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Britons dont like culture wars, but that doesnt mean the woke mob messaging will stop  The Guardian

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Britons dont like culture wars, but that doesnt mean the woke mob messaging will stop - The Guardian

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Wanted: Highly trained educator willing to be used as cannon fodder in the culture wars.

That presumably wont be how the Wentzville School District advertises to replace its second lost superintendent in two years but its a reasonable prediction for what awaits the eventual successor to Superintendent Danielle Tormala.

Tormalas surprise resignation announcement last week is the latest example of the damage the political right is doing to education in its zeal to make school board meetings and classrooms into platforms for their ideological extremism.

This time, the cost is literal: Tormalas eye-popping $1 million contract buyout indicates the district fears she would have a potentially more expensive legal cause of action for having been essentially hounded out of her job by the toxic politics swirling around the school board.

The Wentzville district, one of Missouris largest, has been buffeted in the past few years by the populist movement that swept the nations school board meetings and elections when schools resumed in-person classroom instruction after the pandemic.

As districts tried to navigate the subsequent COVID resurgences with medically reasonable mask and vaccination policies, right-wing activists dug in with opposition to such precautions. From meeting audiences and, increasingly, from seats on the boards themselves, they also ramped up efforts to ban books and scrub classroom curriculum dealing with race or gender.

For school district leaders, it created a whole new set of necessary skills. Former Wentzville Superintendent Curtis Cain was so unflappable even when people are screaming and yelling, one high school principal in the district told the National Conference on Education in 2022, the year Cain was named National Superintendent of the Year.

That was Cains last year with the Wentzville district. Not long before he left to become superintendent at the Rockwood School District, he had watched the Wentzville School Board refuse his recommendation to require masks in any schools that hit a 3% COVID positivity rate a rational recommendation based in part on the districts problems keeping classrooms staffed due to infections.

The school board during Cains tenure also embarked on a book-banning binge that included the literary classic The Bluest Eye, which is about the societal effects of racism. That book was returned to school library shelves only after a lawsuit by students.

The culture-war friction has continued during Tormalas tenure, which began later in 2022.

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey has sued the district for allegedly violating the state Sunshine Law by discussing transgender bathroom policies in a closed meeting. While open meetings are important, Baileys inordinate focus on that one was, as usual, less about doing his job than preening for the right-wing base.

As the Post-Dispatchs Blythe Bernhard has reported, Tormalas tenure has seen police being called to a high school to investigate books and the resignations of three of the districts four librarians. A petition drive called for her ouster, based on the ironic allegation that she had created a hostile environment for conservative board members and parents.

Its clear her infraction was saying things at board meetings like, The terms diversity, equity and inclusion cannot be dirty words in this district. Former state Sen. Bob Onder, now a Republican congressional candidate, took to social media to lambast Tormala as wokester apparently the ultimate insult in his world.

While Tormalas official explanation last week for taking an immediate sabbatical and then leaving at the end of the school year was appropriately diplomatic and vague, its not hard to read between the lines.

As the St. Charles County NAACP put in a statement, her efforts to work with community leaders and stakeholders who advocate for a safe and equitable education for all students and fair treatment of staff was met with vitriol and harassment from a very vocal minority of patrons in the district for the last two years.

This is a pattern, the group wrote, that began with the previous superintendent of this district and there doesnt appear to be an end in sight.

Thankfully, thats not entirely true.

As we noted earlier this month, the sweeping defeats of right-wing school board candidates throughout the St. Louis region (including in Wentzville) in the April 2 elections was an encouraging sign.

It could be that parents and the public are finally tired of school board meetings that feel like MAGA rallies that theyre ready to get back to the business of educating kids instead of using them as political props. The question is, how many more good educators will be driven out in the meantime.

Tamara King-Krolik addresses the Wentzville school board on Oct. 19 about racist incidents in school and systemic racism in the district. Superintendent Danielle Tormala responds with an apology and review of ongoing work to address issues. Video edited by Beth O'Malley

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Editorial: Wentzville superintendent is the latest to exit the culture-war battlefield - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

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It's hard to believe that it's been almost 10 months since Crazy Plane Lady Tiffany Gomas burst onto the internet and into America's heart:

... and possibly into the Barstool family; I still have no idea:

And while it pains me to say it, in spite of the addition of Tiffany to our popular culture, it's been a very rough time in America. A vast Culture War that was already raging has only grown worse. The divide has only gotten wider. With civil unrest everywhere. Public squares and campuses alike have been plunged into turmoil. Seeds of distrust sewn in the body politic have taken root and sprouted. There seemingly is nothing so benign that we cannot go fight over it. Every aspect of our lives is a battleground. Music. Movies. Stand up comedy. Holidays. Sports. Even beer.

Which brings me back, almost an entire paragraph later, to Tiffany Gomas. Thank goodness. That was too long to be away. It appears that she is unwilling to simply sit on the sidelines and leave the fighting to others in these conflicts. She is suiting up, coming off the bench, and wants the ball in her hands. And whether you agree with her stances or not, I hope you'll see this as a good thing. As I will explain in a moment:

NY Post - Texas crazy plane lady has now refashioned herself as a flesh-bearing right wing influencer.

Tiffany Gomas, a real estate developer who went viral after a public meltdown on an American Airlines flight last posted a revealing photo on X of herself in a shrimpy bikini holding a can of the aptly named Ultra Right Beer.

The brand describes itself as 100% woke-free American beer.

Wonder how many people Im gonna piss off with this post she warned in the post which has now been viewed by nearly 8 million people. So is now an appropriate time to tell yall men dont belong in womens sports?!

The post suggests Gomas is looking to mine additional relevancy by tapping into American culture wars.

Now please bear with me, because I truly believe that what I'm about to say is important to the future of our republic. What's important here is not what you think of the beer Gomas is drinking or her opinion about women's sports. For all I know, that stuff she's drinking tastes like it was brewed with hops, barley, and soiled diapers. And who gets to compete in women's sports is obviously one of the most divisive issues of our times. What truly matters here is not what the Crazy Plane Lady says. It's that she's the one saying it.

I'm a big believer in the Aristotle quote, "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." I'm also a big believer in the Great Man (or Woman) theory of history, which states most of history can be explained by the influence of leadership figures. Ones who often appear to rise to power out of nowhere and lead their people to success.

That, my friends, is Tiffany Gomas.

What other figure is so capable of bridging the great divide in our country and bringing us together? To prove that you can have a disagreement about major issues like whether your beer is Alt Right or Far Left, without being disagreeable? That we're all capable of respecting one another's opinions, even when we don't share them?

There is no one who doesn't appreciate and admire Tiffany Gomas. She may be the one person about which we all share a consensus opinion. And in a land where we're all so prone to "othering" those we disagree with, she can teach us by her example that the other side are not simply monsters we can never see eye-to-eye with. (That is, except for the motherfuckers in the rear of our airliners who are not real. We'll never be able to get along with them.) As the bumper stickers on all the Subaru Outbacks remind us, we all need to COEXIST. And as long as it's Tiffany in a patriotic-themed bathing suit delivering the message, it's one we can all get behind.

So while I'll be toasting you with a local New England IPA, I'm raising a glass to you nevertheless, Tiffany. Cheers.

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'Crazy Plane Lady' Tiffany Gomas Has Begun Weighing in on America's Culture War and We'll Be Better for It - Barstool Sports

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The UK Labour Party has set out its plan for the film and TV industries, drawing a dividing line between itself and the ruling Conservatives as it slams the government for getting themselves all tied up in culture wars of their own making and failing to support a pipeline of talent.

Delivering her first major set-piece at the Creative Cities Convention, Shadow Culture Secretary Thangam Debbonaire said she will not be fighting culture wars but instead will focus on arts and culture being central to Labours Phase One plan if it gets into office. Her boss, Labour leader Keir Starmer, is plotting a decade of national renewal in Britain. The election is expected later this year and Labour is currently sitting around 20 points ahead of the Conservatives in the polls.

Debbonaire set out Labours position in thorny areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), the BBC and the ailing freelance workforce.

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I Will Not Be Fighting Culture Wars: UK Shadow Culture Secretary Seeks To Draw Dividing Line Between Labour & ... - imdb

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Literature and the New Culture Wars: Triggers, Cancel Culture, and the Teacher's Dilemma  Reformed Journal

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Literature and the New Culture Wars: Triggers, Cancel Culture, and the Teacher's Dilemma - Reformed Journal

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