Failing infrastructure, failing state, failing institutions...it didn't have to be like this. But insanity, as they say, is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting different results. (That is also, by the way, how "American Exceptionalism" functions.)
But hey, at least a few dozen really rich dudes in Texas got even more money
When I was a junior high/high schooler in the Reagan years, I was told socialism would never work because look at the USSR--they can't feed their people, necessary goods are never available in the stores, the infrastructure is crumbling, the legal system was a farce...
Everyone was too busy laughing at the Soviets to notice the Republicans strip-mining our own country for decades and pocketing everything. And now there's the same types of problems, except there's more on TV.
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The weekly Chronicle Review newsletter highlighted this excellent essay by Sumana Roy, where they observe "decolonizing your syllabus" is often "a form otf atonement," where the "guilt tax" is paid. I've been sitting with this all day. A brief🧵if you care chronicle.com/article/the-pr…
Also in the email digest was a link to this even more challenging essay by Blake Stimson, who identifies a "colonial narcissism" inherent in the mainstreamed sense of "decolonize your syllabus," adding an even sharper edge to the critique Roy makes. /2
As Stimson points out: "The “you” in the slogan “decolonize your syllabus” is not addressed to those existentially threatened by police violence and the like but instead to those—the professional managerial class, we might call us—who are its beneficiaries." I mean...yeah. /3
Again, the upshot is that there are no great options right now. That horse left the barn last spring. What we have left is the least-worst option. We are approaching *half a million dead* in this country. To fully reopen schools would be murder, full stop.
If you think we should fully reopen schools, I want you to give me your number. Fully reopening means people *will* get sick and some *will* die. So go on record with your number: how many of those deaths are you willing to accept to reopen? Tell us how many lives you'd trade.
Uni: hey, send us notices of accomplishments so we can market ourselves w/ what our faculty do!
Me in March: OK, cool. I have a book that just came out and I'm doing a bunch of appearances for it
Uni: *10 months of cricket noises*
Colleague, last week: Oh, you wrote a book?
Uni: hey, keep sending us those accomplishments! We're proud of our faculty!
Me: does 8 keynotes, chosen as scholar-in-residence for another college, book becomes amazon bestseller & ends up on "best of 2020" higher ed lists, signs contract 4 next book
Uni: *more cricket noises*
Uni: hey email us your accomplishments!
Me: ok...
Uni: Oh, cool. Thanks for getting our name out in so many places!
Also uni: *cricket noises*
Me: appears on three national higher ed forums, gives several community talks, workshops
Uni: new phone, who dis
Me: