Sometimes we have to accept the premise and use it to bludgeon the person presenting it. It’s not always about you and what you have or have not done. Here’s an example that will send the average conservative into a panic denial mode: “systemic racism”. I can already hear the shrills and the mouse clicks. So, stay with me for a minute before you put up your defenses. When people in urban areas complain about it, why do conservatives rush to say it doesn’t exist? First ask yourself: who’s in charge of these areas? Let’s consider what’s being said and define the term. Systemic: relating to or noting a policy, practice, or set of beliefs that has been established as normative or customary throughout a political, social, or economic system. It is not about an individual but the processes and policies in place.
So, ask yourself: do many of these urban areas have issues where the residents often feel hopeless? Are the majority if not all of these areas democratic run areas? Yes! So, why are we saying the problem doesn’t exist? Often, we tend to wear a badge of guilt when we’re not part of the problem. For years, the residents of Baltimore complained about THEIR police force and the corruption. No, no it can’t be because WE back the Blue. It was THEIR police force that they said was corrupt. In 2018, all eight members of Baltimore’s “elite” Gun Trace Task Force were found guilty of charges including robbery, conspiracy and racketeering. Obviously, these “officers” didn’t get the memo about their duty to ‘Serve and Protect’. Although the residents were ignored for a very long time, their complaints proved to be justified. I’m led to understand that HBO’s “We Own This City” provide a glimpse, some insight on the shenanigans the plagued Baltimore’s police force. Was it a system policy written or unwritten in place that led to this grand civic duty failure? Yes indeed! If you still have any doubts things like this happen, I offer you the FBI’s handling of any and all things Trump related.
Let’s look at another topic du-jour: systemic problems in schools. The beauty of the “covid pandemic” and the shutting down of in-person learning in schools is that it suddenly gave many parents (adults) insight into what has been going on in schools for years. Is it systemic? Oh yeah! It’s possible that this evil is happening in an ISD near you. Diversity, equity, gender affirming, blah blah blah that children are subjected to daily. Everything minus fundamental reading, writing and arithmetic skills. The coup de gras or ice cream Sunday with the cherry on top, is how now Minneapolis Teachers are outraged after a recent Union Contract suggests a Race-Based Layoff Agreement. Oh wow!! The chicken has come home to roost. Two things that I’m giddy about are (my sarcastic side):
- Teachers now have to swallow their equity talk gibberish they’ve been advancing. Teachers will be subject to layoffs or job changes in “order of seniority,” unless the teacher is part of an “underrepresented group.”
- The why: “To remedy the continuing effects of past discrimination, Minneapolis Public Schools and the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers (MFT) mutually agreed to contract language that aims to support the recruitment and retention of teachers from underrepresented groups as compared to the labor market and to the community served by the school district,” a spokesperson for Minneapolis Public Schools told TND in a statement.
Here's the last bullet point restated in my words: We discriminated in the past so we’re going to discriminate going forward to fix what we did in the past. A vicious circle is forming, whereas a simple more tenable approach would be: how about from today going forward do not discriminate.
Last time I checked there are headlines galore about Gov Tim Waltz and MN Democrats being in the Teachers Unions’ pockets. However, you have a broke system. According to the last state assessment barely half (51.52%) of all students are reading proficiently
So, what’s the aim of my writing this: before we dismiss someone’s, complaint and say a problem/issue doesn’t exist I suggest:
- Listen to the issue/problem
- Identify the source e.g. who’s in charge
- Help them see who/what is the cause of the problem
- Help them identify solutions to the problem
At the end of it all you’re likely to win them over to the conservative way. If people don’t see a way out they will either keep repeating the same choices or just step away completely from the process. Repeating bad choices is not because they’re stupid or lazy; it’s because they see no viable alternative where they exist.
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