Open Left

It'a Not "The Civil Rights Movement Failed"

It's "the Abolitionist Movement failed," and more fundamentally, the exact title, in fact "Abolition as a Self-Help Movement"--which means, at the very least, the lack of (A) a framework for understanding history in terms of anything more sophisticated than a personal achievement narrative, and (B) critical thinking skills to realize that the narrative doesn't fit.

This relates to a whole bunch of stuff--such as why some folks don't realize what a incoherent rant Palin's resignation speech was, why Obama's education policy sucks (standardized tests are the enemy of critical thinking, and critical thinking is the enemy of standard tests), and why Obama--though a nice person--sucks as a transformational leader (no truly critical thinker could have that education policy, and the problems Obama faces can't be solved without critical thinking).

It also relates to the themes of educationaction's ongoing series, Core Dilemmas of Community Organizing, particularly his recent discussion of lifestyle activism, which likewise avoids confrontations with power, and defines itself in personalistic terms dictated from within ones own comfort zone.  This is especially true of the next installment (I've had a pre-publication peek), which discusses lifestyle politics as portrayed by Mary Pattillo in Black on the Block: The Politics of Race and Class in the City. Pattillo will be joining the discussion on Saturday, July 24, when that installment will be published.  

"Senate passes expanded GI bill despite Bush, McCain opposition"

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Tue Jul 07, 2009 at 07:44:09 AM CDT