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

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.

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

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.

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

Democracy in America is in crisis. So begins James Davison Hunters new book Democracy and Solidarity: On the Cultural Roots of Americas Political Crisis. Few readers would disagree with his assertion.

Amid the crisis, American Christians have rediscovered political theology. From Catholic integralism to post-liberalism to Christian nationalism, were awash in proposals for a new political future. But Hunter first wants us to reassess our present problem. In his telling, our primary challenges are cultural, not political.

Contrary to the voices on both left and right who assert our troubled democracy can be repaired through political will and smart public policy, Hunter argues the problem is deeper: We no longer have the cultural resources to work through what divides us (18). If his reasoning is correct, our societal illness is more advanced and our moment more urgent than we realize.

Is there a future for liberal democracy? Perhaps not. But if there is, it lies along the path of repairing and rebuilding our cultures deep structures.

Yale University Press. 504 pp.

James Davison Hunter, who introduced the concept of culture wars thirty years ago, tells us in this new book that those historic sources of national solidarity have now largely dissolved. While a deepening political polarization is the most obvious sign of this, the true problem is not polarization per se but the absence of cultural resources to work through what divides us. The destructive logic that has filled the void only makes bridging our differences more challenging. In the end, all political regimes require some level of unity. If it cannot be generated organically, it will be imposed by force.

Yale University Press. 504 pp.

As his books title suggests, Hunter frames the problem of modern democracy in terms of solidarity. We tend to think of solidarity as the willingness to come together with other people. But Hunter argues that solidarity . . . is about the cultural preconditions and the normative sources that make coming together possible in the first place (xii). Hes not arguing Americans dont want to come together. Hes arguing weve lost the cultural resources that make coming together possible.

Hes not arguing Americans dont want to come together. Hes arguing weve lost the cultural resources that make coming together possible.

Hunter is one of Americas most eminent sociologists. Since 1983, hes held a teaching post at the University of Virginia, and in 1995, he founded the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the same institution. Like his mentor Peter Berger, hes taken a keen interest in the problem of moral order. His 1991 book Culture Wars catapulted that term into our national consciousness, and his 2010 work To Change the World was the most provocative analysis of Christian cultural engagement since Niebuhrs Christ and Culture. Democracy and Solidarity applies his trademark emphasis on the deep structures of culture to our failing political ecosystem.

Americas motto is e pluribus unum, out of many, one. How much pluribus is allowed within the unum? And how do the boundaries of the unum work against the pluribus? These questions have been repeatedly confronted during our national history, and our ability to work through them has made American democracy resilient. But the cultural framework that has underwritten our ability to cooperate is beginning to unravel. Hunter writes,

For quite some time, the culture that has underwritten liberal democracy in America (and in Europe too) has been unraveling. The cultural sources that made it possible in the first place have, in the most elemental ways, dissolved, and all of the efforts to reconfigure and revivify those cultural sources over the decades . . . have [failed]. (49)

American Christians have a bad habit of fixating on culture-war issues at a surface level. Hunters analysis takes us deeper, inviting us to see the erosion of our frameworks for meaning. Once, we shared a background consensus about issues of knowledge, purpose, and ethics. The loss of those shared ideals is the real story underneath our political polarization.

We can summarize Hunters story about the decay of American democracy in five basic movements.

This is Hunters term for the unique recipe of ideas that birthed American democracy. The British and Scottish Enlightenment, the classical natural-law tradition, Greek and Roman republicanism, Protestant Calvinism, and Puritan millennialism all melded together in a lively and evolving syncretism. These are the ideals weve been fighting over ever since, and theyre the basis for our cultural solidarity.

Hunter deploys the concept of working through (borrowed from the field of psychiatry) to describe the dynamics by which cultures work through their contradictions historically and sociologically (28). For example, America was founded on the premise that all people are created equal. In practice, weve never lived up to that vision. Our national history is the story of how weve tried to work through that contradiction to achieve solidarity.

In our disagreements about social and political issues, Americans have always shared a cultural logic that allowed us to make sense of our differences and argue meaningfully about them. But the cultural logic of liberal democracy, rooted in hybrid-Enlightenment ideals, has gradually been supplanted by the cultural logic of nihilism:

Critique and blame are totalizing. Nuance and complexity are minimized. . . . Every group defines itself against some other group, the net effect of which is the destruction of common life. (335)

The surface-level dysfunction in our society is merely a symptom. The real problem is a fracture in the deep structures of our culture: our assumptions about metaphysics (what is real), epistemology (how we know), anthropology (what is a human), ethics (how humans should act), and teleology (what it all means). Hunter writes, American public life is divided . . . not only in its vocabulary, but in its premises about what is real and true and how we know these things, about what is right and just, and about what the nation is and what it should be (324).

Late-stage democracy has suffered a great unraveling; were facing societal exhaustion. The hybrid-Enlightenment ideals that once united us have lost their force. Our cultural resources for working through differences have been depleted. Both left and right have abandoned the pursuit of solidarity through persuasion or compromise. This unraveling didnt happen overnight; theres a history here, and Hunter spends the bulk of his book walking the reader through it. But the result is a weakening of liberal democracys cultural infrastructure (292).

For Hunter, the key to the issue isnt the past; its the present. His discussion of current conditions will most benefit the patient reader. Hunter sees the same things you see: political polarization, identity politics, authoritarian impulses on the right and left, a media environment that rewards outrage, a public culture of anger and victimhood. As youd expect from much of Hunters earlier work, it doesnt lend itself to direct practical application. But if youve followed his argument thus far, he hopes youll begin to see these realities in a different light.

Both left and right have abandoned the pursuit of solidarity through persuasion or compromise.

And that, it seems, is Hunters project. He wants us to attend to the cultural roots of Americas political crisis (as the books subtitle states). Without minimizing the important role of law and public policy, Hunter wants to elevate our attentiveness to the health (or unhealth) of our public culture.

Instead of being co-opted into the culture wars, thoughtful Christians have an opportunity to rehabilitate the deep structures of American culture. But well only give ourselves to that work if we reject the logic of nihilism and embrace the possibility of a common good.

Hunters hopestated briefly in a coda that follows the last chapteris for a paradigm shift within liberal democracy itself that would lead to a reinvigorated liberalism. Im more inclined to surmise liberalism has run its course and that our future lies in a more post-liberal direction. But even where I disagree with his solutions, Im provoked by Hunters analysis of the problem.

Democracy and Solidarity offers a trenchant examination of our cultural rupture thats alarming, informative, and interesting. Its a book well be arguing about for years to come.

Read the original:
Review: 'Democracy and Solidarity' by James Davison Hunter - The Gospel Coalition

THE ISSUE

Lancaster Countys two Republican commissioners on Tuesday appointed three newcomers to the Library System of Lancaster Countys board, opting not to reappoint two members, including the seven-member volunteer boards only professional librarian, LNP | LancasterOnlines Tom Lisi reported. In a 2-1 vote, with Democratic Commissioner Alice Yoder voting against, Commissioners Josh Parsons and Ray DAgostino declined to give new terms to librarian Alexandra Godfrey, of Lancaster city, and Cody Diehl, an Elizabethtown church leader and former health care administrator. ... In letters to the board of commissioners, the systems executive director, Karla Trout, had recommended that both members be reappointed.

Parsons and DAgostino seem intent on sowing division and chaos.

Why? Are they miffed because they were blamed for the dangerous threats directed at Lancaster Public Librarys planned Drag Queen Story Hour after they kicked up a fuss about it? Are they taking out their anger on the Library System of Lancaster County because the Lancaster library is one of its 14 members? Having easily won reelection in November, are they so confident about their place in the fiefdom of county government that theyve abandoned any pretense of working for the good of all county residents?

We have to wonder, because these library appointments were so brazenly contemptuous of both the library system and the many county residents who rely on it to function effectively.

The three new appointees approved last week are Theia Hofstetter of Elizabethtown; Lampeter-Strasburg School District board member Andrew Welk of West Lampeter Township; and unsuccessful Manheim Township School District board candidate Tess Vo Wallace.

The appointees seem already to be acquiescing to the code of silence imposed on Lancaster County government by the Republican commissioners. None of the three responded to requests from an LNP | LancasterOnline news reporter for comment.

Nonprofit boards are made up of all kinds of people whose paid work doesnt necessarily translate to the mission of the organization they oversee. So were not concerned about the day jobs of the new appointees. What concerns us is that Wallace and Hofstetter seem to be coming to the library system board with agendas.

As Lisi reported, Hofstetter in the past has called for banning from school libraries certain books that include sexual themes. Trying to justify child pornography in a book because the overall story has merit is like trying to justify taking a minor to a strip joint because the dancing has artistic value, Hofstetter said at an Elizabethtown Area School District meeting in February 2022.

No school library in Lancaster County offers books containing child pornography. Possessing or distributing child pornography is a crime.

But depicting books with sexual content as pornographic is a tactic of would-be book banners. Last year, Lancaster County District Attorney Heather Adams, a Republican, was forced to waste her time explaining why she would not file frivolous charges over several library books in the Hempfield School District.

Hofstetters language on this was ridiculous and inflammatory perhaps its not surprising then that Parsons and DAgostino chose her.

Wallace is a surgical nurse whose affiliation with a local Moms for Liberty private Facebook group came to light during her failed school board campaign. According to the worldview she has embraced on social media, pro-LGBTQ+ public policies are part of a global conspiracy aimed at erasing women and the biological reality of gender.

Welk is a real estate agent who, according to his resume, also has served as a firefighter and paramedic (we thank him for his public service). He donated $500 to DAgostinos reelection campaign last fall.

As Lisi reported, Parsons and DAgostino declined to say last Tuesday whether they had preexisting relationships with the prospective board members. Parsons only would say that they knew some applicants from around the community.

Thats not exactly reassuring, given that Parsons has been photographed in the past with members of the far-right antidemocratic group FreePA. In fact, a photo of a smiling Parsons, giving a double thumbs-up and flanked by FreePA activists, remains on that groups website.

Parsons and DAgostino also repeatedly declined to say whether close political allies should be appointed to local boards, Lisi reported.

We are all elected to implement certain policies, Parsons said.

What county commissioners are elected to do is to manage and administer county government and award contracts. And yes, their role includes naming citizens to boards, commissions and authorities, according to the county website.

Citizens, not partisan flamethrowers, such as Wallace and Hofstetter.

The county library system is a mostly behind-the-scenes organization that provides technology support to member libraries, as well as other centralized services, such as continuing education training, collective purchasing and negotiating vendor discounts.

Our concern is that these purposely divisive appointments are going to throw a wrench into the way the library system operates. Perhaps thats the goal. We truly hope it isnt.

So we ask this of the new appointees: Please behave like adults and work cooperatively for the good of this countys public libraries. Those libraries play an essential role in the lives of county residents who rely on them for educational enrichment, research, career development, internet access, their vast collections of books and their diverse array of events that connect community members with one another.

The library system board works to ensure that the county library infrastructure works smoothly. It does not deal in culture wars. The board member role demands pragmatism, not partisanship. So please seek cooperation, not controversy. The work shouldnt generate headlines, but its important.

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Library System of Lancaster County board doesn't traffic in culture wars. Partisan appointees should take heed. [editorial] - LNP | LancasterOnline