(2021-11-24) Hunt Critical State Theory

Ben Hunt: Critical State Theory. I believe two things...

First, I believe that parents, not the State and never the State, are responsible for their children’s education. That responsibility does not end when we drop our kids off at the bus stop, no matter how convenient that might be for parents or the State, and it means that parents absolutely have a huge say in what is taught and how it’s taught in public schools.

Second, I believe that our children should be taught the fact that racism is embedded in our nation’s history, and they should be taught those lessons a lot better than I was. True story: I first heard of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre from the HBO series Watchmen. Worse, for a couple of episodes I assumed it was a fictional plot device, part of the alternative history that weaves itself through that script. I mean, obviously it’s not possible that an event of this magnitude would be totally absent from my education. It had to be fiction.

Unfortunately, nothing is without political context in modern American society, and as a result it has become nearly impossible to hold these two beliefs simultaneously, in public, at least.

This note is about the narrative process that makes it so difficult to hold these two beliefs at the same time. And why it’s so important that we do so, anyway.

it wasn’t Critical Race Theory that was the issue. It was Critical Race Theory!TM, a meme-rich narrative of Resistance!TM to the oppression we face from carpetbagger elitists who have infiltrated our public schools and seek to turn our children into little Maoist cadres.

I think Critical Race Theory!TM is a sham, a diversion

But Critical Race Theory!TM works. It works in the same way that every other polarizing social issue, like Tear Down The Statues!TM or But The Bathrooms!TM, works. It’s a dog whistle for one side of the political spectrum and an obedience collar for the other side, such that the intentionally incendiary framing of the issue, combined with highly useful idiots on the periphery of both sides, push ALL of us into increasingly polarized positions.

Here’s the canonical Epsilon Theory note on how these cartoons push us: Always Go To the Funeral

those of us who are opposed to the politicization and cartoonification of our public schools are pushed into support for ridiculous positions like this from NBC News.

Parents think they have the right to control teaching and learning because their children are the ones educated. It’s sort of like entering a surgical unit thinking you can interfere with an operation because the patient is your child.

But increasingly this is what it means to be opposed to the bullshit use of Critical Race Theory!TM as a political weapon. You have to be for equally bullshit positions like these, where the statement “I believe parents should be in charge of their kids’ education.” is presented as a wild-eyed, dangerous assertion of radical Republican politics.

I wrote this four years ago, in a note titled Clever Hans: ((2017-10-26) Hunt Clever Hans)

Being an active and engaged participant in your children’s education isn’t a political statement. It’s a statement of advocacy for the most important people in our lives – our children

We have to raise our hands and say enough. We have to say that when it comes to our children, a principled middle ground exists despite the polarizing impulses of Fiat World.