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Elizabeth's avatar

This is so true:

"One thing people want is to be able to have conversations again without an overarching sense of moral reprobation being right around the corner. That felt normal, and the current environment of elevated censoriousness feels weird."

I don't know why certain people believe that the way to improve society is to try to make everyone feel truly awful about themselves, but it's not a winning strategy.

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JohnMcG's avatar

On schools, I'll provide some anecdata that may or not be valid, but I think presents something that hasn't been captured.

I'm a divorced dad with a "traditional" every other weekend residential schedule with two teenage daughters who were in high school during the pandemic.

The schools sends out weekly emails on Friday afternoons. When I was commuting into the office every day, this would be as I was rushing to get things finished up so I could catch the bus home. So, I'd quickly scan them for things that might directly impact me, and then delete.

During the pandemic, I had both the time and inclination (as I was eager to read tea leaves on the direction of school restrictions) to spend a little more time with them. And what I saw was an administration that seemed a lot more interested in lecturing me than it was in trying to re-open.

Now, did this "radicalize" me? No, not really. But it did make me think that these administrators could do with a reminder of who they work for and what their priorities are.

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