Commentary and Criticism about the National Education Association
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THE NEA: Conspiracy Theories and Lying by Omission
Network of radical conservative think tanks … Right-wing groups wielding secret toolkits … A secret plot against US unions … No, these are not phrases from the writings of a tin-foil hat wearing conspiracy nut hiding out in his basement. This is from a UK Guardian story which we found through the NEA Today website under: NEA Today - "Must Reads" "Exclusive: how rightwing groups wield secret 'toolkit' to plot against US unions" With that title, you might think that the Guardian has a major scoop on its hands. Reading further, the sub-title of the article actually continues with the same hyperbole: "Internal documents obtained by the Guardian reveal a nationwide drive to persuade union members to quit and stop paying dues." But the reality is that there is nothing surprising or nefarious about an attempt by conservative organizations to let union members know the facts about their dues. Would the NEA prefer to keep this information from its members, possibly misleading them into continuing to pay dues when they don’t have to? If the NEA is critical of an attempt to spread the word about payment of dues, does this mean that it wants to hide this information from its members? In other words, does the NEA prefer to lie by omission? "A concealed truth, that's all a lie is." Josephine Hart "PROGRESSIVE" ECHO CHAMBER BIAS – Detrimental to NEA Unity The Guardian, much like our union, isn’t shy about exposing its bias. It attacks the planned "anti-union marketing drive" because it:
Unfortunately, as we wrote in our last blog post, the NEA’s inclusion of this particular Guardian article is just another example of its continued support for supplying its members with a fully functioning liberal echo chamber. Teachers who read this article, and believe that it is a mainstream point of view, unknowingly become trapped in the NEA echo chamber. They have no clue that the "progressive" bias of the NEA isn’t shared by many of its members. Worse, they fail to see how this bias has undermined many of the good things that the union has done for its members. For conservatives, positive accomplishments such as collective bargaining, health benefits, tenure, etc., are overshadowed when these minority members are force-fed a diet rich in liberal social "justice." For example, conservatives are tired of reading about how the NEA supports:
WHY SOCIAL "JUSTICE" IS CONTROVERSIAL (Hint: It’s all about human nature) And speaking of social "justice", most of the issues that conservatives have with the NEA revolve around this misguided concept. In case you are under the impression that social "justice" is a noble thing that no one in their right mind would be against, consider this definition. From Pachamama.org: "Social justice is the equal distribution of resources and opportunities, in which outside factors that categorize people are irrelevant." If you think that social "justice" is OK based on that definition, we ask you to consider the following analysis: 1) "Equal distribution of resources and opportunities" That sounds quite a bit like the definition of communism: "a system in which goods are owned in common and are available to all as needed" 2) "Outside factors that categorize people are irrelevant" The problem with this part of the definition is that there are many "outside factors" (like intelligence, ability, talent, motivation, etc.) that are not at all "irrelevant" when it comes to the "distribution of resources and opportunities." Some individuals are more intelligent, able, talented and motivated than others. So even if you could level the playing field tomorrow - give every person on this planet the same amount of money, land, resources, etc. - within a week (probably less), inequality would appear again. In the real world, industrious, intelligent and motivated individuals tend to end up ahead of the game. They find ways of using what they have been given to secure more resources. And its not the case that they need to steal or cheat in order to get those additional resources. It’s just the inevitable result of human nature working its way out in society. In a certain sense then, social "justice" is actually anti-human nature. It is an attempt to counteract the natural, normal, expected tendency toward inequality in human affairs. FINAL THOUGHTS – Our money or your bias? Teachers unions are very concerned about the pending Supreme Court decision Janus v. AFSCME. They should be, because if Janus wins, conservative teachers who are fed up with the liberal/progressive bias of the union will finally have the chance to opt out of paying dues to an organization that doesn’t respect their points of view. As the Guardian points out: "The consequences of a favorable ruling are huge. Imagine tens, even hundreds, of millions of dollars currently used to push damaging left-wing causes and candidates … vanishing." Which brings to mind the question asked by the highwayman of old who provided his victims with the following choice: "Your money or your life?" The conservative teacher could easily rephrase this, posing the following question to the NEA: "Our money or your bias? Sadly, just as the armed street thug in modern society will likely take both your money AND your life, the NEA will continue pushing its liberal/progressive agenda while at the same time trying to extort money from its protesting members.
2 Comments
John Cochran
6/3/2018 11:25:43 am
Grateful for the NEA as a way to find resources for teachers to advocate for fair working conditions but concerned about the tendency of Leftist leadership to promote agendas that violate the conscience of many members in favor of one-sided political partisanship rather than representing the diversity of members viewpoints.
Reply
Jonathan Smith
10/2/2018 11:01:28 am
Agreed.
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October 2018
AuthorJonathan Smith - A New Jersey Public School Teacher who disagrees with the National Education Association. |