In a sure sign the world's gone mad, teachers in Southlake's school district have been told not to teach only one side of the Holocaust. Make sure there are books that don't feel Nazis feel bad about themselves, too. And here I thought liberals were supposed to be the "woke mob."
In an effort to make sure no white kids feel shame about their latent neo-Nazi extremism as they grow up, teachers are encouraged to make sure they have "education materials" that represent that other side of the Holocaust. You know, the one that explains all the justifications for people standing by while millions upon millions of Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, and more were starved, mutilated, beaten, raped, shot, and gassed during Hitler's reign of terror. Our students need reading materials that make sure we understand that German soldiers really suffered when they had to go home and unwind after a tough day throwing babies in the air and catching them on their bayonets. Spare some room in your heart for these folks, too, will ya?
If I sound bitter, good job. Your sarcasm sensor still functions. Your ability to detect palpable rage still exists even though we aren't in the same room. This is vile, dangerous sh*t, masquerading as an attempt not to make children feel bad about themselves. And how thoroughly hypocritical, coming from the same people who bitch and moan about affirmative action being a form of coddling, and who complain that kids these days never have to face and overcome adversity.
Thank goddess teachers are fighting back, but they're not even comfortable taking a stand unless their identities are obscured. The recording of Southlake's Director of Curriculum, Gina Peddy, was obtained in secret, and the whole thing started because a fourth-grade teacher was reprimanded for having a book on her shelves that spoke out against racism.
Antonia Hilton reports, "The district sent educators new guidance to vet all books, instructing them to not allow singular perspectives that could be considered offensive. This coming after Texas passed a law banning the teaching of concepts that could make individuals feel guilt or anguish due to their race." Clearly, this guidance only applies to perspectives that white people could find offensive, and concepts that could make white people feel guilt of anguish due to their race. God forbid we encourage teachers to help white kids understand the concept of privilege, and the responsibility that goes along with it, and the contributions they could therewith make to a better world. That's just too much to ask.
Then Hilton played a the recording of Peddy telling teachers to make sure to get the Nazi point of view if you're gonna go so far as to say Hitler's ideas were a little off the wall.
"Make sure that if you have a book on the Holocaust, that you have one that has opposing - that has other perspectives," say Peddy's instructions.
Thankfully, we hear the teachers immediately protest on the recording, asking how the hell one does that. Of course, Peddy didn't respond to NBC's requests for comment. The two teachers who did speak up, though, feared for their jobs and spoke up anyway.
"I was in such shock when I heard these words. We felt this was necessary because we felt like no one was going to listen until a teacher spoke up," one said.
Hilton told them, "The district says they have not told teachers to ban books, to completely shut down libraries. What are you seeing?"
"That's a lie," answered one of the teachers. "That's a flat-out lie. How could you even make that statement?"
The report concludes with a dad who is concerned about the coddling of white supremacy and awful demands on teachers, but he's also worried that his kids are seeing the world as highly politicized.
Hilton concludes, "Parents hope that politics find a way out of public schools."
Is that really what we want? For our children to have no knowledge of politics, or to be able to see politics as some extra-curricular, optional activity? Everything is political. White people are simply the only ones who have the luxury of ignoring it, or living their lives as if politics doesn't affect them.
After all. Politics brought Hitler to power.