“Part of the 99”

Comment of the Day: “Unethical Quote of the Week: Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz”

/ Jack Marshall / 3 Comments

I found Michael’s personal and heart-felt reflections on the fact that Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren has been distinguishing herself so-called “1%” thought-provoking on many levels. Its relevance to the Golden Rule is especially interesting. How can we treat others as we would want to be treated if we were them, when we don’t have sufficient common experiences to know what those others want and need? When a politician claims to be “one of us” and really is not, it is more than a misrepresentation. It is an appeal to trust based on false information.

Here is Michael’s Comment of the Day, on the post Unethical Quote of the Week: Roxanne Dunbar Ortiz:

” Continue reading →

Politics in Elementary School: Unethical Always

/ Jack Marshall / 7 Comments

Believe it or not, Yip Harburg is only 7 years old in this photo...

Third graders at Woodbrook Elementary School in Albemarle County, Virginia recently performed a song called “Part of the 99,” proclaiming their solidarity with the “Occupy” movement’s zeitgeist.  The song was part of a program sponsored by “Kid Pan Alley,” a children’s arts organization. The children worked with a facilitator to develop the theme and lyrics for a song, and that facilitator, who so far has not been identified, obviously, and I mean that in the “do these people really think we’re all idiots?” sense of the word, manipulated the process to produce an “Occupied Youth” moment. A blog got wind of it, and the criticism, richly deserved, erupted on the internet.

Incredibly, the school denies that any indoctrination went on, and claims that the children came up with the lyrics and theme on their own. As “who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?” lies go, this one is superb. Here are the lyrics those third graders supposedly came up with by themselves: Continue reading →