>> I never claimed odd occurrences like this should be expected or not
>> expected. [JT]
>>
>
>
> The point is it's less odd these days. [DC]
>
All the more reason one should expect it then, which was one of my points.
>> I have no fucking idea what Mickey Spillane has to do with this but I've
>> never read one of his books. [JT]
>>
>
>
> I meant the tough guy motif. [DC]
These right-wing fucks are fighting for real. Anyone not interested in surrender needs to be tough and expect to be attacked for doing a positive and decent thing. This sucks but it is the nature of our times. History and science teachers particularly need to expect to be subject to right-wing attacks. Leftists/progressives/socialists/etc. need to be just as tough as the right-wings attack dogs. I've opened my home to a teacher who lost his job because of such an attack as well as students whose home life made finishing school a near impossibility. We need to be tougher than they are and we need to go into teaching with our eyes open. We need to be supportive of those taking the fight to them and since we are fighting the status quo we need to expect that the sacrifices we make will almost always be greater than the sacrifices made by those aligned against us. We have greater institutional hurdles to overcome than do the right and so a certain militancy is required in some arenas. Education is one of them. You know the old saying about one who controls the present controls the past. The right has more control over the present and they aren't going to give it up without a fight. Right now the need is for teachers, especially of history and science, to expect to be attacked. This means to expect to lose some as well as win some when reactionary school boards try to roll back society to some mythical good xtian age. Teachers should be taught how to deal with reactionary school boards as part of their training. The successes in science and history roll backs have made the right even more bold, as is evidenced by the story of the art teacher being attacked. And she was attacked, let's not mince words. She was attacked by reactionaries who are trying to instill fear in others. The need for bravery and an expectation of personal sacrifice for a greater good is required if this is a battle we wish to win. If we wish to surrender then such qualities are not required. If that sounds like Mickey Spillane's writing then it sounds like Mickey Spillane's writing. I'll defer to those who knows his writing. My intention is to fight for what I believe in and provide whatever help, not just moral but material help, is required to accomplish the goal of teaching kids something other than bland feel-good nonsense that students quite correctly feel is of little merit. Maybe I perceive this as a greater threat than you do and feel it calls for a more serious response? Maybe you think I just like writing like I'm a tough guy?
John Thornton