Mark Steckel @ 84

Glenn’s blog may not have the Spotlight links, but the Spotlight is ready and waiting for Glenn. :-)

In fact, you can Spotlight any of Glenn’s posts but it requires a bit of manual work. Its easy, don’t worry.

Using the following template:

http://www.thespotlightproject…..PERMALINK

Copy the permalink to any of Glenn’s post and replace “[PERMALINK]” in the above URL with the actual link. Here’s an example.

http://www.thespotlightproject…..-film.html

Of course, you will need to enter the resulting URL into the address bar of your browser.

That’s easy enough, though it would also be easy to make a webform that could do that for you, “Enter URL here:” and concatenates the url to the end of the baseurl… for the less tech inclined FDLers.
tool.

Take a look at:

http://www.thespotlightproject.org/spotlight.php

FYI – If it hasn’t been noted, Robert Iger’s predominantly donating to democratic causes, per opensecrets.org.

At this exact moment, I don’t give a shit.

This gift he’s underwriting to the conservative right-giving lies the appearance of truth-is not something that can be washed away with some $2100 checks.

Yeesh. The battle on the homefront continues. I got a rather snotty note from the curriculum director in response to my faxed letter wanting answers to the following questions before they would begin investigation into Scholastic’s materials on any of their campuses:

1. What evidence do you have that any of these materials are currently being used with [schoolname] students at any grade level?

2. What is the relationship you think [schoolname] has with Scholastic?

3. Why is this set of materials so offensive to you, as opposed to any other materials that may be factually inaccurate about any
topic?

4. Would you like to register a formal complaint about these materials using the appropriate form available to parents?

These questions are probably boilerplate, but the emailed letter as a whole was not.

Now I’m REALLY p*ssed off; I may have to run for school board.

This reminds me. It is probably counterproductive to threaten Scholastic with anything that can be regarded as censorship. You probably will not see any library associations getting involved partly because of the dreaded “c” word, and nor should they. I’d rather intimate my shaky trust in the quality of their titles as a consumer or someone who has input in purchases. The “formal complaint” is the burocrtic device also used by librarians to ward off parents foaming at the mouth about titles like “My two daddies.”

I agree with those hesistating to let Scholastic off the hook just yet. The media-literacy “teachable moment” goes way beyond just understanding the difference between a docudrama and a documentary. This thing isn’t Roots fer chrissakes.

The media-literacy teachable moment has to do with understanding the difference between a fact-based docudrama and an agenda-driven political hit piece. I’m not sure that meta-lesson will play on the Scholastic phonograph without destroying it (for those recognizing the metaphor, my Godel’s on a little tight today), since their association with the ABC project implies a certain level of endorsement.

I like the idea of a media literacy course. My doubts: Is Scholastic sweetening the lemon here? I am not sure it is wise to give kids a media literacy crash course using exemplars that are probably basically polemic/& or propaganda. It’s an issue that that has essentially split this country, and we’re inundated with polemic.I’d rather see a literacy course like pick an “historical movie” , e.g., the Man in the Iron Mask or Richard III, and list the differences between that and the account given in a reasonably well-sourced history (library exercise dependant on grade reading levels.) Or this could be used for something more contemporary events as well. But 9/11?

The loss of that opportunity came from a much bigger gain, the eagerness and competence of our own forces in conducting a coordinated attack. The response within hours to this alarm going out was stunningly wonderful.

When I read about Scholastic here on Sunday night, I contacted a friend who is an official of the California Teachers Association. He said that he had calls coming in all day on Monday (Labor day). Eventually, I tipped MediaMatters.org about Scholastic — they were already on the ABC stuff. The next day they were on that too, probably due to multiple tips, many of which preceded mine.

In addition to MediaMatters, many others (especially Sheldon Rampton) were pulling together the details for documenting the errors in “The Path to 9/11.” This is wonderful stuff.

Just now, I turned off a Fox News interview of Gordon Liddy. The theme was “See how the mainstream media caves to pressure from the left.” Sigh!!!

It’s simple all we have to do is go after the broadcast licenses.
Losing their licenses takes away the printing presses that makes the money stream.

Us and what FCC?

What provokes me most about this whole sordid incident is the cynical manipulation of our children! When anyone attempts to brainwash children they sink to the level of the Nazi youth movement, seriously. I cannot find words to describe precisely how reprehensible it is.

And yes, I am aware that Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, George Bush, et al, are sociopaths of the highest order — and clinically insane to boot — but when they are so desperate to retain power that they stoop so low as to propagandize impressionable children, I am really to go to the mattresses. I cannot be more serious.

I couldn’t agree more. The kids they brainwash will become putty in Rove’s hands by the time they’re 18. Before that they’ll have turned in their liberal parents for reprogramming.

Many of us have been sending emails to Scholastic Communications. Officially at least they welcome comments at: news@scholastic.com.

FWIW, I opened by telling them them that if (as reported) their mission is to spur debate on whether the media hurts our national security, they couldn’t have found a better fit for Bush’s frame. On 9/5 he implied the critical U.S. news media are an al Qaeda tool.

Not clear how if at all Scholastic means to clean up its act, but a deluge wouldn’t hurt.