Trump isn’t the only reason for GOP midterm losses
Both conservative editorial cartoonist Michael Ramirez and one of your readers, judging by their respective contributions to your newspaper on Nov. 15, continue the time-honored Republican tradition of refusing to learn anything whatsoever from electoral defeat.
They insist that the only reason for the GOP’s recent midterm-election losses was that American voters were still mad at Donald Trump.
They point the finger at anything and everything except themselves, their incompetent, loony candidates, their offensive statements and behavior, or their policies that have wrecked everything from public health to women’s bodily autonomy to the national economy to the planetary climate.
Your reader and Ramirez are right about one thing, and only one. For the good of the country and the Republican Party, Trump needs to permanently retire from public life -- before either law enforcement or his own ailing, elderly carcass does it for him.
MATT G. LEGER, ATLANTA
A headline that could stir up classroom culture wars
As a Georgia parent and the 2020-2021 Georgia Teacher of the Year, I urge journalists to take greater caution when framing education news.
The AJC.com headline, “Professor’s ‘woke’ lesson draws parent fire, free speech support,” amplifies a harmful narrative about teachers and parents that’s just not true. Reporter Vanessa McCray’s excellent reporting is lost to the ongoing culture war as soon as readers see the inflammatory terms “woke” and “parent fire.”
Because of the impact on children and all Georgia stakeholders, it is imperative that education news is neutrally framed. The award-winning professor’s biology lesson presented course-related information on the definitions of sex and gender. One parent - of an adult, mind you - complained.
The truth is that 86% of parents agree that classrooms should promote learning, not politics.
Georgia’s kids and educators have enough misinformed adversaries these days. Help make our jobs a bit easier by leaving incendiary language out of the headlines.
TRACEY NANCE, DECATUR
