March 2, 2021 – I recently read a letter to the editor by candidate for West Bend school board Jody Geenen. For full disclosure I do not live in the West Bend School District so this election doesn’t really affect me…or does it?
What I found even more interesting was the complete irony in the comments thread after the Facebook post. Whether anyone else realized it, the comments justified her exact reason for questioning the adoption of the one-sided curriculum being considered.
After reading the editorial and comments I put a lot of thought into adopting what I named the 90% rule.
I’m sure everyone on social media receives the news updates in their, for example, CNN, Fox, NBC, etc all grab your attention with a sample of the article and a few key words enticing you to open the attachment.
Jody Geenen’s editorial in Washington County Insider had the names Donald Trump and Rush Limbaugh in the key words introducing it. Interestingly enough the thread spent more time destroying the characters including Jody just by name association which led me to believe 90% of the people commenting never even bothered to read her editorial.
Of the 10% that read her article I’m guessing 90% didn’t bother to look into the curriculum being considered by the West Bend School Board.
This is a curriculum that is probably the most progressively liberal agenda being taught to young kids nowadays that absolutely erases the idea of critical thinking. It’s an agenda that teaches that evolution is definite and the idea of creation doesn’t exist. It teaches that gender is not science, but a choice. It promotes the idea that if you were born white you should be ashamed and need to apologize. This is not curriculum for learning, this is indoctrination.
I for one believe that everyone has the right to believe what they want when presented with the facts and history.
Our curriculum included debate class, where you argued your point of view respectfully and not by attacking the sender’s personal character which leads me to the next 90% argument. If you look at comment threads, 90% of the people couldn’t argue the substance of the editorial but chose to attack Trump, Limbaugh, or Geenen.
The advent of smart phones and social media has removed the personal interaction between sender and receiver of messages allowing radical thinking groups to capitalize on easily influenced individuals who have been indoctrinated to believe that whatever they believe is correct, at whatever the cost.
Look at social media fact checkers… I’m guessing 90% of social media users believe that fact checkers are actually unbiased individuals.
I’m guessing 90% of the people, probably more, that ripped Rush Limbaugh never ever listened to one of his shows.
I’m willing to bet 90% of the people who ripped Trump and voted against him was because they get their news from a late night comedian, an overpaid Hollywood actor, or some obviously biased social media platform.
Unbeknownst to everyone commenting in the thread following Jody Geenen’s editorial you helped her prove the exact concern that is driving her to challenge the new curriculum being considered.
90% showed the exact indoctrination that should not be taught in our schools. 90% of you showed that Rush Limbaugh is exactly right when he jokingly referred to school-age kids as “young skulls full of mush” because of the fact these kids are so easily brainwashed and indoctrinated during these years.
It’s a sad testament to today’s society that people cannot debate a subject that affects so many without making it a personal attack. There’s no place in our educational system for this one-sided indoctrination, just read the comments following her editorial and they prove my point exactly.
Respectfully submitted,
Michael S. Flanders
Town of Polk
Slinger
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