Before I strain a shadenfreudian tendon celebrating the uniform panning of the "reformer's" latest cinematic bowel obstruction "Won't Back Down" I would like to take a second to examine the title of this thing.
Legend has it that Tom Petty his own self had some second thoughts about releasing such an obvious "up yours" of an anthem for public consumption and interpretation, probably in some of the same ways Bono was ambivalent about "Bloody Sunday" once it came out. Anyone with half a brain left after standardized testing can divine the general theme of defiance from the little man directed towards "The Man." In adopting this title though the reformers have once again attempted to put themselves in the role of the little mouse flipping off the swooping hawk if you recall that popular t shirt emblem of the 70's.
Yeah, Rupert Murdoch, Bill and Melinda Gates, Phillip Anschutz, Democrats and for Ed Reform (one of whose hedge managing board members has recently flipped Rahmbo a million to make a post strike face saving commercial for the chicago airwaves) are your little guys staring down the powerhouse juggernaut of the teacher's unions. I repeat, the owners of the Gates and Broad Foundations along with Anschutz, Murdoch and the Plutocrats for Ed Reform have barged into central casting, seized the role of the anemic but lovable underdog and said "dibs." Naturally this leaves the role of the heavy, the bad guy in the black hat also known as "The Man" whose preoccupation with power and creature comforts comes before anything, everything and everybody else for teachers and their unions.
Reformland again reminds us of George Orwell's 1984 Newspeak where War is Peace, Weakness is Strength, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength. In Reformland, powerfully connected billionaires, their lobbyists and political lapdogs are underdogs taking on the corruption of local Boards of education and unionized teachers who tend to raise families on salaires of somewhere around 50K to 70K. Yeah, about what a high school educated line worker at Ford Stamping makes with overtime plus his benefits. I think last time I peeked Gates had something like 30 billion in his reform foundation warchest. Yet the reformers want us to ignore that pesky reality while they present themselves and their sadly dubious cause as the little guy. They promise us they "won't back down" from people like me, you, Karen Lewis, a 70K chemistry teacher, Leonie Hamison a REAL parent and God help us, Phil Rumore President of BTF. The billionaires wont' back down from middle class working people. How fresh, brave and admirable these plutocrats really are. Just ask them. Reformers like Rahm Emanuel send their kids to the Chicago University Lab School where they are exposed to all of private education's perks including small classes, art, music, physical education foreign languages and library access.
I do have to say though that this crapudrama has done public education far more good than it has the cause of the privatizing "reformers." I notice the reviewers are so finely tuned into the true message behind the movie, the anti-union pro charter screed as it was called in one piece. Isn't it fascinating that cranky reviewers have their thumb on the pulse of this propaganda hit piece but Main Stream Media Talking Heads like Chris Matthews still have to be told by guys like Ed Schultz that "ed reform" is neither, that it's nothing but another way for people with lots of money to make more money by cutting costs and delivering a shitty product. Thanks to Walden Media, Satan and the "reformers" for exposing themselves as the greedy, shameless hucksters and shitheads that they really are, putting profits ahead of kids at every step.
Legend has it that Tom Petty his own self had some second thoughts about releasing such an obvious "up yours" of an anthem for public consumption and interpretation, probably in some of the same ways Bono was ambivalent about "Bloody Sunday" once it came out. Anyone with half a brain left after standardized testing can divine the general theme of defiance from the little man directed towards "The Man." In adopting this title though the reformers have once again attempted to put themselves in the role of the little mouse flipping off the swooping hawk if you recall that popular t shirt emblem of the 70's.
Yeah, Rupert Murdoch, Bill and Melinda Gates, Phillip Anschutz, Democrats and for Ed Reform (one of whose hedge managing board members has recently flipped Rahmbo a million to make a post strike face saving commercial for the chicago airwaves) are your little guys staring down the powerhouse juggernaut of the teacher's unions. I repeat, the owners of the Gates and Broad Foundations along with Anschutz, Murdoch and the Plutocrats for Ed Reform have barged into central casting, seized the role of the anemic but lovable underdog and said "dibs." Naturally this leaves the role of the heavy, the bad guy in the black hat also known as "The Man" whose preoccupation with power and creature comforts comes before anything, everything and everybody else for teachers and their unions.
Reformland again reminds us of George Orwell's 1984 Newspeak where War is Peace, Weakness is Strength, Freedom is Slavery and Ignorance is Strength. In Reformland, powerfully connected billionaires, their lobbyists and political lapdogs are underdogs taking on the corruption of local Boards of education and unionized teachers who tend to raise families on salaires of somewhere around 50K to 70K. Yeah, about what a high school educated line worker at Ford Stamping makes with overtime plus his benefits. I think last time I peeked Gates had something like 30 billion in his reform foundation warchest. Yet the reformers want us to ignore that pesky reality while they present themselves and their sadly dubious cause as the little guy. They promise us they "won't back down" from people like me, you, Karen Lewis, a 70K chemistry teacher, Leonie Hamison a REAL parent and God help us, Phil Rumore President of BTF. The billionaires wont' back down from middle class working people. How fresh, brave and admirable these plutocrats really are. Just ask them. Reformers like Rahm Emanuel send their kids to the Chicago University Lab School where they are exposed to all of private education's perks including small classes, art, music, physical education foreign languages and library access.
Ed Reform Attempt at Moviemaking Predictably Backfires Exposing Fakes and Frauds
I do have to say though that this crapudrama has done public education far more good than it has the cause of the privatizing "reformers." I notice the reviewers are so finely tuned into the true message behind the movie, the anti-union pro charter screed as it was called in one piece. Isn't it fascinating that cranky reviewers have their thumb on the pulse of this propaganda hit piece but Main Stream Media Talking Heads like Chris Matthews still have to be told by guys like Ed Schultz that "ed reform" is neither, that it's nothing but another way for people with lots of money to make more money by cutting costs and delivering a shitty product. Thanks to Walden Media, Satan and the "reformers" for exposing themselves as the greedy, shameless hucksters and shitheads that they really are, putting profits ahead of kids at every step.
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