The Atlantic is the mouthpiece of the imperial Borg, and the editor-in-chief got his position there by writing dishonest drivel in 2002 about Saddam's WMDs and Saddam's links to Al Qaeda in order to whip up popular support for the invasion of Iraq. Here's the damning evidence (note in particular the failure to discuss Saddam's deployment of chemical weapons against Iranian troops with the active support of Reagan and Thatcher):
As far as the Atlantic's take on the limits of acceptable literature at the high school level, it's not hard to understand if one can accept that their ideological grandfather was Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831). His idea that 'war is a continuation of politics by other means' leads to the conclustion that, in an authoritarian state, education would be a continuation of the state’s political ideology. and the fundamental rationale of education would be to serve the state’s objectives. Thus, the Atlantic supports teaching a version of history, politics, and culture that aims to create loyalty to the state and its leadership as the primary goal of high school level education. From this viewpoint, 'Lies My Teacher Told Me' by James Loewen is heretical blasphemy.
The alternative to rigid indoctination of students is to present them with multiple works with differing viewpoints and have them debate them on the merits - e.g. have them read Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' as well as Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' and let them come to their own conclusions. Also, stop excluding fantasy and science fiction literature from the academic curriculum! The Three-Body Problem is highly suitable for a high school literature course, for example.
The challenge in today's environment is convincing people in elite institutions that liberal authoritarian ideology and censorship - e.g. banning Conrad because they see him as an old white racist - is as much of a threat to a free and open society as conservative authoritarian ideology is.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2002/03/25/the-great-terr...
As far as the Atlantic's take on the limits of acceptable literature at the high school level, it's not hard to understand if one can accept that their ideological grandfather was Carl von Clausewitz (1780-1831). His idea that 'war is a continuation of politics by other means' leads to the conclustion that, in an authoritarian state, education would be a continuation of the state’s political ideology. and the fundamental rationale of education would be to serve the state’s objectives. Thus, the Atlantic supports teaching a version of history, politics, and culture that aims to create loyalty to the state and its leadership as the primary goal of high school level education. From this viewpoint, 'Lies My Teacher Told Me' by James Loewen is heretical blasphemy.
The alternative to rigid indoctination of students is to present them with multiple works with differing viewpoints and have them debate them on the merits - e.g. have them read Conrad's 'Heart of Darkness' as well as Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' and let them come to their own conclusions. Also, stop excluding fantasy and science fiction literature from the academic curriculum! The Three-Body Problem is highly suitable for a high school literature course, for example.
The challenge in today's environment is convincing people in elite institutions that liberal authoritarian ideology and censorship - e.g. banning Conrad because they see him as an old white racist - is as much of a threat to a free and open society as conservative authoritarian ideology is.