Union protesters demonstrated outside the premiere of the new pro-education reform movie "Won't Back Down."
As well they should have. Just as tobacco executives should have protested at the opening of "The Insider." And corporate polluters should have chanted taunts outside every theater showing "Erin Brockovich." And CEOs of nuclear-power companies should have formed a human chain to block the red carpet at the premiere of "The China Syndrome."
"'Won't Back Down,' get out of town," and "Move on over, corporate takeover," the protesters at the "Won't Back Down" premiere intoned. If their slogans were juvenile and the instincts thuggish, the calculation of their self-interest was exactly right - unions shouldn't want anyone to see this film.
In an outraged public letter, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, complained that the movie traffics in "the most blatant stereotypes and caricatures I have ever seen."
Really? Weingarten must never have seen a World War II movie, or a film featuring a hooker with a heart of gold, or pretty much any romantic comedy.
What makes "Won't Back Down" so objectionable to her isn't that its characters are stereotypes but that they are revelations. Time-serving teachers beholden to a union obsessed with its prerogatives and power don't often show up on the big screen, or we'd hear about more union pickets of movie openings.
"Won't Back Down" is about a plucky working-class mother, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose dyslexic daughter is "getting crushed," as she puts it, at the awful local elementary school. She enlists a teacher at the school, played by Viola Davis, to work with her to trigger a parent-teacher takeover of the failing school. A great contest between the reforming duo and the powers that be ensues, and - I'm probably not spoiling it for anyone if I reveal this - the duo prevails.
Critics point out how the story is overly simplistic and tugs too much on the heartstrings. But this is to be expected. It's a morality tale, like so many other Hollywood movies with a point. The legend on the poster for "Erin Brockovich" reads: "She brought a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees." Did anyone go to it expecting fine-grained nuance?
The villain in "Won't Back Down" is the system, with the union playing an outsize role in it. That makes it a more complex portrayal of education than the typical classroom movie that celebrates the heroic efforts of one teacher. The teachers in "Won't Back Down" are burdened by a lackluster principal, a deadening culture of mediocrity at their school, and their fear of losing their union protections when presented with the possibility of something new.
If all she cares about is the depiction of the teachers in the movie, Weingarten should be pleased. Many of them - after agonizing over their loyalty to the union and considerations of their own interest - decide to do the right thing and support a radical reform of their atrocious school.
The chief producer of the film, Walden Media, has an interest in promoting educational change. It's a sign of how deep the roots of education reform have sunk into the culture, though, that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis appear in the film and broadly support its message. Gyllenhaal stipulates that she's pro-union, but all is not well with the teachers unions. Davis said of the protesters, "There was not one person - I guarantee you - that was outside there protesting with a picket sign who had their child in a failing school."
In one scene in "Won't Back Down," a union official with a history of union organizing in her family asks plaintively, ÔWhen did Norma Rae become the bad guy?' When she became a cog in a union machine that protects an educational system that everyone knows isn't working.
"Won't Back Down" may make Randi Weingarten angry, but it mostly should make her afraid for her cause.
Apparently, it is not enough to tolerate, accept, or even endorse the gay agenda. Now, unless you tolerate and accept criminal behavior committed by gays, you are a hater.
Believe it — that is the very public argument being made in behalf of Florida high school cheerleader Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, who faces criminal charges for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.
Word on the street and in the media is that it will be a really bad summer for mosquitoes. Or should I say, it will be a really bad summer for humans, because it will be a great year for thirsty mosquitoes.
When Barack Obama announced his presidential campaign back in February 2007, he did it in front of the old Springfield, Ill., Statehouse in a speech full of references to Abraham Lincoln.
Ordinarily I don’t take requests, but a bunch of people have written to ask how I’m doing with my weight-loss surgery and I thought this might be the most efficient way to answer.
I am a grandmother who went to the Brownsburg graduation ceremony on June 7 and due to very poor planning on Brownsburg School’s part, I could not sit and watch my twin grandsons graduate in person. I was directed to an overflow room where I had to watch it on a TV screen and could not even take pictures.
What you are now hearing across the land is a collective whine. Blue-state Democrats are upset that Texas Gov. Rick Perry dares come and play in their sandboxes, and worse, threatens to “poach” jobs from their states.
The website Politico reports that Perry’s attempts to lure jobs to Texas are “infuriating to prominent Democrats around the country.”
I am the first to admit I am behind the times when it comes to technology. I remember way back in the olden days of the 1990s when I was actually ahead of the game. Now there are second-graders that are more tech savvy than me. I just decided to stop my forward technological progression a few years back.
College graduates facing a crushing debt – some more than $100,000 – is a very big and a very real problem.
But U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s recent proposal to deal with it won’t solve the problem. It is a cheap ploy to divert attention from the real problem.
An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
Commentary
Discussion
'Won't back down' outrages unions
By Rich Lowry CNHI
Union protesters demonstrated outside the premiere of the new pro-education reform movie "Won't Back Down."
As well they should have. Just as tobacco executives should have protested at the opening of "The Insider." And corporate polluters should have chanted taunts outside every theater showing "Erin Brockovich." And CEOs of nuclear-power companies should have formed a human chain to block the red carpet at the premiere of "The China Syndrome."
"'Won't Back Down,' get out of town," and "Move on over, corporate takeover," the protesters at the "Won't Back Down" premiere intoned. If their slogans were juvenile and the instincts thuggish, the calculation of their self-interest was exactly right - unions shouldn't want anyone to see this film.
In an outraged public letter, the head of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, complained that the movie traffics in "the most blatant stereotypes and caricatures I have ever seen."
Really? Weingarten must never have seen a World War II movie, or a film featuring a hooker with a heart of gold, or pretty much any romantic comedy.
What makes "Won't Back Down" so objectionable to her isn't that its characters are stereotypes but that they are revelations. Time-serving teachers beholden to a union obsessed with its prerogatives and power don't often show up on the big screen, or we'd hear about more union pickets of movie openings.
"Won't Back Down" is about a plucky working-class mother, played by Maggie Gyllenhaal, whose dyslexic daughter is "getting crushed," as she puts it, at the awful local elementary school. She enlists a teacher at the school, played by Viola Davis, to work with her to trigger a parent-teacher takeover of the failing school. A great contest between the reforming duo and the powers that be ensues, and - I'm probably not spoiling it for anyone if I reveal this - the duo prevails.
Critics point out how the story is overly simplistic and tugs too much on the heartstrings. But this is to be expected. It's a morality tale, like so many other Hollywood movies with a point. The legend on the poster for "Erin Brockovich" reads: "She brought a small town to its feet and a huge company to its knees." Did anyone go to it expecting fine-grained nuance?
The villain in "Won't Back Down" is the system, with the union playing an outsize role in it. That makes it a more complex portrayal of education than the typical classroom movie that celebrates the heroic efforts of one teacher. The teachers in "Won't Back Down" are burdened by a lackluster principal, a deadening culture of mediocrity at their school, and their fear of losing their union protections when presented with the possibility of something new.
If all she cares about is the depiction of the teachers in the movie, Weingarten should be pleased. Many of them - after agonizing over their loyalty to the union and considerations of their own interest - decide to do the right thing and support a radical reform of their atrocious school.
The chief producer of the film, Walden Media, has an interest in promoting educational change. It's a sign of how deep the roots of education reform have sunk into the culture, though, that Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis appear in the film and broadly support its message. Gyllenhaal stipulates that she's pro-union, but all is not well with the teachers unions. Davis said of the protesters, "There was not one person - I guarantee you - that was outside there protesting with a picket sign who had their child in a failing school."
In one scene in "Won't Back Down," a union official with a history of union organizing in her family asks plaintively, ÔWhen did Norma Rae become the bad guy?' When she became a cog in a union machine that protects an educational system that everyone knows isn't working.
"Won't Back Down" may make Randi Weingarten angry, but it mostly should make her afraid for her cause.
(c) 2012 by King Features Syndicate
Will the current V.A. backlog on veterans’ compensation claims be the next scandal to hit the administration?
Currently, the backlog is at 865,000 plus compensation claims with a wait time of greater than 125 days.
June 18, 2013
Apparently, it is not enough to tolerate, accept, or even endorse the gay agenda. Now, unless you tolerate and accept criminal behavior committed by gays, you are a hater.
Believe it — that is the very public argument being made in behalf of Florida high school cheerleader Kaitlyn Hunt, 18, who faces criminal charges for having sex with a 14-year-old girl.
June 18, 2013
Word on the street and in the media is that it will be a really bad summer for mosquitoes. Or should I say, it will be a really bad summer for humans, because it will be a great year for thirsty mosquitoes.
June 14, 2013
As a Christian, I feel compelled to respond to a recent letter to the editor.
June 14, 2013
When Barack Obama announced his presidential campaign back in February 2007, he did it in front of the old Springfield, Ill., Statehouse in a speech full of references to Abraham Lincoln.
June 14, 2013
Ordinarily I don’t take requests, but a bunch of people have written to ask how I’m doing with my weight-loss surgery and I thought this might be the most efficient way to answer.
June 11, 2013
I am a grandmother who went to the Brownsburg graduation ceremony on June 7 and due to very poor planning on Brownsburg School’s part, I could not sit and watch my twin grandsons graduate in person. I was directed to an overflow room where I had to watch it on a TV screen and could not even take pictures.
June 11, 2013
What you are now hearing across the land is a collective whine. Blue-state Democrats are upset that Texas Gov. Rick Perry dares come and play in their sandboxes, and worse, threatens to “poach” jobs from their states.
The website Politico reports that Perry’s attempts to lure jobs to Texas are “infuriating to prominent Democrats around the country.”
June 11, 2013
I am the first to admit I am behind the times when it comes to technology. I remember way back in the olden days of the 1990s when I was actually ahead of the game. Now there are second-graders that are more tech savvy than me. I just decided to stop my forward technological progression a few years back.
June 7, 2013
College graduates facing a crushing debt – some more than $100,000 – is a very big and a very real problem.
But U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s recent proposal to deal with it won’t solve the problem. It is a cheap ploy to divert attention from the real problem.
June 7, 2013
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Is Eric Snowden a traitor or patriot?
Tires
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An NPR broadcast examines the question of how communities can better prepare for tornadoes like the one that struck Moore, Okla. on Monday. The broadcast features commentary from Michael Fitzgerald, who reported a five-part disaster series for the CNHI News Service.
May 22, 2013 1 Photo
Complete Report:
Part I: Are We Prepared? | Part II: Disaster Dollars
Part III: Lessons Learned | Part IV: Warning Signs
Part V: The Big One
General Keith Alexander says two recently disclosed surveillance programs on international communications are critical in the terrorism fight.
June 18, 2013 1 Photo
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