A Forum for Vigorous Debate, Cornerstone of Democracy

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A FORUM FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND VIGOROUS DEBATE, CORNERSTONES OF DEMOCRACY
[For the journal--guidelines, focus, etc.--go to www.theamericandissident.org. If you have questions, please contact me at todslone@hotmail.com. Comments are NOT moderated (i.e., CENSORED)!]
Encouraged censorship and self-censorship seem to have become popular in America today. Those who censor others, not just self, tend to favor the term "moderate," as opposed to "censor" and "moderation" to "censorship." But that doesn't change what they do. They still act as Little Caesars or Big Brother protectors of the thin-skinned. Democracy, however, demands a tough populace, not so easily offended. On this blog, and to buck the trend of censorship, banning, and ostracizing, comments are NEVER "moderated." Rarely (almost NEVER) do the targets of these blog entries respond in an effort to defend themselves with cogent counter-argumentation. This blog is testimony to how little academics, poets, critics, newspaper editors, cartoonists, political hacks, cultural council apparatchiks, librarians et al appreciate VIGOROUS DEBATE, cornerstone of democracy. Clearly, far too many of them could likely prosper just fine in places like communist China and Cuba or Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Russia, not to mention Sweden, England, and Austria.
ISSUE #47 PUBLISHED MAY 2024. NOW SEEKING SUBMISSIONS FOR ISSUE #48.

More P. Maudit cartoons (and essays) at Global Free Press: http://www.globalfreepress.org

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Thomas J. Cottle

Always Unquestioning and Always Unchallenging
So much was taken for granted in our society,
even by the highly educated, especially when
it served self.

One such fellow* told me the other day, he
believed that poor teachers ought to be fired.

So I asked him what a poor teacher was.
Was it someone who didn't get
the PC teacher-of-the-year award
or someone who dared go upright and
criticize his colleagues and administrators?
Was it someone who spoke rude truths in the
classroom and in so doing upset the coddled
or someone who actually taught students
to question and challenge their university?
Or was it the old “you’ll know a poor teacher
when you see, hear, and observe him”? 

The fellow, unsurprisingly, never did get back to me. 
……………………………………….

*Thomas J. Cottle, Professor of Education, Boston University
 
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The poems I've posted here recently illustrate the importance of naming names as a vital means of quality control.  They also illustrate how one can create from  dubious statements made by others.  They were written in 2008 and 2009 and form part of a new collection tilted Triumvirate of the Monkeys. which will be published in a couple of weeks.  BTW, I am not a fan of those who obtain degrees in educationism.  Much of the stuff taught in university schools of education is as inane  and utterly boring as it gets. 

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