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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2017 17:51:25 GMT -5
By the way, even if Melania had presented books that really did have racist content, I don't think the librarian handled it correctly. *
Of COURSE she should speak up in that event -- indeed, she would have a duty to do so -- but she should speak up to the school, her bosses, and show them how the books are racist. The gift was to the school, not to her as a person. The school should dictate the proper way to handle it. (Clearly, her bosses agree.)
Also, etiquette-wise, the assumption should be, unless there is evidence to the contrary, that the gift-giver was not aware that the gift was problematic. (Given that these are decades-old classics loved by millions of children of every race, and, oh, praised by our first Black president, that's certainly no stretch here.) I mean, if there's evidence someone meant to be insulting and racist when giving a gift, you don't have to swallow it. Of course not. But otherwise, you assume good intentions.
All that aside, before Super Librarian tooted her own horn and broadcast her letter, touting herself as the Hero of the Resistance for her brave rejection of Dr. Seuss books, she just maybe should have made sure her bosses agreed with her action, or at least were OK with it. And she also should have given some thought whether she had, oh, dressed up as the Cat in the Hat two years ago and whether there might be pictures on Twitter to prove it. That she did not demonstrates to me that she's not only rude and a hypocrite, but also frankly kinda dumb.
ETA:
*Although that said, had Melania presented blatantly obviously racist books rather than timeless classics the librarian herself had touted two years before, though I still think it would have been wise to let the school handle it, I would understand what the librarian did, and I wouldn't have started a thread bashing her. As it stands, I can only SMDH.
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Post by michaelw on Oct 1, 2017 18:14:02 GMT -5
By the way, even if Melania had presented books that really did have racist content, I don't think the librarian handled it correctly. I once tried to donate some Mark Twain books to the local library, and the librarian threw them back in my face, then re-collected them and set fire to them, then banned me for life.* *Not really, though.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2017 18:20:43 GMT -5
Ever since you got that puppy avatar, Michael, you've been kinda feisty and, ya know...yappy. You're a piddle in the corner away from being haggis .
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Post by michaelw on Oct 1, 2017 18:27:58 GMT -5
But I can also sit. How come you didn't mention that, too?
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2017 18:39:17 GMT -5
But I can also sit. How come you didn't mention that, too? True, Haggis mostly just slumps unconscious under the bar unless he really wants to bite someone.
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Post by nighttimer on Oct 1, 2017 19:04:11 GMT -5
Trust me, my use of "woke" here is entirely intended ironically. And I have never had any interest whatsoever in being hip. We're both speculating, but I've given reasons for my speculation based on the Obamas' past gracious, courteous, and diplomatic behavior and previous endorsements of Seuss. You've given nada except your own dislike for The Donald and your assumption that the Obamas not only share it but would act as you would. It's actually you reducing the Obamas to cardboard cut-out representatives of Black people here. ETA: Also, it is you getting outraged and angry, and projecting it on me. But whatever. Picture me in inarticulate fits of rage if it makes you happy. Child, puh-leeze. This is your clutch-the-pearls thread, not mine. The outrage you speak of is yours. The anger your speak of is yours and it is soaked in sanctimonious scorn for the librarian and liberally doused in virtue signaling. Oh my, how incredibly vulgar of Ms. Soeiro to tell Melania she could keep her damn books. She must be a person of low breeding. Tsk, tsk. No class.
I did derive some small amusement that it is me reducing the Obamas to cardboard cut-outs. As if I were the one embedding You Tube videos of Barack speaking on a totally unrelated topic or penning imaginary letters. That's not me, but it is you doing that projecting thing. Pearls. Clutched. With great difficulty, I'm going to set aside my beloved snark for a minute. Besides my preference for gracious behavior, I think acts like this librarian's are bad for the resistance, and so is the gleeful cheering for it by some on the left. (Indeed, the latter is more problematic because the librarian is just one woman. But the left's embrace of her causes her action to reflect on all of them.) It plays into Trump supporters' narrative of "look at those nasty resisters -- clearly there is nothing Trump could do to please them. Even a perfectly nice gesture by the First Lady, they have to throw it back in her face with a snotty comment. Just roll your eyes and ignore them." The fact that the librarian just two years ago dressed up as the Cat in the Hat, the fact that the Obamas read and praised Seuss -- that just redoubles support for the idea that the librarian was a ridiculous hypocrite and those cheering her on deserve contempt. And frankly, I wouldn't care so much if it weren't for the fact that the middle -- the people the resistance needs badly to come through for them in 2018 and 2020 -- is likely to be turned off by gestures like this. Forget the unmovable alt-right. Think about the independents, those who increasingly think both sides suck, and those who are torn between their party loyalty and their disgust at Trump's rhetoric and actions. Seriously, if die-hard Trump haters like me think this was ridiculous and a turn-off, what will they think? I'm thinking they'll stay home and keep their money in their wallets. And what purpose did it serve? A few die-hard lefties who don't need convincing are cheering. The rest of us are wincing and/or jeering. That. Is. Not. The. Way. We. Win. The resistance should be trying to convince people they are better than the Trump supporters, not more self-righteous (which plays just exactly into the Trump supporters' hands). They go low, we go high, remember? How does throwing books back at the first lady -- books that the damn librarian herself endorsed two years before! -- with snide remarks that they are racist cliches accomplish that? It does the opposite. So. Jokes aside, Obama didn't really write me a letter (I know, surprise). In fact, he can't be bothered commenting on this silly librarian and her wokeness or lack thereof. Because what is it he and Michelle are doing? They're publicly linking arms with the Bushes and the other ex-presidents, again and again, to show friendship, unity, and shared values. To me that is a clear rallying call from them: "let's cut the bullshit posturing and the personal crap and put our energies forward in a productive way, including, when we can, those on the other side of the aisle. Let's all of us oppose the shit that matters, the stuff we can all agree sucks, work together on stuff all reasonable people think needs to get done (e.g., Puerto Rico relief), and let's actually get something done. This isn't about party -- it's about country." And THAT rallying cry speaks to me and to a lot of us. Nice, Cassandra. You really have your Respectability Politics rap screwed down tight. How's that working out for you? Your play nice with the Right has won you nothing and it will get you nothing. You disapprove of the Pink Pussy Hats. You disapprove of Black Lives Matter. You disapprove of the Anti-Fascists. You disapprove of anything coming from the Left that is even the slightest bit radical, angry, militant or simply impolite. This librarian did the hardest thing in the world to do. She spoke the truth and here you are all fired up and pissed off and ready to write a stern letter. To whom and for what? You want to see Ms. Soeiro fired for bad manners? How many pounds of flesh do you want and why is this so important to you that you would pen a screed of how absolutely awful the Left has been behaving and you are going to stamp your foot and wag your finger until they stop. You know something? "We" don't win by refusing to tell the goddamn truth. "We" don't win against a race-baiting bum by being demure and polite and saying "excuse me" before making a fuss. The Texas populist Jim Hightower once said about moderates who want to straddle the line, " There's nothing in the middle of the road but a yellow stripe and dead armadillos." I'd rather side with the Active Left who are willing to go out there and resist Trump with their money, with their time, with their very lives than with the Passive Left who are long on talking about what needs to be done and short on actually getting off their dead asses and doing it. Go ahead and stand in the middle and don't make a move. Sooner or later a 18-wheeler will come along and move you one way or the other anyway. As a good White liberal woman the best thing you can do to help is not offer your advice to me or but to the 58 percent of White voters who sided with Donald Trump and that includes the majority of White women who chose Trump over Clinton. That should be enough to keep you quite busy.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2017 19:13:55 GMT -5
That should be enough to keep you quite busy. Nah, that won't be what keeps me busy. Project away. It will not trouble me.
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Post by Amadan on Oct 1, 2017 19:15:18 GMT -5
Nobody believes this. You don't even believe this. Do you really think anyone at all is fooled? Everything you post is emotion and rage. This thread has gone on for about a page without you, discussing the actual nuances of Geisel's wartime cartoons and whether and when it's appropriate to refuse a gift and what the precise statement the librarian was or was not making, and you come back with your condescending "childs" and snarling and barking and you actually think anyone is buying that it's Cass or me or anyone else unable to control ourselves and our outrage? It's you, son. It's you. I must have missed the post where Cass suggested she should be fired. I would still like to know if the "truth" she was speaking was that Geisel was racist so Dr. Seuss doesn't belong in a children's library, or that we should refuse all gifts from the Trumps on principle. Is it one or both or neither?
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Post by nighttimer on Oct 1, 2017 19:40:53 GMT -5
That should be enough to keep you quite busy. Nah, that won't be what keeps me busy. Project away. It will not trouble me. I project nothing. I simply read and respond. Nobody believes this. You don't even believe this. Do you really think anyone at all is fooled? Everything you post is emotion and rage. This thread has gone on for about a page without you, discussing the actual nuances of Geisel's wartime cartoons and whether and when it's appropriate to refuse a gift and what the precise statement the librarian was or was not making, and you come back with your condescending "childs" and snarling and barking and you actually think anyone is buying that it's Cass or me or anyone else unable to control ourselves and our outrage? “I prefer to be true to myself, even at the hazard of incurring the ridicule of others, rather than to be false, and to incur my own abhorrence.”― Frederick Douglass
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Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2017 19:49:47 GMT -5
semi-derail/
I am mildly tempted to post a photo of myself at this moment.
I'm cooking in between posts. At the moment, I've just finished putting together a batch of pumpkin muffins. Accordingly, I'm dressed in a giant green apron dusted with flour and until a minute ago had a little pouf of flour on my nose. Aside from the apron, I'm barefoot (yes, barefoot in the kitchen, har har), in a well-worn t-shirt, and my hair is done up in a ridiculous Pebble Flintstone-style ponytail on my head, just to get it out of the way while I cook. I caught a glimpse of myself just now and had to giggle at myself.
Anyway, if I were to post such a picture, I would call it "CassandraW, portrait of rage."
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Post by Vince524 on Oct 1, 2017 20:04:13 GMT -5
I would very much like to see a picture like that.
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Post by Amadan on Oct 1, 2017 20:05:01 GMT -5
The rage comes after you tell her to make you a sandwich.
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Post by robeiae on Oct 1, 2017 20:05:41 GMT -5
I just don't get how this librarian can refuse accepting Dr. Seuss books because a) it's "cliche" and b) the books are racist, yet have no problem playing Dr. Seuss dress-up in her library.
That's not only pure hypocrisy, it's also top-drawer dumbassery, imo. I would positively LOVE to see an actual reasoned argument as to why this isn't the case, for either the hypocrisy, the dumbassery, or both...
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Post by Vince524 on Oct 1, 2017 20:06:48 GMT -5
I just don't get how this librarian can refuse accepting Dr. Seuss books because a) it's "cliche" and b) the books are racist, yet have no problem playing Dr. Seuss dress-up in her library. That's not only pure hypocrisy, it's also top-drawer dumbassery, imo. I would positively LOVE to see an actual reasoned argument as to why this isn't the case, for either the hypocrisy, the dumbassery, or both... Because... Trump.
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Post by Amadan on Oct 1, 2017 20:09:33 GMT -5
I just don't get how this librarian can refuse accepting Dr. Seuss books because a) it's "cliche" and b) the books are racist, yet have no problem playing Dr. Seuss dress-up in her library. That's not only pure hypocrisy, it's also top-drawer dumbassery, imo. I would positively LOVE to see an actual reasoned argument as to why this isn't the case, for either the hypocrisy, the dumbassery, or both... Because... Trump. Something something Frederick Douglas, apparently.
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