Saturday, January 12, 2013

Algebra is a liberal plot



Well, of course algebra is a liberal agenda! It's an Arabic word, after all. No doubt it's just another example of creeping Sharia law, huh?

Seriously, I'd been hoping that The Young Turks would cover this, because I thought the whole idea was just hilarious! Not to mention as batshit crazy as Fox 'News' ever gets (and that's pretty crazy).

Don't any of these idiots know that distributive property is a real thing in algebra? That illustration, on page 78 of the worksheet, was just a clever play on the phrase, to try to make math interesting to children, as much as possible.

"Liberal agenda"? Well, yes, if you consider math to be a liberal agenda, if you consider knowledge to be a liberal agenda, if you consider reality to be a liberal agenda.

Of course, these right-wingers do think that. Here's a description of math in a Christian textbook funded by the taxpayers of Louisiana, thanks to Bobby Jindal's voucher scheme:
Unlike the "modern math" theorists, who believe that mathematics is a creation of man and thus arbitrary and relative, A Beka Book teaches that the laws of mathematics are a creation of God and thus absolute. ...

A Beka Book provides attractive, legible, and workable traditional mathematics texts that are not burdened with modern theories such as set theory.

Yes, because we all know that set theory is just a tool of the Devil, right? And if you think their math is loony, you should see their history and their 'science'! It's bad enough that these things are taught to children at all, but to use public money? In America?

Anyway, getting back to that Fox program, this part (as TYT also points out) was even crazier, if that's possible:
[Fox 'News' host Eric] Bolling advised parents to read their children’s history books because his son’s textbook addressed the Iraq war “and they were very, very liberally biased, saying George Bush went in there because he heard there were weapons of mass destruction and they were never found. It was a very liberal bias to the history books.”

Say what? I thought that was being generous to Republicans. The liberal take on that is probably that Bush knew there weren't weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but just used it as an excuse to invade the country (either for oil, domestic political benefit, or bizarre neocon theories about bringing Christianity to the Middle East, take your pick).

That explanation, on the other hand, is giving President Bush the benefit of the doubt by indicating that he was just mistaken. If they think that's an example of "very liberal bias," what in the world do they think the truth is? That Satan hid the WMDs by covering them with government-issued condoms, once we invaded? That gay people disguised them with glitter and smuggled them out of Iraq during a gay pride parade? The mind boggles, doesn't it?

I know I keep saying this, but these people just get crazier and crazier. Is there no limit to their insanity?

2 comments:

Jeff said...

"I tell you Winston, that reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the party holds to be truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party."

--George Orwell, 1984

Bill Garthright said...

That is an extremely pertinent quote, Jeff. Thanks!