The tragedy at the Travis Scott performance in Houston shocked entertainers, fans, and parents. Nine young people died at the arena concert, trampled by a crowd of 50,000 fans who surged to get closer to the stage where Scott was performing.
I confess that I am completely out of touch with the music of Travis Scott and his contemporaries. I love the music of other eras, from about 1600-1975, which seems civilized compared to today’s music (I can’t even make out the words when I try).
This article in the Los Angeles Times explains Travis Scott and his enormous popularity and wealth. The article included a Scott song called “Sicko,” which shows the menace and incipient rage that Scott promotes. After reading this article, I think Scott should face criminal charges in addition to the lawsuits that have been filed against him. The article is titled “For Travis Scott, a history of chaos at concerts, followed by a night of unspeakable tragedy.”
The article was published before the death of the 9th person.
In Travis Scott’s 2019 Netflix documentary “Look Mom I Can Fly,” in the aftermath of a particularly volatile May 2017 show at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers, Ark., one fan beamed at a camera crew while leaning on crutches. “I survived, I survived! It’s all good!” they said.
Following the show, Scott faced three misdemeanor charges of inciting a riot, disorderly conduct and endangering the welfare of a minor after he invited fans to overpower security and rush the stage. Scott pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and had to pay more than $6,000 to two people injured at the show.
“I just hate getting arrested, man. That s— is whack,” Scott said in the documentary, upon his release from jail.
Scott’s talent for stirring up a young fanbase with the fury of an underground punk act has long been a part of his appeal. On his 2018 song “Stargazing,” the rapper reveled in his crowds’ heaving energy: ”it ain’t a mosh pit if ain’t no injuries.” Yet the 30-year-old rapper is also one of the most successful figures in contemporary hip-hop, an endorsement-friendly business mogul in the vein of Jay-Z and Puff Daddy, and one of a handful of rap artists who can headline major festivals. His reputation as an incendiary live performer arguably exceeds his recorded music as the main driver of his current popularity.
But that penchant for inspiring chaos onstage has led to troubling situations, long before Friday’s Astroworld crowd-stampede disaster that killed eight people and left numerous concert-goers injured in Houston.
Scott has twice faced criminal charges related to inciting crowds into over-heated fervors. Before the incident in Arkansas, the rapper pleaded guilty in 2015 to charges of reckless conduct, after cajoling fans at Lollapalooza to climb over barricades and onto the stage with him during his show at the Chicago festival.
“Everyone in a green shirt get the f— back,” Scott said, referencing the festival’s security staff. “Middle finger up to security right now.” He then led the crowd in a chant of “We want rage.” (Scott often refers to his fans as “ragers.”)
Scott’s set lasted barely five minutes, whereupon he fled the scene and was soon apprehended by local police. A judge ordered him under court supervision for a year following his guilty plea.
In April 2017, a man named Kyle Green sued Scott after he attended a show at Terminal 5 in New York City, where Green claims fans pushed him off an upper-deck balcony. A different fan jumped from the same balcony in a widely seen video, after Scott pointed him out and encouraged him to leap off. “I see you, but are you gonna do it?” Scott said from the stage. “They gonna catch you. Don’t be scared. Don’t be scared!”
Green was left partially paralyzed by the incident. Reached by Rolling Stone after the Astroworld incident, an attorney for Green said that he’s ”devastated and heartbroken for the families of those who were killed and for those individuals who were severely injured. He’s even more incensed by the fact that it could have been avoided had Travis learned his lesson in the past and changed his attitude about inciting people to behave in such a reckless manner.”
In 2019, Scott wrote “DA YOUTH DEM CONTROL THE FREQUENCY,” on an Instagram video of fans storming barricades at one of his shows. “EVERYONE HAVE FUN. RAGERS SET TONE WHEN I COME OUT TONIGHT. BE SAFE RAGE HARD. AHHHHHHHHHHH.” Three people were hospitalized following a crowd stampede over security barriers at the 2019 edition of the Astroworld Festival.
The 30-year-old Scott, whose real name is Jaques Webster, was born in Houston, a famed city for outlaw hip-hop that figures prominently in his work (His chart-topping 2018 album “Astroworld” was named after a now-closed local theme park). His father and grandfather were jazz and soul musicians, and he studied musical theater while growing up in the middle-class Houston suburb of Missouri City. In 2012, he signed deals as an artist (with T.I.’s Grand Hustle imprint for Epic) and as a writer/producer (with Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music). His music was both visceral and melancholy, produced with the weight and ferocity of trap but glazed over with vocal processing and distended samples.
On two early mixtapes and his 2015 major-label debut “Rodeo,” singles like “Antidote” set a template for how rap would sound in the coming decade — bruising, miserable, sleekly nihilist. The LP’s swarm of guest appearances — Justin Bieber, the Weeknd and Kanye West among them — announced that a new star had arrived.
His 2016 follow-up, “Birds in the Trap Sing McKnight,” had similar firepower, with Andre 3000, Kendrick Lamar and Kid Cudi as guests. That record yielded two of his signature singles — “Goosebumps” and “Pick up the Phone” — and topped the Billboard 200 album charts.
But it was 2018’s “Astroworld” that turned him into a pop force. It not only again topped the album charts, but placed all 17 tracks into the Hot 100 singles chart. “Sicko Mode,” with Drake, topped the Hot 100 and set a template for TikTok-ready rap with its hard edits between beats and tempos.
His arena tour for that album grossed $32 million in three months in 2019, according to Pollstar. That launched Scott into the caliber of acts that could headline the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, for which he was booked in 2020 and, as of now, is still scheduled to headline in 2022. (He is also currently scheduled to headline next weekend’s Day N Vegas festival, alongside Kendrick Lamar and Tyler, the Creator.)
Last year, more than 27 million fans logged in to see him perform a concert in the video game “Fortnite,” where fans bought reams of real and virtual merchandise for characters in the game.
Beyond music, his endorsement deals with Nike, at a reported $10 million per year, and McDonald’s, where fans could order a Scott-themed novelty meal, have made him one of the richest acts in contemporary hip-hop. This year, he launched a hard seltzer brand, Cacti, with Anheuser-Busch. Scott has a daughter, Stormi, with the reality TV and cosmetics mogul Kylie Jenner.
Scott founded the Astroworld Festival in 2018 in partnership with Austin-based ScoreMore Shows and Live Nation, the world’s largest event-promotion company (ScoreMore sold a controlling interest to Live Nation in 2018). This year’s lineup, at NRG Park in Houston, was to feature Tame Impala and Bad Bunny on Saturday, which was canceled following the events of Friday night. SZA, Lil Baby and Roddy Ricch performed before Scott on Friday.
In the run-up to the festival, Scott opened a community school garden initiative in Houston, Cactus Jack Gardens; a new basketball court at the city’s Sunnyside Park; and a design-centric academy partnered with Parsons School of Design. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told the New York Times that “I’ve worked with the family, I’ve worked with Travis, I’ve worked with his mom…This is the last thing any of them wanted to see happen.”
The tragedy has left the rap world reeling. Ricch promised to donate his entire performance fee from the festival to the affected families. Scott’s team spent some of Saturday’s post-concert aftermath deleting social media posts that seem to encourage gate-crashing or other illicit behavior, including one May 2021 Twitter post in which he said: “We still sneaking the wild ones in. !!!!”
Judge Lina Hidalgo, the senior elected official in Harris County, where Houston is located, said at a news conference following the festival that “It may well be that this tragedy is the result of unpredictable events, of circumstances coming together that couldn’t possibly have been avoided. But until we determine that, I will ask the tough questions.”
One Astroworld attendee has already sued Scott, his guest performer Drake, Live Nation and the Harris County Sports & Convention Corp., which owns NRG Stadium. Texas attorney Thomas J. Henry filed the lawsuit Sunday on behalf of Kristian Paredes, according to the Daily Mail, accusing the defendants of prioritizing “profits over their attendees.”
“Live musical performances are meant to inspire catharsis, not tragedy,” Henry said in a statement. “Many of these concert-goers were looking forward to this event for months, and they deserved a safe environment in which to have fun and enjoy the evening. Instead, their night was one of fear, injury, and death.”
In a video posted late Saturday, a weary-looking Scott said that while he was onstage, “anytime I could make out anything that’s going on, I stopped the show and helped them get the help they need,” he said, “We’ve been working closely with everyone trying to get to the bottom of this.”
Sunnyside neighborhood is where Travis Scott chose to locate his philanthropy. In that regard, he made a principled choice. He has roots there and it is a historically proud, combative community. Sunnyside has been “keep your feet in the street” since the early 1920’s standing up for public schools, home ownership, racial equality, environmental justice and more. Tragic that Scott’s intelligence, talent and empathy got co-opted, gobbled up and spat out by an entertainment industry that could give two hoots.
Obviously, he participated in the Grand Illusion that money and might, at any cost, makes right. Sunnyside residents always knew better and fought against the destructive power of this personal and civic pathology. In the past week, playground, gardens, basketball court and community center have been stripped of all logos related to Scott’s “generosity”.
Sunnyside ancestors mourned the dead and fought like hell for the living. Travis Scott violated their memory.
A true hellscape.
“Scott’s team spent some of Saturday’s post-concert aftermath deleting social media posts that seem to encourage gate-crashing or other illicit behavior, including one May 2021 Twitter post in which he said: “We still sneaking the wild ones in. !!!!”
Apparently, they missed the “internet never forgets” memo.
Or the one that says “you can’t have your rage and beat it too.”
Diane,
Like you, I’m clueless about lots of the music of today. There’s still good stuff out there! Fun, upbeat, easy to dance to and the lyrics are not filthy or offensive.
But yes, some music is, to mine and many minds incredibly offensive. Graphic and vile. And I guess things go on at these concerts that I truly didn’t know about. Have you heard about what the female vocalist Sophia Urista did at her concert the other night? I don’t want to put words to it here so if you care to look it up. THANK GOD, her bandmates were apparently appalled and apologized for her behavior.
So I protect myself. I am very happily clueless. My sister has said that “this is not our world anymore.” But I like to think that most (at least many??) humans no matter what their age would find offensive the lyrics and music of songs like those to which you refer like Travis Scott’s, and the antics of those like Urista. My boys are 23 and 26 and are by no means prudish or unaware and are, in fact, accepting of plenty that is not acceptable to me. The culture has truly desensitized the population. But this stuff doesn’t fly with them either. I choose to believe there are many others like them.
So important that we go looking for hope in this world!
Enjoy this gorgeous fall day, Diane! 🍁🍂🍁🍂
Thanks. As I read about the Travis Scott disaster, I thought of my 15-year-old grandson, who attended his first performance show, outdoors, in a field, with pyrotechnics. I saw his video on Instagram. It gave me agita. That was a few days before the stampede in Houston. Going to a concert used to mean buying a ticket and sitting in a numbered seat. No flames.
Even kindergarten teachers know that K students will crowd their way to the front during book share time without a designated spot. Teachers often assign students to particular “carpet tiles” on the floor or patterns on the rug in order to avoid front row pushing and elbowing.
Wasn’t there a lot of ugly stuff going on during that Woodstock 1999 festival? And I also seem to recall that the 1970 documentary about the original Woodstock idealized a concert in a way that might have left out some of the less appealing aspects.
And wasn’t there a Rolling Stones concert with Hell’s Angels security at Altamont?
I absolutely agree that what Travis Scott does is unacceptable. His rhetoric should not be normalized, but our country seems to have normalized that kind of rhetoric when it comes from right wingers so it isn’t surprising that this happens at concerts, too.
^^^Also, I strongly recommend the excellent documentary “Summer of Soul” about a Harlem Festival of musical artists that was the same year as the 1969 Woodstock festival. The Harlem Festival included artists like Nina Simone, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Fifth Dimension, Sly and the Family Stone.
I concede that the documentary might not show everything, but that is an example of a family friendly music festival that truly seemed to be peaceful and full of love. Sadly, ignored by the white dominated media for decades.
As I understand it, Woodstock was a drag because of lack of rain, mud, and lack of infrastructure and survival essentials, including food, drink, toilets, and medical care for people with issues, which you are always going to have in large crowds. Extraordinarily poor planning.
As I understand it, Woodstock was a drag because of rain, mud, and lack of infrastructure and survival essentials, including food, drink, toilets, and medical care for people with issues, which you are always going to have in large crowds. Extraordinarily poor planning.
Bob, maybe the Woodstock 1969 was just about rain and lack of infrastructure needed for such a large gathering, but Woodstock 1999 wasn’t. Nor was Altamont.
I wrote a post where I cited the Harlem Music Festival of 1969, which got no coverage despite seeming to be a family friendly group of amazing musical artists with people of all ages enjoying the music without acting out. There is an excellent new documentary “Summer of Soul” I highly recommend. That festival seemed to be of almost no interest to the white media, so nice to see it covered 5 decades later.
“Summer of Soul” Harlem Music festival in 1969 = good
Woodstock 1999 (not 1969) and Altamont = bad
Two comments held up in moderation and wondering what triggers that.
Now I’m confused. Was Woodstock a drag because of rain or a lack thereof?
I thought it was a drag because of a lack of Bob Dylan and the Stones.
It might also have been a drag because of lack of Joni Mitchell had she not written the song Woodstock.
Bob
The organizers of the first Woodstock concert only anticipated about 50,000 and over 400,000 showed up.
So that it went as smoothly — and peacefully — as it did is a tribute to the organizers, particularly Michael Lang who made the decision to make it a free concert rather than trying to keep people who had not bought tickets out, which probably would have resulted in a riot.
I am pointing out the violence that happened during 1999 Woodstock and the Rolling Stones Altamont concert.
But sure, let’s talk about mud and rain.
The only reason I even mentioned the 1969 Woodstock was to say that I seemed to recall that the famous 1970 film might have left out scenes where attendees were acting out violently — and I don’t mean dancing naked or doing drugs. But I am happy to concede that Woodstock 1969 was peace and love.
But Woodstock in 1999 was not. And neither was Altamont. And there are more, but just reminding people that rock concerts do get out of hand.
It is no way excuses Travis Scott specifically encouraging his fans to act out. That is appalling and he should be held responsible.
I also was totally clueless about Travis Scott and his music. Initially, I thought he was being unfairly blamed and scapegoated but upon further readings about him…….he is damn well guilty of inciting and encouraging riot and mayhem. He should be held accountable. You don’t see so much of that kind of thing at La Scala, Vienna State Opera, Metropolitan Opera House, Teatro di San Carlo, etc. I’m much more into classical music but willing to give other genres a listen. Mozart died in 1791 at the age of 35 and left behind a massive musical bequest of operas, symphonies, sonatas, solo concertos, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and piano sonatas, etc. He is still played and listened to 230 years later. Do you think future generations will be listening to Travis Scott, Britney Spears or even Taylor Swift in 230 years, 100 years?
No. Future generations will have their own music. And Mozart and Bach will still be appreciated as timeless geniuses.
Agreed!
Will humans will still be around in 200 years? Or even 100?
Tens of millions of fans follow Scott, have we forgotten the tens of millions who followed the Beatles, or the Jazz singers of the 20’s .. every age creates iconic artists and musicians, the challenge is using the passion of the young to make a better world
I saw the Beatles first US tour. I enjoyed their music, but I wasn’t a super fan. I only got to go because I was friends with Chet Huntley’s niece. He had gotten us two tickets from NBC. The concert was at the Phila. Civic Center where the ’76s then played. The many rows of chairs attached on the sides were not fixed to the floor as they were on the basketball court. Screaming girls stood on the backs of the attached chairs, and whole rows collapsed. Paramedics arrived to pick up the victims. It was totally insane! It took me a day to regain my hearing. There were injuries, but none serious.
Very cool! (Not the injuries.)
Indeed, Peter. That is the challenge.
Before what’s known as “Astroworld,” I don’t remember ever hearing of Travis Scott. And after reading a bit about who he is, I’m not interested. Googling him to learn more, I read that he doesn’t support Trump, but he is a Republican that some lunatic GOPers think could replace Trump as their go-to guy for chaos.
I found this on Reddit that, if correct, could be taken as a warning to sane and rational people everywhere to stop ignoring the fringe MAGA mob that’s looking for another dear leader to replace Trump.
“Travis Scott is to the Astroworld deaths what Trump was to the Jan. 6 insurrection
“He knew about it, he basked in it, he didn’t stop it, and now he’s shirking responsibility for the deaths.
“The similarities are eerie. Read any news article about Trump and Jan. 6, replace ‘Trump’ with “Travis” and ‘Jan. 6’ with ‘Astroworld’ and they still read accurately. It’s no coincidence both Travis and Trump have long histories of narcissism, deception, shady business deals, and discrimination against LGBTQ+ and disabled communities.
“Let’s not forget Travis Scott is a known Republican: He supported George Zimmerman after the Trayvon Martin killing, he supported the police after they murdered Michael Brown, he took the NFL’s Super Bowl money after other artists protested in support of Colin Kaepernick, he funneled merch profits into a Ted Cruz super PAC, and he’s friends with Kanye West.
“Let’s cancel Travis before he runs for president! (He’ll be eligible in time for the 2028 Republican primaries)”
You are so right Lloyd, these right wing radicals are a menace and an existential threat to democracy, they promote hatred and the violent overthrow of our country. Not to mention they want to massacre, shoot and torture lefties, liberals and Democrats in general. They want to set up a new authoritarian police state much in the fashion of Pinochet or Franco.
It seems his fans didn’t exercise as much personal responsibility as they possibly should have.
Will we be talking about and listening to the music of Travis Scott in 100 or 200 years as we still do with Mozart, Scarlatti, Vivaldi or Bach, etc.?
We? Say it ain’t so, Joe!
Nope. Definitely not.
Here, a great treat:
https://wigmore-hall.org.uk/podcasts/andras-schiff-beethoven-lecture-recitals
The extraordinarily talented András Schiff plays all the Beethoven sonatas and introduces each. Magnificent!
We have to figure out how to connect with the Travis Scott audience, they are the future of our nation …
Spoken like a teacher!
@Ed…. I agree. And I don’t think this is comparable to say – how parents didn’t want children to listen to the Beatles in the 60’s. I think there are performers today who are calculated, possibly narcissistic, marketers….. taking the easiest route to the quickest $$. Marketing…. self-promotion…. raking in the dough any way possible…. getting high off the crowds doing whatever they say.
In addition to connecting with that audience…. we need to do a better job of teaching youth to be critical thinkers and consumers. What is the point of a message to break down the barricades and ignore security? Why would a ‘1 percenter’ want that kind of dissidence towards rule of law and safety….. doing whatever he asks them to do even if it results in injury or worse?
I am an old person, but I like Chance the Rapper. Gosh, I hope that doesn’t destroy his career.
It looks as if Travis, who has often verbally encouraged people to rush the stage, has run out of luck. People were tired of being cooped up and their exuberance took over.
It appears no one was prepared for this, or they just didn’t care.
This is end stage capitalism in the entertainment world, but it’s no better than in any other endeavor.
I think Kanye West is a genius who writes brilliant and very important music. His repellent political beliefs seem more a reflection of mental illness than reasoned political thinking.
And I like Chance the Rapper, too, not just his music but his rational view of the world and his actions to make the world better.
I was considering posting a joke about whether any commenter would find a way to tie this incident to “right wing” rhetoric, but it seemed too whimsical. But nope, the usual suspect came in and stuck the landing.
Trump and Travis
However different they might be,
they share a modus operandi.
Call me old fashioned, Bob, but the music is terrible and thuggish and attracts a disproportionately thuggish crowd. Add “general admission” and insufficient security and law enforcement, and this is what you get. You get a mob.
The production company has a lot to answer for here. It is their job to make sure that stuff like this is unlikely to happen.
I had a taste of this when I was 16 and had a rock n roll band. We were playing at an outdoor concert, and a political figure showed up, and people in the crowd started hurling bottles and cans at him. Horrible. His security had to hustle him into a van and drive off.
Yeah, that Lee Greenwood song Trump plays at his rallies is pretty thuggish, or popular with a thuggish crowd.
Bob Shepherd,
When flerp said “attracts a disproportionately thuggish crowd”, was he referring to Trump, Travis, or both of them?
Bob
Was it like this?
LOL. Hilarious, SomeDAM! What a great scene, and a great act, those Blues Brothers!
Just once, why don’t you make a reasoned argument for why you believe that right wing rhetoric normalizing violence is fine with you.
You are constantly “refuting” opinions of other people by lazy innuendo and personal attacks like “the usual suspect came in and stuck the landing”. If we all did that, this blog would be simply everyone posting comments like you do, like:
“I was considering posting a joke about whether any commenter would find a way to tie the incident to their hatred of COVID restrictions, mandatory vaccines, and public schools not remaining open during a pandemic but it seemed too whimsical. But nope, the usual suspect came in and stuck the landing.”
Lloyd Lofthouse actually posts arguments that support his opinions instead of links to tweets to right winger that use an out of context sentence to demonize educators doing good work and encourage violence and hatred and threats to those educators’ lives.
Lloyd posted: “Let’s not forget Travis Scott is a known Republican: He supported George Zimmerman after the Trayvon Martin killing, he supported the police after they murdered Michael Brown, he took the NFL’s Super Bowl money after other artists protested in support of Colin Kaepernick, he funneled merch profits into a Ted Cruz super PAC, and he’s friends with Kanye West.”
I thought that was informative, unlike your own comment.
Aaaaaand of course she doubled-down.
“she”? I don’t think Lloyd Lofthouse is female.
As usual, one of this blog’s foremost purveyor of right wing anti-public school innuendo cannot even quote the comment that outrages him and explain why he disagrees, because that would require responding to the content instead of simply offering up innuendo-based personal attacks.
If people here condone this person’s definition of having a discussion or debating issues, then I have no interest being part of this blog anymore.
I also think that our failure to call this out legitimizes this kind of public discourse. This is the kind of false “discourse” the right uses to present negative characterizations of public schools and union teachers.
And while I will continue to call out this kind of nastiness and remind people that it is dangerous to condone it, I have no interest in debating with anyone whether or not Flerp’s comments like this are appropriate or helpful. They are not. And don’t bother trying to convince me that they are because I’m not playing.
I hate violence; however, I love equality, equal treatment and blind justice. This should be practical, but too often it is only theoretical. Everyone who breaks the law should be held accountable. If a singer/performance insights a mob to the point of life-threatening conditions while on the job, so should lawyers, community leaders and elected officials. If one is held accountable and not all others, then we must ask why and demand a truthful consistent answer to the question.
As regarding the arbitrary and unfathomable “decisions” and actions of Word Press (and spell check): “An enigma wrapped in a paradox and shrouded in a conundrum” Levi, 2008. And “It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, but perhaps there is a key.” Churchill, 1939.
How many opera or classical music audiences are under 30? How many are people of color?
The kids we teach love rap, love Travis Scott, degrading their music is degrading the kids we teach
Travis Scott’s music degrades itself and the kids who listen to it.
I suspect, Peter, that there are more classically trained musicians under 30 now and more people under 30 who attend classical recitals and concerts than at any other time in history. Few in Bach’s day had the chops to play Bach. Few in Chopin’s day had the chops to play Chopin. I’m a classical and jazz guitarist by avocation. I know for certain that there has been an EXPLOSION in the numbers of superbly trained classical guitarists. And Western classical music is no longer simply a European and American phenomenon. It’s worldwide, so MANY of these amazing performers (and their audiences) around the world are POC. In the US, though, there definitely is a problem:
https://www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2020/07/22/classical-music-racism-linda-katherine-cutting
Your point about degrading the music being the same as degrading the kids is well taken. I lean toward thinking that contemporary rap is more musically and certainly more poetically sophisticated than are pop music generally and classic rock. The Beatles had the ear of the world, and all they could say with that was “Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. Love. It’s easy. All you need is love.” So deep. And I can teach any 13 year old to play Rolling Stones stuff in four months of lessons. It’s so simple as to seem to me, now, childish.
Interesting questions you raise, Mr. Goodman. I have a comment in moderation. Who knows why? I mentioned Chopin and Bach, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Do these trigger moderation as references to the Caveman do?
Rain, mud and clouds of pot “calmed” the masses
On a related insane note
New HampshireStalinist Moms for Liberty chapter offers $500 to anyone who can catch teachers breaking a new ‘discrimination’ lawhttps://news.yahoo.com/hampshire-moms-liberty-chapter-offers-042745142.html
The law in question forbids teaching of “divisive concepts”
Warning to math teachers in NH: if you continue to teach division(÷), Stalinist parents of NH are going to discover it (that’s what their kids are for) and rat you out to Stal… I mean Sununu.
Stalinist Moms For Liberty
Stasi outpost
Commie plant
Little child knows
Every rant
Tells his mom
What teacher said
Beats the drum
For teacher’s head
And math teachers, make no mistake: if you continue to teach division, Stalunu will send you to the Gulag (top of Mount Washington) to do hard labor (breaking granite rocks with a sledge hammer). And it’s frigig up there in Winter (100 below zero) and they don’t give you a wind breaker. Only a rock breaker.
The Eleventh Comm(ie)andment
Thou shalt ever
Teach addition
But thou shalt never
Teach division
According to rules set forth in math books used to teach kids in crackpot right schools:
Addition forbids abortion.
The Pythagorean Theorem is a conspiracy.
But the ends justify all means and extremes.
“the ends justify the means and extremes”
Spoken like a true mathematician.
Teaching of Fourier analysis is also presumably banned, since it involves dividing up a signal into its component frequencies and favoring (weighting) certain frequencies over others, which is clear discrimination. Although that would apply more to college teaching.
And, while we are on the subject of signal analysis, teaching about “white noise” is also banned because it too is discriminatory. What about black noise? Shouldn’t we teach about that too?
And don’t even get me going on fractions.
I still like the British Invasion and Motown (especially Jr. Walker and the All Stars).