Florida rejects 54 math books, claiming critical race theory appeared in some

Such news stories add credence to the idea that the web + social media have been a universal solvent for societies. Especially democratic societies.

Three decades ago, such a move would have been an eyebrow raising 2 to 5 minute news story on the evening news. Or, mentioned in a tiny column in the newspaper on some page. Most people wouldn't have come into contact with it. Let alone with such vigor that it led to an us v. them dynamic. It would have been a somewhat pointless gesture that would have been quickly forgotten.

Editorial discretion would have pulled to something more "important" such as Presidents pressuring interns into sexual activity.

Today, due to the attentional nature of the internet, the same story is quite attractive. No matter what your stance, you click on it, at least once, because it's bizarre. It's distilled catnip. On HN as well.

People and machines notice that you're clicking on it. So people start talking about it on social media. Which you engage with. And so more of it is served to you by the machines looped in. On and on until you spend an hour or more of your life on a topic you probably wouldn't have touched or known about thirty years ago.

The emotional valence created by the issue is overpowering as compared to the past, and it's self-sustaining. Forever propagating through the intellectual wastelands we're self-curating.

Humans have been dying on pointless hills for thousands of years. But our technology has amplified it to quite an art form.

I could imagine it being something along the lines of "The economic productivity of a typical black slave was X... yada yada yada... how many dollars in reparations does America owe modern black Americans Y years later at interest rate Z."

I could also imagine it being something much more benign. I really wish we could see what it actually was so we could see if the DoE's judgement here was reasonable or not.

> Who includes education about "intersection of race, society, and law" in mathematical books, for what purpose?

That's the thing, they don't. And this is all a farce to line the pockets of some publisher in bed with some lawmakers.

Yes. Race doesn't exist, which is why we need affirmative action.

Floridian here. I've lived here all my life, and DeSantis is the first Governor under whom I have felt that the entire agenda is piss off people who aren't politically aligned with his values. Not a week goes by without some inflammatory new policy making it into the news cycle, and it saddens me because Florida has a ton of problems that we could be collaborating on legislatively, but instead, it's just partisan brinkmanship day in and day out.

I'm a fourth generation Floridian, and I've lived in the state for 42 years. I plan on moving my family out of here sometime in the next few years, as I don't think the future holds anything better here.

This is the first time in US history where a Governor has unilaterally drafted map redistricting an entire state, and it will give the GOP a 4:1 advantage. That's not democracy, it's a rigged system, and removes the will of the people from the equation.

For me, it's not a liberal/conservative issue, it's a representation issue, and an issue of priorities. Basically, I'm tired of the bullshit, and I think there are better places to raise a family, so I'll be taking my talent and tax dollars elsewhere.