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Randi Weingarten Writes Book on Why Fascists Hate Critical Thinking

AP Photo/Seth Wenig,File

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten, who makes half a million a year and funnels the rest of the union dues to Democratic campaigns, has been shutting down replies on all of her hot takes on X recently. Get this: she has a new book out called "Why Fascists Fear Teachers," and Rolling Stone thought it would give her a platform to sell her book.

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Who does she mean by "fascists," exactly? Why, everyone who doesn't agree with her. Rolling Stone introduces her book excerpt with this hot take:

Under the current Trump administration, at both the state and federal level, far-right forces and wannabe dictators are smearing teachers, slashing public school funding, banning books, outlawing honest history, and expanding private school vouchers. 

Fake, fake, fake. Except for the part about expanding private school vouchers so that children can actually learn to read and write.

She writes:

Authoritarians actively attack truth, knowledge, and critical thinking because an uninformed public is easier to control. Degrading public education and critical thinking skills may only prime more Americans to not recognize disinformation and misinformation and take authoritarian leaders like Trump at their word. 

Psychologist Bob Altemeyer studied personality traits that make people more receptive to authoritarian leaders. In his 2006 book The Authoritarians, Altemeyer documented his “Right-Wing Authoritarianism” scale, writing: “The authoritarian follower makes himself vulnerable to malevolent manipulation by chucking out critical thinking and prudence as the price for maintaining his beliefs. He’s an ‘easy mark,’ custom-built to be snookered. And the very last thing an authoritarian leader wants is for his followers to start using their heads, to start thinking critically and independently about things.”

In other words, those inclined to support authoritarianism exhibit a general avoidance of or allergy to critical thinking. And authoritarians like it that way.

It makes me wonder whether far-right extremists are trying to deliberately inculcate an anti-critical thinking, pro-authoritarian disposition by undermining public education.

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Oh, just shut up. If your union had the stats to back up that public school kids are better off, we'd give you the time of day.

And Weingarten probably considered Charlie Kirk, who went to colleges and engaged in good-faith debate with anyone, a fascist.

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She's allegedly an educator. Maybe she could look at some historical fascist regimes and explain how she can call our current elected government "fascist." We challenge her to define the terrm. And then look in a mirror.

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