I Need Help in Countering This Anti-1980's College Propaganda

Signs of Life in The USA | 9/27/01 | Laurence Shames

[gopno1]

Here we go again.

Now I am being forced to read a bunch of anti-80's crap in my English Composition class.

This instructor is a pure Commie-pinko. I can't stand her, and have had it out with her numerous times. Remember, I am 6-7 years older than anyone in my classes, so I have the upper hand on all of the students as far as political knowledge.

We are being spoon-fed liberal propaganda in the form of this book: "Signs of Life in the USA, Readings on Popular Culture for Writers." Authored by Sonia Maasik and Jack Solomon. I think it was edited by Marx.

To get to the point: we are to discuss this outloud tommorrow and I need some pro-Reagan, pro-1980's ammo to combat this "Decade of Greed" crap. I was only 12 when Reagan left office, so my memories are quite cloudy.

I let no liberalism slide in ANY of my classes. I have gotten advice to just take it and get out of there and be done with it, but I just can't do it. This needs to be combatted. Thanks for all of your help. BW

[ppaul]

Decade of greed? Well, the '90's deserves that. That's when so many made millions of paper profits in the dot.coms and gas-guzzling SUVs were the rage.

Remember, it was the Reagan policies, highlighted by his speech in Berlin, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" that brought down the Berlin Wall and communism, bringing the fresh air of freedom to millions who were oppressed behind the Iron Curtain for most of the 20th Century.

How's that for starters?

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

I'd ask her why she feels the need for politicizing an English Comp class. Oh, because she's a leftist...

[dead]

Try these two excellent threads:

Reagan Changed the World

"Courage" - Margaret Thatcher's thoughts on Ronald Reagan

They have all the info you need.

[KayEyeDoubleDee]

Ask her whether she's ever heard of Juannita Broaddrick.

[caddie]

To fight the 'decade of greed' crap is easy -- the Clinton 1990s were years of even greater wealth, excess, licentiousness, than anything that happened in the 1980s.

Anything that they accuse Reagan of (vis a vis allowing Americans to become wealthy) Clinton's watch was WORSE. People were even 'greedier' and wealthier.

'Reaganomics' was vindicated. Tax cuts led to REAL investment in start-ups that led to some of the most phenomenally fast-growing and innovative companies in the past century: e.g., Cisco Systems, Office Depot, etc.,

Buy an Investors Business Daily for more data and arguments in this vein.

Plus, charitable giving increased massively during the 'Decade of Greed'.

[Non-Sequitur]

I advise you to sit back, shut up, and crank out whatever crap will make her happy and get you a decent grade. It's an English Comp course, for crying out loud, and not worth the effort. You take those because you have to take them - unless you're an English major - and then you forget about them.

I had a Management class in college many years ago taught by a professor who started every class with a harangue on whatever pissed him off that particular day. One such diatribe ended with him pointing out that he was of an age where he could retire and with social security and his university pension, and without the various withholdings associated with them, he could make more take-home by retiring than he was by teaching. Therefore, he proudly stated, he was teaching for free. I muttered to the girl sitting next to me, "Well, you get what you pay for" and unfortunately he overheard me. Cost me an A in the class and dinged my GPA for the quarter. So, just sit back, bite your lip, and let her howl.

[virtualreb]

Actually Decade of Greed is a good book and resource. Truth is hard to stomach but it will make you stronger. As one who is 1 decade older then you and who lived through the 80's (went to college, and grad school got married etc.) I can assure you that your teacher is probably right and you are probably wrong if you are repeating the words of those who have tried to repaint the 80's with rose colors. The greed is good, anything for a buck mentality of that time that put us in bed with the Shahs, Noriegas, Husseins and bin Ladens of the world. I don't blame Reagan because this mentality came from the people to the gov't and not the other way around).

[ResistorSister]

These types are always ready for an argument...they live for it...

So, instead...ask her personal questions.
Ask your her:
1. How did the "Decade of Greed" negatively impact your life?
Follow Up questions:
2. What did you do to turn that negativity into a positive - for yourself and your community?
(you know, if she is going to complain about a whole entire decade, at least tell me that you did something to make a positive change in the decade.)
3. Would your life and the life of those around you have been better - if not for the "Decade of Greed"? If so, how?

[comitatus]

Major points re leftist myths: (1) the Reagan tax cuts did not benefit only the rich-they had precisely the effect they were suppposed to, and top bracket taxpayer's paid MORE taxes, both in absolute dollars and as a percentage of the total. (2) Reagan tax cuts did not cause huge deficits-tax revenue increased faster than inflation (3) the "massive" defense build-up did not cause deficits, non-defense spending rose far faster (4) and, as a result social programs were NOT gutted, in fact all the components of the so called safety-net increased in constant dollars thru-out the 8 years. If non-defense spending had stayed at the rate of inflation, deficits would have fallen much faster. Then there is the little matter of winning the cold war. The whole left view of the Reagan years is dead wrong on every point.

[scalia_#1]

Go the library and check out "The Seven Fat Years" by Robert Bartley. He gives a thorough analysis of the economy in the 1980s, including increases in the middle-class income (in real dollars) and increases in charitable giving. Lots of graphs, too, which are good for quick-referencing.

[Southack]

In the 80's, all of the Leftist journalists were writing and saying that the Japanese would overtake America's economy. They said that the Japanese would be responsible for most of the new technological developments in the world, too.

It's safe to say that your English professor won't want her favorite liberal writers quoted on their pro-Japanese writings from back in the 1980's.

For instance, the Japanese didn't develop the Internet, e-mail, browsers, operating systems, CPU chips, et al, and they certainly didn't overtake our economy.

Perhaps we were doing a few things right under Reagan, after all!

But if you REALLY want to torque her, start quoting Tipper Gore's comments on banning rock lyrics during the 80's. Ronald Reagan, George Bush Sr., and even Al Haig didn't go that far!

[100%FEDUP]

All this politically correct BS can be traced back to George Lukacs, a socialist philosopher with huge fascist leanings who helped Marx in the social engineering of Eastern Europe. I believe the name of one of his book was "The Process of Democritization."

[Moleman]

Politics aside the 80's were cool.
Music was cool, clothing styles cool (well except for those parachute pants I wore) and most importantly Liberalism was on the fringe.
Liberalism and PC is now the mainstream group think. Any objections or counterpoints to this group think and you are considered a bigot or worse.
Certainly, like another poster put it the 90's were the decade of greed more than any other. And what is wrong with making money?
I enjoyed quadrupling my families standard of living in the 90's.
One problem that did haunt the 80's was too much zeal of the fringe religious right. Now I am not looking to be flamed but think back...
Did Ozzy really cause kids to kill themselves?

-Moleman

[Southack]

Post #9 is precisely why we need a 5 day waiting limit for new users to obtain posting rights.

Anyone can grab a new user-id and post something inflamatory without putting their "real" reputation at risk, at least under our current system.

[bleudevil]

This teacher is obviously trying to politicize the writing curriculum. Boo.

P.J. O'Rourke's "Parliment of Whores" is a good example of writing on social policy and economics. He is good at explaining complicated subjects in a clear, humorous way and is sure to tick off your teacher. :->

[Ratatoskr]

Decade of greed? Well, the '90's deserves that.

Good start. How come when we have economic good times and Republicans are in office, it's greed but when we have economic good times and Democrats are in office it's prosperity?

In the eighties, the corporate CEO made, on average, 45 times what the guy on the assembly line made. In the nineties, it was over 400 times. (I wish I could remember the source for that). Whereas the "greed" of the eighties tended to float all boats, the "prosperity" of the nineties tended to float a handful of handmade teak yachts.

[balrog666]

I advise you to sit back, shut up, and crank out whatever crap will make her happy and get you a decent grade. It's an English Comp course, for crying out loud, and not worth the effort. You take those because you have to take them - unless you're an English major - and then you forget about them.

Your view is the view of a fool.
Courage is its reward - standing up for your beliefs will provide an example to those who need it (and precisely when they need to see it).
You should hope that she has the stupidity to fail you for your views so you can sue her, the college, & the administration and get her fired before she infects any more of the weak minded.

Good luck!

[patriciaruth]

Smartest thing you can do is drop the class and encourage others to drop it so the "Professor" doesn't get full classes on his record. And tell him after the paperwork is done that he is a commie traitor and you don't want your grade point sabotaged by his vitriolic bias.
Scum like this ruined by GPA in my first year of college to the point where I had to totally abandoned my major. Luckily I found an alternative that I loved.