Thursday, September 15, 2011

Breaking News: Leo Casey Admits He Was Wrong About Bill Gates

UFT's Leo Casey in his review of Brill’s book finally admits Bill Gates is no friend to teachers and has “become outspoken in his anti-teacher pronouncements"  (as though this was a recent development.) -- Leonie Haimson
UPDATED FROM COMMENT AREA: This one really nails one of the ideological aspects:
Michael (above) is exactly right. It's a disgrace. What makes Leo's "turnaround" so unpalatable to me is that I don't believe that Leo believed what he thought and wrote in July 2010. He uses a certain leftist, ivory-tower, screed that paints all those who oppose the Unity/UFT program (lots to talk about there) as being rigid, moral purists or antiquated vanguards of the left. Leo has always understood the "evils" of Gates; his goal is to spin it all to help allow Unity to find wiggle room for further appeasement and capitulation. Contrary to what others may feel, Leo Casey is the most important Unity man in the UFT. He is Unity's "brain," organizer and "spin-master." If you don't believe me, consider the following: Why does Randi want him to move to DC and work with her? And this is absolutely another sound bite from a soul-less man named Leo.

Leonie Haimson takes down Leo Casey in this post to the NYCEnews Listserve.

But before you go on, review this video I made of the walkout at Gates's speech at the 2010 AFT convention in Seattle as they were booed and hooted at by delgates led by the Unity Caucus delegation from NYC. Watch Randi say how proud she is of them.



 
UFT's Leo Casey in his review of Brill’s book finally admits Bill Gates is no friend to teachers and has “become outspoken in his anti-teacher pronouncements"  (as though this was a recent development.)

In July 2010 in same blog, Casey attacked me for calling Gates the most dangerous man in America – absurdly comparing me to a member of a primitive tribe “ who develops rigid and inflexible conceptions of the politically impure, and then devotes nearly all of its energy to attacks on every possible source of pollution of the politically pure, no matter how minor a threat it might be.”

Never mind that Bill Gates was not a minor threat to teachers or to public education, but a very major threat, making this point hard to swallow.

But he went on:

To borrow Henry Ford’s attack line against Walter Reuther for a headline that describes Gates as “the most dangerous man in America,” as one blogger did during the AFT convention, is to indulge in a form of hyperbole that quickly shades into unrecognizable caricature. While there certainly is enough in the educational stance of a Gates to take issue with, this sort of discourse is more in the vein of a sectarian calling out “Impure! Impure!” than it is a serious political engagement. In its rigid identification of the politically impure and its promiscuous definition of the political enemy, it has all the marks of a sectarian politics of self-marginalization.

So I guess I marginalized myself by telling the truth about Gates .  Not clear exactly what the AFT did by inviting him as keynote speaker, which Casey posed as entering into a “dialogue” with him.   You can’t talk to Gates w/out letting him be your keynote speaker?  Is that the best way to establish a dialogue or instead a sign of submission?

In any case, his original attack column and a follow-up one where he tried to defend his position got loads of negative responses, without me having to say a word.  Seems like most of the teachers who commented agreed with me that inviting Gates was a sell-out.  Check them out. 

But I guess that he has figured out that even playing nicey –nice w/ Gates and inviting him to speak at the convention did not pay off.  Now Casey writes:

Teachers and teacher unions have not sought out this class warfare. To the contrary, the American Federation of Teachers made an effort to establish a dialogue with Bill Gates, inviting Gates to address our last national convention in Seattle. This overture had its critics, but it would be a serious mistake for unions to talk only to those who agreed with us. By the same token, we need to be honest about the results of our efforts at dialogue: Gates has become outspoken in his anti-teacher pronouncements. There’s not much left to discuss when he assumes such a posture.

Okay, does that mean he won’t be invited to next year’s conference?

Also check out the novelty film we made modeled after the 1984 Apple Commercial which ironically was attacking IBM - who dey? - while a very short time later Microsoft almost wiped Apple off the map as they became the new IBM.





Social Note:
Off to see Andrea Boccelli in Central Park. If it doesn't rain.

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Check out Norms Notes for a variety of articles of interest: http://normsnotes2.blogspot.com/. And make sure to check out the side panel on right for news bits.

7 comments:

Robert D. Skeels * rdsathene said...

Thank you for this.

I'm glad that people like Ms. Haimson, Dr. Horn, and myself will no longer be considered "self-marginalized sectarians" for speaking truth to Gates, his agenda, and his junta of like-minded plutocrats.

Michael Fiorillo said...

Having Gates be a featured speaker at the 2010 AFT convention was among the most disgraceful and embarrassing in a long series of dives taken by Weingarten.

Even the Democratic party, lame as it is, would not invite the Koch brothers to address its convention, which is what that was akin to.

The real question is, does this represent a true reappraisal by the union of its policies, or is it just another tactical sound bite meant to distract and pacify disgruntled teachers?

Anonymous said...

Michael (above) is exactly right. It's a disgrace. What makes Leo's "turnaround" so unpalatable to me is that I don't believe that Leo believed what he thought and wrote in July 2010.

He uses a certain leftist, ivory-tower, screed that paints all those who oppose the Unity/UFT program (lots to talk about there) as being rigid, moral purists or antiquated vanguards of the left.

Leo has always understood the "evils" of Gates; his goal is to spin it all to help allow Unity to find wiggle room for further appeasement and capitulation. Contrary to what others may feel, Leo Casey is the most important Unity man in the UFT. He is Unity's "brain," organizer and "spin-master." If you don't believe me, consider the following: Why does Randi want him to move to DC and work with her?

And this is absolutely another sound bite from a soul-less man named Leo.

Schoolgal said...

Norm, If you believe this, then I have a bridge I want to sell you.

If you recall, first Unity was against mayoral control, but turned out to be for it. And even when it proved a disaster, supported it again.

They were originally against the Open Market (ATR), but then changed their mind. Now they do whatever they can to make the life of the ATR unbearable.

They were against the Gates-formed teacher evaluations, but then got into an agreement that in the end proved disastrous for teachers.

If indeed they see Gates for the monster he is, then they should issue an apology for the way they treated the teachers that walked out on Gates at the AFT Convention.

Leo loves to see his words on paper, but remember they are only words and his record for flipping speaks for itself.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but I couldn't slap you through the computer and say, "Snap out of it!!"

ed notes online said...

Of course I don't believe it. Everthing they do is for spin. The heat on Gates was getting to high.
IN fact I hope you didn't fall for "They were against mayoral control." They never were agaisnt mayoral control but tried to mislead the members that they were. The 68 strike could be boiled down to the UFT wanting mayoral control - not really, but---

They don't really flip but rationalize every decision and if they have to make it look like they flipped they still pass the blame onto Gates. Like he double crossed them. Like the DOE double crossed then on printint teacher ratings. Like Klein DC them when he institued fair funding. You have 2 choices - either they're idiots or Vichy collaborators. I choose the latter.

Schoolgal said...

Norm, I stopped believing anything the UFT does or says. Unfortunately, they have a way of roping in their critics which is very sad indeed. I just fear that when the dust settles, certain people will realize this scam and recognize they still have friends who will continue to have their backs. My fear is that people like this are going to be back-stabbed when they least expect it.

Anonymous said...

What the hell do the UFT higherups care about older, higher paid teachers? They get the same union dues from a newbie as they get from a vet, AND they have a monopoly on getting paid I believe. EVERYONE has to pay dues, even if they're not in the union! HA! If that ain't a monoploy, I don't know what is...and we all know what happens in monopolies. We are completely screwed regarding the UFT. Many more rank and file have to join this grass roots movement to maybe make a difference. Right now it's near hopeless...the UFT gets paid no matter what, and they don't give a shit who pays them.