There’s a general concept within Leftist circles designed to get people to think in communal terms instead of individual terms. I call it “the public good” argument. Basically, whatever a Leftist wants gets argued in terms of the bigger picture for the greater good (or at least their version of it). I ran into this recently and decided it would be a good concept to explore. Oh, and make fun of.
As with so many things these days, it started with a meme…
A Leftist Facebook friend posted a meme with the “public funds should go to public school” idea Leftists have advanced in the past few years in response to parents taking their children out of public schools and either sending them to private schools using vouchers or homeschooling. Because who doesn’t want to send their kids to a school system that even Leftists think suck ass? (I mean, aside from Leftist politicians with kids. They get to go to private school without so much as a mumble of protest from these public school fans.)
Anyway, the original post mentioned “the public good” to praise public schools and to denigrate school vouchers. Being the smartass I am, I started off with a simple premise: both public and private schools serve the same public good, that being a well-educated population. From there, I asked why there is such an uproar over public funds going to private schools via vouchers when they serve the public good I referenced earlier.
To date, I have yet to receive anything resembling a real attempt to answer the question. Oh, I was called “misinformed” by someone promising (and failing) to deliver facts to counter my viewpoint, told I needed to volunteer at a public school to really understand what’s going on (after citing friends and family who are currently teaching, as well as linking to an article showing other public school teachers saying what I was saying), and told “you just want to argue.” But still no answer.
This is the real problem behind the Left’s “public good” argument, whether it be for public education, gun control, or any other Leftist idea they want to promote. Their solutions only go one way, and it’s always the way that favors the Left’s ideological ends. In the situation I experienced, the only way to fix public schools was whatever the Leftists said was the right answer. Which, as it turns out, is exactly the same thing we’ve been doing for decades to a steadily declining standard of education.
Which explains why the Leftists I encountered couldn’t answer the question I posed. If the true goal of public and private schools is to produce well-educated students, there is no logical conclusion where only public schools should get public money. But the Left can’t admit that because it would mean their entire premise of “public funds should stay in public schools” is based on discrimination.
Or should I say bigotry?
One of the big problems the Left has with private schools is how many of those schools have religious ties. They love to cite the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as justification to deny public funds to private schools, but it’s a real stretch to equate public school funding with a law. I mean, unless there’s a public school that has a seat in Congress, it’s pretty much a non-issue. The real issue the Left has with these schools (and only a few openly admit) is the possibility students would be indoctrinated. And Leftists think that’s their job!
More to the point, the Left hates any entity that offers an alternative to government as the sole provider of everything. Which, if you really think about it (and I have because I get bored easily), is a religion of sorts, but…okay, let’s not go too far down this rabbit hole of utter hypocrisy. Let’s just say the Left’s religion includes the holy doctrine of…wait for it…the public good. And their solution? More of the shit that’s failed before, just with a bigger price tag.
That’s where I diverge from the public school fans in the Facebook thread I was on. They say they want public schools to be funded for the public good, but they don’t want to address the problems even public school teachers are seeing today. To them, the funding of public schools is a greater public good than producing a well-educated population.
Which means nothing will get done, but we’ll still be paying for subpar service. If this were a company or a restaurant, we could go elsewhere.
Oh, wait. We can! As public schools continue to see a decline in enrollment, private schools are seeing an increase. No longer are parents subject to the slavery of the public school monopoly, which threatens the pipeline of future Leftists. And because private schools depend on financial donations from donors, they have a vested interest in maintaining and improving educational standards. And that, boys and girls, tends to lead to better results. With better results, these evil private schools are closer to fulfilling the public good public school advocates say they want.
That’s why Leftists are so intent to “prove” public schools are superior to private schools. If parents actually see public schools are shitholes that make Detroit look like Paris in springtime, they are going to demand answers and start looking for alternatives. And thanks to people like LibsofTikTok, we’re getting to see the absolute freaks getting into education and what they’re teaching. Spoiler Alert: the three Rs ain’t too high on the list, but you damn well better learn the teacher’s pronouns!
And somehow public school advocates don’t seem to see this as a problem, but as supporting the public good. The pubic good, maybe, but not the public good.
So, we’re left with the question in the title: how good is the public good? When Leftists define it, not very. When people who actually care about results over politics define it, well it may not be the best, but it’s a damn sight better than the bullshit the Left tells us is the public good.
Tag: facebook
Censored On Social Media
We hear about it all the time. Someone’s social media account got suspended, or they are in “Facebook Jail”, or even had their account cancelled and deleted from the service.
The social media giants are indeed censoring content and posts that they state violates their community standards. And it appears to be very politically biased. If a post favors Christianity, the Founding Fathers of the United States, the current conservative political movement. Chances are it could be censored. If a post speaks out against sin, the Leftist agenda, cultural progressive acceptances. It may be censored.
Yet not of these viewpoints are ever censored. Deviant sexual immorality, wrongs, lies, and evils of socialism, even advocating of violence against conservative members of society is allowed without exception.
Morally this is wicked. Ethically this is wrong.
But the social media giants are not true public forums. We want to believe and pretend that they are public forums with all the rights associated with a public forum. But we are deceiving ourselves when we think this way.
No the current social media giants are members only communities. And as a member we must abide by the community standards or we face the repercussions of ignoring them.
If someone was at a Republican function and started shouting Leftist propaganda. That person would be removed. Even in the case of a function that allows the public to attend. No one is going to stand up and say that the person has the right of free speech.
This is true for any of the current social media giants or any online virtual community, such as a forum, chatroom, or even a blog site. Even your homeowners association. There are rules of conduct and community standards of what is acceptable and what is not.
Yes we have free speech. But there are social limitations. You cannot come into your local church and preach the tenants of Satanism from the pews or pulpit without violating a community standard.
This is the reason why alternatives to Facebook and other social media giants exist. Some are niche sites the only are for Republicans where you can preach to the choir. Others have very loose codes of conduct which allow for a wider discussion. But there are still limits of acceptable topics and content. And if a Leftist managed to join one of these conservative sites. And started to post Leftist content, they too would find themselves censored.
Decades ago there was an uncensored and unmoderated internet discussion forum called USENET. Here there were different discussion boards for almost every conceivable topic. And anyone could post anything to any of them. No questions asked and nothing was ever censored.
The only community standard was a “gentleman’s agreement” not to post on an unrelated subject matter. But it was not enforced by anyone other than the users. And for several decades USENET flourished. A number of great ideas were born out of USENET.
But then the internet grew. And without moderation on the USENET, so did spam, cross postings of unrelated topics, and the arrival of files that could be exchanged. Most of it porn, warez, unauthorized copyrighted material and more.
Today that is all that is there on USENET. Access to USENET used to be through your ISP. Now you need a separate USENET provider and additional fees to access it.
If you don’t like the rules of the social media giants. You can either ignore them and run the risk of being censored. Or post someplace else.