The idealistic half of my brain agrees with this vision. But the pragrmatic side tells me that in 100 years there will still be strong forces insisting that a mythologized, whitewashed history is the only true history.
Aside from all the CRT and "don't say gay" craziness right now, Texas' insistence on telling the story of the Alamo as a heroic tale is a good proxy for the larger tide that truthtellers will continue to fight against:
History is written by the victors. I think the Republicans will eventually be the losers. Even in this scenario, my grandkids and even great grandkids go to school during the school shooter era. So it doesn’t feel idealistic to me. 😭😮💨
As someone who has written for textbooks and lesson plans, NIE (Newspapers in Education) supplements, this hit so hard on target .. excuse the g^n lexicon ... I don’t have any other language, something else we need to examine in our culture! ... I’m all of impressed, horrified and saddened all at the same time that I’m finding the words for the feelings unable to flow.
I know this is only gonna become more common and eventually, we will have such a crisis of hundreds dead per day by g^nfire where ordinary citizens will rise up against those who were tasked to solve it... or they can solve it before we revolt... their choice at this point. Just like hungry people will riot, people at extreme risk of getting shot at some point no longer fear dying or the retribution of the State. This is an immutable fact of a community, regardless of how much our elected and unelected leaders wish it weren’t so. There is no predicting when the flashpoint will happen, only that it will if we continue on this trajectory.
I don't know what it will take to turn the tide of public opinion, but I know it can be done. Twice in my lifetime, I've seen once-acceptable behavior made widely unacceptable - smoking and driving drunk.
Smoking used to be so accepted my high school had a smoking area *for the students*. People smoked everywhere - in restaurants, in offices, even in hospitals (though sometimes you got told off if oxygen was being used nearby). Now, most places, it's anathema. Some people still smoke, of course, but the percentage is massively down and the 'rebel mystique' is mostly gone. And this is something that's actually physically addictive.
Drunk driving was never as acceptable, but it used to be considered a minor peccadillo. The social message was that you shouldn't really do it, but, you know, you have to get home from the bar somehow. The whole concept of a designated driver was nonexistent. Then Mothers Against Drunk Driving came along, and driving drunk went from being a mitigating circumstance in an accident to an aggravating one.
And both behaviors, like owning ridiculous firearms today, had a very strong masculine gloss on them. Doing them marked you as a man's man, as someone who couldn't be pushed around. And despite that, both smoking and driving drunk have become socially unacceptable for the most part.
I really wonder how that happened. How did that change take place, what messages worked to get people to change their minds, who spoke those messages and how did they reach people? Could we do it again the same way about guns?
Hahaha, I just got a call informing me of a lockdown at one of the high schools here. Life in these here times is just grand. This present cannot become past quickly enough.
I have been working as full time volunteer advocate with Moms Demand Action for the last 5 years . So, yes, join us! We need you . We make it easy to loop you in , to turn this rage into action. Just need to show up -- however that looks for you.
Also, as a gentle reminder, this work is a f'ing slog. Change happens , progress _is_ being made but it's slow and we are losing 110 each day, 200 injured by gun violence each day we don't have time to lose.
I'm happy to chat here or via email if anyone has questions about the kind of work we are doing. We don't have to live this way. Our children don't have to die this way. Onwards!
The idealistic half of my brain agrees with this vision. But the pragrmatic side tells me that in 100 years there will still be strong forces insisting that a mythologized, whitewashed history is the only true history.
Aside from all the CRT and "don't say gay" craziness right now, Texas' insistence on telling the story of the Alamo as a heroic tale is a good proxy for the larger tide that truthtellers will continue to fight against:
https://time.com/6079003/texas-history-alamo-curriculum-critical-race-theory/
History is written by the victors. I think the Republicans will eventually be the losers. Even in this scenario, my grandkids and even great grandkids go to school during the school shooter era. So it doesn’t feel idealistic to me. 😭😮💨
As someone who has written for textbooks and lesson plans, NIE (Newspapers in Education) supplements, this hit so hard on target .. excuse the g^n lexicon ... I don’t have any other language, something else we need to examine in our culture! ... I’m all of impressed, horrified and saddened all at the same time that I’m finding the words for the feelings unable to flow.
I know this is only gonna become more common and eventually, we will have such a crisis of hundreds dead per day by g^nfire where ordinary citizens will rise up against those who were tasked to solve it... or they can solve it before we revolt... their choice at this point. Just like hungry people will riot, people at extreme risk of getting shot at some point no longer fear dying or the retribution of the State. This is an immutable fact of a community, regardless of how much our elected and unelected leaders wish it weren’t so. There is no predicting when the flashpoint will happen, only that it will if we continue on this trajectory.
Thanks for recommending moms demand!! We must never give up trying to change this reckless g*n culture!!
I don't know what it will take to turn the tide of public opinion, but I know it can be done. Twice in my lifetime, I've seen once-acceptable behavior made widely unacceptable - smoking and driving drunk.
Smoking used to be so accepted my high school had a smoking area *for the students*. People smoked everywhere - in restaurants, in offices, even in hospitals (though sometimes you got told off if oxygen was being used nearby). Now, most places, it's anathema. Some people still smoke, of course, but the percentage is massively down and the 'rebel mystique' is mostly gone. And this is something that's actually physically addictive.
Drunk driving was never as acceptable, but it used to be considered a minor peccadillo. The social message was that you shouldn't really do it, but, you know, you have to get home from the bar somehow. The whole concept of a designated driver was nonexistent. Then Mothers Against Drunk Driving came along, and driving drunk went from being a mitigating circumstance in an accident to an aggravating one.
And both behaviors, like owning ridiculous firearms today, had a very strong masculine gloss on them. Doing them marked you as a man's man, as someone who couldn't be pushed around. And despite that, both smoking and driving drunk have become socially unacceptable for the most part.
I really wonder how that happened. How did that change take place, what messages worked to get people to change their minds, who spoke those messages and how did they reach people? Could we do it again the same way about guns?
Hahaha, I just got a call informing me of a lockdown at one of the high schools here. Life in these here times is just grand. This present cannot become past quickly enough.
I have been working as full time volunteer advocate with Moms Demand Action for the last 5 years . So, yes, join us! We need you . We make it easy to loop you in , to turn this rage into action. Just need to show up -- however that looks for you.
Also, as a gentle reminder, this work is a f'ing slog. Change happens , progress _is_ being made but it's slow and we are losing 110 each day, 200 injured by gun violence each day we don't have time to lose.
I'm happy to chat here or via email if anyone has questions about the kind of work we are doing. We don't have to live this way. Our children don't have to die this way. Onwards!
Yow. No wonder I had not idea. I am not on social media and not 'hip; to the younger gens stuff.
Linguistics though, that IS interesting!