So much for civility from the left. Hitler signs.. shame shame
and for teachers protesting with MISSPELLED SIGNS
and for some odd reason Bush is in a sign also when he has been gone for 2 years. Is Bush responsible for the misspelled signs?
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The historical illiteracy of Wisconsin teachers
Godwin’s Law states that any political argument, carried on
long enough, will eventually provoke a Nazi reference. My own personal
corollary to Godwin’s Law is that the first side to invoke it invariably
loses, mainly because Nazis and Adolf Hitler are simply not analogous
to normal politics in American democracy, unless one is discussing actual
neo-Nazis. It exposes a clear lack of historical literacy about the
Nazis and the history between the two World Wars of the last century.
It’s the kind of argument favored by the relatively uneducated.
That’s what makes the protests in Wisconsin over Governor Scott
Walker’s proposal to curtail the power of public-sector unions so
deliciously ironic. Hot Air reader Tim R in Madison took his camera
with him when he attended the large protests staged by the teachers
against the budget bill that would require contributions for pensions
and health insurance, as well as put new curbs on collective
bargaining. Tim discovered signs like this at the protest yesterday at
6 pm just after the speakers concluded:
This is one of the milder examples, although it’s worth noting that
teachers brought their students with them to the protest. I wonder if
the same teacher holding this sign would discipline a student who wrote
something similar on a chalkboard, with or without the underscores.
This seems to be a theme at the protests:
Er, Hitler? Why Hitler, of all possible comparisons? One of her colleagues helpfully held a sign to explain it:
First, Walker hasn’t “outlowed” unions, or even proposed outlawing
them, either. Walker’s proposal would restrict negotiations with
non-law-enforcement unions to wages only, and would require
recertification votes each year. It would also make Wisconsin a
right-to-work state, ending automatic deduction of union dues from
paychecks and instead make them voluntary. That may put unions in a
tough position to justify their continued representation, but it hardly outlaws the unions.
Besides, even if it did, it’s a fallacious argument. Hitler was also
a vegetarian who owned a dog. Are all vegetarians Nazis? All dog
owners? The Nazis aren’t history’s great villains because Hitler opposed public-sector unions. To equate that with Naziism isn’t just reprehensible, it’s downright ignorant and minimizes the actual horrors of Naziism.
That doesn’t stop Wisconsin educators from expanding on their theme:
What do you get when you cross Hosni Mubarak and Adolf Hitler? One
ugly baby, that’s for sure, but not Scott Walker. Again, this appears
to be a recurring theme in this teachers’ protest. (Also, it looks like
anti-smoking efforts have been for naught in the classroom.)
But while we’re noticing just how poorly Wisconsin teachers do at
history, it looks as though some of them might have problems with the present:
“Impeach Bush”? Maybe it’s a leftover sign from a few years ago. The Anchoress
points out another sign at a different locale which reads “I AM THE
FUTURE – I NEEN QUALITY TEACHERS.” From what we’ve seen of these
protests, the entire state of Wisconsin is in need of quality teachers, and it looks like the union is the biggest impediment to getting them.
Meanwhile, Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate have gone AWOL in an attempt to avoid casting a vote on the bill:
A three-day-long stand-off at the Wisconsin
state capitol between union supporters and those backing the Republican
governor’s budget cuts just went to another level Thursday as
Democratic senators apparently fled the state to prevent a vote on Gov.
Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill, which would cut public employee union
collective bargaining rights and require them to contribute to pensions
and health care.
Law enforcement has been sent to find missing Democratic lawmakers, according to a Madison, Wis. ABC affiliate. State Sen. leader Scott Fitzgerald
said only one Democrat is needed for quorum to vote on the
controversial bill, which is expected to pass a Republican-majority
Senate. The “Sergeant of Arms is going door to door to find Democratic
senators.”
The budget-repair bill passed a finance committee 12-4 late last
night, its last hurdle before a Senate vote, on party lines convincing
Senate Democrats that moderate Republicans would not deliver them an
upset victory over the Gov. Scott Walker.
They have to come home eventually, and they can’t avoid their responsibilities forever.
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/02/17/the-historical-illiteracy-of-wisconsin-teachers/
