Book challenges in Texas schools boosted sales for author Jerry Craft, he says

By artappraiser on Thu, 11/11/2021 - 12:04am |

Despite attempts by lawmakers and some parents to remove his books from Texas schools, award-winning author @JerryCraft said his books have actually gotten more attention thanks to the controversies. https://t.co/EHFcXgvuwV
— Chron (@chron) November 10, 2021

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https://www.chron.com/politics/article/jerry-craft-books-texas-school-challenges-16596152.php

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In October, his books were temporarily removed from Katy ISD. https://t.co/WxMTPTj6AO
— Chron (@chron) November 10, 2021

And his speaking event was postponed after a group of parents complained the works promoted critical race theory.https://t.co/0UJEzs7WeA
— Chron (@chron) November 10, 2021

Four of his books were also included in a list of over 850 books, predominantly by writers of color and LGBTQ authors, targeted in an investigation by Republican @RepMattKrause into the book collections of Texas schools. https://t.co/ct7nvxxgOh
— Chron (@chron) November 10, 2021

When asked about the incident at @katyisd, Craft said it caught him by surprise.

"I don't think that the people that banned it actually read the book."https://t.co/EHFcXgvuwV
— Chron (@chron) November 10, 2021

"What has happened is so many places have sold so many copies because now people want to see what all the hubbub is. They get it and they write to me and they're almost disappointed because there's no big thing that they were looking for." pic.twitter.com/GZtY4eHCc1
— Chron (@chron) November 10, 2021

What about the students' reaction to the book investigation?@Ariana_NoGrande has more https://t.co/EHFcXgvuwV
— Chron (@chron) November 10, 2021

by artappraiser on Thu, 11/11/2021 - 12:15am

kinda related, I think, a prediction that faux "outrage" narratives about situations are going to start to have fewer and fewer acolytes, and they get shriller and even more walk away. And then an election rolls around and the extremists are shocked by the centrist results because they've only been screaming at each other and voters aren't interested in electing the screamers, they were only watching for the infotainment

This dynamic is important IMO. As it becomes increasingly tiresome to participate in the political discourse (e.g. on Twitter) a lot of people will drop out of the conversation and that makes elite discourse even more detached from how a broader cross-section of voters think. https://t.co/u9sADEIElC
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 4, 2021

None of the screamers are actually "reading the book" as it were. Sensible people eventually find out and they don't listen anymore. AND YES, I THINK "BOTH SIDES" DO IT.

by artappraiser on Thu, 11/11/2021 - 12:31am

Nate Cohn of NYTimes, polls/elections beat:

An interesting contrast--and one that I felt was really reflected in my twitter 'interactions' last week https://t.co/W5lox4AK9J
— Nate Cohn (@Nate_Cohn) November 10, 2021

Just quit doing the outraged radical thing and blaming "the other" living now for the past. You attract more bees with honey than vinegar.

"High quality education for all children" sounds like a good slogan to me.

Avoiding the suggestion of grand conspiracy on the part of one group or another might be a good idea, too.

by artappraiser on Thu, 11/11/2021 - 12:40am

Quick note on Jerry Craft specifically: capitalist democracy + a libertarian level of free speech works out grand often enough? The worst form of government except for all the others?

Also in such a system, smart kids will always read what the teacher and parents don't want them to read. Dumb kids won't learn to read or do math and will grow up to expect someone else to be responsible for their lousy life and unfortunately might be gang-minded and pressure peers into thinking they're the cool ones. Because that's all the power they'll ever have.

by artappraiser on Thu, 11/11/2021 - 12:52am

Good example of the kind of "modernization" of school curriculum that upsets many parents. Like it or not. A reminder that many just got more than a year of seeing what was up with curricula in their area because kids were schooling at home, so parents were naturally were paying more attention.

Just found out that the nearby high school, which is considered among the top in the state, replaced To Kill A Mockingbird in w a bigoted Ibram X Kendi book in the curriculum and hired a new equity executive director for 150k. But remember parents are just imagining all of this.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) November 12, 2021

The best part is they announced this with a bunch of quotes declaring that the schools don’t teach critical race theory so it’s a bogus issue and that kids deserve to know the “truth” about history. That’s why they are forcing them to read Kendi apparently.
— AG (@AGHamilton29) November 12, 2021

interesting reply:

For me this is deja vu. Sweden has had massive Progressive indoctrination in K-12 since its Common Core of 1968. Since 2000 it changed from socialism to intersectional theory (CRT its most toxic iteration). Historical revisionism constant. https://t.co/05xq9UubXQ pic.twitter.com/cZ9w5TwviS
— Old Whig. (@aClassicLiberal) November 12, 2021

by artappraiser on Fri, 11/12/2021 - 2:32pm

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