I read about this 20 minute video—“The Story of Stuff”—in yesterday's New York Times: A Cautionary Video About America’s ‘Stuff’. It "has become a sleeper hit in classrooms across the nation," says the Times:
The video is a cheerful but brutal assessment of how much Americans waste, and it has its detractors. But it has been embraced by teachers eager to supplement textbooks that lag behind scientific findings on climate change and pollution.
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The video was created by Annie Leonard, a former Greenpeace employee and an independent lecturer who paints a picture of how American habits result in forests being felled, mountaintops being destroyed, water being polluted and people and animals being poisoned. Ms. Leonard, who describes herself as an “unapologetic activist,” is also critical of corporations and the federal government, which she says spends too much on the military.
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So far, six million people have viewed the film at its site...and millions more have seen it on YouTube. More than 7,000 schools, churches and others have ordered a DVD version, and hundreds of teachers have written Ms. Leonard to say they have assigned students to view it on the Web.
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The enthusiasm is not universal. In January, a school board in Missoula County, Mont., decided that screening the video treaded on academic freedom after a parent complained that its message was anticapitalist....
10 comments:
Yikes! I heard about this case from Montana relatives. We can't be exposing students to anticapitalist values, now, can we? That would interfere with *indoctrination* and would allow for genuinely dissenting views. Good lord! Makes me embarrassed (as I very frequently am) to be from the state. On the other hand, *many* people defended the teacher in letters to the editor in Missoula.
Of course, the usual charges of "bias" were trotted out--once again, a view that dared to challenge orthodoxy and be critical of the status quo must of necessity be "biased," according to some parents who have lost a large proportion of their brain-cells.
Listen, Montana Girl, we've got right-wing lunatics right here in Orange County who'd do the same or worse if they had the imagination.
Yep; I reckon that's so. And I know many residents of rural Montana who would be amazed (and glad--d'oh!) to hear it. What you say is true.
How absurd to feel either pride *or* embarrassment for one's home-place. And yet it's a powerful thing. "Rational" species--HAH!
MG
Be careful! We're listening.
Why is it that one threatened parent makes a complaint, and all the other folks just fall all over themselves to placate this person?
Why didn't the board just tell the asshole to fuck off, but in a polite manner?
Excellent question, 1:29. When I think of the turmoil and grief the whole brouhaha must have caused this teacher, it makes my blood boil.
Sounds very liberal of them, 1:29.
Huh?
I saw the kid (Farnan) on Sean Hannity's show last night. The kid isn't bright, kept having to have questions repeated. Inarticulate. Sean insisted on viewing the kid as "courageous." The kid declared that and insisted that Corbett should not be allowed to teach. But that was in response to the question, "Are you a fan of mine?" Well, no, but Sean Hannity is as dumb as a post. -R
Good lord; they're both as dumb as posts, sounds like. Wouldn't you just know it. And we can guess at the IQ genes in the parent who created the stupid, reactionary fuss in the first place....
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