More Elitism
Apparently abstinence-only has turned out to be a miserable failure, but the administration wants to keep funding it anyway:
Programs teaching U.S. schoolchildren to abstain from sex have not cut teen pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases or delayed the age at which sex begins, health groups told Congress on Wednesday.The Bush administration, however, voiced continuing support for such programs during a hearing before a House of Representatives panel even as many Democrats called for cutting off federal money for so-called abstinence-only instruction.
and while you can read the whole article for yourself, I would be remiss if I did not point out this remark:
Lawmakers cited government statistics showing that one in four U.S. teenage girls has a sexually transmitted disease and 30 percent of U.S. girls become pregnant before the age of 20.Republicans said even if some abstinence-only programs do not work, others do, and it would be wrong to end the funding.
Rep. John Duncan, a Tennessee Republican, said that it seems “rather elitist” that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents what type of sex education is appropriate. “I don’t think it’s something we should abandon,” he said of abstinence-only funding.
Damned elitists with their facts and figures and numbers and statistics and fancy degrees. What do they know about public health that a regular Joe from Tennessee doesn’t?
angie
What? Abstinence-only sex ed totally works!
Zifnab
More proof that the GOP is the party of stupid. I always thought that Republicans wanted to defund education in America because they were just cheap-ass penny pinchers. Now, I’m beginning to suspect they want the entire country as dumb as humanly possible.
Of course, this does raise a question of their own intelligence. History kids. What happens when the rich get too rich and the poor get too poor? French Revolution anybody? Communist uprisings in Spain and Germany and Russia and China? Huey Long for President?
I’m glad I live in a Democracy, where clowns like this can be run out of office on a rail without soaking the streets in blood to do it. But I’m embarrassed to live in this Democracy, where we regularly have to put up with this level of bullshit dumbfuckery.
Krista
That’s right. And when John Duncan gets ill, he doesn’t go to any of these fancy-pants doctors with their degrees and their training. His nanny’s mustard poultice works just fine, thank you very much!
Snark aside, it’s not about what’s “appropriate”. It’s about what WORKS. Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick, is John Duncan that much of a delicate flower that the idea of accurate medical information gives him the vapours?
Grand Moff Texan
So now, “elitist” means “not dumb enough to support loser Republican policies”?
Nice of them to admit it.
.
Grand Moff Texan
Of course, rich people are more worthy of tax breaks, never mind that it doesn’t help the economy.
See? If I dumb it down to “moral” hypotheticals involving individual (if hypothetical) people, you can actually see the point at which you become stupid enough to be a Republican.
.
JackieBinAZ
I wish his mother had practiced abstinence.
Susan Kitchens
You know, there’s an awful logic to this “conclusion” (it doesn’t work, but keep doing it) from the Bush Administration.
Think for a moment: When has he ever fired one of his staff for incompetence?
[crickets]
You think he’d now change his ways and “fire” a program just because, well, it doesn’t work?
Same with Iraq, you know. The yardstick is marked with something else. For him it’s truthiness or it just feels right. Or this matches my worldview. Or Jesus told me, I believe it, that settles it.
But externally verifiable efficacy? That dog won’t hunt.
Susan Kitchens
I guess the miracle we can all hope for is that Bush would apply that kind of Keep Going No Matter What doggedness to a cause that was, you know, worthwhile. A hard problem that needs solving. (Tho, as a result of his administration, we have more hard problems.)
grandpajohn
Heh heh,
from his site resume
Better than fiction, you can’t even visualize shit like this
The Other Steve
Huh? I think most here are complaining about the government telling us how to think.
When i went to school, you needed a signed note from your parent to attend the sex education sessions. So this really has nothing to do with the parents.
You know, I’m getting fucking sick of this bullshit.
Bill in OH
I never have understood this idea that somehow, magically, by going through the process of having a child people become experts in child rearing. Parents receive no training of any kind before having kids, other than perhaps reading a book or two (not written by an expert, I’m sure). I see parents making dumb-ass decisions about their kids all the time.
Do I think that some fancy-pants academic knows more about sex education than most parents? Hell yeah! Sex ed should be based on what works, not what feeds the prejudices of parents. If the parents want to opt out and run the risk that their kids will get pregnant or catch an STD, let ‘em. I hope they have good health insurance.
jenniebee
I wonder if this is one of the programs that “do work”:
or this one:
Of course, only Hillbots think that misogyny is alive and well in modern America.
Dungheap
Well, at least things would change under a McCain administration:
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “Ahhh. I think I support the president’s policy.”
Q: “So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?”
Mr. McCain: (Long pause) “You’ve stumped me.”
Q: “I mean, I think you’d probably agree it probably does help stop it?”
Mr. McCain: (Laughs) “Are we on the Straight Talk express? I’m not informed enough on it. Let me find out. You know, I’m sure I’ve taken a position on it on the past. I have to find out what my position was. Brian, would you find out what my position is on contraception – I’m sure I’m opposed to government spending on it, I’m sure I support the president’s policies on it.”
McMaverick!
ThymeZone
Proud to be a card-carrying elitist here.
In my case, elitism simply means that I am not content to share the country with willfully stupid people. If you think the earth is … or even might be … 6000 years old, then you can go fuck yourself. I am out to take the country away from you, and if you don’t like it, tough shit. Sooner or later, stupid loses, and we win. Deal with it.
les
Not necessarily. He may be; or he may be sly and callous enough to know that reality threatens the beliefs of the “constituency” of fools he’s been able to scam, to get a pretty cushy gig. And, with the majority of this generation’s rethugs, that’s more important than those constituents, his district or the country. He really doesn’t give a shit that my daughters will have lower life expectancy, lower economic resources and choices, and lower health expectations than their parents. He and his ilk, by whom I am surrounded in my heartland home, should get fucked with a red hot poker.
Who, me, bitter??? oh fuck no.
The Moar You Know
My version:
Rep. John Duncan, a Tennessee Republican, said that it seems “rather elitist” that people with academic degrees in nuclear weapons think they know better than citizens the processes needed to build and safeguard an atomic weapon. “I don’t think it’s something we should limit to the DoD, is what I’m saying,” he said of allowing any citizen with an arc welder and some uranium to build a nuclear device in their private garages.
The stupid, with these folks it soars above us all like an eagle with diarrhea riding a good thermal, raining crap upon our unprotected heads 24/7.
Bernie
The conservative definition of elitism is “any comment or point of view, no matter how much evidence backs up said comment or POV, that contridicts the fantasy world that exists in my head.”
jon
An accusation of elitism is getting to the point where it’s akin to saying, “I don’t like your facts, so I’ll resort to name calling.”
Chris
Lousy, elitist doctor told me I had “Melon-Oma.” Who’s he to tell me what these expanding growths on my skin are instead of me?
Civilized Crank
Of course their cousins in Ohio, PA, WV and KY are being placed on a pedestal by Clinton and the media as ‘real Americans’ who hold the key to the Democratic nomination and whom Obama simply cannot win without. When the opinion of the stupid is not only sought but elevated to a position of importance like that, don’t be surprised with the crap that gets rolled out.
Then again I am just an elite with a grad degree who doesn’t understand real America and their values. Whatever. I thought the point of education was to seek knowledge to better oneself; evidently ignorance is the new hotness. I wish someone had told me before I took on all this student debt
Fe E
Y’see, this is the kind of Bullshit retardation that drives people up a goddamn wall.
It is in fact possible to: 1) Admit the existence of sexism and misogyny, 2) Speak out against, and work to end same, and 3) Still think Hillary Clinton is lacking as a candidate.
So, in conclusion, yeah, whatever.
jake
From the same pack of drooling idiots who told us it was elitist to try to correct global climate change, because who are we to say what the climate should be like?
Quelle suprise!
WTF? Elitist = Relating acurate discussions of reproduction to students. Non-Elitist = Relating some unknown whackjob’s idea of romantic love to students.
Riiight. Mr. Duncan is either a divorce lawyer or a collector of wetsuits.
binzinerator
The goopers want to keep the future electorate ignorant, poor, suspicious of science, and statistically unlikely to improve their socioeconomic situation.
The most effective way to accomplish this is by making teen pregnancies more likely. Single teen moms are most likely to end up in poverty and face limited futures, and they and their children will have damn few chances to escape it once they’re in it.
It’s all of a piece. Conservative fundie pandering and the conservative class war agenda reinforce each other. Undermine or suppress science, destroy public education so people will be ill equipped for critical thinking, and substitute the rational and the empirical for religious ‘truthiness’ and fundamentalism. Then attack anyone who actually gets a good education and can use facts and logic to expose their fucking bullshit as ‘elitist’.
It’s the strategy for a gooper ownership society, and the young—and the nation’s future—are getting pwned.
Llelldorin
As a reader of both Balloon-Juice and Pandagon, I’m now reeling from the surrealism of a powerful John Cole post on one of Amanda Marcotte’s signature topics.
I must admit, the insane strand of American conservatism does seem to be uniting the country around the “Dear, God, not that!” banner.
jake
It’s all fun and games until the unwashed masses overrun your compound, rape your dog and eat your wife.
gypsy howell
The most effective way to accomplish this is by making teen pregnancies more likely.
An even more effective way is to spend the last 6 decades brainwashing the American public that education and book-learnin’ and thinkin’ is elitist, pansyman stuff, sumpthin’ you don’t want no part of, because real red-blooded Americans don’t need no kind of fancy schoolin’, don’t want no fancy homes, don’t drink no fancy lattes, don’t drive no fancy imported cars – in short, real Americans don’t even want the finer, nicer things in life.
Which is convenient, because when the TRUE elites run the country – the way they have been since Reagan – trust me, you ain’t gettin’ none of the good stuff, so just as well you’ve been convinced that real folks like you don’t even want it.
RollingDoughnut.com
Only an elitist allows results determine his efforts.
Let’s all show our surprise that abstinence education doesn’t work.Programs teaching U.S. schoolchildren to abstain from sex have not cut teen pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases or delayed the age at which sex begins, health groups told Con…
Calouste
There’s something rather 1984ish about that.
Martin
Quit yappin’ at me woman! [bitchslap]
Now go make me some supper!
binzinerator
Another fucking Born Again sack of shit. That stupid fundie Whitestone actually wrote a book called “Let God Surprise You: Trust God with Your Dreams”.
Well, with lies like hers it was no surprise those girls got pregnant.
Oh yeah, it’s the same assholes who are so against abortion. They don’t want to tell teens how to prevent pregnancy or STDs other than abstinance. They don’t want teens to have the means to prevent pregnancy or STDs. They don’t want teens to have a vaccine that prevents STDs. They don’t want teens to have an abortion when they do get pregnant. And they don’t want to adopt these unwanted babies when teens are forced by lack of alternatives to give birth.
Fuck these federally funded fundies and their bullshit religion. Our kids are being lied to, and having their lives ruined as a result.
Man, jennibee, that story really burned me up. Everything I hate about conservative evangelicals and their federally funded agenda of bullshit, lying and creating misery in other people’s lives so they can be all pious and holy about their own brand of jesus. If these people didn’t fuck with and ruin other people’s lives I wouldn’t care less. But they do.
Egilsson
“In addition to his academic training, Congressman Duncan served in the United States Army National Guard. He enlisted in 1970 and rose to the rank of Captain before completing his service in 1987.”
The only reason people enlisted in the National Guard in 1970 was to avoid going to Vietnam.
Yet another chest-thumping chickenhawk who wanted to protect America from communists invading TN rather actually fighting godless communists in Vietnam.
Seanly
wait, wait, wait. I thought we were supposed to stop funding all these wasteful government programs that didn’t produce any results…
Unless willful ignorance is the result they really want…
gypsy howell
You mean that douchebag has been sucking on the tit of America since 1970? But I bet he votes against all kinds of government “handouts” doesn’t he?
Douchebag.
JO
“Do I think that some fancy-pants academic knows more about sex education than most parents?”
That is my concern. Look how much things have changed. When my mother was in high school they did not have the options that I have. You had the bill and a diaphram. And good luck trying to get my father to point out where an ovary is located.
“The goopers want to keep the future electorate ignorant, poor, suspicious of science, and statistically unlikely to improve their socioeconomic situation.”
People who were born to teen mothers are also more likely to end up in prison and we all know how much Republican’s love that.
Teen pregnancies cost tax payers billions of tax dollars a year. Fiscal conservative my ass. But then again does anyone know of ANYTHING that conservatives actually conserve.
Sienna
If handouts to Republican contributors disguised as “education outlets” was the objective, then the Abstinence Only program worked. Mission accomplished. The goal was never to educate or impact the lives of our children anyway. A fine byproduct of course is the publicity value of supporting a family values agenda.
jvill
Ha.
So when the majority of health officials say these programs don’t work, we should defer to parents and local officials.
But when the majority of parents and local officials and just average citizens say this war is a mistake and that this presidency is a disaster, Vice President Dick Cheney says, “so?”
I thought we were all pretty clear that reality has literally nothing to do with current conservative or Republican policy; it’s all about ideology.
Literally, nothing else matters. And no matter what you say, what you show, what you prove, you will always lose because you don’t understand that reality just doesn’t matter.
chiggins
As it was stated in the very early days of Get Your War On:
If “elitist” just means “not the dumbest motherfucker in the room”, I’ll be an elitist!
t jasper parnell
If using outcome based assessment is elitist, then No Child Left Behind is the product of elitism gone mad; therefore, George Bush et alia are elitists gone mad. OTH, they just mad.
louisms
Sex, for these people, is The Enemy. They don’t care about education, they don’t care about STDs, they don’t care about “the rights of the unborn”. They just hate sex. Sure, they are driven to indulge in it-preferably while wearing wetsuits, or with prostitutes, or both. But they believe strongly, at their very core, that it’s dirty and wrong. We Americans have a puritanical streak a mile wide, and these folks are the most extreme personification of that national characteristic. So it’s not surprising that they lie about condoms, that they aren’t encouraging women at clinics to get the pill, or IUDs.
And hell, it’s not only sex they hate; it’s pleasure in general. Why do you think pot is still illegal?
Elitism, Really John? | Comments from Left Field
[...] More at Memeorandum: The Carpetbagger Report and Balloon Juice Share and Enjoy: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. [...]
Daily Links
[...] Balloon Juice: More Elitism [Abstinence only Education] Damned elitists with their facts and figures and numbers and statistics and fancy degrees. What do they know about public health that a regular Joe from Tennessee doesn’t? (tags: abstinence only education wtf elitism) [...]