There has been much discussion on the blog about the “Coffee Cup” ad sponsored by the political action arm of the California Charter Schools Association. (See here and here.)
Kayser is accused of being anti-public school, when in fact he has been a strong supporter of public schools and public school teachers. He is a strong critic of charters. That is why the CCSAA is spending big bucks to defeat him. He has voted to reduce class size, increase teacher pay, and restore programs lost to budget cuts.
The broken coffee cup, Kayser and his allies believe, is a subtle reference to his hands shaking because of Parkinson’s. Why else would he drop his coffee cup? If that was the intention of the ad, it is reprehensible. If it was not, CCSA has some explaining to do.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
If the CCSA and Kayser’s opponent, Ref Rodriguez, are not actually implying a reference to Bennett’s Parkinsons, then they need to repudiate the ad. Immediately. Otherwise it is not unreasonable to assume that they are either responsible for it or approve of it.
Absolutely. and so should the board members who are cited on this and other disgusting, misleading ads about Bennett Kayser.
George McKenna immediately demanded that his name be removed from the ads. Tamar Galatzan and Richard Vladovic should follow, as their names imply endorsement.
It does seem like a totally obvious reference to the movie scene from the “Usual Suspects,” which also has a “Who is Keyser” reference. Seems like quite a desperate stretch to say that this commercial was meant to invoke anyone’s disability.
Defending the lightly veiled eugenics tinged ableism of Steve Poizner and Reed Hastings charter trade association seems far more desperate to me.
WT, until you and Jorge mentioned “The Usual Suspects,” I never heard of the movie from 1995, and I am sure most people who see the ad also never heard of the movie. What’s the point of the ad?
The premise of the movie is that Keyser duped them all along, made up a story and walked away a free man (albeit guilty)
My generation often says “it was a Keyser Soze moment,” which refers to the scene when the guy realizes he’s been duped.
I guess they are trying to say that public school traditionalists have been duping the public for years? (Albeit I think they are really just revealing, perhaps, their own fear of being discovered as not truthful or truly of valor when wanting to help students). ????
I would say most kids who graduated from a good or top tier college between 1990 and 1998 know who Keyser Soze refers to.
And, actually, Keyser wasn’t real. The Spacey character duped them. (I didn’t say it right).
Here’s the scene. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-_6560AW1zQ
Oh my husband just reminded me that Spacey is Soze.
40-something lawyers love the movie.
Joanna, Since I was not in college in the 1990s and am not a lawyer in my 40s, I plead innocent of any knowledge of the movie “The Usual Suspects.” If I had seen that TV ad, I would assume that the point was to say that Bennett Kayser is disabled.
Dr. Ravitch, understood.
I have to say, this situation was one of the first times I have seen my husband’s face light up when I came into the den to tell him about what the Ed blogs I frequent had to say today.
It is a good movie.
And I agree with Tim—it’s not a compliment to Kayser by any means. It’s an attack for sure. But kind of a frat boy humor attack, if there is such a qualifier.
yes, it is what you say, Joanna; and it is “Frat boy” behavior… it reminds me of what Jay P Greene does when he attacks Petrilli on the J P Greene blog; Greene has a bit more “gravitas” and should know better but they just use the same “frat boy” adolescent type snarky/humor. And, it worries me because it’s the 28 years olds who are aides in the Senators’ offices that write these bills (ESEA) and they are part of the culture that appreciates frat boy humor and they don’t know the boundaries of where to leave it and bring it into their work… I don’t think it belongs in political ads and I think it is foolish nonsense in other kinds of ads….
Although I have generally agreed with you Joanna….this time I find your frivelous comments really sad.
Those of us in LA have long worked for Bennett Kayser and have appreciated his support of the union and of teachers. His illness is a serious and debillitating one, and this ad can only be considered a direct attack on his physical challenges. I hope you never have to deal with Parkinson’s which decimates the body as the brain stays clear and focused.
I wish folks who do not understand the disgusting behavior of the charter wealth and their determination to steal public ed would not just decide to write anything to see their names in print. It is most disheartening to good candidates and their supporters who read this blog site..
I certainly hope all readers in LAUSD districts remember this defamatory ad when they are filling out their ballots. Rodriguez supporters have proven they are scum.
“I would say most kids who graduated from a good or top tier college between 1990 and 1998 know who Keyser Soze refers to.”
Sorry, Joanna. I graduated in the 90s, and I haven’t a clue who Keyser Soze is. When I was not in class, I was too busy working gigs and teaching lessons to have time for frivolous activities like going to the movies. Maybe my school “wasn’t good or top tier” enough to allow me the time to obviously enjoy building a quality arsenal of cultural references describing con-artists. (Tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek.) 😉
Joanna may be right about the “top tier” schools in the part of the country where she lives… I think you would get some disagreements in writing a curriculum framework that included Usual Suspects in the genre and I for one would argue for a good David Mamet film or A Man for All Seasons or something by Robert Wilson (I would crowd out the usual suspects even if it is revered by a particular generation in your part of the country)… that is why we don’t need a “national curriculum” like CC would tell us we are supposed to be mimicking. And I would also want to review what is “top tier”….. by the statement Joanna includes not to disrespect her but to allow for the variety and diversity that I believe should exist in our curriculum/programs .
Oh, I think that’s a little presumptuous, jean. My area of study did not always include fictional characters from pop culture at the post-secondary level. The majority of my fictional heroes were studied, dissected, and analyzed at the HS level, far earlier then this movie obviously existed. Was it based on some sort of highly regarded literature that perhaps my top-notch HS English teachers may have inadvertently skipped during my literature classes? I feel so completed cheated out of college experiences that included variety and diversity for not having studied this character. Perhaps I don’t belong in the classroom after all, my two degrees be damned! 😉
I am referring to the social life that tends to cluster in certain “categories” (for lack of a better word) of schools. Often, the same bands tend to visit certain schools (look up the Dave Matthews circuit in 1993), the same styles among what students wear, the same type things are sold in the cafe, the same magazines on the news-stand in the book store. “The Usual Suspects” would be a movie that would have fit into that gestalt in the 90s in schools with an active Greek life, but a balanced one (a “thinking students” Greek life).
I don’t think it’s sad, Ellen, to notice these things. I’m pointing out what I observe.
You see the same things in public schools. How many “Frozen” hats, sweaters and scarves can you count on the playground at recess in your average American public elementary 1st grade this winter?
It’s not sad. It’s just. . .culture. If someone put a “Do YOu Want to Build a Snowman” or “Let it Go” reference in a kids’ ad, they would get it right now. It’s about what you’re exposed to. And you cannot deny that there are trends in certain settings that catch on in some places and not others.
If you quit noticing these things, then you quit noticing much of anything, as far as I’m concerned. Noticing them is not a shortcoming.
Jean,
I hear ya per the diversity in curriculum and so forth.
http://diycollegerankings.com/faqs/what-is-a-tier-1-school-university-or-college/
No Joanna…it is not culture. It is the remembrance of a few here who do not live in the LAUSD district, but who feel free to comment without understanding the breadth of the problem.
As to culture, pop culture for VAST profits, as with Pulp Fiction, and your Kayser reference, is the villain in the eyes of many such as I for the downgrading of American society into a guns/sex/violence ethos.
The loss to society of studying Medea, Oedipus Rex, Lysistrata, etc. in favor of acceptance of ‘hos (whores) and drugs’ and no boundaries, is exactly why students and teachers are suffering today. It is the ‘anything goes’ free market that enriches the cororate thugs, distorts the minds of youth, and keeps the rest in poverty of the purse and of the spirit.
Ellen. . .”my Kayser reference?” I have nothing to do with the ad. There is no reference in this situation that is mine.
I saw the movie. I got the parallel.
I respect you a great deal. Are we not suppose to comment on posts that are not about our state? I’m sorry. I thought this was a post for discussion.
I think you have a bit of a “the kids these days” going on. Who’s not to say that the very people that made the ad might have read all the glorious works you mentioned? Just because they didn’t absorb it the way you would hope, or integrate it into the fabric of their lives doesn’t mean society is doomed. Pulp fiction as the culprit. . .now you sound a little like the Christian right.
I give up. Forgive me for seeing the parallel and jumping in on the conversation. (I would never hope to NOT catch nuance or parallels for fear that if I do I won’t win the approval of an older generation—so I don’t think there’s anything to do here except factor it into the equation and become more parsimonious, which seems counter-productive on a blog meant for discussion).
As I recall the suspect played by Kevin Spacey is “gimp”… In other words he pretends to have a bum leg and acts pathetic as he manipulates the detectives, who let him go. All the way around it seems unflattering ar best
Rene: you have summed it up perfectly for me…… The Nation has an article http://www.thenation.com/blog/198193/why-no-one-talking-about-gops-plan-send-millions-disabled-americans-poverty?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=email_nation&utm_campaign=Email+Nation+%28NEW%29+-+Most+Recent+Content+Feed+20150217&newsletter=email_nation#
Given that Los Angeles is a home to filmmaking, I guarantee there are more people who will recognize such an obvious film reference, than there are who have even heard of Kayser or his Parkinson’s.
Few have seen the movie – nor could quote from it as extensively as you do. What is obvious is that making excuses for dirty politics is as reprehensible as the CCSA mission.
OK, I’m an Angeleno film lover. I’ll play.
So CCSA’s defense is that it wasn’t really drawing a parallel between Bennett Kayser as a Parkinson’s sufferer, but as a notorious villain?
I guess the only difference is that Bennett can sue for the former, but not the latter.
I’d love to have been a fly on the wall in that Hollywood pitch meeting.
WT…your comments are both cruel and foolish. We who are in the community know full well that this ad is not fashioned after pulp fiction, but that it is a full scale attack on an honorable man, a teacher, and elected school board member, who should be treated with respect and dignity. I am sick of those here who are too fearful to use their real names, casting aspersions on others.
So WT, I assume you are on the side of Kayser’s opposition and as such, as glowing at this foul play.
They knew exactly what they were implying and how to deny it. The Usual Suspects, which most people have never seen, is cover for some pretty nasty behavior.
“Why else would he drop his coffee cup? If that was the intention of the ad, it is reprehensible.”
it is reprehensible and the ad agencies are often guilty of this… it is like Ann Coulter and other people who attack disabilities because it is “funny” and they earn a lot of money doing it and the ad agencies have picked up on what they think is “humor” and use it everywhere.
Making fund of Michael with Parkinson’s has been a common themes on a lot of different “shows” and this type of humor has always been around ; it seeps into the ads on TV/Cable everywhere ; I will try to find some additional examples.
That’s mean!
WT an image or an ad ties into the experiences that we have as individuals and it is a “comprehension” task… for those of us who might not be familiar with the “usual suspects” I (personally) have a listening comprehension problem. So I refer back to my experiences (the world I do know that has the old ethnic prejudices, the racial prejudices etc from the past)…. I “hang it on that hook”…. this is why the new suggestions they have in Common Core about close reading are not useful; they ignore the teacher’s need to build background for the reader in order to gain full comprehension. The teachers today are told to present the “material cold” and not build background…. there is a huge fallacy in that. Also, it reminds me that reality in the political world today is drawn from “fiction” and it is a reading teacher’s role to help students sort out fact from fiction — made more difficult by the constant blurring of TV/cable/video with on-going reality in life. For a person like Hawking he has always had to hold these in perspective fiction and science fiction along with his understanding of reality but for a simpler mind like mine I have to create more of a boundary or get lost in the fantasy…. I’m not explaining it really well here but that is part of our role as teachers in reading comprehension (and listening comprehension ).
sometimes I wish I were back in the classroom because the whole teaching of “allusions” is fascinating….. I was working with a friend’s daughter on her high school texts and find they have no resources like the dictionary of allusions that I found indispensable in teaching; and, there are so many new ones that even a dictionary or encyclopedia isn’t up to date and you need the computer look up — …. if you gave me allusions from Frazier I might do a little better than drawing from other experiences in the culture today.
It seems all of Los Angeles needs a CCSA Dictionary of Delusions.
Entry #1 – Bennett Kayser is a champion of equitable access to public education. He is not a racist.
Entry #2 – PTA is a group that seems intent on misleading voters with a cleverly named organization that looks like the Parent Teacher Assn, but is not.
Entry #3 – George McKenna did not endorse attacks on Bennett Kayser, despite the inclusion of his name on misleadinig ads.
IMO, the supposed reference to the movie THE USUAL SUSPECTS is a big stretch. *Kind of like those yoga experts on youtube that can put their feet behind their heads. Possible, but very very few people can do that.*
Not an impossible stretch, but I am sure that the vast majority of people seeing the ad will respond as if it is an “attack” not a “clever movie jab.”
Let me give an example. If I were to do something as scurrilous as run an ad against the charterite/privatization zealots on the LAUSD Board of Education and their educrat enforcers by using a phrase something like “they want the TRIUMPH OF THEIR WILL over ours to fatten their wallets and their egos”—
Ok, I know—and even here in the greater LA area, only a few others will get my drift upon first viewing—that I am referencing Leni Riefenstahl and her paean of praise to Hitler called THE TRIUMPH OF THE WILL. This was a masterpiece of fascist propaganda, exalting the Nazi Party congress and mass rally in Nuremberg in 1934.
Now, are the two movies equivalent? No, of course not.
But the difference is that in the first instance, literally almost no one will get the reference. And no one should expect the vast majority to get it. In the second instance, I would be rightly criticized for sneaking in something—even if it’s not caught by most people—that is reprehensible and for which I should apologize immediately.
No excuses. Apologies without reservations.
IMHO, the makers of the ad and their backers should make no excuses. Apologize without reservations.
Sooner rather than later.
Just my dos centavitos worth…
😎
“as if it is an “attack” not a “clever movie jab.” thanks for this Krazy TA ; I admire creativity but I think some of the ads are “too clever by far.” Also, you have explained very well what is important here; I might know of Riefenstahl in a general sense and not fully understand the idea as you have presented and this is true of our college students as well as elementary /secondary; you ‘ve described things very well here.
Um, yeah, your example supports my point: the ad starts off with “Who’s Bennett Kayser?” which immediately calls to mind a sort-of pun from the movie’s central theme: “Who is Keyser Soze?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdeCPGNRjOU (The whole movie is about figuring out who Keyser Soze is.)
Even with this quote alone, it couldn’t be more obvious that the movie is the intended allusion.
And then the coffee cup shattering dramatically comes straight from the movie too! Not just that, the fact that you see the coffee cup shatter from three different angles happens both in the campaign video and in the original movie.
A final clincher: in the movie, the character is wearing a tie, and drops his coffee cup while he is contemplating a bulletin board full of news clippings. The campaign video has a similar bulletin board full of news clippings right before you see a person with a tie dropping the coffee cup.
In every way, whoever made the campaign video did everything but flash the text, “This video is virtually plagiarized from The Usual Suspects.”
When criticizing a person who happens to have a debilitating medical issue, I would think opponents would have more class than to blur the lines by presenting ANYTHING that could be construed as discriminatory and hateful. Defending this is akin to saying, “Well, I didn’t mean to insult your condition–I was merely trying to insult you in order to preserve your dignity. YOU were the one who misconstrued my meaning.” Sorry, you watch your Ps and Qs when you are refuting actions–you don’t imply physical impairment in the process. That’s personal…but by all means, defend this heinous act as “creative and clever.”
B. S.
On a stick.
I refute all members of the current BOE in los angeles and the union should also. Why support a group that falsely terminated hundreds of your members without due process and continue to do it. I charge the union with dereliction of its duty to its members also. The issue is not with the other candidates, its with these BOE members continuation of a policy that they support, like DZ, and the union being ok with this is unacceptable.
I am from Pennsylvania, don’t know a thing about Bennett Kayser, other than what I learned of him from Diane’s posting. I also never saw The Usual Suspects and never heard of it, or at least don’t recall this 20 year old movie.
I just watched the ad. It appears to want to make the point that the LASD is broken because of Kayser and uses a coffee cup, with Bennett Kayser’s name affixed to it and slipping from a man’s grip, to symbolize this. The actual points made by the narrator and graphics are obvious untruths and half-truths aimed at the lowest common denominator of viewer who believe that a school board member wants to protect teachers who are unprofessional and child abusers.
My conclusion – this ad is misleading and, as KrazyTA and jeanhaverhill just said, a reprehensible slur against this man and his medical condition. Hopefully the playing of the ad will backfire on the charter industry in California and the pols who take their money.
” lowest common denominator of viewer who believe that a school board member wants to protect teachers who are unprofessional and child abusers.” these permeate and reverberate through the system… So Gov. Cuomo stands up at a meeting and says he needs to get rid of the pedophiles in the teachers unions and NPR reads his statement as a press release an we have parents and taxpayers, voters, citizens hearing that garbage….
And we have no come back, no correction, from the adults in the room. They used to be found in both major parties, but no more. And when the teachers union leaders respond they get shot down by Democrats and Republicans alike who have sold the public on the notion that teachers are only in it for themselves and the students be damned. Makes it easier for them to destroy our pensions and due process, which is what their handlers want.
The anti-Kayser TV ad is definitely based on The Usual Suspects. The 1995 film consisted mostly of flashbacks that are narrated by protagonist Roger “Verbal” Kint, a con artist with cerebral palsy. He is played by Kevin Spacey.
Keyser Soze, the main antagonist is a fictional villain whose true identity remains a mystery throughout the film. It is revealed at the end, an ambiguous ending which has been debated. Most agree that Kevin Spacey’s character is the mysterious evil Keyser Soze.
Some ties:
1. The CCSA ad begins with “Who is Bennett Kayer?” And the “Who is Keyser Soze?” question is a main theme in the film and in widespread discussions about the film.
2. The scene in the anti-Kayser ad with a coffee cup dropping and breaking on the floor, with a name revealed on its broken bottom, was also a scene in the film. In the film, the person who drops the coffee cup is the agent who is working on the case. He drops it when the truth about the Spacey character dawns on him. Watch the coffee cup dropping business in the final scene at 1:56 and 2:59: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYXXhn9fMYs
3. Kevin Spacey’s character Verbal has cerebral palsy, that is, until the very end when it is revealed that he is Soze. I think whoever made the ad was trying to link Verbal’s condition to Kayser’s Parkinson’s disease.
4. One thing that suggest that Spacey’s character is the arch villain Soze is the tie-in w/their names: the Spacey character’s nickname is “Verbal” and the screenwriter settled on Söze after finding it in a Turkish dictionary; it means “to talk too much” (wikipedia page on Keyser Soze)
5. I have a hunch that the soundtrack on the anti-Kayser ad was plucked from the film, too, but we’ll need to watch the film to find out..
Anyway you look at it, the ad is filthy dirty, and I hope the person who posted it on YouTube is not on CCSA’s side, or the video will be deleted soon. If some reader here knows how to download the video from YouTube, I hope they will b/c it needs to be saved.
Looks like an exercise in plausible deniability to me.
LG: of course.
It is embarrassing to see folks trying very hard to defend the indefensible.
Is it really necessary to me to say that when a political attack ad can be easily [do I really have to add the word “predictably” too?] misunderstood and misconstrued that no one should have produced or defended it?
I guess I have to repeat the obvious: when you make a mistake, especially when you are grievously at fault, you apologize. No excuses.
Want to know what a class act does? The owner of this blog was at a national rally and someone else, not in her hearing, used a racial slur against Michelle Rhee. She bore absolutely no responsibility for what was said but she did the right thing. What was that? Click on the link below. And then ask yourself: couldn’t the producers and defenders of the ad have done better?
Link: https://dianeravitch.net/2013/04/06/why-i-apologized-for-something-i-did-not-say/
After you read the above blog posting, you will understand why I have referenced the owner of this blog several times when using this bit from Mark Twain:
“Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.”
Contrast the words and deeds of the producers and defenders of the ad with her, and you will not be surprised that when it comes to the person whose virtual living room we find ourselves in, I have written:
Color me gratified and astonished.
That same homegrown talent also noted:
“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” [Mark Twain]
It takes moral courage to fess up and self-correct.
I’m waiting…
😎
Whether a reference to Parkinson’s or not, dishonest attack ads like this are what we have come to expect from the usual suspects.
“The Usual Suspects’
Nobody suspects smears and lies
From the usual suspects. What a surprise
I think they are just being smart asses. And I Would take that to mean they want their opposition to hit back. They want to play. They want to fight.
Man, I wish that New York City had a democratically elected school board. The attack ads (from both/all sides) would be a hoot!
The ad is clearly obviously modeled after the climactic scene from “The Usual Suspects.” I’ll go one further than Joanna Best: not only would the concept be recognized instantly by many people in their 30s, 40s, and 50s, “Keyser Söze” is a meme whose reach has far exceeded that of the film itself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyser_S%C3%B6ze
The low-hanging fruit of Keyser-Kayser proved irresistible, I guess. If there is anything to be outraged about here, it’s not that the opposition is mocking Kayser’s condition (they aren’t), but that they are equating him with a really awful (albeit fictional) guy.
I can definitely agree with your last paragraph.
Tim: i would still want to ask… why would you give a character a specific disease or a symptom… it used to be consumption (Long Day’s Journey into Night ) , or cancer…. I found Susan Sontag’s work on metaphor to be interesting… Why would an affliction be visual in a character in a movie? What are the inferences I could draw from that?
To just say these are clever ad people who want to appeal tp the voting crowd in their 40s? I don’t know the population of the area or who is expected to vote but why in an ad would you leave out the people who don’t know the movie and who don’t get the allusions? Purposely to attract a speciic audience/voting group? To prove how clever you are at …. I still think it involves money (for the ad agency) and mean-spirited intent on the part of the people who paid for the ad (I think I would get 100 % vote from anyone who is active in American Disabilities group on the mean-spirited intent).
I’m not sure I understand the first part of your comment, Jean. The character in the movie who drops the coffee cup doesn’t have a specific disease or symptom, at least not one that’s visible or explained to the viewer. He drops the mug out of shock and disbelief. The Kevin Spacey character (Söze/Kint) pretends to be suffering from the effects of cerebral palsy (a severe limp and compromised function in one hand) in order to disguise that he is in fact a criminal mastermind. Is that what you mean?
Tim, what does the movie have to do with Bennett Kayser, who has Parkinson’s?
Tim : thanks for the response; somehow the writer and producers for the movie worked in the disease/affliction or the pretense of an afflliction… that was what I was getting at in the first part why the author /writer worked it into the character of the person in the movie…. that is common in literature to mean specific things or to create an impression in the viewer; and in the past diseases were often thought to be part of the personality (or karma or some other idea).
I have a couple of other points if you would bear with me…. Teachers in elementary schools have a discipline poster they put up and I objected to it in classrooms. It is Gary Coleman in a pupil’s chair (and he over fills the chair ) and then he is talking back to the teacher “if you move my seat I will just keep talking anyway.” Teachers think it is funny if they grew up watching Gary Coleman; but the students in the classroom didn’t watch coleman so what impressions do they draw: (a) the teacher thinks I am…. and they fill in the blank ; or, (b) they feel hurt and don’t see any humor at all in it (I can’t predict the numerous reactions all the students would come up with. So at the swimming pool I asked the life guards in their 20s if they knew who Gary Coleman was and they said no. That was another point I guess I have tried to make; we draw the inferences from our own experiences.
—-My last point and then I won’t belabor it any more…. There is a boy on TV who plays with a sister and a brother (the name of the older boy is Axel) and they are pretty average as far as families go — it’s an enjoyable show — but they give the child some kind of personality quirks that leave him bright but without social skills; the actual child actor has brittle bone disease but that is never mentioned in the story.
This is the portrayal of personality/affliction/disease/mental disorders in story lines for different purposes…. Michael J. Fox has a real life disease (Parkinsons) and he is also humorous and we know him from humorous roles; when a commentator or pundit makes fun about his disease or ridicules him about Parkinson’s (the way Ann Coulter and some far right wing commentators do to people) then they have crossed a boundary. I don’t know if I’ve made things worse by writing so much but it’s like pornography you know it when you see it.
What you talkin’ ’bout Willis?
(actually, I hear little kids say this now and it makes me laugh because I don’t know if they know it is a Gary Coleman reference). 🙂
thanks Joanna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0-aQPbzCZE
Frankly I’m impressed by the amount of deconstruction all parties are doing on this ad. I feel my own students would be at home in our English class, following the cinema art/life/politics exchange demonstrated in your responses. I appreciate the conversation and adore all the references, allusions and interpretations.
That said, let me address the ad itself and LA’s education environment that spawned it.
Here in Lala, it is no secret that LAUSD is extremely politically polarized, and for the most part, the lines split on the Reform/Union line. What needs to be said here is that the LA Ed Split is basically a Conservative/Neo-liberal split and sadly, not a Conservative/PROGRESSIVE split.
Bennett Kayser has always probably meant to do well (“well” from my perspective), but unfortunately and unbelievably IRONICALLY, is vulnerable in some of the areas that the Reform Ed folks were completely supportive of when John Deasy ran them. The ad creators are now using many of the things that THEY LOVED and BACKED to target Kayser because they have proven so ludicrous pedagogically that they forget how hard these organizations fought with Deasy for them.
These people are venal in their mercenary tactics in twisting the past to now suit their ends and washing their hands of their former Herculean support of all-things Deasy.
Kayser, like most of LA’s Board of Ed, has foolishly and almost deliberately given their enemies aid and comfort in their attacks on them. .
Kayser failed his duty in not speaking out more vocally in all Deasy’s initiatives. He was passive in his dissent and took the quiet way out too often when he should have shouted his misgivings from the rooftops.
Kayser was absurdly cavalier in how he treated teachers whose cases he complicity terminated careers without any intellectual inquiry and joined with John Deasy on all these cases against teachers..
Kayser’s Parkinson is not the issue with him. It’s his spine.
Like the other Neo-liberals on LAUSD’s Board of Ed, Kayser failedhis constituents by not forcefully challenging the Right Wing drift of education. (I excluded Monica Ratliff from this charge because she is by far the most intelligent and forward thinking of the current Board membership.) Although Monica Garcia and Tamar Galatzan claim to be Democrats, they are the Jeb Bush Ed Reform Democrats and are the well-funded voice of LA’s millionaire class..
Not that the general public follows any of this Inside Baseball trackings, but at least for the readers of this column, we should be honest umpires in our respective ‘hoods.
That said, this ad against Kayser is so ridiculous as to the facts of his positions that it is clearly designed hysterics for people who don’t follow the Board at all.
In my fantasy LAUSD BOE league, my players would demonstrate be more courage in championing progressive education and teaching. However we only have the players that we have.
If Kayser pulls out this race, I hope he reads his own campaign literature and in his next term acts like the education leader he is running as.
Alhough I stand with my friend and colleague, the insightful Geronimo, in addressing Kayser’s voting record as too often far from supporting the issues on which we agree, and also too often voting with the dark side Deasy/Broad-two, Galatzan and Garcia, I think the larger issue in this ad is the blatant lying by more than allusion. I cannot think if a single time that Kayser showed any tinge of racisim nor certainly support of pedophilia. It is disgusting that Rodriquez’s supporters would have to stoop so low as to imply that Kayser is man lacking morals. It is only exacerbation of these innuendos that the coffee cup is seen to shatter from his shaky (ill with Parkinson’s) hands…and caps the truly disgusting morals of the ad producers.
I think perhaps the Rodriguez shills are operating on this site to deflect the truth of his dirty campaigning. These charter school touts did exactly the same thing last year with a disgusting circular in McKenna’s district, with similar allusions.
As Karen Wolfe said, BoE member and current candidate McKenna immediately disconnected himself from this evil and mendacious ad. Why haven’t Galatzan and Vladovic also dissociated their names as supporters of Rodriquez and his claque, or are those two really in his corner with no holds barred?
“perhaps the Rodriguez shills are operating on this site to deflect the truth of his dirty campaigning. These charter school touts did exactly the same thing last year with a disgusting circular in McKenna’s district, with similar allusions.” You are convincing me with this statement because it happens in so many places.
http://www.mckellen.com/galleries/60.htm (images are very powerful) …. the people writing ads know that….
jeanhaverhill@aol.com
Geronomo I would take this theme into a classroom : disability/portrayal of character etc with the Richard the III film version that starts out with a gigantic tank crashing through the scenery…. (just had to get in a little enjoyment by thinking about that on another snowy day — 6 feet+ in my neck of the woods).
For the decency-impaired, a “safe lesson in logic” [as Phil Ochs put it]:
Just because they begin with the same two letters “ex-“ and end with the same five letters “-ation”—
Explanation is not exculpation.
We need to get out of John King-style thinking where, apparently, since “Montessori” and “Common Core” share five letters (“m” and “o” and “n” and “r” and “e”) they are practically one and the same—
The ad is atrocious. As is John King’s bitter prescription for OTHER PEOPLE’S CHILDREN, something very different than what he doses out for HIS OWN CHILDREN.
I hope this is my last comment on this thread.
😎
oh, no. . .come on. Let’s keep it going for a few hours. (hee hee)
Not a kind ad, no question. The statements and questions it has elicited about social “common knowledge,” (I call it cosmo-savvy) on this blog are interesting, though (to me).
A new kind of statement by “Greek guys,” I suppose.
Someone’s analysis of the ad:
http://www.laweekly.com/news/dumb-campaign-ad-draws-even-dumber-response-in-lausd-school-board-race-5390228
CCSA consultant John Shallman’s use of “The Usual Suspects” is indeed inspired, but not in the way he believes.
Film school spoofing is always fun for those in the know. To the people who employed Shallman, I doubt ANY of you got the reference and had to “trust ” Shallman that this was going to be an effective ad. Far more people recognize the director Bryan Singer for his “X Men” movies but Shallman wanted to go all auteur on the District 5 likely school board voter.
Now for my money, Shallman might have sold us a Chris “Dark Knight” Nolan’s brilliant art film “Memento” ad where we cleverly run the narrative backwards. Here we first see the Charter Big Money Folks angrily denouncing iPad expenditures and standardized testing and District mandates and we later see in the ad the actual beginning chronologically where these guys backed EVERY ONE of John Deasy’s pedagogical and management directives.
That said, Shallman really speaks for “The Usual Suspects” of Ed Reform brilliantly.
See you John later this month at the Independent Spirit Film Awards ceremony to get a glimpse of the political ad you will spoof in 2035.
Joanna Best: go to the link provided in a comment on this thread.
Here’s how the LAWEEKLY describes a tv ad (CCSA purchased $110,000 of airtime) that includes, among other things, a graphic with the following:
“BENNETT KAYSER Make it Easier for Teachers Accused of Sexual Abuse to Stay in the Classroom LAUSD Board of Education 4/16/13 & 5/14/13”
How does the LAWEEKLY describe this? Right under the embedded video clip is a paragraph, the first sentence of which has two words: “Kinda cheesy.”
¡¿Huh?! And the response by the writer to the above [and other examples of FUD] is to play the “ not the best movie joke” card and then trivialize the whole situation by stating that “the Kayser campaign decided to play the umbrage card anyway.”
The very last paragraph of the LAWEEKLY piece: “And what does all this have to do with educating children? What does all this have to do with anything? Not a whole lot. That’s politics for you.”
Yes, someone is playing politics. Guess who? Quite literally, the LAWEEKLY is acting as an arm of the CCSA by portraying legitimate self-defense against propagandistic filth as some sort of lowering of the dialogue by that self-serving moral reprobate Bennett Kayser.
Want to play the “references card” game? Okey dokey.
The LAWEEKLY seems quite pleased with itself—in a John King ‘Montessori & Common Core are practically the same thing’ sort of way—but just because “snark” and “smart” share 60% of the same letters (“s” and “a” and “r”) doesn’t mean they’re the same thing.
At this point, I am not outraged by what the LAWEEKLY and other likeminded folks have done and said re the Bennett Kayser ad. Quite honestly, I feel embarrassed for them. In the specific case of the LAWEEKLY, how pathetic—to deliver oneself up as a tool to edubusiness interests just for the sake [I am guessing here] of getting attention and driving traffic to one’s website.
And more than anything else, I think they exemplify what an old dead French guy wrote:
“Ridicule dishonors a man more than dishonor does.” [François de La Rochefoucauld]
And just imagine what he would have said about self-ridicule…
😎
P.S. For the “thought leaders” of self-styled “education reform”: ever consider what such ads do to your credibility and moral standing?
I think a lot of this, Ellen and KTA, is generational gap. I actually just signed up for a webinar about dealing with generation gaps in the work place (where 4 decades might have to work together, with different ideas of humor, different ideas of how to respond to authority, etc).
I will leave it at that.
And, now, KTA, I agree with you. I hope this is the last on this post.
In the case of Ellen, it may be a multi-generational gap.
Ah so…when Joanna, and Flerp (whose pseudonym always reminds me of the sound a turd makes dropping into the toilet water) no longer find their words are influencing the majority, they both turn to ageism and accusatory comments linking me not only with having accrued many years, but also tarring me as the Religious Right.
As to religion, it rarely comes up here but I am an atheist.
And as to age, I probably have some valuable decades more than many on this blog site. It has given me time to learn more and to reflect, and to speak my mind. And I am still very much a ‘boots on the ground’ activist.
Joanna, we are often clearly on the same page…Flerp, not so much. But I guarantee that if you are lucky you will reach my age, and hopefully your brains will not whither.
I have had so much interaction with teachers in the last two years, and so many write compelling reports, but I find it horrifying how many cannot get a sentence written without using vulgarities. This not the sign of a modern and wise person, but rather it connotes to many educated people a lack of language skills. If that belief makes me a target for age discrimination by some, it is not a big deal to me.
Here is an article written by a well respected commentator within your age brackets, and published only days ago, in part on the topic we have been discussing.
Column: Chris Hedges on Pornography
“‘Pornography Is What the End of the World Looks Like'” — “Fifty Shades of Grey” is part of a corporate capitalist onslaught that has seen women dehumanized, men desensitized, children damaged and violence and exploitation glorified.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/pornography_is_what_the_end_of_the_world_looks_like_20150215
“Flerp (whose pseudonym always reminds me of the sound a turd makes dropping into the toilet water)”
I cannot lie, I laughed out loud at that one. Or, as the kids used to say 10 years ago: “LOL.”
In all seriousness, though, Ellen, I didn’t intend to mock your age with my “multi-generational gap” comment. I was trying to poke fun at the extreme stodginess of your condemnation of popular culture, which strikes me not so much old-fashioned as ancient — i.e., something that no longer exists in the world, and which might have been last uttered by an old classics professor . . . in 1925. I have never known anyone of any age who did not enjoy popular music or movies, or who would take the position that movies are not “culture.” If anything, it seems like something a young person would be more likely to say than an old person. (Ignatius Reilly comes to mind, except for his piety.)
I do admit to being an occasionally stodgy professor of public policy, not of the classics. As such, I still research current culture. My position is that even though it is current, that does not make it worthwhile nor healthy for a democratic society.
Many of us who are older educators look back at what we consider more productive times and compare the current culture of greed and a rejection of most moral boundaries, from Wall Street and DC to Hollywood, and current times come up quite empty.
I shall no longer belabor these issues…but I certainly appreciate all the comments which condemn this atrocious ad against a decent man, Bennett Kayser. And I encourage all LA voters to avoid Refugio Rodriguez like the plague when you mark your ballot.
Ellen: “I do admit to being an occasionally stodgy professor of public policy, not of the classics. As such, I still research current culture.” Ellen, I’m an old “stodgy” reading teacher/learning disabilities teacher/teacher trainer & supervisor. Two of my colleagues are still working (we are between 75 and 80) where as I am retired. We laugh about the names they get called — “dinosaur” etc. I get things like “tea party” thrown at me because I am active in community affairs — ; don’t take it personally because it is part of the political process (unfortunately) but it is good to discuss it among colleagues. You won’t always find people on-line who support your values…. we need our trusted and reliable colleagues; as far as religion goes (I wouldn’t mention it except someone else here brought it up) we three (plus the only surviving husband) are (a) protestant (b) catholic and © and I am very proud of the blend — my niece calls us the motley crew. The only other times i bring up religion are when someone like Mike Petrilli (or Jay P Greene) puts out a study (as they did a year ago) that chrstians get higher test scores and it enrages me and I do everthing I can to deflate that balloon just as when the heritage foundation turns out reports from Richwine etc that use racial stereotypes to say things about our students.
Jean…thanks so much for your most cogent comments and the pep talk. I am in total agreement that educators of our generation continue to have the zeal and information to be active in our chosen workplace. Enjoyed your stories of your own “motley crew” and I too am surrounded by similar fellow academic warriors. If you google me by name, you can read some of the battles we pursued in the past few years. Please stay in contact and we can continue this supportive conversation at
Joining Forces for Education
joiningforces4ed@aol.com
Thank you Ellen for the link.
We are gearing toward Chicago conference on April 24-26, 2015. I hope that all supporters for Public education whether they are veteran or minted educators, or they are parents will focus on
1) Boycotting NCLB and Rttt policy and ZERO TOLERANCE to INTENSIVE testing schemes in elementary k-5 level as well as in 6-12 grades.
2) Restoring properly formulated funding for public education.
3) Maintaining and honoring Tenure Track for all teachers. Back2basic