No Middle Ground

Classroom Rules

I write political essays.  While (hopefully) many are educational, and a few are just “story time”, most are outright, blatant, political commentary.  I spent twenty-eight years in a classroom, making sure my students felt I was a neutral party in our political conversations.  Often, I would take a side that was opposite to my personal opinion.  Sometimes it was to bolster a minority view in the class, to empower them to express their views.  Sometimes it was because there was no opposing opinion expressed – someone had to represent the “other side”.  

My classroom rule was to “cherish” every opinion.  That was the goal, to make sure my classroom was a place where students could freely express themselves.  It was all about teaching good citizenship, the ability to analyze issues and reach a “considered” opinion.  The only rule was no “ad hominen” arguments.  No one was “stupid”, no group was “dumb”.  We gently discussed racism and gender roles; conservative and liberal philosophies; and the hot issues of our time from the Iran hostages to 9-11 to the abuses at Abu Gharib.  

I don’t envy today’s teachers.  Just from my brief “substitute teacher” experiences, the battle lines are so hardened that it’s difficult to get students to listen to each other.  As a substitute,  I don’t have the rapport with a class to even attempt those kinds of discussions. But even reading a story about a man who accidently gained absolute physical power somehow ended in current politics.  When I evoked the saying, “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” several students muttered “Biden” under their breath.  I didn’t go any further – it’s 2023 an era when that kind of open discussion could get out of control – or get substitutes “removed” from the sub list.

Essaying

There are two ways people can read my current thoughts.  Some 2,640 “subscribe” and  get every essay in their email, either from the WordPress program I use, or directly from me.  And then I “publish” on social media, Facebook and Twitter, publicly putting my views “out there”.  

And, oddly perhaps, I still try to follow the “classroom rules” of old.  Sometimes the essays generate discussions.  We’ve had good “talks” about gun violence and Ukraine, and the usefulness of college education.  Some of those are in public, and some are private through email and messaging.  I love the discussion, the back and forth, just like my classroom days.  And this time, I express my views, but try to find middle ground that is so often missing in today’s debates.

In the old classroom days, there occasionally were students who tried to dominate the conversation, attacking anyone with a differing view, and used harsh words and bullying tactics to win the argument.  That’s when I would intervene and try to back them down.  If that didn’t work, I’d remove them from the discussion.  If reason didn’t dominate, bullying wasn’t the alternative.  In those days we had other terms for them:  hard headed, bullies, or just assholes.  In our modern social media era, we now call them “trolls”.  

Trolling

Beginning with my “essaying” in 2017, I found a lot of “trolls”.  I was called a traitor (not one) and a bleeding heart (guilty); accused of supporting pedophiles (really?) and, perhaps worst, of trying to indoctrinate generations of students. (If I was doing that, I sure did a lousy job!).  Some I have been able to bring around to the “classroom rules”.  But some I had to cut off, “block” in Facebook terms.  I’m not letting someone else use my “bully pulpit” to spread lies and misinformation.  And I’m not letting them literally bully others from expressing their views.  I won’t accept the insult that protecting transgendered and gay rights is the same as pedophilia, or that the students protesting for protection in Nashville are the same as the Insurrectionists of January 6^th. 

I blocked a “friend” yesterday.  He won’t see this essay, and I’m sure won’t understand why I did it.  He’ll say I was unable to argue his points, that this was his ultimate “win”.  So be it.  But I am sad.  Removing a kid from class was always a sign of failing the job – cutting someone out of “our” discussion is the same way.  But in this era, when there is no longer an accepted “truth” or “facts”, you can’t always moderate the discussion, or even work to the center. 

Sometimes there is no middle ground.