Everyday Erinyes #355

 Posted by at 6:10 pm  Politics
Jan 292023
 

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”

Holocaust Remembrance Day was this week. The present day is a time in which Holocaust denial is at an all-time high (and trending higher.) I’m reminded of a remark by C. S. Lewis, that we often fall into the error of thinking of a societal change as a moral improvement (or the reverse) when in fact is is merely a change in common knowledge. For instance, some people think we are better than our ancestors because we no longer kill witches. But that is because we no longer believe witches exist. If we still believed that there were people who had teamed up with the devil to do as much harm as possible, we might well agree that, if anyone deserved the death penalty, these traitors to humanity did.

So it is critical, in order to be a good person, to be knowledgeable about facts, and not to believe lies. The number and the nature of deaths we have experienced from CoVid demonstrates that convincingly – to anyone who knows the facts. The suggestions here are valid for anyone who does not want to be deceived, and for educators who do not want their students to be deceived.
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Combating antisemitism today: Holocaust education in the era of Twitter and TikTok

Technology is increasingly important in Holocaust education – seen here in ‘The Journey Back’ within The Richard and Jill Chaifetz Family Virtual Reality Gallery at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
Courtesy of the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, CC BY-NC-ND

Alan Marcus, University of Connecticut

In the era of social media, antisemitism and Holocaust denial are no longer hidden in the margins, spewed by fringe hate groups. From Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – and NBA player Kyrie Irving to members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, well-recognized personalities have echoed antisemitic ideas, often online.

Beyond high-profile figures, there are clear signs that antisemitism is becoming more mainstream. In 2021, using the most recent data available, the Anti-Defamation League reported that antisemitic incidents in the U.S. reached an all-time high. Eighty-five percent of Americans believe at least one anti-Jewish trope, according to another ADL survey, and about 20% believe six or more tropes – a sharp increase from just four years before. In addition, Jewish college students increasingly report feeling unsafe, ostracized or harassed on campus.

All of this is layered on top of a widespread lack of knowledge about the Holocaust. As International Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches – Jan. 27, the day Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated – it is important to rethink how educators like me design lessons on antisemitism and the Holocaust.

Rather than teaching the Holocaust as an isolated event, educators must grapple with how it connects to antisemitism past and present. That means adapting to how people learn and live today: online.

Toxic information landscape

The online ecosystem where today’s antisemitism flourishes is a Wild West of information and misinformation that is largely unmonitored, distributed in an instant, and posted by anyone. Social media posts and news feeds are frequently filtered by algorithms that narrow the content users receive, reinforcing already held beliefs.

Mainstream platforms like TikTok, with soaring growth among young people, can be used to promote antisemitism, as can less well-known apps such as Telegram.

According to a 2022 report by the United Nations, 17% of public TikTok content related to the Holocaust either denied or distorted it. The same was true of almost 1 in 5 Holocaust-related Twitter posts and 49% of Holocaust content on Telegram.

An emerging danger is artificial intelligence technology. New AI resources offer potential teaching tools – but also the menace of easily spread and unmonitored misinformation. For example, character AI and Historical Figures Chat allow you to “chat” with a historical figure, including those associated with the Holocaust: from victims like Holocaust diarist Anne Frank to perpetrators such as Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s minister of propaganda.

These sites come with warnings that characters’ responses could be made up and that users should check for historical accuracy, but it is easy to be misled by inaccurate answers.

Another potential AI hazard is deepfake videos. Media experts are warning about the potential for destabilizing “truth decay,” the inability to know what is real and what is fake, as the amount of synthetic content multiplies. Holocaust scholars are preparing to combat how historical sources and educational materials may be manipulated by deepfakes. There is particular concern that deepfakes will be used to manipulate or undercut survivors’ testimony.

Media literacy

Much of my scholarship tackles contemporary approaches to teaching the Holocaust – for example, the need to rethink education as the number of Holocaust survivors who are still able to tell their stories rapidly declines. Addressing today’s toxic information landscape presents another fundamental challenge that requires innovative solutions.

An elderly woman shakes hands with and chats with three teenage girls.
Margot Friedländer, Holocaust survivor, congratulates students who won a prize in her name, awarded for work against antisemitism.
Fabian Sommer/picture alliance via Getty Images

As a first step, educators can promote media literacy, the knowledge and skills needed to navigate and critique online information, and teach learners to approach sources with both healthy criticism and an open mind. Key strategies for K-12 students include training them to consider who is behind particular information and what evidence is provided and to investigate the creators of an unknown online source by seeing what trusted websites say about its information or authors.

Media literacy also entails identifying a source’s author, genre, purpose and point of view, as well as reflecting on one’s own point of view. Finally, it is important to trace claims, quotes and media back to the original source or context.

Applying these skills to a Holocaust unit might focus on recognizing the implicit stereotypes and misinformation online sources often rely on and paying attention to who these sources are and what their purpose is. Lessons can also analyze how social media enables Holocaust denial and investigate common formats for online antisemitism, such as deepfake videos, memes and troll attacks.

Learning in the digital age

Holocaust educators can also embrace new technologies, rather than just lament their pitfalls. For example, long after survivors die, people will be able to “converse” with them in museums and classrooms using specially recorded testimonies and natural language technology. Such programs can match a visitor’s questions with relevant parts of prerecorded interviews, responding almost as though they were talking to the visitor in person.

There are also immersive virtual reality programs that combine recorded survivor testimonies with VR visits to concentration camps, survivors’ hometowns and other historical sites. One such exhibition is “The Journey Back” at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. Not only can VR experiences transport viewers to such sites in a more realistic way than traditional lessons, but they also allow learners to partially decide how to interact with the virtual environment. In interviews for my current research, viewers report Holocaust VR experiences make them feel emotionally engaged with a survivor.

Society’s ‘family tree’

People often learn about themselves by exploring their family trees, examining heirlooms passed down from ancestors and telling stories around the dinner table – helping people make sense of who they are.

The same principle applies to understanding society. Studying the past provides a road map of how people and prior events shaped today’s conditions, including antisemitism. It is important for young people to understand that antisemitism’s horrific history did not originate with the Holocaust. Lessons that lead students to reflect on how indifference and collaboration fueled hate – or how everyday people helped stop it – can inspire them to speak up and act in response to rising antisemitism.

Holocaust education is not a neutral endeavor. As survivor and scholar Elie Wiesel said when accepting his 1986 Nobel Peace Prize, “We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.”The Conversation

Alan Marcus, Professor of Curriculum & Instruction, University of Connecticut

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Alecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone, I’m confident that techniques like these will work – if they are used. My concern is that too much education in America (and quite possibly elsewhere, but I can’t speak to that) is in the hands of people whi emphatically do not want students to know the truth. I fear that these techniques will (to paraphrase Chesterton) not be tried and found wanting, but will be found diffucult and left untried.

Forgive me for a little rant here on a pet peeve of mine. I am well aware that when someone uses the phrase “It’s all about the Benjamins,” they are referring to Benjamin Franklin, whose face appears on our $100 bill, currently the largest denomination in circulation. But I am also aware that “Benjamin” is the name of one of the sons of Jacon, and is therefore the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. I am also aware that Judah P. Benjamin, a Jew, was an American (later Confederate) statesman, resigning the position of U. S. Senator to become the Confederate Attorney General (later Secretary of War, and still later Secretary of State.) I don’t know wht we cannot, if we want to use the colorful phrase, start saying, “It’s all about the Franklins” instead. Sometimes it isn’t what you say that matters – it’s what others hear.

For further reading, Steve Schmidt has made available in one place six essays he has written over the years on the Holocaust.

The Furies and I will be back.

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Nov 302022
 

Yesterday, we did indeed have snow as predicted, but the sun was out a couple of hours before is was supposed to slow down to a trickle. (the prediction also suggested it would continue to trickle throug the night, which it may – or may not.)  It was also Giving Tuesday, so my inbox was about twice its usual size. And one more notable thng – the Senate passed the law upholding same-sex marriage 61-36  At this link you can see the 12 Republicans who voted yes, and I guarantee some will surprise you.  Now, this doesn’t mean some (*)hole state will not challenge the law, but it does make it harder.

Cartoon – 3

Short Takes –

Mother Jones – How Did a State Known for Its War on Immigrants Approve In-State Tuition for Undocumented Students?
Quote – Proposition 300, [passed in 2006, was] a successful ballot measure that made university students in Arizona who were not US citizens or permanent residents and those lacking legal status ineligible for in-state tuition and federal and state financial aid…. Sixteen years later, that could change. The majority of voters in Arizona during the recent midterm elections were in favor of Proposition 308, a ballot measure that repealed provisions from Proposition 300 and opened the way for any high school graduate, regardless of immigration status, living in Arizona for at least two years, to access in-state tuition rates at state universities and community colleges.
Click through for analysis. It makes sense to me. If you don’t like a groups of people, at least in part because they are uneducated, then educate them. but then, I’m a flaming liberal.

Crooks & Liars – Russian Mothers ‘Rewarded’ With A Set Of Towels For Fallen Sons
Quote – On the occasion of Mother’s Day, one of the leaders of the Kursk region in Russia made a grotesque gesture, presenting a set of towels to mothers who lost their sons on the Ukrainian front. Outrageous news came to light in the Russian media: one of the district leaders of the Kursk region, Sergey Korostyev, gave a set of towels to mothers who lost their sons on the Ukrainian front, reports the Russian newspaper Vesma.
Click through for story and sources. Mothers Day in Russia is celebrated on the last Sunday in November. I don’t know about the “Dollar store” part. I expect the government is hurting for funding.

Food For Thought

 

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Nov 212022
 

The day before yesterday, seven score and nineteen years prior, a Natinal Cemetery was dedicated at a tiny town called Gettysburg, in Pennsylvania. Heather Cox Richardson commemorates the occasion in her Letter from an American for November 19. Being a historian, she gets in some detailswhich are little-known along with the story we all know, and her primary point – not new, but often in danger of being forgotten in times like those and these, was Lincoln’s reminder that we have two founding documents, and the Constitution is not the only one which is important.

Yesterday, though, I went to visit Virgil. It waa a quiet day there. We got to sit on the same level one comes in on, and we got to use the deck of cards. I was a bit concerned that the clock can’t be seen from where we sit unless we go down a short flight of stairs – not that easy since I use my wheelchair, and he uses a walker. But the windows (yesm there are windows) cast light and shade on the florr, and later in the afternoon the walls, that it’s almost like having a sundial. And we really do not get many sunless days in Colorado. So I am much lless worried. We played cribbage and I told hi about Joyce Vance’s latest newsletter, which I knew he would enjoy because he thinks silky chickens are just about the cutest things in the world, and she raises them. By the time I exhausted my short term memory, he was green with envy. (She also knits, BTW. I don’t know how she finds time. Of course I’m a lot older.) On the way in I was scoped out by a flock of Canada Geese, and then saw a baby bunny scurry across the pavement in front of me (not close enough to have to sop for, and I was going pretty darn slowly at the timw anyway.) Where I grew up, on the San Franciso peninsula, the only wildlife i saw outside of state or national parks was birds and butterflies – and not all that many of either. After 46 years in Colorado, I haven’t lost my sense of wonder at wildlife, and I hope I bever do.

Grim though it is, I have to mention the mass shooting here in the LGBTQ+ club. Five dead and 18 injured. Just horrible. The suspect is in custody, but even that is small consolation.

Cartoon – 21 Piltdown RTL

Short Takes –

The Daily Beast – The White House Admits It: We Might Need to Block the Sun to Stop Climate Change
Quote – The report will be dedicated specifically to a form of geoengineering known as solar radiation management. This is a technique that essentially involves spraying fine aerosols into the atmosphere to reflect sunlight away from the Earth. The idea is that, once it’s reflected, there’ll be less heat and temperatures will go down. The research plan will be modeling how SRM might impact the atmosphere and assess its viability as a potential technique used to “manage near-term climate risk.” Put it another way: We want to know whether or not we should include this in our “break glass in case of climate disaster” box.
Click through for details. This is a no=brainer, if it can be done safely. It absolutely would work – maybe too well – history shows that The article mentions an 1816 volcanic eruption, but I immediately thought of an eruption in 536 AD, which has been heavily researched. It blocked sunlight so much, and literally around the world, that there was more or less perpetual winter for a couple of years. Some sunlight and warmth is necessary in order to grow food crops, otherwise people starve. IIRC that eruption also facilitated disease transmission until all the particles were gone – or at lease gone from the sky.

Daily Kos – Jan. 6 Panel Creates Subcommittee for Criminal Referrals
Quote – Among those who have ignored subpoenas to appear before the Jan. 6 Committee are GOP Reps. McCarthy, Perry, Jordan, Biggs, Brooks, and of course, TFG himself. Clearly, none of them are out of the barrel just yet. The subcommittee will make recommendations to the full Jan. 6 Panel, which, if approved by a vote, will then pass them along to the Justice Department. This process is hastened by the reality that the GOPosaurs will take control of the House on Jan. 3, 2023. That’s only 46 days!
Click through for story. It was actually created about a month ago and has been working, but is just now being made public. Four lawyers, headed by Jamie Raskin (Has anyone besides me noticed that he seems to be aging more rapidly?)

Mother Jones – A Preschool on Wheels Drives Opportunity to Immigrant Families in Colorado
Quote – Parked in the lots of schools, churches, and community centers, the buses are inconspicuous. Most passersby would overlook them, distracted by the natural beauty of their backdrop. But inside, day after day, small wonders are unfolding. Gutted and retrofitted to look like traditional preschool classrooms, these mobile spaces host 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds in the valley who, otherwise, likely wouldn’t see a formal learning environment until kindergarten, by which time many of their peers are already steps ahead.
CLck through for more. I had this penciled in before the shooting – and I’m glad I did. I certainly need something positive to offset that tremendous negative, and I hope it will help others too.

Food For Thought

 

 

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Nov 022022
 

Yesterday, another update from Axios was interesting. You may remember that Lindsay Graham filed an emergency appeal of his subpoena to testify for Fani Willis’s grand jury, and Justice Clarence Thomas granted him a temporary stay. Subsequently, two othwer temporary stays were granted on emergency appeals – one by Justice Kagan (and I forget for whom that was), and more recently still, one by Chief Justice Roberts for Trump**. Even before the third stay, a legal expert pointed out that the granting of a temporary stay on an emergency appeal is normal, that the full court would have to concur in order for it to stand, and that that was extremely unlikely in both of the first two cases (and the third had not het happened.) Well, this update proved that expert correct in the case of Lindsay Graham. He has been told he must testify. Expect the second and third temporary stays to end up being just that – temporary. On a completely different toipc, if you watch TV or stream any news, you will probaby hear many pronunciations of the name “DePape.” But I note that the local police (who would be the ones who have actuallt spoken to him) are pronouncing it in three syllables, with the accent on the middle one. Sor of like “De-Poppy” (or “duh-Poppy.”) The inference is that they got that pronunciation from him, and that he knows how to pronounce his own name.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

Popular Information – “What happens when you put ideologues in charge of a university”
Quote – “It looks like the right-wing fantasy of what happens when you put ideologues in charge of a university,” Colson told Popular Information. Colson was one of 33 employees, most tenured faculty, that were terminated from [Emporia State University in Kansas] last month. The firings were made possible through a state-wide policy change introduced in early 2021 by the Kansas Board of Regents (KBOR), the board that oversees Kansas’ public colleges and universities. The other five public universities in Kansas declined to violate the principles of tenure to cut costs.
Click through for story. If I were thinking about going to college again (which I’m not – I have credentials I haven’t even used yet already), I would be seriously considering a HBCU just to avoid this crap.

The 19th Explains: How two Supreme Court cases could end affirmative action in colleges
Quote – Women represent about 60 percent of enrollment in universities and colleges around the country. Among Black students, women make up about 64 percent of bachelor’s degrees and 71 percent of master’s degrees. College-degree attainment for Latinas also outpaces Latinos. About 27 percent of Latinas have a college degree compared to about 21 percent of Latinos. As a result, any decision the Supreme Court makes on affirmative action will disproportionately impact women of color. Advocates for equity in education are concerned about what the upcoming decision could mean for groups of qualified students who are already underrepresented in the country’s most competitive schools.
Click through for details. They are already hearing oral arguments on one, and you will not believe what Clarence Thomas asked an attorney to explain. Proof in the Video Thread, not in today’s but in tomorrow’s.

Food For Thought

Incidentally, “poll watcher” is, at least in Colorado, a legitimate term, But it’s nothing like what Republicans are doing. Ther are duplicate records of voters by name only on small papers with a hole punched in them. A poll watcher is entitled to look through those, make a few notes, then leave. There can be one from each party who visits each precinct (although one person might be a watcher for more than one precinct.) The purpose is so that parties can look far names missing of people who need assistance getting to the polls, and offer it – and not bother those who don’t need it. The watchers are not allowed to talk to anyone except the election staff, and any conversation they do have with staff may not interfere with the staff’s duties. Election staff are trained before the election as to what poll watchers may and may not do. In any election I have ever worked, I and the staff working with me have been conscientious to maintain good order.

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Oct 062022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Day 1 of Oath Keepers Trial: prosecutors lay out a strong case for seditious conspiracy

The Lincoln Project – MTG Trump Rally

No Dem Left Behind – Richard Ojeda lays out the blueprint for how Democrats keep the House and expand the Senate!

MSNBC – Rep. Raskin: ‘The Whole Country Should Be Alarmed About Where The GOP Is Today’

Parody Project – SPECIAL MASTER

Beau – Let’s talk about teachers, Russians, and supplies….

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Oct 012022
 

Yesterday, putting this post together, I realized I had picked two good news stories. I didn’t set out to do that. It was just, having read so much legal-judicial stuff, I was looking for something new and different, and these jumped out. Besides being good news, the two have something else in common – both hark back to the Obama administration in some way.

Cartoon –

Short Takes –

The 19th – 53 years ago, the White House sought to end hunger. Now it’s trying again.
Quote – “This conference is engaging all sectors — the public sector, the private sector, community-based organizations — all around shifting the conversation from just getting food into people’s hands to also making sure that we get healthy food into people’s hands and that it is seen as a public health issue, rather than just an emergency food issue,” said Jason Wilson, vice president of marketing and development for the Partnership for a Healthier America, a nonprofit organization created in conjunction with former First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move!” campaign.
Click through for details. Fifty-three years ago most Republicans were human beings, and only a few were fascist monsters. Now, it’s the other way around. I widh the conference alll the luck in the world.

Wonkette -Schools Go Solar, Save Millions On Energy, Upgrade Classrooms, Pay Teachers More — Yes, In The USA
Quote – It’s been another crazy exasperating week, so we bet you could do with some really cool news about public schools that are switching to clean solar energy, saving millions of dollars in some cases, and using the savings to improve the schools and even their communities. This isn’t a proposal in some position paper about how we might create a wonderful clean energy future, either — it’s been going on for a while now, as the New York Times recently reported [There is a free gift link in the article but it’s too long to reproduce here]. The story notes that one in 10 US public and private schools in the US was using solar energy by early 2022, according to a report from clean energy nonprofit Generation 180 — twice as many as in 2015. That’s one more benefit of the rapid decline in the cost of solar panels in the last couple decades. Hey, if you’d like to say “Thanks, Obama,” you certainly could, since clean energy investments in the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helped jumpstart the widespread adoption of renewable energy and the resulting reductions in solar energy costs.
Click through for story – stories actually. It’s happening in states you would not ecpect. Amazing.

Food For Thought

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Sep 162022
 

Glenn Kirschner – Bill Barr’s abject corruption; 40 subpoenas & 2 seized cell phones; & Trump’s special master pick

Meidas Touch – Texas Paul REACTS to Republicans CAUGHT training poll workers to SECRETLY CHEAT in Elections

The Lincoln Project – The List

Robert Reich – A Tribute to the Teacher Who Changed My Life

MSNBC – A Network Of Local Sheriffs Is Helping To Spread The ‘Big Lie’

Beau – Let’s talk about midterm strategy and marriage equality….

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Sep 052022
 

Glenn Kirschner – FBI found 43 EMPTY classified documents folders in Donald Trump’s office at Mar-a-Lago

Meidas Touch – Navy Vet who held Top Secret clearance SICKENED by Trump’s stolen documents

Lincoln Project – Cry More

Robert Reich – The Republican War On Teachers

Turtle Lake Wisconsin Does Something Government Almost Never Does

Beau – Let’s talk about Ted Cruz, education, slackers, and risk….

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