Americans Blissfully

Hugged Trojan Horses (Part II)

Posted November 25, 2004
by: Joan E. Battey

If you read the last column on how naive Americans have accepted and welcomed Trojan Horses in our midst, did it make you think? Have you looked at news differently since then? Have you ferreted out some of the Trojan Horses that have become permanent fixtures everywhere they should have been booted out?

Now, I grant you, Trojan Horses aren't always easily spotted at the outset, where there's the best chance of routing them. They never come stampeding in, all lathered up, with bells jingling from their harnesses, and preceded by billboards trumpeting the approach of the wonderful visitors nearing the gates. But, even so, a number of alert Americans sounded a warning about most of them. People just didn't want to pay attention.

Under the Logic Radar

After the early bands of stealth Trojan Horses sneaked in under the logic radar, the next groups were easier to spot, but most Americans still discounted any suggestions that they were more than scattered, passing nuisances. Now that the reinforcement Trojan Horses are heading to comfy stables supported willingly by the duped greeters of the first cute little Trojan ponies, rude awakenings are taking place among many former pooh-poohers of Trojan Horse-instigated problems.

How many Americans now gasping at unbelievably irrational programs, plans, statements and actions in the news even yet think to question how things have built to this seemingly-nationwide excursion into amoral and willful rejection of anything resembling a recipe for a well-run society? Have they noticed that an idea is first promoted, then subtly discounted, then slightly changed and trotted out again?

Traditional Culture Trashed

How many Americans realize that we are now well into the proving of the idea that old ways cease when no one is left to pass on traditional knowledge and culture -- or, more importantly, to defend it against those who would obliterate it? Those beguiled by the Trojan Horses view the old ways as impediments to their personal profit and power structure -- and they, being for the most part younger than the "defenders," are beginning to win by weight of sheer numbers alone.

Ah, they were clever, the first wave of Trojan Horses. They quickly spread out across the landscape, lest they become too conspicuous by their numbers. The numbers and concentrations built only after the first Trojan Horses cajoled the natives into welcoming their fresh and exciting new ways of doing whatever they suddenly appeared to have sole expertise in doing. They only wanted to help the children and old people and sick people and poor people, but totally new ways of helping were needed to excite the natives and make them want to be part of a glorious global future! "(Your) money is no object, full speed ahead. Be part of the Team!" How long did it take before the "team concept" began to spill over into everything to the point of overkill? What did the teams accomplish? (Hint: Learning to make all decisions and plans according to what they were facilitated into doing, using plans already crafted.)

Fun Over Fundamentals

For the most part, the Trojan Horses found their most successful cover activity was to promote "fun" over "fundamentals," no matter where they nudged their way in or what they slyly offered to help with. Education was the first soft underbelly of America that was targeted. How convenient it was that many of those in education were already susceptible to the thought that with the requirement to "publish," it was only logical that totally new ideas were necessary to gain attention, promotions and financial rewards. In-depth knowledge was shoved aside in favor of radical thinking and promotion of way-out agendas. University studies were to focus on diversity -- of cultures and agendas, not of opinions. Public school studies were to be made "exciting and innovative," not academically productive.

The Fun-Before-Fundamentals scheme launched such foolishly accepted ideas as the one that claims that accuracy of results is not as important as knowing what process to apply to finding answers to problems. Do people ever ask why so many massive and costly errors are taking place with ever-increasing frequency, in more and more aspects of business and life? So what if decimal points make huge differences in costs, obligations and profits -- the right process was applied! If the right process was used, sorry/sorry/sorry, let someone else pick up the pieces and the costs.

Group Think

Teamwork in the socialist bureaucracy means centralized decision-making by teams at the top. Claims of cost-savings shout down questions about efficiency and convenience. And, cost-savings are most often only in the eyes of the claimers! One example: When the NY State decision-making teams decided to centralize all dog license registration records and renewal issuing, the process was the focus. The accuracy was secondary. Renewal forms went out, with instructions to remit the stated amount to the recipient's Town Clerk.

The problem was that the process goofed on the amount of the fee to be remitted. A 50-cent error in the "process correct/math incorrect" endeavor resulted in Town Clerks having to send everything back to the dog owners with a letter explaining that they were forbidden by state law to cash checks in incorrect amounts, even though the error was the state's. Cost to correct a 50-cent error?: employee time, a letter, a courtesy return envelope, and two 37-cent stamps per transaction. Process over accuracy promoted by Trojan Horse indoctrinators?

Was the same flawed emphasis at work in a bridge connector that was constructed according to specs -- but was a couple inches off making the connection? It happened, not far from us. How about all the product recalls? Was it mistakes in calculations? Decisions to eliminate inspectors? Cost-cutting to improve bottom lines and give stockholders higher profits? Who started all the chains of circumstances that have led to expensive business mistakes? Who sold all the radical new business management requirements, like the endless attention to global paperwork synchronization over smart on-the-spot decisions?

Corruption and Scandals

How did we come to buy the idea that everyone cheats in school, because getting a good job depends on a good GPA or starring in sports or volunteering at politically-correct non-profits? Who sold Americans on the idea that disciplining children stifled their creativity? Who is paying for the cheating and corruption scandals in growing numbers of industries, financial institutions, professions and government activities? Who actually loses when hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines are assessed against corporations that operated on the theory that big and slapdash-fast beats slow and quality every time? A full-house of happy stockholders beats a figurative pair of employees in every business plan promoted by the experts, but a day of reckoning isn't postponed forever. Then what?

Cheat in school? No problem. Cheat on taxes? Don't get caught. Shoplift. Embezzle. Forge. Steal identities. Phone in bomb threats. Loose viruses on the Internet. Pad your medical billing? So what, insurance or Medicaid covers it. The education and social welfare experts crafted new rules for society, because so many of them were self-proclaimed experts. No discipline, no consequences -- it's all for the cause of preparing our creative and talented young people for the global world of the future. And the global future is now including those who learned process over accuracy, and success over ethics.

Global Ethics

How about the acceptance of cheating as a necessity in the global competition? How many corporations, banking institutions, brokerage firms, contracting bids, etc., have been later found to be extra burdens on taxpayers, and costly to employees and families when the truth finally oozed out into public view? How many of those truth discoveries are then fought tooth and nail by "experts" also trained in the idea that loopholes and finagling are the way of the world today? Why do huge phalanxes of trial lawyers cover their futures by covering their bases with contributions to both political parties?

How about the educators who airbrushed curriculum-infused agendas with the sweet talk that "global" was the way to go, that intensive "globally relevant" education was needed to "give our kids the best chance at success"? First we had the charade that today's children are smarter and more creative than any others who preceded them. Gullible parents bought into this and helped set the stage for their children to come out of school barely literate, but convinced that they were brilliant, convinced that they could demand high salaries, convinced that they would rule the world.

Can't read accurately? Not to worry, they can extract what they need from the pictures or just ignore what isn't important. Teach them first that adults are ruining the earth, that only children know what is important. Never mind teaching them not to litter -- teach them to confront the public with adults' environmental shortcomings and then set up expensive "Highway Cleanup Volunteers" programs. Enlist the politicians and the media to help deny any claims from parents that children are being brainwashed and that people behind the scenes are manipulating children in the cause of controlling the world's resources!

International Baccalaureate Program

No way that children are being indoctrinated in school? How about this? After a few years of careful marketing of the advanced placement courses for better-than-average students, next came the International Baccalaureate Program -- more intensive, academically-demanding work for better-than-average students. Parents who detected agendas geared to producing students indoctrinated with global agendas were ridiculed.

This year local news featured a story on teachers giving up part of their summer to learn new ways of teaching math -- to the IBP students. The teachers explained how innovative and academically-demanding the IBP studies were to be. The students would be having themes across the subject matter. (Forget that complaints were made over a decade of whole language/themes across the curriculum, and of agenda-infusion across the curriculum!) The new and intensive IBP math will have the math students "graphing the changes in the ozone layer.". Now, you do the math on this Trojan Horse charade!

The same school, assuming that people never paid attention to earlier "expert" studies which claimed that teenagers are unable to sleep until late at night, and should be allowed to come to school later, has just come out with a plan to help students meet the demands of more rigorous final exams. High School is to begin at 7:30 a.m. -- "to allow two minutes more per academic class to give teachers more time to prepare students for the more rigorous final exams." Two minutes of more rigorous education? Bus rides to school by 7:30 a.m.? Breakfast at home to make the bus and the 7:30 class time? Sleepy students?

To what end is another local school bragging of being one of 19 school districts to be awarded a research grant to give every student breakfast at school to judge how good nutrition can improve academic achievement? Enticing more families to sign up for financial help for breakfast and lunch costs didn't work -- it was embarrassing for students to have other students know they were receiving help with paying for lunch. Next? Let's pay for everyone's lunch and do a research study. Kind of like Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland who always said, "We know, Let's have a show in the barn!"

Family Intrusion

Those still wondering about Trojan Horse infiltrations might want to revisit the School-to-Work Plans and the Workforce Development Plans -- and see if a pattern isn't developing with all these loose ends grabbed here in a continuing and unfinished repetition of warnings by many individuals across the country. Agendas have been implemented by Trojan Horses who were welcomed by apathetic and careless Americans. Schools as Community Centers -- with food, and training, and health care and day care, etc. Environmentalism as a political movement, not a conservation movement. Corporate monopolies as global entities. So many influences of Trojan Horses over quite a few years now.

Media has become almost sickenly maudlin in reporting anything connected with "children" or "education," -- because agendas are the stuff of daily news. Our local daily paper is featuring "School" even more than usual these last few days of summer. Biggest front page story yesterday was of how parents have worked to prepare their children for entering school.

One mother was given extensive praise for having used cookie baking to teach math to her child entering first grade. To what end was this featured? Two days before school opens what other parents can capitalize on this idea that is so old it must have inch-thick dust on it? Another mother was praised for annually taking the first two days of the school year off from her job, and spend them finding out as much as she can about her children's school and teachers and supplies, etc. As if any mother worth her salt not only wants to do this but works at a job where she can just waltz off. With all the mothers having been beguiled into the workforce maybe we need a two-day holiday so every mother can waltz off to ingratiate herself with the Trojan Horse educators and get her instructions for the year!

Then there is the Trojan Horse double-team work with corporations, schools and politics intertwingled.

Trojan Horses Go To School (Part III) Part Three -- Bet you can't wait to read about Hillary and her caring/political/vote grabbing deal with involving General Mills, apples and (guess what?) Children! Or the new gimmick of corporate involvement included in the cost of college tuition. Meanwhile, please read the news with a fine-tooth-comb. The real "news" is most often gleaned by noting the incongruities that suggest Trojan Horses at work and play.

Previous article:
Carefree, Apathetic Americans Hugged Trojan Horses (Part I)

"Published originally at EtherZone.com : republication allowed with this notice and hyperlink intact."

Joan E. Battey is a freelance political writer from Apalachin, NY. Her love of logical dot connecting and writing developed over many years of typesetting and proof reading in small daily newspapers; ad agency and manufacturing office secretarial work, and volunteer work in libraries, animal welfare, political campaigns, and networks of people keeping abreast of the steady "reforms" in education. She is a regular columnist for Ether Zone.

Joan E. Battey