Posted on 07/02/2015 12:51:45 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
TV personality Mike Rowe has expressed his thoughts on social media about the ongoing Confederate flag controversy which became a national issue after the horrific Charleston shooting.
Mike Rowe has more than once used his Facebook platform to respond to fans’ questions about current issues from a non-ideological, non-partisan perspective. In this instance, a fan asked him about his feelings about the confederate flag.
The former Dirty Jobs host on Discovery, Mike Rowe is currently starring in a similar reality show on CNN called Somebody’s Gotta Do It. You may have also recently seen him on TV as a pitchman for Ford trucks.
Despite the blue-collar emphasis of his TV work, Rowe used to sing with the Baltimore Opera as well as appear as an on-air host for QVC.
In a prior Facebook exchange, Mike Rowe rejected a poster’s premise that he is engaging in so-called right-wing propaganda by “harping on” the importance of a work ethic and falsely claiming that many jobless individuals actually don’t want to work.
Rowe has long campaigned for job seekers to enter the skilled trades rather than going into student-loan hock for a four-year university degree that provides no hands-on training for actual good-paying work. He started the mikeroweWorks Foundation that, among other things, awards scholarships to men and women who seek training at trade schools across the country. Rowe is on record as saying that “Many of the best opportunities that exist today require a skill, not a diploma.”
With that in mind, he previously declared on Facebook that it’s fundamentally unnecessary for a viable candidate for elective office, such as GOP presidential hopeful Scott Walker, the Wisconsin governor, to possess a college degree.
Although Donald Trump is the controversy du jour, Mike Rowe responded earlier this week to user Jason about his feelings concerning the Confederate flag by noting that both the Confederate battle flag and the Nazi swastika make him angry to the extent that both symbols make him want to locate a time-travel device and then beat the KKK Grand Wizard and Hitler to death with a golf club.
He continued that his feelings about the Confederate flag are mostly unimportant. As the Blaze observed, however, “his ‘thoughts’ on the matter are far more complicated and nuanced.”
“I think we need to be very careful about congratulating ourselves too enthusiastically for removing a piece of cloth from the public square — even if it’s removal is long overdue. I also think we need to stop calling people racist, just because they see the flag as something other than a symbol of hate. This is what happens when we put a premium on our feelings. We assume everyone who disagrees with us is not merely wrong, but dangerous. I know many good Southerners who abhor racism, but view this flag as an important connection to their ancestors — the vast majority of whom never owned slaves. This doesn’t mean the flag should be allowed to fly on public property — not for a minute. But it’s a mistake in my view, to equate the removal of a symbol, with the removal of the evil it’s come to symbolize. And that’s exactly what a lot of people are doing. We’re conflating cause and effect…”
The TV host underscored that removing an offensive symbol will do little to solve any underlying societal problems. “By all means — lets take the flag down. It’s long past time. But let’s not fool ourselves. Racism and terrorism and all the other hate-filled ‘-isms’ that plague the species will never be eliminated by banning flags, burning books, limiting speech, or outlawing white sheets and pointy little hats.”
Do you agree or disagree with the Mike Rowe Facebook essay about the Confederate flag?
>> Article: the so-called right-wing propaganda the jobless are too lazy to work...
The #ing Left has an excuse for everything. It kills the economy and deflects its malicious failure by pointing its dirty finger at those advancing the need action.
... advancing the need for action.
"Anyone with “real-life experience” and a bachelor’s degree would be able to get a teaching license in any subject as long as they pass a test proving they are knowledgeable, under a budget provision Gov. Scott Walker announced Thursday.
The proposal would expand the non-traditional routes available to become licensed without an education degree. But many details weren’t disclosed Thursday, including whether it would call for any preparation for teaching, which is required in many of the current ways to get a teaching license without attending an education school.
Under Walker’s proposal, people with experience in fields they intend to teach could get licenses as long as they have a bachelor’s degree and demonstrate “that he or she is proficient in the subject or subjects that he or she intends to teach,” according to Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick.
The renewable license authorizes the individual to teach only in grades 6 to 12 for three years, Patrick said.
The proposal would be similar to nontraditional routes already available. Patrick said there are differences that will be outlined in the budget, but was not specific.....
Officials voice concern
.....In an emailed response to the proposal, DPI [Dept of Public Instruction] spokesman Tom McCarthy said, “You need more than textbook knowledge to be the kind of teacher that connects with students and helps all kids learn.”
“Like a skilled surgeon or a master electrician, high-quality teaching requires both skills and content knowledge,” said McCarthy. “Increasing the number of licensed teachers only addresses one side of the equation when it comes to finding and retaining the best teachers.”......
....John Forester of the Wisconsin School Administrators Alliance said without seeing details, the organization has “significant concerns over what appears to be the philosophical underpinnings” of the proposal. “Our reading of the research indicates that high quality preparation for teachers really matters,” he said. “We think content knowledge is only one part of the equation.”
If I recall correctly, he sang one small aria to obtain his actor’s guild. He did not be on a professional opera singer.
The selective outrage of the Left is NEVER addressed by those who have zeroed-in on the Confederate battle flag (example) as a symbol of hate and racism. Why? Because they can only express themselves in emotional terms where facts and truth mean nothing. For Lefties (and the easily intimidated among us), solid understanding and critical thinking are unimportant. It’s OK to discriminate against Christian bakeries to refusing gay wedding confectioneries, but these same people don’t say a thing when Islamic terrorists groups murder Christians and Gays in the most horrible of ways. If the baker doesn’t take your business, find another and don’t use the club of government to beat them. However, for the Left, Muslims are a protected group of misunderstood death cultists so telling the truth on them or sanctioning them cannot happen in a Leftist’s universe.
Linked in the article:
http://www.inquisitr.com/1680102/you-wont-believe-mike-rowes-answering-machine-message/
It’s Easier to Remove a Confederate Flag Than a Racist Teacher [FR Post linked to Washington Monthly OpEd
[SNIP] "........If we rigorously examine the root causes of hate, let’s rethink Common Core as an anti-racist, -sexist, -homophobic system of instruction. We do need a common core of history, civics and other subjects that lead to a more inclusive brand of patriotism than our curriculums currently generate. This is a Common Core debate worth having. Last year, Texas and Oklahoma among other states denied the acceptance of the national advanced placement (AP) history curriculum because of its “anti-American” leanings. In 2013, the Arizona Department of Education banned Ethnic Studies and the multicultural course offerings on similar grounds. The fight for American History plays out periodically around the country, but we should have this debate in terms of developing national standards based on inclusion, engagement and civic participation.
In addition, if we’re serious about using schools to reduce hate, we have to look at who teaches....."
[SNIP]
Just like phone cameras have exposed racist policing, in schools we need technology, student evaluations and other feedback loops that detect bias in teaching. Moreover, our metrics should catch up to Obama’s eulogy. A successful school is one that actively minimizes bias. Let’s hold ourselves accountable for how students feel they are treated. Academic growth might best be tracked by reducing racism and bias.
(And by the way, remove all “Rebel” mascots.”)
Princeton University professor Cornel West often says that we’ve become “adjusted to injustice and adapted to indifference.” Educators have to believe our schooling has contributed to numbing the bigotry that’s flagrantly waving in our faces. Let’s hope that teachers inspire a movement of students who climb proverbial flagpoles."
All they really teach is crowd control anyway.
“I think we need to be very careful about congratulating ourselves too enthusiastically for removing a piece of cloth from the public square...... ........I also think we need to stop calling people racist, just because they see the flag as something other than a symbol of hate. This is what happens when we put a premium on our feelings. We assume everyone who disagrees with us is not merely wrong, but dangerous. I know many good Southerners who abhor racism, but view this flag as an important connection to their ancestors — the vast majority of whom never owned slaves.
And about removing it from public places? It belongs in places that remember people who died under that flag, many good people who as the author said never held slaves. Heck, there are even blacks who fought for the Confederacy. Besides that, giving into these horrible people who would turn unimaginable grief into their personal flag-destruction cause just ruined a moment when races were coming together. It gives them an opening and they'll just keep pushing their demands to rewrite history.
It's also about states' rights. This started with some media big mouths deciding what's best for South Carolina, and yet another idiot governor who wouldn't defend her state. I wonder how many blacks and crazed liberals would've said they took the flag to be a symbol of racism before the media told them how to think.
Our culture and civilization are being destroyed. Someone has to fight for freedom of speech, freedom of expression, and going back to the Constitution (and without judges rewriting it). Right now, only one person is doing it....and it sure isn't a governor or US Senator!
The left attaches “morals” to things they want to get rid of. Make it immoral and it can be gotten rid of. Like the flag.
All good points grania.
I’ll add a bit to what you’ve stated.
It was cheered when the White House was lighted up as a rainbow flag. Isn’t that offensive and unnecessary provocation? I’d say so. It’s a war of symbols.
Also, I will note that Ted Cruz is good in front of the court, while Scott Walker is good in front of the people.
Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals.
4. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”
What do you expect from a Yankee homosexual?
Outrage over Confederate flags but 75 children are executed by ISIS and not a peep out of the Left.
Well said....Thank-you!
As a daughter of the South, I have respect for the many sacrifices made during the Civil War and this flag represents them......I’ve never considered it a racist flag.
In my hometown in Tennessee, we have a small Confederate cemetery......
...Charleston has.....in the middle of town....an old, elegant very large & imposing structure .......the Confederate Museum...
To walk inside one immediately feels the reverence for ‘that time, that era’ which is reflected in the uniforms and artifacts presented.
Attempts to erase history of a people.....of a place.....is wrong, just wrong.....and evil.
I get it that the good people of Charleston did not want to riot & cause mayhem......
They wanted to mourn their dead in a Christian reverence.
I get it that Alinsky types weren ‘t happy with their response......
And like spoiled brats chose our very Southern flag to beat us over the head.
Not only satisfied with destroying or tearing down what is old and dear to us....
they seize on the Supreme Court decision to wallow in the ‘rainbow flag’ and display it on structures throughout the land, even the White House
So .....the homosexual (& their vile acts conceived in the Pit!) representation of the ‘rainbow flag.......accepted
The Conferderate Flag, representing Robert E. Lee and the Southern states.......not accepted
This is the vile, unGodly world we are in.
Excellent point.
+1
Oh goody. Cornel West.
Yeah, let’s listen to him and do what he says. /s
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