London School of Economics anthropologist David Graeber tells us how modern-day workers got to be overworked and overproductive. He also explains how "the more obviously your work benefits others, the less you’re paid for it," and how the right turns workers against other workers. Finally, he describes the conflict in left-wing movements over the value of work -- and then slices through it: "I’m thinking of a labor movement...that manages to finally ditch all traces of the ideology that says that work is a value in itself, but rather redefines labor as caring for other people." There's a lot to think about there.
As the reactionary North Carolina legislature gets together to pass a budget before adjourning for the year, Moral Monday protestors plan a massive sit-in. Fun fact: South Carolina's reactionaries have bellowed that implementing the Moral Monday movement's "Five Point Moral Framework" would cost as much as $10 billion (over 10 years, which scare number purveyors never say), but the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center put the price tag at $1 billion, with the revenue easily raised by (surprise!) reversing the legislature's tax cuts for the rich and for corporations.
ProPublica informs us that public schools use physical restraints on children over 250,000 times annually, and three-quarters of the time, public schools use them on disabled kids. What a shame that "tough love" weariness hasn't yet migrated to the public schools. Personal to those who ask how do you handle little monsters? Well, first off, autistic kids are not monsters. Second, look to the man in the mirror when asking that question, and you'll usually find who's to blame when children act cray-cray.
Counselors (if you can call them that) at famous fundamentalist college Bob Jones University have been telling rape victims to "repent for their sins" first, with at least one just coming out and saying "we have to find the sin in your life that caused your rape." And not the sin in her rapist's life? No, rape victims should not look to blame themselves first, because nobody should be raped, and forcing sex on someone is always wrong. The end.
Finally, Norm Ornstein says a new Pew study should settle the debate over who's to blame for our polarized politics. Spoiler alert: Pew says right-wingers are mostly to blame for the polarization. Note well, also, the graph near the top of the page, which suggests that House Democrats have moved leftward over the last 70 years (though not as far rightward as House Republicans have moved). We must remember that, for a long time, conservative Southern Democrats made up a big chunk of the party, thus dragging House Democrats significantly rightward at least until the '70s, when Southern Democrats started to become Republicans.
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