Over the past few days, a new commenter has been visiting my blog. He insists that it’s overblown to discuss any fascist tendencies among the American right wing and keeps talking about the stupidity of “you people,” though I’m still not sure who we might be. (I’m not going to do him the favor of linking to those comments; I’ve already been more than patient in letting him continue to post. You’ll find plenty of his droppings if you browse comments for the last week or so.)
Now, in my response to my post on how teachers are disrespected, he leaves this gem of a comment:
Well, to be prefectly honest, 1f 1t were up to me, all teachers would be rounded up ınto l1ttle camps, w1th barbed w1re and bar1kng dogs, and gıven ‘reducatıon,’ wıth mandatory r1ce tw1ce a day.
Oh 1n pr1nc1ple teachers should be decent people, but 1 have never met any such ones.
I know one shouldn’t feed the trolls; this one is about to lose his place at the table. Before he goes, I’m trying to figure out what the heck “reducation” might be. Might it be a communist form of education? A mix of education and reduction? Will it make me as charming as this guy? Will it make me a prefectly good speller, too? And may I have some wingnut sauce with my rice?
Patron cat of Kittywampus (1985-2001)
I think he meant reeducation, but REDucation is most definitely communist education. If only they had been that good at sloganeering. “Come visit our amazing schools to receive your REDucation! Learn everything Marx would want you to know.”
See, one of the things I thought education ought to provide was the ability to express oneself precisely. But isn’t ambiguity way more fun?
I think REDucation was a key part of the Cultural Revolution.
Babe, 1t’s called a typo. Gud spellers lıke you are well qualıfıed for a specıal job requ1r1ng attentıon to the keyboard – secretary.
1nc1dentally, 1 am pro-gay r1ghts, pro-c1v1l r1ghts, and very pro-env1ronment, so 1 am not sure where ‘w1ngnut1 comes from. But 1 am skept1cal of all cla1ms, and 1 tend to mock sanct1monıousness. And 1 type qu1ckly, but 1 assure you 1 am smarter than anyone you know.
Mark Nuckols: You’ve set yourself up as opposed to everything I write. I’m glad you’re pro-environment. But given your racial generalization in this comment, I have a hard time seeing you as pro-civil rights.
I’ve been a secretary, and I was damn good at it. Don’t knock it. Secretaries need to be able to type quickly and well – and get along well with others.
I’m intrigued by this, Sungold. Apparently Mr Nuckols is smarter than anyone you know. This means either that: 1) he knows everyone you know, and can accurately assess how intelligent they are (I wonder how he quantifies it?); 2) he is the smartest person in the world; or 3) he is, er, “mistaken” I guess is the nice word for it.
I could well believe that he has a higher opinion of himself than anyone you know, however.
Oh, he’s definitely the smartest person in the world. Y’know how he uses the 1 key for an i? It’s not just the Turkish keyboard he’s apparently using; it’s a subl1m1nal message that he’s number 1!
He’s still amassing comments in my spam filter, now that I’ve shown him the door, and they continue to dazzle with their brilliance. Sadly the rest of the world will have to settle for his collected droppings in my comment section over the past few days.
Secretaries are pretty damn smart.
You bet. At least the good ones are! Secretarial work is my fallback if I end up unemployed and can’t use any of my fancy schmancey degrees. I’ve done it before, I do it well, and the world always needs capable secretaries.
Also – and this is no small thing – the skills used in secretarial work are so tranferable to other occupations. You’ll use all sorts of clerical, computer, and data entry skills as a librarian. I’ve been grateful for those skills as a historian, working in the archives. When I first started grad school and joked with my adviser that my typing skills were among my best assets, she told me totally deadpan that they’d help me hugely in my work. And she was right! Same goes for my ability to unjam a photocopy machine. I’ll never get the hang of replacing the toner, though; that’s been a disaster more times than I can count.