{"id":2032,"date":"2009-09-08T10:46:53","date_gmt":"2009-09-08T14:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/?p=2032"},"modified":"2009-09-08T10:46:53","modified_gmt":"2009-09-08T14:46:53","slug":"the-president-is-not-a-father-in-chief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/?p=2032","title":{"rendered":"The President is not a father-in-chief"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jesse Walker in Reason Magazine<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Children shouldn’t be taught that the president\u2014any president\u2014is a beloved paternal figure with a grand plan for everyone. (From the original lesson plan: “Students might think about: What specific job is he asking me to do? Is he asking anything of anyone else? Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?”) Children should be taught the truth: that presidents are polarizing figures who are constantly dogged by controversy. That Americans don’t always agree about proper public policy, and sometimes they disagree enough to do something as drastic as keeping their kids home from school. That politics is about conflict, not listening in unison while a friendly face on a TV screen dispenses instructions.<\/p>\n

If the president’s address took place with no protest, it would be\u2014at best<\/em>\u2014a waste of classroom time. The protests, by contrast, are a lesson in the passions of American politics. And if your real parents are at odds with the faux father in the White House, they can offer something yet more valuable: the chance to hear an authority figure remind you that it isn’t always best to submit unthinkingly to authority.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What is Walker on about? The President’s remarks can be read here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Dansk update:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Berlingskes Poul H\u00f8i gennemg\u00e5r talen her<\/a> med en klassisk, sjusket dansk vinkel. Jo, jo, dele af kritikken har da v\u00e6ret over-the-top, men hvorfor fort\u00e6ller H\u00f8i ikke, at Obama delvist b\u00f8jede sig for kritikken og bl.a. \u00e6ndrede sine meget problematiske instrukser til l\u00e6rerne<\/a> – dem der f\u00f8rte til kritikken i f\u00f8rste omgang? De indeholder bl.a. formuleringer til skoleb\u00f8rnene som: “Hvad tror du, pr\u00e6sidenten beder dig om at g\u00f8re?” og “Tror du, at vi kan opn\u00e5 de ting, pr\u00e6sidenten beder os om?” og lignende hall\u00f8j, der giver mindelser om Den K\u00e6re Leder. Det v\u00e6rste sted var en opfordring til eleverne om at skrive et brev til sig selv, hvor de t\u00e6nker over, hvordan de kan “hj\u00e6lpe pr\u00e6sidenten”. Pr\u00e6sidentens tale blev streamet live til skoler landet over – en ret us\u00e6dvanlig henvendelsesform. Ville d\u00e6kningen v\u00e6re s\u00e5 venlig, hvis det var Bush, der kom med lignende henvendelser? (Hans far kom for \u00f8vrigt med en lignende tale til skoleb\u00f8rn og Reagan gjorde noget lignende. Hvordan var den danske d\u00e6kning dengang?) Er talen ogs\u00e5 i sig selv blevet \u00e6ndret p\u00e5 grund af kritikken? Det ved vi ikke p\u00e5 nuv\u00e6rende tidspunkt.<\/p>\n

Igen tegner danske medier et billede af moderate, fornuftige Obama, der kun m\u00f8der modstand, fordi vanvittige ekstremister som Glenn Beck kaster om sig med till\u00e6gsord og spreder “frygt”. Men n\u00e5r der gives efter for kritikken, kunne det jo v\u00e6re, at den har noget p\u00e5 sig.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jesse Walker in Reason Magazine: Children shouldn’t be taught that the president\u2014any president\u2014is a beloved paternal figure with a grand plan for everyone. (From the original lesson plan: “Students might think about: What specific job is he asking me to do? Is he asking anything of anyone else? Teachers? Principals? Parents? The American people?”) Children … L\u00e6s mere The President is not a father-in-chief<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[57,283,319],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2032"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2032\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2032"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2032"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.whiteberg.dk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2032"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}