discuss Hobby Lobby and the Supreme Court and imagine what the Jewish equivalent of a Christian arts & crafts store would look like. (It would be called Hobbyla Lobbyla.) Plus we discuss how Katie almost became Orthodox.
commiserate over the shanda that is Sheldon Silver and William E. Rapfogel and how the Lower East Side is kind of like Israel, if the Palestinians were Puerto Rican and had been told they could come back.
Then, we have MORNING JEW EXCLUSIVE! Jesse Bacon, our mensch of the week, who is also our first stringer, reporting from Philadelphia about some huge news from a Jewish School board!
Comics Heather Gold (@heathr) and Katie Halper (@kthalps) look at the headlines and ask: Is it good for the Jews? This week Scarlett Johansson decides to comment on Dylan Farrow, Congressperson Bernie Sanders announces he’ll run for President and the White Man March is led by a pilates instructor doppleganger. L’Chaim!
This story is totally enraging. It’s almost funny but it’s heart-breaking. It’s the story about a school which overtly sanctions bullying and punishes the student who gets bullied; a school which condones violence but prohibits the use of a My Little Pony bag. It’s a story of official and institutionalized victim-blaming, gender-policing, cowardice and cruelty.
Nine year-old Grayson Bruce, of North Carolina, wore a backpack with a character from his favorite TV show, My Little Pony, a children’s cartoon. For that, Grayson was bullied, emotionally and physically. The eloquent and adorable Grayson told his local ABC affiliate, “They’re taking it a little too far, with punching me, pushing me down, calling me horrible names, stuff that really shouldn’t happen.” But don’t worry! According to a school spokesperson, ”an initial step was taken to immediately address a situation that had created a disruption in the classroom. Buncombe County Schools takes bullying very seriously, and we will continue to take steps to resolve this issue.” So, what did the school do about it? Protect Grayson? Punish or speak to the bullies about why what they did was hurtful? No. They punished Grayson and protected the bullies. You see, it’s Grayson, and not the kids who punched him over a backpack choice, who are the problem. So, the school responded to the incident by prohibiting Grayson from bringing the My Little Pony bag to school. The bag, according to the school, is a “trigger for bullying.”
In other words, the blame for the disruptive behavior falls on Grayson. Grayson is inviting bullying by daring to use a bag from a TV show that the bullies consider to be a show for girls. He is disrupting gender norms, not that the school would ever use any language like that. And the school doesn’t want to disrupt the bullying because that would require some real work on their part and because the bullying, though abusive, respects gender norms. The school is more comfortable with physical and emotional attacks than it is with behavior it perceives as gender-non-conforming. Grayson’s behavior is deemed abnormal and is responsible for inviting the normal punitive response of bullying.
Does this sound familiar? One can’t help but hear the ultimate rape culture refrain translated into the realm of bullying: “If he didn’t want to get bullied, he shouldn’t have worn that backpack…Boys will be boys…He was asking for it.”
The echo of victim-blaming and rape culture is certainly heard by Grayson’s mom, who called out the school for its reprehensible response: “Saying a lunchbox is a trigger for bullying, is like saying a short skirt is a trigger for rape. It’s flawed logic, it doesn’t make any sense.”
Luckily, Grayson’s story has served as a “trigger” for support. A friend made him a Facebook page, which 21,000 people have liked and where hundreds of people have left messages of support and encouragement. It is inspiring to see this reaction. But it in no way absolves the school.
Grayson has a supportive network of friends and family, in real life and online. But not every child who is bullied survives. A study released earlier this month, in fact, found that kids who are bullied are twice as likely to think about and attempt suicide than their non-bullied peers. The story of 11-year-old Michael Morones, for example, demonstrates just how dangerous school apathy is. Michael, also of North Carolina, was also teased and bullied over his love of My Little Pony. He attempted suicide and had unknowable brain damage. Luckily, he is conscious and recovering. For bullying prevention expert Nancy Mullin, the school’s lack of response to Michael’s bullying was a contributing factor in his attempted suicide. Though Michael’s parents were supportive of his interests, “The missing piece here is what the school is doing about this.”
Schools fail their students (both the victims and perpetrators of bullying) and their communities when they shift the blame onto victims, and turn a blind eye to the root causes of bullying.
Pussy Riot is opening a prisoners rights center in Russia and engaging in transnational solidarity with… Wisconsin.
Thursday, released (Ed note: former) Pussy Riot members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina launched a center for prisoners’ rights in Mordovia, a region 320 miles southeast of Moscow, which is notorious for its numerous and cruel penal colonies. It was in Mordovia’s Penal Colony No 14 that Tolokonnikova spent the majority of her two-year sentence. As a prisoner there, she went on hunger strike on more than one occasion to protest the “slavery-like conditions.” Tolokonnikova estimates that Mordovia “has probably the most scary network of camps, and we know that from experience…our activity is strictly to support human rights.” And Alyokhina explains, ”We have talked a lot about these camps, what the situation is in various areas and we came to the conclusion that Mordovia needs a rights office more than anyone…. They can beat you or finally beat you to death and no one will know about it…”
The center, whose director Vladimir Rubashny is a former prison psychologist, has a hotline for the victims of prison abuse as well as their relatives and offers legal advice. Rubashny said, ”People are being turned into cattle, they are forced to become even worse and therefore the re-offending rate is one of the highest in the world….”I would really like the situation in Mordovia to change although there is a huge amount of work to do.”
But Pussy Riot isn’t limiting itself to its home turf. Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina are urging Wisconsin’s Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen to drop the cases against over 400 people arrested last summer for singing in the Capitol rotunda to protest Governor Scott Walker’s plan attack on public workers’ collective bargaining rights. The two members appear in a video released on Tuesday and say (in Russian):
Solidarity with Wisconsin. Use music to change the world in the direction you want it to change. Music touches people and makes them act…. Solidarity forever.
It would be relatively easy for Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina to leave Russia, since they case attracted attention from media, human rights organizations and celebrities around the world. And yet they remain in their country, where, just last week, they were attacked in a McDonalds is Moscow by men who threw garbage and paint on them and told them to “go to America.” During the Sochi Games, they were beaten, punched and whipped by Cossacks working for the Russian government. But they remain. It would also be easy to stay focused on Russia, where they have their work cut out for them. But they are engaging in transnational solidarity. And their focus on Wisconsin reminds us that, for all our condemnation of Russia and blind American exceptionalism, our own country is no stranger to state violence.
To learn more about Pussy Riot, check out Pussy Riot: a Punk Prayer for Freedom. Part of the proceeds of the book, published by Feminist Press, will go support Pussy Riot.
Kids learn that gun control is a gateway to tyranny and that science is unchristian.
Conservatives are masters at using distortion and subterfuge to sell people on things they would never buy if properly labeled. Nowhere is this more evident than in the arena of “school choice” — a conservative euphemism for “gutting public education from the inside out.”
Photo Credit: VladisChern via Shutterstock.com
According to its major proponents, like the late Milton “Pinochet es mi amigo” Friedman, “school choice gives parents the freedom to choose their children’s education, while encouraging healthy competition among schools to better serve families’ needs.” Sounds lovely! But, it turns out, there are plenty of well-documented problems with school choice, especially when it comes to the school voucher system, which provides families with public funds to send their children to private — often religious — schools.
Voucher programs in particular have been proven to be largely ineffective; they weaken the public school system, and fail to address inequality, which may be why their supporters, like the Koch Brothers, Americans for Prosperity and Dick Morris, love them. Through their concerted efforts, vouchers are on the rise: In 2013, 15 states started or expanded their voucher programs.
Though supported with public funds, private schools engaged in voucher programs lack the accountability and oversight applicable to public schools, so they’re not subject to the whole separation of church and state thing that forms the backbone of of American democracy. Given that, it seems fair to wonder: What kinds of lessons are our tax dollars supporting at these schools spared the scrutiny of Big Government and the burdens of the Constitution?
To find the answer, I dug into the catalog of one of the biggest publishers used by religious voucher schools: a company called A Beka Book. A Beka Book is one of the three most widely used Protestant fundamentalist textbook publishers in the country, along with Bob Jones University Publishing, published in Greenville South Carolina, and Accelerated Christian Education, published in Lewisville, Texas. Forty-three percent of the religous voucher schools that responded to a 2003 Palm Beach Post survey based their curricula on either A Beka or Bob Jones. A Beka Book estimates that 9,000 schools use its books in the classroom.
Founded by Arlin and Rebekah (Beka) Horton in 1972, A Beka Book provides “excellence in education from a Christian perspective.” Since 1977, A Beka Book has operated out of the unaccredited Arlin-founded Pensacola Christian College (PCC) in Florida. Among other rules, PCC has a zero tolerance policy for “optical intercourse” or staring too intently into the eyes of a member of the opposite sex (also known as “making eye babies”).
Though the publisher won’t reveal its finances, over the years, sales from A Beka Book have paid for PCC’s construction projects ($300 million) and annual scholarships ($2 million). Though the publisher used to enjoy a tax-exempt status, that privilege was revoked in 1995 because the company was (surprise!) found to be a profit-making entity. In 1998, A Beka Book paid the IRS an estimated $44.5 million to “remove any question as to our Christian responsibility in the matter of back taxes.”
The Hortons are as rigorous intellectually as they are ethically and fiscally. Here are seven invaluable lessons children learn from their A Beka Book texts, thanks in part to your tax dollars.
1. Mathematics: The Devil’s Playground
The publishing company boasts that, “Unlike the ‘modern math’ theorists, who believe that mathematics is a creation of man and thus arbitrary and relative, A Beka Book texts teach that the laws of mathematics are a creation of God and thus absolute.”
The great news for people like me who don’t really enjoy math is that A Beka Book provides “traditional mathematics texts that are not burdened with modern theories such as set theory.“ It’s unclear why the branch of mathematical logic that studies sets and is considered to be a foundational system for mathematics is so anathema to God. I assume focusing on the “union of sets” encourages too much premarital coupling and promiscuity.
2. Critical Thinking: There’s a Mnemonic Device For That
A Beka Book’s Health in Christian Perspective textbook makes it extremely clear that there is one and only one “Christian World View.” In that view, abortion—defined as “the killing of babies before birth”— for example, is a sin. But A Beka Book doesn’t just tell students what to think, it empowers them to think for themselves by employing the all-important “Biblical Discernment” method.
Like so many of Beka’s critical thinking tools, this one comes in the form of a mnemonic device: “Use the DISCERN method,” Beka instructs, “to determine whether abortion is biblical.” The method allows students to make an informed godly choice around any issue, not just abortion. Once they’ve figured out whether something is biblical or not, they can engage in it and praise it, or refrain from doing it and condemn it. Here’s how DISCERN works:
Determine your choices
Inquire of God through prayer
Search the scriptures
Consider godly counsel.
Eliminate worldly thinking.
Recognize God’s leading.
Never compromise the truth.
This handy mnemonic is great for moralizing and judging on the run!
3. Science: Yahweh or the Highway
Health in Christian Perspective also explains that,
“A non-Christian world view is any one that is based on the belief that there is something more reliable than the bible. The belief may come from church traditions scientific conclusions, or various theories. The most important teachings to be found in a Christian World View are… God made the world and everything in it; The world has fallen into a tragic state because of sin; and God is working to redeem this world to Himself.”
Science that contradicts these notions, the people at A Beka Book explain, is just plain wrong. “These three teachings should influence your interpretation of any facts you study,” they note. “And if you are serious about being a Christian, they must color your view of scientific thinking.”
Also crucial is the instruction not to stray from God’s path by using science to help people. “Others may be curious about the world of nature simply because they want to improve the lives of other humans. Although Christians should also be interested in that, they should mainly be interested in loving God through the study of nature.” I wonder if the Hortons want their doctors to prioritize loving God over helping their patients?
4. Guns: Our Only Protection from Nazism and Globalism
Beka’s United States History—Heritage of Freedom In Christian Perspective reminds us that the men who founded this great nation would totally oppose background checks: “The founding fathers… understood that unarmed citizens would not be able to stand against a tyrannical government.” Gun control, according to this text, is simply a “gateway to tyranny.” The book’s exhaustive analysis of world history backs up this brilliant assertion: “A study of Hitler’s, Stalin’s and Mao’s ideas on disarming their citizens shows… they were well aware of the concept that control thrives when people are unarmed.”
As an added bonus, guns are also a way for America to fight against creeping… globalism: “Armed citizens could also play a major role in thwarting Globalism, the idea to bring the world together under ‘one global government.’ making the constitution null and void.” This really speaks to America’s youth, who are nothing if not extremely concerned about globalism.
5. The Death Penalty: The Sanctity of Life Manifested
America: Land I Love In Christian Perspective laments that the death penalty, and thus the sanctity of life, have become less hip. Back in the good old days, “because people believed in the sanctity of human life, most states practiced capital punishment.”
A Beka Book knows what God was thinking when he killed people for crimes like prostitution, bearing false witness, and not crying out while being raped (if you are betrothed): “Most people believed God instituted capital punishment to discourage murder and to teach mankind the value of human life.”
Of course, “most people” doesn’t include people who opposed the death penalty. Like Jesus Christ.
6. STDs: What Happens When you Disobey God
Beka’s Health In Christian Perspective text also teaches that sexually transmitted diseases are caused by sacrilegious behavior: “Disobedience to God’s Word in the area of sexual purity can also lead to disease.” And statistically speaking, A Beka Book tells us, it is almost impossible to contract diseases from a spouse:
“Some infections, known as… STDs, are almost always spread by direct bodily contact during illicit sexual relations (sexual relations outside God’s institution of marriage). People who live according to God’s standards of waiting until marriage to have sexual relations are very unlikely to acquire venereal diseases.”
There is no correlation, in the Beka world view, between “sex education” and preventing STDs, because such diseases aren’t caused by “a lack of scientific information or ‘sex education’ but a lack of morality and righteousness.” While A Beka Book neither believes in nor provides any “sex education,” they do offer a lifesaving “Personal Checkup” checklist, encouraging students to check boxes for things like, “I wash my hands thoroughly on a regular basis” and “I obey biblical principles regarding morality, self-control, attitude, and anxiety.”
“Unchecked boxes” the book warns, “identify conditions of risk.”
7. Homosexuality: Cultural Decay
Homosexuality is listed under United States History—Heritage of Freedom In Christian Perspective’s “Cultural Decay” section: “Traditional American family values have dramatically declined….When [the family] comes under attack, all of society suffers.”
Though it’s not clear how, the media have emboldened homosexuality by showing violence and attacking fathers and husbands: “The media has increasingly belittled fathers and husbands, portrayed blatant violence, and laughed at immorality. One result has been the increased acceptance of homosexuality.”
In other words: Every time there is violence on the screen, or a man is mocked by a feminist, or a heathen cracks up over sin, a homosexual is recruited and a family is attacked. But you already knew that.
This is but a mere sampling of A Beka’s righteous lessons. Check back soon for more.
If it’s Friday, it’s Morning Jew! This week Comedians Katie Halper and Heather Gold (home sick with a cold) look at the headlines and ask the age old question: Nu? Are they good for the Jews? On today’s Morning Jew we (1) talk about the Nazi Pope‘s boyfriend and fashion style, and fantasize about a Pretty Woman/ Pope Benedict mash-up. (2) Explore the surprising connection between racist teabaggers like Ted Nugent and paranoid Jews. And we say goodbye to the irreplaceable mensch and Ghost Buster Harold Ramis and explain how Obama referenced Caddy Shack in his tribute to him. And, of course, we bring you our “I can’t believe they’re not Jewish” and “Name that Jew” of the week.
This week comics Heather Gold (@heathr) and Katie Halper (@kthalps) look at new anti-gay Jim Crow style laws, crypto-Jews in New Mexico (Spain offers citizenship to Sephardi Jews in an interesting 500 year old “oops I made a mistake”) and delight in Olympic figure skater and commentator Johnny Weir’s new Jewish husband and the sobbing from his mishpocheh around their wedding. And as always they finding out if it was good for the Jews. Plus they debut a new regular feature: mishpocheh messages. Send us your messages from your family.
Watch Rust Cohle respond to Matthew McConaughey with utter Rustian contempt. The only thing that I could think of when I watched Matthew McConaughey’s self-congratulating, god-thanking Oscars speech was how much Rust Cohle would hate it. I tried to block it out so I could enjoy True Detective in which McConaughey is brilliant. But I couldn’t. So instead, I thought I would have Rust Cohle explain to Matt why his speech was so ridiculously aggrandizing and delusional. So, here is what Rost has to say about it… in his righteous own words
On this week’s Morning Jew, comedians Katie Halper & Heather Gold analyze a voicemail from a grandmother worried her gay grandchild will go to Russia for The Olympics, read Woody Allen’s letter in Woody’s voice, discuss the retirement of the ADL’s Abe Foxman. Plus we have a huge announcement about who will be replacing him. It’s not who you think. As always, we determine whether the news is good or bad for the Jews. Enjoy! And Happy Valentines Day!
image via Kristen Gillibrand / Via servicewomen.org
In case you’re disappointed that Kirsten Gillibrand’s Military Justice Improvement Act got filibustered yesterday, I have great news: the senate, according to senators, has already done enough to stop military rape and the commanders who are unable to stop the epidemic of sexual assault are totes trust-worthy! Phew! We have been covering the Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA), which would move the decision to prosecute cases of sexual assault from the chain of command to an independent prosecutor, for some time now. And Yesterday we urged readers to call their senators to push them to vote that it go forward. Sadly, the bill, sponsored by Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) was blocked by the senate. What makes this particularly frustrating is that the bill received more votes for it (55) than against it (45). But it fell five votes shy of the 60 votes needed to override a fillibuster. And so, on March 6, 2014, the a bill that would have dared to challenge the status quo and actually advocate for survivors of sexual assault, was shut down by a procedural vote that stopped it from even moving to the senate floor.
The need for the MJIA is painfully obvious. As I wrote yesterday,
This bill is extremely important and would challenge the status quo culture of rape and impunity ravaging our armed forces…. the MJIA is a very sensible bill that would move the decision to prosecute out of the hands of the Chain of Command and into the hands of an independent military prosecutor. Given that over a quarter of people sexually assaulted are assaulted by someone in the chain of command, the current system, which requires survivors to report their assault to their superior within said chain of command, is counterproductive an dangerous. The military is creating a system in which rape survivors must report their rapes to people who are friends with the rapists, or the rapists themselves. This obviously inhibits reporting. Logic tells us this. And so does the fact that 62% of those who did report perceived some retaliation for doing so.
The senate voted to let a competing bill, the Victims Protection Act, move forward to a vote. This bill, sponsored by Claire McCaskill (D-MO), one of the only three women to vote against the MJIA, would make some modest reforms but would keep decision-making in response to a report of violence within the chain of command.
The statements of the senators opposing the MJIA reveal blind obedience of the army, expectations that defy logic and the historical record, and a glaring and infuriating disregard for the people who are raped and assaulted in the armed forces. The fact that these statements and votes against the MJIA were made on the same day it was revealed that the top Army prosecutor for sexual assault cases has been suspended for sexual assault, makes this even more disturbing.
Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) actually said (out loud!) that enough has been done about the whole military rape thing:
We have been working on the problem of sexual assault, and the reality is that Congress has been aggressive in instituting reforms to tackle sexual assault in the military…These reforms have strengthened the protections and the care of the victims while preserving the rights of the accused. These historic reforms are vital to ensuring a sound, effective, and fair military justice system.
Senator John McCain (R-AZ) explained he trusts the commanders, even though they are part of the culture and system which which fails to punish rapists but inhibits, intimidates and re-traumatizes rape victims:
Will we hold those commanders responsible for everything that happens under their command, or will we take that responsibility and shift it to a lawyer? That’s what this is really all about…I trust these commanders. I trust them.
McCain may not care about the victims but he really doesn’t want to hurt the commander’s feelings. So sensitive.
The always lovely Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was eager to criticize Gillibrand on a personal level and attribute the bill, which has received by partisan support from people including RAND PAUL AND TED CRUZ, to a liberal agenda conspiracy:
What Senator Gillibrand is doing is way off base. It will not get us to the promised land of having a more victim friendly system to report sexual assaults…. This is about liberal people [like TED CRUZ AND RAND PAUL?] wanting to gut the military justice system– social engineering run amok. I want to help victims, but I also want a fair trial… It is only 3 percent who make these decisions. They are our wing commanders, our squadron commanders, our fleet commanders, our brigade commanders the people we entrust and hold accountable for fighting and winning the war.
We have had some bad commanders. However, to those who command the military, I have confidence in you. You will take this system to a new level. You have to up your game, but I am not going to fire you. Thank you for commanding the finest military in the world. I will do nothing to say you are morally bankrupt, because I don’t believe that.
In case you missed it, the people who support the MJIA are not concerned with empowering survivors of sexual assault, according to Graham. They just hate the army and consider each and every commander morally bankrupt. They’re not just liberal… they’re unamerican.
What is so amazing about this debate is that it did not fall neatly along partisan lines, as mentioned above,. I never thought I’d write the following words, but Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) made an excellent case for the MJIA, highlighting the logic of the bill and the absurdity and cruelty of opposing it.
the definition of “insanity” is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. We have known that sexual assault in the military has been a problem decade after decade. I think it is time we tried something new….
To me it is as simple as this: Should you have to report your assault to your boss? This is what we are talking about. What if your boss goes drinking with the person who assaulted you, who is friends with them? Wouldn’t we want the person you complained to completely outside the chain of command? Wouldn’t we want to have lawyers involved whose specialty is this type of situation?
Yesterday, the United States Senate voted that the men and women serving in our armed forces should be forced to report their sexual assaults to their bosses, to the friends of their assaulters or even their very assaulters.
katiehalper.com 