one.

Any questions as to why bush* "won"?

[givemebackmycountry]

1. aaaaaaaawwwwwwwww what a nice story

It's especially touching to learn that this ignorant twit happens to be a what?

A FREAKING HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH TEACHER!!!

Please pardon me for a few seconds Rad as I bash my head against the
brick walls in my loft.

GOD I HATE STUPID PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Which is why I hang out here so much!

[radfringe]

3. I know what you mean

there's a hole in the sheetrock in my office from banging my head....

Following the November (s)Election -- I had concluded that bush* won by playing the fear card. I was wrong -- he won because of ignorance and disinterest -- this is even scarier.

Dems get out there and cite studies, toss out numbers and lay out the facts. GOPers just babble about "values" and other hot-air blather that is condensed into easy to digest sound-bites.

All I can say to the Dems is - Forget the facts and figures -- go with the blather -- no one is listening anyways

[Hissyspit]

5. My First Reaction Was That It Was Ignorance

and that was BEFORE the election. I caused some trouble in my college class when I accused Bush voters of being ignorant - and I'm the professor. But there is scientifically gathered data to support this idea.

http://www.alternet.org/story/20263/

[TheWatcher]

9. He won because of the four Private Corportations that tabulate

The Electronic Voting in this country.

And this will be a one party State until something is done about that.

However it is shocking to hear a High School English Teacher display this kind of ignorance. I will be honest with you, normally I would say that this is made up and something we would see on snopes.com months later, but you know what, after living through four years of a population that displays all signs of someone who has joined a cult, I absolutely believe this.

We are in DEEP trouble.

This country is terminal.

Some days I feel like maybe it would be better off to take the patient off life support.

[NYC]

2. She is amazingly ignorant of current events.

Pity she is a teacher.

[qazplm]

6. well in her defense

she is an English teacher. She may do that very well for all we know.

Now if she were a social studies or history teacher and didnt know current events I would be feeling the same, but I suspect an English, Math or Science teacher is not going to have much reason to teach current events to kids.

[NYC]

8. I would expect her to be able to hold discussions with them.

I would expect her to be able to hold a discussion with her mother, but apparently, I expect too much.

[moggie]

11. I don't see how

How can an English teacher "do that very well" if she's almost totally ignorant of what's going on in the world? If English teaching were just about a static language and old books, then, yes, you could live in a bubble and still teach well. But it's not, as you can see from the fact that this idiot was supposed to be using current political cartoons in class. That sounds interesting: examining how language techniques such as metaphor and hyperbole can be used to get particular political ideas across, for example. To do that with contemporary material, you obviously need some understanding of it!

More fundamentally, surely every teacher, whatever their subject, should be full of intellectual curiosity about the world? And the very minimum that such a person will do is keep track of what's going on around them.

No, a teacher who is ignorant of major news stories is almost certainly a lousy teacher, in my opinion.

[Sirveri]

4. Reminds me of another English teacher story.

I hang out at the recruiters, because I have enlisted to join the Navy. But oh my god the stories these guys tell, about some of the people at least. But anyways the English teacher, apparently she came in and was thinking about joining, and flunked the test. The minimum score is 36, she got something like a 20. National average is suppossed to be 31. Most people, who know basic algebra and actually read will do VERY well on it, see 70+.

Apparently she missed almost all the math questions. Being a English teacher and all that jazz.

[KharmaTrain]

7. Ignorance Is Bliss...I Call Them Immoral...To Their Face

Mike Malloy talked about this over 10 years ago...the total dumbing down of a generation...those too young to remember Vietnam and indoctrinated in years of right wing lies and noise making. It's been so pervasive for most of these people's lives, they assume that the right wing speaks "fact" while the rest of us are whiners and "bleeding hearts".

Pity anyone who dares to say they either support or voted for Bunnypants around my house & office...it's sure to lead to either my wife or myself or someone else around here getting in their face as to how immoral they are in supporting this regime. I don't buy the shit they didn't know or the other lies (Iraq=9/11, phony WMD charge and so on) as any educated person should pay attention to these things. To let a government go unchecked into wars of aggression and profit are immoral, period. Those who stand by knowing there's something not right and not investigating and questioning are as much a part of the problem than the solution.

Had that been my daughter, she would have heard not just from me, but from many others of our family and friends...all who detest this regime and how destructive it is to her future and the rest of this country.

The right wing wants people to be ignorant...take the attitude of "politics suck" and not want to not only discuss issues, but even to learn about them. It's as though, if they learn the truth, it will hurt them (especially from a "librul"). It was bad a decade ago, and that was without a state/corporate media that has cashed in their credibility and true national interest for their pieces of gold.

[tom_paine]

10. Just another day for the Imperial Subjects of Amerika

The Free-est Slaves in the Third World.

[xchrom]

12. uncomfortable giggle

indeed!

[arwalden]

13. That Reminds Me Of Myself... When I Was About Twelve Years Old.