Did they actually call themselves "Cherokee" or was that what the evil Europeans called them?

 

Prior to European settlement, they called themselves Aniyvwiyaʔi. They appropriated the word "Cherokee" from the Europeans.

 

Sorry if repost, but apparently math is racist...
"A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction Dismantling Racism in Mathematics Instruction"
https://equitablemath.org/wp-content.../1_STRIDE1.pdf

I can kind of get where theyre coming from when saying that mathmatics requires learning skills sequentially (although thats true for lots of things), and that this poses a problem at shitty schools, but uhhh... maybe fix the schools and/or socioeconomic issues that keeps kids out of school? instead of blaming the teaching curriculum?

 

I skimmed through the Sep - Nov chapters. Nothing which I saw indicated to me that this paper couldn't have been titled "Dismantling Racism in [any subject] Education" by hitting Ctrl-H and just replacing the word Math with Biology or Cheerleading or anything else.

Not quite as buzzwordy as I'd have expected.

Some of what I read seems like valid and useful guidance for improving the quality of education, but how that relates to "anti-racism" escapes me.

To the contrary, saying that teachers need to teach math differently depending on the skin color of their students is one of the more racist things I've read today, and that's saying something, as I've read several Braineack posts.

 

This is why we can't have nice things:

'Misogynistic, sexist and a bit rapey': Calls for iconic movie Grease to be banned

© File

"The message is pure misogyny," one user said.

Social media users are calling to ban the iconic 1970s hit film 'Grease', condemning it for being "sexist", "homophobic", and "****-shaming".

A Boxing Day viewing of the film on BBC1 sparked outrage online, with many Twitter users calling the film out-dated.

"Grease is on. It really has a terrible message doesn't it?" one user said.

"Sorry but "Grease" sucks on so many levels. No plot. Nothing interesting happens. And the message is pure misogyny," said another.

The film is a light-hearted romantic musical, centring around a high school love affair between Sandy, played by Olivia Newton-John, and Danny, played by John Travolta.


© Provided by Newshub

Critics on Twitter complained about the lyric, "Did she put up a fight?" in the song Summer Nights, when Danny talks about 'hooking up' with Sandy.

Others shared disapproval about Sandy's friend Rizzo, who was ****-shamed for having unprotected sex.

The drive-in scene where Sandy and Danny watch a movie together was criticized for being "rapey", one user saying that it "didn't age well".

The lack of LGBTQ+ representation and diversity in the cast angered others.

In the film, a radio announcer at the school dance announces there were no same-sex couples on the dance floor.

"All couples must be boy/girl? Well Grease, shove your homophobia."


© Provided by Newshub

But many came to defend the musical, calling "woke" critics over-sensitive "snowflakes".

"Please don't ban #Grease. I know all the words and I've still got a crush on #DannyZuko," one user wrote.

A third wrote: "I really can't believe the #snowflakes want to ban #grease. #w-f"

At the end of the film, Sandy transforms from good-girl to bad-girl, impressing Danny with a new fashion style and attitude and smoking a cigarette.

"I wish my girl Sandy would have recognized Danny Zuko was trash and she didn't need to change for anyone."

Newton-John, who plays Sandy, has previously dismissed sexism claims: "It's a movie and a fun story and I've never taken it too seriously."


https://www.msn.com/en-nz/entertainm...ed/ar-BB1crn1T

 

^ I can't even. I'm sure I have a cogent, acerbic retort somewhere within me, but I've had one too many high-test IPAs to formulate anything coherent. Maybe "**** 'em all" will suffice for the moment.

 

I love how people want to judge a 40 year old movie based on current events. Hello, let's change all history to conform to present day mores. Fidiots. The only saving grace is that this is a minority calling for this. Unfortunately too many politicians pander to the select few.

 

Don’t think this was ever posted here - The Critical Drinker commenting on this revisionist trend. Kind of amusing, serious, worth a few minutes.

 

 

All very true.

Martin Niemöller, who served in the German Navy during WWI, but was imprisoned during WWII after he began to criticize the **** party, conveyed very much the same sentiment in an essay written after the war:


..

Like the frog in the pan of water, liberties and freedoms are eroded in increments, not all at once. As time goes on, it becomes more and more permissible to do so, until finally it becomes necessary, because liberty itself has become the errant condition.

 

This was obviously a problem which needed solving:

A mister no more: Mr. Potato Head goes gender neutral

By JOSEPH PISANI



This photo provided by Hasbro shows the new Potato Head world. Mr. Potato Head is no longer a mister. Hasbro, the company that makes the potato-shaped plastic toy, is giving the spud a gender neutral new name: Potato Head. The change will appear on boxes this year. (Hasbro via AP)


NEW YORK (AP) — Mr. Potato Head is no longer a mister.

Hasbro, the company that makes the potato-shaped plastic toy, is giving the spud a gender neutral new name: Potato Head. The change will appear on boxes this year.

Many toymakers have been updating their classic brands in recent years, hoping to relate to kids today and to reflect more modern families.

“It’s a potato,” said Ali Mierzejewski, editor in chief at toy review site The Toy Insider. “But kids like to see themselves in the toys they are playing with.”

Barbie, for example, has shed its blonde image and now comes in multiple skin tones and body shapes. Thomas the Tank Engine added more girl characters. And American Girl is now selling a boy doll.

As part of the rebranding, Hasbro will release a new Potato Head playset that will let kids create their own type of families, including two moms or two dads. The Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head characters will live on in some form, Hasbro said, but didn’t provide details.

Dropping the “Mr.” from its name could encourage other companies to not assign genders to its toys, a trend that has already been happening, said Mierzejewski. Barbie maker Mattel released a gender-neutral doll line in 2019. But Mr. Potato Head is one of the biggest brands to do so.

“It’s setting this new standard,” Mierzejewski said.

Mr. Potato Head first hit the toy scene in 1952, when it didn’t even come with a plastic potato — kids had to supply their own vegetable to poke eyes, a nose or mustache into. Hasbro, which also makes Monopoly and My Little Pony, bought the brand and eventually added a plastic potato.

https://apnews.com/article/mr-potato...814657be41a9d8

 

I watch Drinker religiously. Here's a recent episode that's tangentially connected:

 

Interesting.

Something which occurs to me, and ties in with the overall theme of the thread: Ambiguity in storytelling is bad, because it allows the audience to form their own conclusions. Since not everyone will naturally come to the same conclusions, you then have a situation in which people have differing ideas, and perhaps even disagree with one another.

 

Very well said

 

 

 

Now I know you were trying to prove a point but I'm going to assume that you actually enjoy ambiguity in storytelling.

As a young man I watched a few Spike Lee joints and found ambiguity in them, as crazy as that might seem to some. As I remember of course, most of the characters couldn't get out of their own way, so it's easy to form differing opinions of people who are their own worst enemies.

That wouldn't fly in today's victim culture of course. And I wonder if I myself would have a different opinion as I can't remember who I may have been 20-30 years ago.

 

 

Spike Lee is... problematic.

His 1986 film She's Gotta Have It depicts a consensual relationship between two cisgendered adults, both of whom are complicit in perpetuating heteronormative stereotypes.

* = give it time. This reply will seem sincere in a few years.

 

Fun article in Canada's National Post:
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/tri...e-culture-wars

My favourite part: