Fuck that noise: a rant about a former teacher
So I was going to do my 15 minutes earlier, but then I started into the chapter on racism in Lies My Teacher Told Me, and then suddenly it was midnight. But I think it's still really Monday (it is out West, anyway), so here we are.
The more I read of this book, the more I'm irritated and angry with Weiss, my AP U.S. History teacher from high school. I mean, I always knew he was a fucking asshole. You know how teachers are supposed to be, like, unbiased and such? They just teach, you know? Well, clearly, he didn't know. He was so fucking clearly conservative, anti-feminist, and Republican, and now, as I'm reading this book, I realize just how fucking racist he was - no, IS. The fucker's still alive.
What an asshole.
I said this (more briefly, of course) on my Facebook status. Within ten minutes three people I went to high school with all liked it and commented on it. He was such a fucking douchenozzle. Oh, my God, what I wouldn't give to be able to go back in time to that class, knowing everything I do now, to give that motherfucker a piece of my mind and tear him apart in class discussions.
Partly I'm pissed off at myself, too, because there were plenty of things that, at the time and for some time after the class, I grudgingly respected him for. To be fair (God, I usually hate that fucking phrase - wow, hey, lots of swearing up in here) - to be fair, he was good at preparing us for exams, for getting us to think critically at least somewhat, and at forming theses and having supporting evidence for papers and such. However, I feel like that all is outweighed by how he twisted facts, went off on completely inappropriate tangents, was rude and homophobic in class, and flat-out LIED.
He twisted facts and history around to fit the white supremacist/Southern/conservative view that the Civil War wasn't really or completely about slavery, that slavery was a reason for it, but not the main reason. He's a fucking slavery apologist! And I fell for this shit! I mean, yes, white northerners were fucking racist as all get out, too, but that doesn't excuse white southerners. Yes, class played into this shit, but that doesn't excuse racism.
Oh my God, and when I tried to point out the hypocrisy of our "Founding Fathers" and their slave ownership, specifically Thomas Jefferson, and he went off all racist and apologetic on that? Oh, how I would love to go back and use my feminist learnings to rip him a new one. He actually tried to justify or explain away or downplay Jefferson's racism by talking about how he freed some of his slaves (only three during his life and five when he died, and they were all blood relatives of his) and about his relationship with Sally Hemings.
I mean, really. Come on. Really? Jefferson wasn't racist because he fucked one of his slave women? Are you SHITTING ME? Fuck that! Come on! Even if there were solid, historical evidence that she consented - that is, writings were found of Hemings flat-out saying that she consented to have sex with Jefferson - we really can't call it consent, can we? Considering all of the gender, class, race, power, privilege questions involved, that's not really consent! What, your master wants to fuck you, and you say no... so he gets to beat you, fuck you anyway, sell you to the Deep South, sexually harass or assault you in another way, keep pestering you, coerce you...
Let's be real. Free Black women at the time had no recourse when they were sexually assaulted or when white men raped them. You think SLAVES did? Slave women couldn't even BE raped, the thinking went, because they were OBJECTS, BELONGINGS, which their owner(s) could do whatever they wanted with and to. I mean, you can't rape a couch, right?
Admitting that white men raped slave women would involve admitting that they were people, human, with human and civil rights. It would also admit that white men were fucking Black women, including lots of upper-class, high-status, and married white men - and you know they sure as hell weren't married to those Black women they were fucking.
Anyway. I fucking hate Weissinger. He is a terrible teacher and, really, a terrible person. I wonder if he's still teaching. I wonder what students think of him now. The three people who commented on/liked my status were younger than me - two, three years behind me in high school. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume the asshat hasn't gotten any better at, like, teaching and life and stuff.
What a motherfucker. A real cuntbiscuit. NO, no, I refuse to use the word "cunt" to refer to that jackass. I like cunts. Cunts are fun. I have a cunt, you know. I'll call him a douchecanoe instead, although that's almost too fun of a word to use for him. Maybe I should stick to "asshat."
Peace and love, (and don't I feel stupid signing off with that after just typing a paragraph about which insult to use for someone)
~~RaggedyAnndy~~
The more I read of this book, the more I'm irritated and angry with Weiss, my AP U.S. History teacher from high school. I mean, I always knew he was a fucking asshole. You know how teachers are supposed to be, like, unbiased and such? They just teach, you know? Well, clearly, he didn't know. He was so fucking clearly conservative, anti-feminist, and Republican, and now, as I'm reading this book, I realize just how fucking racist he was - no, IS. The fucker's still alive.
What an asshole.
I said this (more briefly, of course) on my Facebook status. Within ten minutes three people I went to high school with all liked it and commented on it. He was such a fucking douchenozzle. Oh, my God, what I wouldn't give to be able to go back in time to that class, knowing everything I do now, to give that motherfucker a piece of my mind and tear him apart in class discussions.
Partly I'm pissed off at myself, too, because there were plenty of things that, at the time and for some time after the class, I grudgingly respected him for. To be fair (God, I usually hate that fucking phrase - wow, hey, lots of swearing up in here) - to be fair, he was good at preparing us for exams, for getting us to think critically at least somewhat, and at forming theses and having supporting evidence for papers and such. However, I feel like that all is outweighed by how he twisted facts, went off on completely inappropriate tangents, was rude and homophobic in class, and flat-out LIED.
He twisted facts and history around to fit the white supremacist/Southern/conservative view that the Civil War wasn't really or completely about slavery, that slavery was a reason for it, but not the main reason. He's a fucking slavery apologist! And I fell for this shit! I mean, yes, white northerners were fucking racist as all get out, too, but that doesn't excuse white southerners. Yes, class played into this shit, but that doesn't excuse racism.
Oh my God, and when I tried to point out the hypocrisy of our "Founding Fathers" and their slave ownership, specifically Thomas Jefferson, and he went off all racist and apologetic on that? Oh, how I would love to go back and use my feminist learnings to rip him a new one. He actually tried to justify or explain away or downplay Jefferson's racism by talking about how he freed some of his slaves (only three during his life and five when he died, and they were all blood relatives of his) and about his relationship with Sally Hemings.
I mean, really. Come on. Really? Jefferson wasn't racist because he fucked one of his slave women? Are you SHITTING ME? Fuck that! Come on! Even if there were solid, historical evidence that she consented - that is, writings were found of Hemings flat-out saying that she consented to have sex with Jefferson - we really can't call it consent, can we? Considering all of the gender, class, race, power, privilege questions involved, that's not really consent! What, your master wants to fuck you, and you say no... so he gets to beat you, fuck you anyway, sell you to the Deep South, sexually harass or assault you in another way, keep pestering you, coerce you...
Let's be real. Free Black women at the time had no recourse when they were sexually assaulted or when white men raped them. You think SLAVES did? Slave women couldn't even BE raped, the thinking went, because they were OBJECTS, BELONGINGS, which their owner(s) could do whatever they wanted with and to. I mean, you can't rape a couch, right?
Admitting that white men raped slave women would involve admitting that they were people, human, with human and civil rights. It would also admit that white men were fucking Black women, including lots of upper-class, high-status, and married white men - and you know they sure as hell weren't married to those Black women they were fucking.
Anyway. I fucking hate Weissinger. He is a terrible teacher and, really, a terrible person. I wonder if he's still teaching. I wonder what students think of him now. The three people who commented on/liked my status were younger than me - two, three years behind me in high school. I'm gonna go out on a limb and assume the asshat hasn't gotten any better at, like, teaching and life and stuff.
What a motherfucker. A real cuntbiscuit. NO, no, I refuse to use the word "cunt" to refer to that jackass. I like cunts. Cunts are fun. I have a cunt, you know. I'll call him a douchecanoe instead, although that's almost too fun of a word to use for him. Maybe I should stick to "asshat."
Peace and love, (and don't I feel stupid signing off with that after just typing a paragraph about which insult to use for someone)
~~RaggedyAnndy~~