For the Record: Families of Color Playground Night

Image by Lia Kantrowitz/New Republic (with a splendid piece by Talia Lavin).

"Critical Race Theory"  witch hunter Christopher Rufo has a new horror story, a Colorado elementary school that hosts a "Families of Color Playground Night" on the second Wednesday of each month, and the rightwing noise machine is out in force to denounce it:

Did you hear that? I think MLK just rolled over in his grave.

Pretty sure there was a whole movement to get rid of segregated playgrounds back in the day.

— The Smallest Minority (@LetsGroupHug) December 15, 2021

Do you understand how dumb you sound projecting you know shit about my life? You may be pro segregation but I’m not.

— The Smallest Minority (@LetsGroupHug) December 15, 2021

Lovely gifts of perspective

Dear Brooksy,

Jeez, I feel awful about this. I thought you said you never read the comments?

It’s too psychologically damaging to read these comments as evaluations of my intelligence, morals or professional skill. But if I read them with the (possibly delusional) attitude that these are treasured friends bringing me lovely gifts of perspective, then my eye slides over the insults and I can usually learn something. 

If you'd been a little more truthful I might have been a little more constructive. So that's one gift of perspective I can offer; people will be more polite to you if you don't pretend you're not listening.

Monuments in Butthurt: David Brooks

Image via Polandball?

Shorter David Brooks, "Conflict and Ego", New York Times, February 6 2015:

I'm not saying there's any comparison between the people who leave comments at the Times website on my columns and the Salafi terrorists who made a video of themselves burning Lieutenant Muath al-Kaseasbeh alive—that would be insane!—but you have to admit they have a lot in common.