Saturday, October 26th, 2013
Stephan: This story sounds like an Evelyn Waugh satire novel from the 50s, or the interview with the North Carolina official about voter suppression that ran on the Daily Show yesterday. It's weirdness is further evidence of the Schism Trend and, I am astonished at the speed with which this trend is accelerating.
Texas is such a large market that the state's choices traditionally have dictated what was in schoolbooks. But I don't see the Blue states putting up with this misinformation.
The Theocratic Right view of the world is passionately held by those who believe it, but it requires a disdain for facts. It is a very aggressive movement, as can be seen in the anti-choice and, now anti-contraceptive movement. This is activating social progressives in Blue states who feel compelled to define themselves in contrast. The social decisions in the Blue states will be made on the basis of facts and will move toward a more compassionate life-affirming model. As a result there will be a noticeable increase in social wellness. Remember the piece I ran about Denmark the other day. If this difference goes beyond a certain point there will be migrations.
When Joshua Bass, an engineer, sent his son to iSchool High, a Houston charter school, he was expecting a solid college preparation, including the chance to study some college courses before leaving high school. Instead, the Basses were shocked when their son came home from the taxpayer-funded school with apparently religiously motivated anti-science books.
One of these books blamed Darwin’s theory of evolution for the Holocaust:
[Hitler] has written that the Aryan (German) race would be the leader in all human progress. To accomplish that goal, all ‘lower races