An Unconvincing Basis For Applause
I’d suggest that this is precisely what raises doubts as to Ms Ashley Markham’s fitness to be a school principal in charge of 12-year-olds.
This is a school principal. These are the people in charge of your children’s education. pic.twitter.com/kJOZtPhmal
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 21, 2023
To boast of abandoning reality at the drop of a hat – and by extension, coercing others to be unrealistic too – and to boast of creating an environment in which manipulative pretension and mental illness thrive – is an odd moral flex.
Readers are welcome to ponder exactly how “safe” an environment is in which such practised affectations are dominant or mandatory, and in which one can expect to be scolded and punished for not wishing to pretend, for not wishing to become dishonest and absurd.
Oh, and by the way, should you ask Ms Markham about the implications of her position – say, as touched on above – she may make a smug and dismissive TikTok video in which she expects you to pay her $100 an hour, plus an extra $250, for an expert “consultation” on why she is right.
Lifted from the comments, which you’re reading of course.
That.
How is a mad house a “safe place” for kids?
In much the same way, presumably, that children will learn to “be themselves” by pretending to be something they obviously aren’t.
And I’m assuming that the “respect” of which Ms Markham speaks won’t extend to those who’d rather not tell lies, repeatedly, on demand, and would rather not participate in the unfolding farce.
Where do they get those ugly identification glasses? They must be standard issue for bewildered women heavily into mental illness porn and who are brazen enough to flaunt their degeneracy.
Her poor cat.
Her poor vegan cat.
There. Fixed it…
Where do they get those ugly identification glasses?
Something I have wondered along with what the hell is up with making asinine videos in their cars.
They’ve changed the definition of “safe”.
Orwell:
They are a prop that is used for repositioning on the face at the conclusion of making what they perceive as a point. Am I the only one who notices this behavior? I find it incredibly annoying. But hey, just me I suppose.
This. But of course the left has been doing this for decades, as this aged quote notes. Only recently they’ve attached this behavior exclusively to the right with the term “dog whistle”.
Is ‘alienation of affection’ still a tort?
FTFY
The left always accuses the right of the sins the left commits.
Yep. Rather illogical and unreasonable, yet there it is. And it persists. For some …reason.
Not from the left’s point of view – it works quite well for them.
yet there it is. And it persists. For some …reason.
Several reasons. Speaking in generalities here … Conservatives default to “niceness”. They believe in manners, cordiality, and the oft stated “people are basically good” sentiment. They even still believe that leftwing Americans can separate their politics from personal relationships and leave it outside the house when Thanksgiving rolls around.
Since the majority of conservatives do not work or live in places where they will see/confront evil on a regular basis, they tend to think people who espouse evil are just mistaken and can be reasoned with. If you accuse a conservative of being wrong and being evil because of that wrong, s/he will not punch you in the throat for the insulting smear but double down on marshalling all sorts of arguments and sources to prove you’re mistaken and see how you got it all wrong.
Accuse some non-lefty of being “literally Hitler” and the knee jerk response is — “oh no, can’t be BECAUSE” followed by reams of evidence.
WHICH MAKES NO DIFFERENCE to the leftist at all because the smear isn’t the real thing. Destroying everyone/thing outside the group is the thing. By any means possible.
Darleen. Yep.
Someone asks a (polite) question and that’s what they get back? Is today’s word ‘entitled’?
Note the yas-queening in the comments. Again, it seems that the “respect” of which Ms Markham speaks doesn’t extend to those – say, parents – who express reservations, or who would rather not have their children being encouraged to lie.
Dog whistle: the crime is noticing their lunacy and not going along with it. So in the US the Left actually lost their minds over the Trump election, but pointing that out is a dog whistle.
She seems to have a nystagmus issue.
The Far Side?
Did you catch that neologism? The quote from Orwell highlights how a person like this will employ special, secret meanings for normal words. James Lindsay highlights this to great effect on his YouTube channel and web page.
Themselfs. This is not some American regionalism. She did not say that by accident.
Because I am credulous by nature, always giving people the benefit of the doubt and questioning myself and my own motives, I have to constantly remind myself by examples like these, that real people think these awful things and wish to force them upon me in my family and loved ones.
what the hell is up with making asinine videos in their cars.
Multitaskers. Showing that they can drive and chew woo at the same time.
She’s in charge of a snowflake generator. Everything you wish will be given to you in my school; when you hit whatever the “real” world looks like, you will be filled with anger like the emotional 4 year old you are because nobody ever told you “no”.
Were I younger, I would have found it interesting that a public servant would be unwilling to talk to those who provide her salary.
When I was younger, I actually thought we were a republic of some type. Silly me.
Maybe some protected class individuals will show up in her office to ask pointed questions. I suspect she would not charge her “consulting” fees.
It does seem that our school principal – the one who bangs on about the importance of “respect” – very much wants to be applauded for being smug and dismissive. The implication of the “consultation” video, and several others, is that people who don’t agree, or who simply have questions, are the enemy. And therefore to be treated with open disdain.
The laughing-at-your-concerns thing – and dismissing those concerns as “hate” – is a recurring theme in Ms Markham’s videos. Boasting of having “haters” does crop up several times. As we’ve seen, this a theme in the TikTok videos of so many progressive educators. Though, needless to say, the definition of “hate” is somewhat elastic and rather self-flattering.
For those who didn’t know that is the straight ally pride flag.
As being straight is pretty near the bottom of the intersectional pile I surmise the unlovely creature is married to an actual man with so many children that pretending to be anything else would be impossible.
I fear for her kids as she’s bound to take her own “normality” out on someone else.
There’s certainly something not quite right going on in that first video.
She even manages to make the school sound non-binary to my ear: “As a principle of a middle high school.”
Voguish gender politics aside, the message is essentially mundane.
And yet she can’t make it through more 10 seconds before needing an edit.
In a longer, unrehearsed video that might make sense. But the video is only 59 seconds long, she is very obviously reading from a script and she is ee-NUNC-i-a-ting every syllable as if speaking to a kindergarten group not 12-18 year olds, much less their parents or any other adults.
(In “I will never intentionally misgender” it actually sounds for a moment like she’s referring to a member of staff called Miss Gender. I also thought “themselfs” was a slip of the tongue until I realised she was likely deliberately making the plural into a clumsy kind of singular-plural).
As a whole, it gives the impression that either she is saying things she’s conscious that she doesn’t really know the meaning of or (perhaps more likely) that she has a completely rational fear of like-minded activists who will rip her to shreds if she puts a foot wrong.
Well, the whole thing has an air of the juvenile. The slightly affected high-pitched voice; the glib dismissal of all disagreement as “hate”; the fact that a supposedly responsible adult in a position of authority spends so much time fishing for affirmation via a medium associated with adolescent girls.
But then, the wider profession seems to have undergone some kind of weird regression, such that the more ostentatiously woke it’s become, the more common it is to find educators in their thirties, grown men, whose regular purchases still include blue and green hair dye, and who habitually film themselves miming to pop records, before uploading the results to TikTok in search of affirmation, not least from their own students.
It’s… a little odd.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that an ideological outlook tailored to the psychology of the arrested and narcissistic tends to attract a high concentration of people who are arrested and narcissistic.
But still, as a phenomenon, it’s a thing to behold.
Themselfs. This is not some American regionalism. She did not say that by accident.
She is a principal, therefore more than likely has an “advanced” education degree, so I’d go with she just doesn’t know the word is actually “themselves”.
Speaking of educators, Skye (they/them), an “autistic trans non-binary demiboy,” has a “social justice wall.”
He’s not wrong:
By the way, some of you will be thrilled to hear that I reported the comment-edit glitch and a fix has been devised. Just waiting for the next update of wpDiscuz, which shouldn’t be too long.
[ Awaits fix with barely concealed impatience. ]
I assume that the glitch was caused by a recent enhancement or bug fix. And it tends to be easier for programmers to diagnose and fix bugs caused by recent code changes that are fresh in the programmers’ minds.
I didn’t ask. I just slaughtered an ox on the mountaintop.
[ Wipes hands on tea towel. ]
[ Rummages in back room, creaking stairs, sound of heavy cardboard boxes being dragged around. ]
If the edit-comment glitch began cropping up around two weeks ago, which sounds about right, that’s when the wpDiscuz plugin was last updated to version 7.6.3.
Yeah, like slow motion socio-psychological warfare.
Yes, because sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. shower the seed of narcissism, along with a host of other socio-psychological phenomena with water, fertilizer, and shine sunlight on them as soon as they sprout. Growing whole crops of narcissists and other mentally ill socio and psychopaths along with sufficiently groomed victims, where such things didn’t necessarily exist in past generations. They couldn’t afford them.
They even still believe that leftwing Americans can separate their politics from personal relationships and leave it outside the house when Thanksgiving rolls around.
Well, in my family we do exactly that. All but one of our (now adult) kids lean far left, complete with “in this house” and BLM signs on the front lawn, pride flags, etc. . . . but we love them all the same, and they return the sentiment. Even though my wife and I voted for The Reincarnation of Hitler, and they know it. I guess my point is that it’s at least possible to have relationships that are not poisoned by politics.
mass psychosis: humans want to (need to) belong and will go along with anything to do so including mass murder. Mass delusions and craziness are just one manifestation. But mass crazy is not pleasant to be surrounded by.
I guess my point is that it’s at least possible to have relationships that are not poisoned by politics.
Congrats that you all can put politics in perspective. I personally know too many other people who have had strained relationships and dustups over politics.
And it certainly didn’t help things at all during the Obama admin with the public push for his followers to “go home” at Thanksgiving and, essentially, bully your relatives.
One problem is when the opinions expressed involve support for silencing and punishment of dissenting views. No matter how politely expressed, it is chilling to hear such opinions and it inevitably leads to questions about just how sincere and deep that affection is.
It’s certainly been my experience that the incongruous political scolding has usually, almost invariably, come from one side of the aisle. There is, I think, a fairly marked asymmetry. If I’m going out for a family dinner or whatever, it would not occur to me to abruptly launch into a confrontational sermon on the subject, banging on at tremendous length, thereby monopolising the evening.
And yet.
I noticed a significant increase in such confrontational behavior after Obama told his followers to “get in people’s faces”.
Now this I consider a victory. Not just that the courts forced them to retreat but by the degree of contrition that I see here. This much more than a Bud Light or Men North of Richmond or even a Try That In A Small Town.
…
When I was a young naive liberal, conservatives treated me with respect and courtesy when they disagreed. When I moved to the right, I liberals tended to be much less respectful and nearly always impugned my motives.
It’s certainly been my experience that the incongruous political scolding has usually, almost invariably, come from one side of the aisle.
I have a first cousin, only 4 months younger than me who is a yellow-dog Democrat. We’ve finally come to a point where she has stopped tossing politics in my face after confronted her and she couldn’t argue one point past the emotional. Though, I’m glad we are on opposite coasts and only see each other in person once a blue moon.
There’s this weird assumption by the portside that their opinion is never to be challenged in “polite company” least us deplorable beings prove again just how deplorable we really are.
Doesn’t that clearly indicate a really dumb person?
Maybe she should start a blog. The Other Half tells me I’m much less aggravating now that I take it out on you heathens.
Just remembered, it’s our wedding anniversary.
There’d better be wine.
And we thank you for it and sometimes even pay you for the privilege. I’m not sure what that says about us…
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!
So, there’s a fix to the update that fixed the last update that updated the last fix . . .
We’re going to need more oxen.
Flanders and Swann have nothing on the software industry.
Not really. Being intelligent doesn’t preclude emotion trumping reason.
“Doesn’t that clearly indicate a really dumb person?”
I would never say that about someone whom I know secondhand. I, too, hold opinions that I don’t have support for (particularly about movies and TV shows I haven’t seen). And trying to research every position can take time away from living a life.
It’s a universal truth that we tend to embody the first opinion expressed about something new, which is why the mainstream media, shoddy, lying, and incompetent, is still a powerful weapon in establishing The Narrative (h/t Critical Drinker).
it’s our wedding anniversary.
Well, then Happy Anniversary and (ping) I hope my little contribution can up the quality of that bottle of wine you have your eye on.
Doesn’t that clearly indicate a really dumb person?
My cousin is pretty competent, but she lives in a bubble of like-minded. She’s also always been a rather forceful personality and doesn’t get challenged on her assumptions much, if at all. I remember one family gathering several years back that she was really taken aback when I disagreed with her. It was not feigned, she was sincerely shocked, not just by my non-acceptance but by my marshalling of a cognizant counterargument.
It’s that cloistered “How did Nixon win? I don’t know anyone who voted for him” mindset.
[ Returns from supermarket with suitable quantity of booze, checks messages. ]
Bless you, madam. A wonderful surprise. On a warm summer evening, may you have a chance to register just how bogglingly varied the song of the humble Blackbird is.
There’s also the status aspect, which is, I think, part of the asymmetry mentioned upthread. If your political views function largely as a kind of social jewellery – if they confer status as an elevated being – then they’re less likely to be tested, at least not voluntarily. There’s less incentive to kick at the foundations. And indeed, strong incentives not to.
But, being jewellery, they’re more likely to be announced, however slim the pretext.
That is an interesting idea, which I am going to immediately embody forever.
(But, truly, it really is interesting. Where did you come up with that idea? I’ve never heard it before.)
Where did you come up with that idea? I’ve never heard it before.
An observation based on my career in journalism. The initial report of any breaking story tends to be set in cement in people’s minds. Challenging that report with alternative facts later tend to be resisted, sometimes fiercely.
Which, now that I’m looking this up, is an expression of the selective exposure theory. It’s related to cognitive bias and cognitive dissonance.
Speaking of delusional, malignant fools…how long before one of these folks is murdered during a response call?
Anyone care to make odds on an over/under on the first 100 calls?
https://twitter.com/KatieDaviscourt/status/1694072347790295377
The initial report of any breaking story tends to be set in cement in people’s minds
A cherry picker, which was on-site to help volunteers carry out maintenance work, was used to remove the flags…
AHA! I knew it!
…my wife and I voted for The Reincarnation of Hitler…
Uhh, which one?
Where do they get those ugly identification glasses?
I’ve read (just read) that they are known as “splooge” glasses, worn by certain “actresses” in adult entertainment. The purpose of the glasses is to act as a landing space for certain precious bodily fluids…If you like that sort of thing..as it were. Really, I read about it…something about the demeaning of the pretentious, if you want to go all Freudian.
[ Opens David’s notebook. Writes ‘Suspiciously knowledgeable’. ]