Fear Mongering At Its Worst
John "Bam Bam" Bambenek is up to his old tricks again. And, though I risk being accused of hating America or, worse, of being an illiterate who didn't read his latest column, it seems important to point out why this guy is nothing more than a hack with little awareness of the facts.
Before I get to the two relevant items at hand (SRO's and vouchers), let's look at Bam Bam's idiocy. Can we say fact-checking? I don't know who Shane Culver is. Apparently Unit 4 hired a new superintendent last week. Last I checked, Arthur Culver was the superintendent. This was not hard to verify. This factual error damages the credibility of everything Bam Bam says. Of course, I'm not sure there's much credibility left given his latest rant on Intelligent Design, but still, if you're going to suggest someone lose his job, shouldn't you at least get his NAME right?
As for the SRO's, Bam Bam would have us believe that this is a program designed to put armed guards in the hallways. John doesn't mention anything else. He connects guns and schools, and then leaves the details out. This is deception at its worst. What John should have done is given his readers the facts. Of course, Bam Bam is rarely interested in those. For anyone interested in knowing what the SRO program is about and why the Board moved to have it implemented now to allow for proper training, I recommend the National Association of School Resource Officers site. It outlines the training program the Champaign SRO's will undergo before being placed in our schools. The emphasis here is clearly not having armed guards. It is prevention, relationship-building, and teaching. This is a bit different than what Bam Bam misdirects his audience toward believing.
Of course, Bam Bam has a strong motivation behind his questionable facts and misdirection. He wants us to implement a school voucher program. Of course, many attempts at this farce have been ruled unconstitutional. There are other strong arguments against a voucher program as well. Does Bam Bam give an overview of these issues in order to lead his readers through a logical argument in favor of his position? No.
Instead, John stirs up fear, mixes in race, and uses it to make his biased position look like the best path. John accuses people of being anti-American and illiterate, but he is obviously anti-constitution and hopeful that his audience isn't smart enough to figure it out.
Before I get to the two relevant items at hand (SRO's and vouchers), let's look at Bam Bam's idiocy. Can we say fact-checking? I don't know who Shane Culver is. Apparently Unit 4 hired a new superintendent last week. Last I checked, Arthur Culver was the superintendent. This was not hard to verify. This factual error damages the credibility of everything Bam Bam says. Of course, I'm not sure there's much credibility left given his latest rant on Intelligent Design, but still, if you're going to suggest someone lose his job, shouldn't you at least get his NAME right?
As for the SRO's, Bam Bam would have us believe that this is a program designed to put armed guards in the hallways. John doesn't mention anything else. He connects guns and schools, and then leaves the details out. This is deception at its worst. What John should have done is given his readers the facts. Of course, Bam Bam is rarely interested in those. For anyone interested in knowing what the SRO program is about and why the Board moved to have it implemented now to allow for proper training, I recommend the National Association of School Resource Officers site. It outlines the training program the Champaign SRO's will undergo before being placed in our schools. The emphasis here is clearly not having armed guards. It is prevention, relationship-building, and teaching. This is a bit different than what Bam Bam misdirects his audience toward believing.
Of course, Bam Bam has a strong motivation behind his questionable facts and misdirection. He wants us to implement a school voucher program. Of course, many attempts at this farce have been ruled unconstitutional. There are other strong arguments against a voucher program as well. Does Bam Bam give an overview of these issues in order to lead his readers through a logical argument in favor of his position? No.
Instead, John stirs up fear, mixes in race, and uses it to make his biased position look like the best path. John accuses people of being anti-American and illiterate, but he is obviously anti-constitution and hopeful that his audience isn't smart enough to figure it out.
posted by Don at 6:45 AM
1 Comments:
1) The Supreme Court rules vouchers are constitutional. Sorry.
http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/06/27/scotus.school.vouchers/index.html
2) Sure, the armed cops have to go through special training. So their armed guards with special training. I'm not sure what's deceptive about stating the obvious. They will be having guns and patrolling the school.
3) Learn what sarcasm is.
4) I have 650 words. Your complaints that I don't write a 12 page paper in defense of a position are a little silly.
5) You got my on Culver, my editor and I missed that. But fine, I screwed up the guys name, you didn't even bother to verify that vouchers ARE constitutional before running off your mouth. My screwing up his first name undermines nothing. You screwing up assertions you make certainly do undermine your argument and your credibility.
Thank you for playing.
You lose.
Do try again.
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