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OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) In Nebraska and Iowa, there are pushes to oppose teaching critical race theory in schools.

Critical race theory was developed in the 1970s and was specific to legal studies and law schools. It has now expanded into the academic fields of sociology, history and communications.

Halley Taylor with the Anti-Defamation League elaborated.

"It looks at race and, you know, the study of race and race-related to law and how we uphold these systems of oppression," she said.

Critical race theory generates a lot of controversies several states, including Iowa, have banned teaching it.

University of Iowa Professor Venise Berry explained why critical race theory is getting politicized.

"Culture wars have brought us to this notion of, 'How do we attack somebody, how do we attack different people, different cultures?'" Berry said. "This is a very easy, very obvious way to attack African-Americans in this society."

Berry wants to clear up any misconceptions.

"The idea that it suggests all white people are racist or all white people are bad, and that's not the case," Berry said. "What it looks at is various systems put in place in America, and around the world, that are set up in a way that specific people have advantages and benefits and other people don't," Berry said.

Taylor said a common misconception is that critical race theory is taught in K-12 classes when, in reality, it is mostly taught on college campuses.

"Yes, we have diversity workshops, yes we have more exposure to American history, but the concepts of critical race theory are not within school systems...certainly not in Nebraska and Iowa," Taylor said.

If society has a better understanding of critical race theory, Taylor is convinced we can build a better world.

"If we're not learning from our history, how is it we move forward in order to make better choices and in order to make more positive changes for each and every one of us," Taylor said.

If you want to learn more, the local news organization NOISE is hosting a virtual roundtable discussing critical race theory on July 29th.

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Original post:
What is critical race theory? Iowa and Nebraska experts explain - KMTV - 3 News Now

Angela Rayner grilled on departure of Labour members

Ms Rayner made the rounds on the interview front this morning as she set forward the Labour Party's vision for the future of work. The outfit is calling for workers to be given "full" employment rights from day one, announcing that it plans to "fundamentally change the economy". Supporters claim the party has found a niche in the political market, with workers' rights up and down the country often below par.

Yet, in promoting the move, Ms Rayner was humiliated by Good Morning Britain's Ben Shepard, who argued that the party lacked mass support.

She squirmed under the spotlight, claiming the dramatic exodus following the resignation of Jeremy Corbyn as leader was a routine "fluctuation" in party membership.

Many blame Labour's involvement and adoption of so-called "wokeism", and ease at which it has entered the culture wars as the reason for why former loyal voters have left.

Sir Keir Starmer, Labour's leader, has happily adopted the taking of the knee, a symbol many associate with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, which some view as a maverick political organisation.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has rejected taking the knee, later receiving backlash after he refused to condemn the booing of England's football players committing to the action by fans at the European Football Championship.

It is worth noting that BLM rejects its being framed as a political entity, describing itself as a "global organisation in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes".

Ms Rayner has happily waded into the culture wars, pitting herself as a saviour of Britain's working class, often finding herself at the centre of controversy when slanging matches with her Conservative opposites ensue.

Yet, many remain unconvinced by Ms Rayner's words when compared to her actions: only recently it was reported that she claimed 1,440 In taxpayers' cash to pay for a letter folding machine.

Joanna Williams, a leading academic and director of Cieo, a think tank, said Ms Rayner and the Labour Party's current understanding of the country is completely skewed.

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She told Express.co.uk: "If you look at Rayner and Jess Phillips, these are the two women who are being pushed as the voice of the working class and the saviours of the Labour Party.

"I mean, they're gobby northern women - I can be one myself at times.

"But just because you're gobby, and just because you're a northerner doesn't mean that politically you're necessarily in touch with what working class voters want.

"It's actually incredibly patronising to think that, 'Oh, we've got all these voters in the North that we want to win back, what they really need is a gobby northern woman'.

"It's patronising, it's horrible, and it's politically ignorant.

"I think the reason why Boris Johnson is popular and, even, why voters liked Margaret Thatcher, was not because they're gobby or northern or women - obviously Boris is not - but because the ideas that they have appeal to people's sense of aspiration, people's sense of wanting to make a better life for themselves, of wanting a better future for the country."

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Last year, Ms Rayner and Sir Keir hit headlines after they posed for a photograph taking the knee ahead of George Floyd's funeral, the black man who was murdered by white police officer, Derek Chauvin.

Paul Embery, a leading trade unionist and Labour member, told Express.co.uk that the pair likely thought they were "appealing to the masses" in doing so, but completely misread the country.

He said: "Many people among the masses have got a real problem with the knee taking thing.

"Not because they're racist but because they see it as some kind of relentless moral lecture, and they're a bit fed up with it."

Despite this, Ms Rayner earlier this year vowed to reconnect with working class voters after Labour suffered a drubbing up and down the country in May's local, Scottish and mayoral elections - although enjoyed a resurgence in Wales.

She said Labour had talked down to voters for too long.

In an article for The Guardian, she continued: "Politics is not about the language of Parliament or party processes.

"We need to show those who have lost faith what we stand for, that we are on their side and that we will stand up for them."

Yet, two months on, when Sir Keir sat down face-to-face with voters in Blackpool, mediated by the BBC, many claimed not to know who he was or what he stood for.

It is true that he won party leadership during the pandemic and has had little opportunity to get out and about.

Yet, he has been in the job for nearly a year-and-a-half.

Reacting to the lack of recognition, Sir Keir said: "It makes me feel that I should do many more events like this, it makes me utterly frustrated that we've been acting a pandemic, it is extremely unusual for the leader of the Opposition to come into being leader of the Labour Party in a situation where you can't get out and about."

According to Politico's Poll of Polls, the Tories still lead on 41 percent.

Labour has in recent weeks, however, had a boost, with an uptick of two percent since the beginning of July.

But, the UK's next general election isn't scheduled until 2024.

Go here to read the rest:
Angela Rayner rebuffed after wading into culture war: 'Ignorant and patronising!' - Daily Express

The word now is radicalized. So many people feel pushed to the edge and are pushing back. Go to social-media sites and search school board meeting adding descriptors like explosive, outrage and chaos. Parents are rising up. New York Democrats just picked an anticrime former cop as their mayoral nominee. Other signs that suggests a spirit of having been radicalized: Longtime alliances based on natural affinity are loosening. Conservatives by nature support and respect the military. Thats changing among some of them, or at least becoming less reflexive, under the pressure of charges of political correctness and a woke brass. Conservatives have begun detaching from traditional support for corporations over the idea theyre too woke, too big, and feel no particular loyalty to America, which made them, when the China market beckons.

Theres a sense in America of a continuing political realignment, that it didnt all start and end in 2015-16. I think that what happened last summer, when the streets erupted and statues toppled, is being answered now with a pushbacka quieter one but no less consequential.

In connection with that, a small but possibly telling piece from a man of the left, journalist Kevin Drum, a veteran of Mother Jones and Washington Monthly, who posted some thoughts on July 3 on his blog at Jabberwocking.com. What he said is the obvious, but it wouldnt be obvious to all his readers, and those to whom it is obvious wouldnt want it said.

He titled the piece bluntly: If you hate culture wars, blame liberals.

It is not conservatives who have turned American politics into a culture war battle, he writes. Since roughly the year 2000, according to survey data, Democrats have moved significantly to the left on most hot button social issues, while Republicans have moved only slightly right.

See the original post here:
The Culture War Is a Leftist Offensive - The Wall Street Journal

Much of the focus on so-called culture war issues in the UK is based on confected controversies, a thinktank analysis has suggested, with the debate artificially inflamed by politicians and commentators and then amplified by social media.

While some countries waged such battles over more genuine societal divides, the UKs culture wars simply pitted deprived communities against each other and tended to caricature movements for equality, the Fabian Society said.

The report from the leftwing organisation charted the trajectory of a series of recent controversies attributed to culture wars, such as debate over whether Rule, Britannia! should be played on the final night of the Proms, and supposed efforts to cancel the film Grease, concluding that these do not reflect genuine divisions and are largely stoked by politicians and the media.

It warned politicians from both the left and right to avoid taking part in such antics, lest political discourse in the UK become as fractured as that in the US.

The public deserves better than fabricated fights, said Kirsty McNeill, a charity executive and former Labour adviser who co-authored the analysis.

The temptations for all political parties are clear. Riling up a base and pointing it at an imagined enemy is much easier than doing the hard yards involved in meeting the prime ministers ambition to level up. Equally, ignoring rivals attempts to sow division wont help Keir Starmer assemble a broad and diverse coalition to back his vision of a fairer country.

Roger Harding, the other author, who heads the Reclaim youth charity, said: Culture-war peddlers often use contrived stories to pit working-class communities against one another and caricature movements for racial and LGBT equality.

Boris Johnsons government has been accused of seeking to capitalise on culture war issues to stir up its base, with attacks on so-called woke culture, and a campaign to prevent the institutions such as museums and galleries from critically re-examining the UKs past.

Among the most vehement criticism came in June when Samuel Kasumu, Johnsons former adviser on race, said he feared such provocations could beget another outrage like the murders of Stephen Lawrence or Jo Cox.

The Fabian Society analysis warned politicians on the left to avoid the temptation to engage in such culture war battles, arguing that they tend to simply divide opinion over the prospects of positive change.

Another report on the issue, published last week by the rightwing Centre for Policy Studies, based on polling among the public, argued that while genuine differences of opinion on values existed between Conservative and Labour supporters, the bulk of voters were more exercised by matters such as paying bills.

The study, compiled by the veteran US pollster and communications expert Frank Luntz, uncovered what he called alarming findings of discontent about UK politicians. Asked to rank 18 descriptions of how British political leaders made them feel, split between positive and negative emotions, the top eight choices were disappointed, ignored, irrelevant, fed up, betrayed, forgotten, left behind and angry.

Andrew Harrop, general secretary of the Fabian Society, said those on the left must focus their energy not on winning culture wars, but on calling them out.

He said: It will not be easy to end the culture wars which have become a valuable tool for cynics on the right. These fake controversies create division between people with shared economic needs and they distract the public from a low tax, low regulation, libertarian worldview that few in Britain support.

See more here:
Politicians and media told to stop fabricating culture wars - The Guardian

There is a poll thats been going around for the past week or so that is providing some comforting affirmation of priors for the crowd of elite Republicans who secretly hate Trump but are just scared shitless about Kamalas America. The Edmund Burke write-in set, if you will.

The data was first compiled by the liberal blogger Kevin Drum in a post titled, If you hate the culture wars, blame liberals. Drum looked at a series of metrics to demonstrate that Democratic voters have moved further left than Republicans have moved right in recent years. You can read the whole thing here.

Peggy Noonan essentially turned over her entire WSJ column last week to Drum (a nice gig if you can get it), quoting him at great length before asking Why, then, is it still conventional wisdom on the left and in the mainstream media that it is conservatives who are culture warmongers?

When I got to that rhetorical query I was taken back to fourth-grade social studies class when I still felt an earnest jolt of joy knowing I had the answer. Pick me! Pick me! I know!

And well, the TL;DR is this: that data is addressing the views of voters, while the conventional wisdom is responding to the actions of politicians and political media personalities.

Look again at Drums polls:

First, a couple nitpicks.

Nitpicks aside, it is undeniable that Democratic base voters have moved left and become more uniformly partisan on a series of issues. And theres no doubt that schools and corporations and other institutions have shifted left alongside them.

Drum writes that if this shift is not done with empathy and tact it risks outrunning the vast middle part of the country, which progressive activists seem completely uninterested in talking to.

This is valid political analysis. There are political ramifications to swift leftward shifts on various cultural issues that the Democrats should reckon with as David Shor and others have argued. There are also real social and cultural ramifications. It can create social strife for culturally conservative Americans to feel uncomfortable expressing their views at home or in the workplace for fear of being chastisedor worseover issues they have little familiarity with.

All of this is absolutely correct.

But when it comes to the actions of politicians, the aggressive, top down Culture War is being driven overwhelmingly from the right. And the shift rightward among Republican politicians on culture war issues is as dramaticif not more sothan the leftward shift among Democratic voters on policy.

Consider the Ohio Senate race as just one representative example. Rob Portman was the first Republican senator to come out for gay marriage and he even beat quite a few of his Democratic colleagues to the punch. You would no more catch him feigning outrage over the latest culture war nontroversy du jour than you would see him taking down Herschel Walker in an MMA fight.

Well, Portman is yesterdays man. Hes exiting stage right and any other such Republicans with accommodating dispositions are being either actively expelled from party politics or are self-deporting.

Meanwhile, the race to replace Portman is a culture war parody so ludicrously mockable that the dialogue would make Christopher Guest roll his eyes and ask that the volume be turned back down to a 9.

In the past week, J.D. Vance has:

His opponent, Josh Mandel, uses a pinned tweet atop his Twitter timeline in which he robotically burns a mask like a high-school pyromaniac.

Mandel has tweeted about many of the same issues as J.D.while adding a dollop of Islamophobia and a broadside at the gay pride parade as well, going so far as to suggest Bidens preference for it over the Mt. Rushmore fireworks might reveal his real agenda. (Dont tell Josh, but heres a preview of what the gays have planned. Its going to be lit!)

Now look across the aisle at what the Democrat running for the that Ohio Senate seatRep. Tim Ryanis doing with his social media feed. It is entirely made up of pablum about jobs for working families and pictures of him visiting union workers. His most recent issue-related post endorsed voting rights, infrastructure, and bringing down health care costs. Hes not running on reparations, or a program to take away the tax exempt status of churches or mandating Ibram X. Kendi books in middle-school curricula.

Tim Ryan wont even engage in culture war battles when his opponents bait him with a Fight Me About Drag Queen Story Hour I Dare You dunce cap. I tried to find the last example of Ryan sending a tweet that could be described as liberal culture war fodder but got bored around mid-June and gave up.

The story is basically the same in competitive races all across the country, where you see Democrats focusing on bread-and-butter issues while their Republican counterparts get big mad about Dr. Seusss self-cancellation.

And this is a replica of last years general election during which Biden leaned into the Sleepy Joe nickname with the most soporific presidential campaign rhetoric in memory, while Trump was drunk-driving from outrage to outrage looking to pick any fight he could. Caravans! All Lives Matter! CNN and Fredo! Flag Burning! Murder Antifa! Kneeling NFL Players!

Meanwhile here in 2021, Republican bigwigs spent the weekend participating in an anti-vaccine, election truthing freak show in Texas that could best be described as All Culture; No Cattle. And the entire party unified last week around the fabricated and deadly culture war that vilifies public servants who are simply trying to offer people a life-saving vaccine in the comfort of their own home.

Back to Peggy Noonan for a moment. In her column she concluded that the cultural provocations that are currently tearing us apart do, certainly and obviously, come from progressives.

Are the provocateurs she refers to the politicians in power, or the double masking Average Janes (She/Her) who annoy her at her Upper East Side zumba class?

Thats kind of an important distinction.

Take this for example: Last year around this time George Floyd was brutally killed by a police officer in Minnesota, which set off a nationwide protest movement calling for police reform. This was a leftward shift! A bipartisan group of politicians has tried to address the issue by debating a wide range of policy options. Progressive activists agitated for more aggressive change (ACAB). And the Republican president gassed the protesters and threatened to shoot them. In the political context, who is the provocateur? The killer cop? The protesters? The anarchists? Or the president who used this moment of strife to divide rather than to heal? I know my answer.

The thing about Drums analysis is that its undeniably true that the political Overton window has shifted left on some issues. But the voter support for that shift isnt the only determining factor in trying to understand whatand whois tearing this country apart.

Social change is constant.

Civil rights, technology, advancements in science, new religions and philosophical concepts, demographic shiftsthese specific changes are always new, but change itself is constant. Whether its people moving from farms to cities, computers remaking the workplace, or gay folks wanting the right to marry.

This country is a living organism, not a display in a museum.

And while social changes are inevitable, theyre also flammable. Throughout history demagogues of all political persuasions have used these changes to try to create resentment as a tool to amass power.

Its the inflamers, the arsonists who are responsible for the war part of the culture war.

Yes, the scores of millions of people who create cultural change in the daily comings and goings of their lives should be more forbearing with everyone else. That would be awesome. #Endorse #LiveTheChange

But thats not where the culture war comes from. The culture war is the creation of specific, powerful peoplewhose names we all knowwho cynically and intentionally view conflict as a means to increase their power.

Link:
Whos Actually Responsible for the Culture War? - The Bulwark