The Birth of a New American Mythology (****)

[Valin]

New Discourses

Jan. 13 2021

James Lindsay

We are witnessing the birth of a new national mythology in America, and it is not good news. Imperfect as it was, the old one was better, warts and all, and it needs to be fought for. This new mythology turns the story of America on its head, positioning it not as having been born in the pursuit of freedom and liberty in 1776 but in slavery and evil in 1619. It has mainstreamed itself since the 1960s but especially over the last five years as it used Trump’s presidency as a foil to legitimize its pseudo-real description of America for millions, and now it has gained the beginnings of cultural hegemony (which it is already abusing). This magic narrative has been and remains the key to their power.

This new mythology is using its own narrative about Trump’s presidency and, especially, the events that took place at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as a pivotal moment in its story arc, where it finally gained the upper hand on more than 400 years of evil and could usher in a new world order based on equity, guaranteed by the “perfected” state apparatus and its corporate partners (especially in tech). The thing is, while the real American story genuinely is the story of freedom, this new alternative, of “liberation,” is based not in truth but in alchemy, and like all such regimes, it will therefore end in catastrophe. Lead, as it sees our history, cannot be changed into gold, as it views our future through its manic utopian lenses, and drinking potions of cinnabar will not make people live forever but will slowly poison them into madness.

[Valin]

Woke Elementary

A Cupertino elementary school forces third-graders to deconstruct their racial identities, then rank themselves according to their “power and privilege.”

Christopher F. Rufo

January 13, 2021

 

Denial Is the Heartbeat of America

When have Americans been willing to admit who we are?

January 11, 2021

Ibram X. Kendi

Director of the Boston University Center for Antiracist Research

[Valin]

St. Paul City Council approves creation of slavery reparations committee

The main goal of the committee is to “make significant progress toward repairing the damage caused by public and private systemic racism in the City of Saint Paul.”

Rose Williams

January 14, 202

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Social studies committee calls letter from concerned parents ‘white supremacy language’

One committee member questioned if a “select-all delete sort of thing” was the best option to deal with the feedback received from thousands of Minnesota residents and parents.

Rose Williams

January 17, 2021

More than 5,000 Minnesota residents voiced concerns about the proposed social studies standards that are currently undergoing revision by the Minnesota Standards Review Committee.

Minnesota’s 2011 social studies standards are undergoing changes this year, for implementation in schools by fall 2025. The new standards center around LGBT issues, race, and climate change, and remove benchmarks for World War I and World War II, the American Revolution, and the Civil War.

Under a campaign called Raise Our Standards, a letter from the Center of the American Experiment was sent by over 5,000 Minnesotans to the review committee. The letter states that the proposed standards “eliminated many important aspects of history and civics and replaced them with controversial and hard to measure standards that ask students to ‘recognize unfairness’ and ‘develop respectful awareness.’”

(Snip)

In a recording of the meeting obtained by the Center of the American Experiment, Director of Academic Standards Doug Paulson can be heard disregarding the letter, saying he is “impressed” with the committee for “rejecting this white supremacy language.”

He noted that there was “a lot of other really important feedback” that relates to what they “know is best practices, what we have evidence [of] is best practices.”

(Snip)