One way to measure the fears of people in power is by the intensity of their quest for certainty and control over knowledge.
By that standard, the members of the Florida Legislature marked themselves as the folks most terrified of history in the United States when last month they took bold action to become the first state to outlaw historical interpretation in public schools. In other words, Florida has officially replaced the study of history with the imposition of dogma and effectively outlawed critical thinking. [more]

Robert Jensen writes from the perspective of a professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. This fact alone will I daresay be enough for many Americans to disregard his comments. Austin being an island of (one thing) in an ocean of (another thing entirely). His argument will cut very little ice in that ocean, where the majority will consider it sufficient response to clutch their bibles, wrap themselves in a flag and belt out some patriotic dirge to drown out the godless murmuring of the (ahem) “liberal elite”.

“Tell me, great hero, but please make it brief
Is there a hole for me to get sick in?”
(Dylan, Tombstone Blues, 1965)

via wood s lot