Morning Belz, June 21
The past, the future, and pessimism.
Stop pretending we’ve made no progress! — Bill Maher
Why are we so grim about the future? — Noah Smith
A list of examples of effective social movements — Mark Lutter
Hong Kong paper Apple Daily could close by Friday — BBC
Evangelicalism ≠ fundamentalism — David French*
A more alarmed take on critical race theory — Andrew Sullivan**
Tucker Carlson, playing both sides — NYT
*and how the Southern Baptist church fended off a fundamentalist takeover.
**Sullivan is very worried that CRT is getting into schools in ways that are unhelpful, and even damaging. The tone of his piece is much more alarmed than my letter on Friday. He cites this (admittedly striking) example from an elementary school in San Jose, Ca., where 8-year-olds were instructed to map their social, racial and sexual identity, taught that white, cisgender Christians comprise the dominant culture, and asked to write reflections on how power and privilege come from social identity. Is what happened there representative of what’s happening across the country? Hard to say, but...I doubt it. And according to the piece linked above, when parents complained to the principal in San Jose, the “racially divisive instruction” was “suspended.” The principal said it was not part of the formal curriculum. One thing I do agree with Sullivan on, though, is that most of the mainstream media isn’t explaining what critical race theory is to people. It’s treated merely as a GOP talking point (which it is, of course!) but not fleshed out. I brushed at that in my piece but Sullivan laid out several examples, which is helpful.
Quote
”Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly. It is the one thing we are interested in here.” — Tolstoy, War and Peace, 1865
About: I send this email most weekdays in an effort to stay informed and in touch. I was a newspaper reporter for 14 years, most recently at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. I explained why my family left Minneapolis here. Now we live just outside Chattanooga and I work on Scuffed News. Please share this newsletter with anyone you think might enjoy it. And please consider supporting this work with your money on Patreon.