Don’t Look At The Monster
And as it’s almost Hallowe’en, another unnerving tale:
Or, when you’re a public-school teacher and one of your colleagues suggests that you avoid eye contact with a pupil who, for no discernible reason, writes luridly and at length about you dying in horrible ways.
As the pupil in question happened to be black, some educators have taken umbrage at any acknowledgement of this detail. Olivia Mullins, apparently an expert in “equitable teaching,” has issued a decree that one isn’t allowed to use an image of “a dark skinned black child with a menacing expression” when recounting an incident, experienced first-hand, involving a dark skinned black child with a menacing expression.
Alternative images have subsequently been suggested.
Update, via the comments:
Chow Bag notes the inevitable twitchiness of Ms Mullins and adds,
It is, I think, hard to see how Ms Mullins’ hair-trigger aversion to Certain Things would be helpful. And her attitude, her posture, is by no means uncommon among her peers. We’ve seen, quite vividly, how that plays out:
Apparently, hearing that your immediate predecessor was harassed and assaulted, and reduced to tears on a daily basis – by the same teenagers you’re hoping to teach about art – couldn’t possibly be a warning sign, or have any informational content, beyond a belief that those indulging in the disruption, harassment and assault must be steeped in “cultural knowledge,” and obviously oppressed, and therefore deserving of further latitude.
Mr McCormick’s article includes other examples of much the same mindset, a kind of weird displacement activity. A practised unrealism.
Including the female teacher whose way of addressing disturbing behaviour is to pretend that it isn’t happening. And assertions by supposed experts – again, female – that “There. Are. No. Bad. Kids.” And that even the most monstrous hell child can be saved, if only we sacrifice the opportunities and wellbeing of children who aren’t clearly sociopathic.
Consider this an open thread. Share ye links and bicker.
She’s why it happens.
Fuck, that is a dark story.
Excuse my language, but . . . fuck.
I had a friend who was active in the show circuit with Viszlas, a breed of dog. He owned Joshie. When you snapped on Joshie’s show collar, that dog was all business. Quickly racked up wins to become an American Kennel Club champion.
Outside of the show ring . . . my friend and his wife walked on eggshells. Sometimes Joshie was okay, greet you with a wagging tail, accept pets on the head. And in a split second – attack. Back you first into a corner to worry you; in fact, sometimes did that and suddenly just walk away wthout biting you.
My friend put Joshie down. As he explained, some animals are just born bad. Despite how beautiful a dog Joshie was, it was not worth it to live with a sociopath.
Same with us. We may be a rational animal but animals all the same, with some of us more than others.
And now it strikes me as funny, remembering Joshie the Viszla, how the teacher warned the author to go somewhere where Martel can’t see him. Because that is what you do with a dog, yes? You encounter a stray on the street, do not make eye contact. Keep that dog in your peripheral sight to ascertain whether it is a threat. Same here – making eye contact is perceived by the dog as a show of aggression.
We don’t use the word “feral” enough for humans, as if we are incapable of being such.
Well, it’s hard to see how Ms Mullins’ hair-trigger aversion to Certain Things would be helpful. And her attitude, her posture, is by no means uncommon among her peers. We’ve seen, quite vividly, how that plays out:
Mr McCormick’s article includes other examples of a similar mindset, a kind of weird displacement activity. A practised unrealism.
Including the female teacher whose way of addressing disturbing behaviour is to pretend it isn’t happening. And assertions by supposed experts – again, female – that “There. Are. No. Bad. Kids,” and that even the most monstrous hell child can be saved, if only we sacrifice the opportunities and wellbeing of children who aren’t clearly sociopathic.
‘Tis the season of frights.
She’s just one person—she and those like her didn’t simply materialize. They gained influence because too many normal people have long tolerated them. Especially those who privately understand the damage done to children over decades by this growing insanity. That quiet accommodation is why it happens.
[ Post updated. ]
The Japanese Amish. It’s always them!
As I’ve said before, some people struggle to conceive of just how degenerate the degenerate can be. And yet, there are creatures walking among us for whom the words human being would be a merely technical term and inaptly flattering.
An egalitarian mindset doesn’t exactly help on this front. Hence, I suppose, the twitchiness and the weird pretending.