I first saw it on my Facebook feed. I belong to one of those somewhat politically active teacher groups that’s ultimately a place where teachers can safely complain. It’s the end of the year, so there will be a lot of complaints. This year feels kind of different and it was hard to put my finger on it, but I think I noticed it when this story popped up.

I really didn’t take notice until I saw it on a different news source. It’s not that the teachers on social media lie. However, they are subject to hyperbole every now and then. However, more than one source has verified it, so I get to bring it to you.

For those that don’t want to go down the rabbit hole, essentially the bill proposes outlawing the teaching of anything deemed anti-religion and allows for parents to be able to pull books from the bookshelves that they deem to be offensive. The kicker was the following,

“Teachers could be sued a minimum of $10,000 “per incident, per individual” and the fines would be paid “from personal resources” not from school funds or from individuals or groups. If the teacher is unable to pay, they will be fired, under the legislation.”

People at school seem to think I know how to write for some reason, so I primarily support English classes. We hold meetings once a week to make sure everyone is on the same page. Social studies classes are even worse. They teach via Power Point and all of them are on the same Power Point.

Earlier in the year we had to take a workshop on the “teaching of controversial topics.” Essentially, we don’t. It isn’t so much that we teach the Bible so much as not teaching anything at all. Far be it for us to actually hit a topic that would force students to think critically about anything at all. Fortunately, we aren’t getting sued in Texas quite yet, but I’m sure Greg Abbott, Dan Patrick, and the rest of the dream team will copy Oklahoma before too long.

I’ve been in education for 24 years now. With the way teacher retirement works, I am almost vested and simply am too far in to really do anything else. Many of my colleagues are not and are choosing to get out. This is different. Most of the time they simply have had enough of a certain campus or principal and want to go to a different campus. Sometimes a better opportunity just comes along. In this case, they are leaving education all together.

I promised myself a long time ago that I would never become one of those “back in my day” guys. Yet, here I am. When I started teaching history we had a rough timeline they wanted us to follow, but ultimately we had the autonomy to veer off the beaten path every now and then to hit a unit we cared deeply about. It’s what made teaching history fun. Everyone had their own time period they enjoyed teaching.

Seeing an entire hallway of history teachers on the same Power Point every day is just demoralizing. The only way I can make it through six or seven more years is to remind myself that it is about the students. Those relationships are crucial for their success and our sanity. We just have to watch what we say for now on.

Probably the most debated issue in public health is the safety and need for vaccines.  It’s really stupid that we’re debating the safety and need of vaccines since the performance and safety of vaccines has been settled for decades.  The problem is that junk science, with the assistance of social media, has become pervasive among those who are more inclined to superstitions and myths than to critical thinking.  That superstition was on public display this week when Arizona state representative Kelly Townsend idiotically claimed that requiring children to get the measles vaccine is somehow “communist”.  Never mind that “communism” has nothing to do with science or public health policy, Townsend’s nonsensical declaration is just another example of the damage that poor education, ignorance, and the proliferation of pure bullshit can inflict on a free society.  That pure bullshit is easily obtained online or by tuning into Fox Noise and other outlets of propaganda.

In the 21st century, we’re debating the efficacy of vaccines which has been settled science for decades.  We’re also debating the assertion that massive tax cuts increase government revenues.  We are debating national healthcare policy with those who believe that the rigged healthcare system is “free market”, which it’s most certainly not.  We are actually debating putting MORE guns out in public because some people believe that the most armed society in the developed world is suffering gun violence because their aren’t yet enough guns.  We are arguing over public education with some who believe that “school choice” is actually a serious proposal beyond the actual goal of killing public education.  We argue that labor unions, which protected the income of middle Americans for almost 100 years is actually evil and should be destroyed.

I could go on and on, but you get the point.  The problem with all public policy debates these days is that one side wants to argue policy, and the other side wants to argue bullshit. And that bullshit is ALWAYS politicized.  When you can’t even agree on the facts, informed debate is impossible, which is exactly the problem today.  Civil discussion is impossible because many live in an alternative reality while the rest of us live in the real world.

Idiots like Kelly Townsend actually believe the uninformed bullshit that they spout because all they hear or read is bullshit.  Because she read on the internet that vaccines are bad, she chooses to ignore the mountain of settled science about vaccines.  Because gun nuts believe a radical interpretation of the Second Amendment, they believe that God gives them the right to carry an AK-47 into Kroger to stock up on their weekly supply of Twinkies.  All of these radical ideologies carry a common thread, and that is that one American has no burden to carry their own weight in a civilized society.  They believe that their own private “liberty” overrules the rights of all others because of “freedom”.  Radical libertarianism has infested one side of the political spectrum, but that radicalism only extends to the first person; this is the irony of this way of living.  An individual has the right to do whatever they want no matter the damage to others, but others don’t have the right to do the same.  This way of thinking is irrational, non-historic, and can’t stand up to even the most casual straight faced test.

Such is the condition of our society today.   Logic is inundated by a virtual tsunami of bullshit, and it’s driving our society backwards.  That’s the bigger problem.