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> People just don’t want to organize, generally speaking They used to far more. The eighties and nineties disassembled many of the places and means to organisi

> People just don’t want to organize, generally speaking They used to far more. The eighties and nineties disassembled many of the places and means to organising. Disassembly of civic community, unions, restrictions on demos, decline of social societies such as Lions Clubs and others. Now we're all individuals, organising alone.

acqq 7y ago
Related: https://splinternews.com/organized-labor-is-in-a-life-and-death-struggle-be-ver-1823353601 https://splinternews.com/organized-labor-is-in-a-life-and-de... "For an entire century, the corporate class in America has dreamed of destroying organized labor, which eats into their ability to amass endless profits. They’ve chipped away at unions for 40 years. Now, it is no exaggeration to say that they are two steps away from total victory." ... "This is a very scary time. Take it seriously."
- OnlineGladiator 7y ago
  When you have unions in the United States like the American Federation of Teachers, it's easy to celebrate the death of unions. That union is doing more damage to this country than just about anything else I can think of. I'd say a close second would be the Fraternal Order of Police. EDIT: I really fucking hate when people edit their comment after people have already replied to it.
  - philliphaydon 7y ago
    I watched that doco, waiting for superman. Man the education system is crazy if it’s true.
  - acqq 7y ago
    > EDIT: I really fucking hate when people edit their comment after people have already replied to it. My message is just a link and the quote from there and it was just that since the beginning, so do you really think I've edited anything that changed the meaning the message, or is that "edit" of yours unrelated to my message?
    - OnlineGladiator 7y ago
      I apologize, I remember the comment being longer. I also did not mean it as an attack against you specifically, more that the act itself is annoying (not necessarily that you had ill intent, it could entirely be coincidental). I realize this is HN and we are expected/encouraged to interpret people's meanings with the best possible intent, but rereading that edit I can understand why you would feel otherwise.
      - acqq 7y ago
        > (not necessarily that you had ill intent, it could entirely be coincidental) I'm sorry, but in this case I'm absolutely sure there was never anything but the quote there, and the confusion is due to some other comment.
        OnlineGladiator 7y ago
        I agree with you the mistake was mine. What I meant by > it could be entirely coincidental is it's possible someone edits a comment before they see there's a reply to it (this is pretty easy with HN's interface). At first I was frustrated because I thought your comment had been edited after I replied to it, and then my second comment was an apology for erroneously believing it had been changed. I apologize again for the confusion.
        acqq 7y ago
        > is it's possible someone edits a comment before they see there's a reply to it (this is pretty easy with HN's interface). For years I use "delay" in my HN user settings: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=231024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=231024 (Just to point to those that missed that possibility).
  - chongli 7y ago
    I'm not too familiar with teaching in the US. Could you elaborate on the problems caused by the teachers' union?
    - OnlineGladiator 7y ago
      Basically, the union puts teachers before students. Which doesn't sound too bad, until you realize they always put teachers before students. They make it impossible to fire teachers who are known to be awful, even when they've been offered incentive programs to eliminate bad teachers (they would literally be paid to fire bad teachers). This doesn't sound too bad, until you see what happens after decades of rot. The American education system, according to anyone who's ever tried to fix it, is legally unfixable so long as the union exists. That union can block any change from happening, and they block everything that would threaten any teacher. The reason we don't hear more about this is because rich people send their kids to private schools. I'm not saying the education system is simple and eliminating this union will magically create the best education system on Earth, but I definitely believe they single-handedly share more responsibility than everything else combined, including poor funding for public schools. While it's obviously trying to convey a message, I'd strongly recommend the documentary Waiting For Superman. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566648/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566648/
PavlovsCat 7y ago
Noam Chomsky about the lack of continuity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5meC4Z61qGg&t=15m45s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5meC4Z61qGg&t=15m45s

acqq 7y ago

Related: https://splinternews.com/organized-labor-is-in-a-life-and-death-struggle-be-ver-1823353601 https://splinternews.com/organized-labor-is-in-a-life-and-de... "For an entire century, the corporate class in America has dreamed of destroying organized labor, which eats into their ability to amass endless profits. They’ve chipped away at unions for 40 years. Now, it is no exaggeration to say that they are two steps away from total victory." ... "This is a very scary time. Take it seriously."

OnlineGladiator 7y ago
When you have unions in the United States like the American Federation of Teachers, it's easy to celebrate the death of unions. That union is doing more damage to this country than just about anything else I can think of. I'd say a close second would be the Fraternal Order of Police. EDIT: I really fucking hate when people edit their comment after people have already replied to it.
- philliphaydon 7y ago
  I watched that doco, waiting for superman. Man the education system is crazy if it’s true.
- acqq 7y ago
  > EDIT: I really fucking hate when people edit their comment after people have already replied to it. My message is just a link and the quote from there and it was just that since the beginning, so do you really think I've edited anything that changed the meaning the message, or is that "edit" of yours unrelated to my message?
  - OnlineGladiator 7y ago
    I apologize, I remember the comment being longer. I also did not mean it as an attack against you specifically, more that the act itself is annoying (not necessarily that you had ill intent, it could entirely be coincidental). I realize this is HN and we are expected/encouraged to interpret people's meanings with the best possible intent, but rereading that edit I can understand why you would feel otherwise.
    - acqq 7y ago
      > (not necessarily that you had ill intent, it could entirely be coincidental) I'm sorry, but in this case I'm absolutely sure there was never anything but the quote there, and the confusion is due to some other comment.
      - OnlineGladiator 7y ago
        I agree with you the mistake was mine. What I meant by > it could be entirely coincidental is it's possible someone edits a comment before they see there's a reply to it (this is pretty easy with HN's interface). At first I was frustrated because I thought your comment had been edited after I replied to it, and then my second comment was an apology for erroneously believing it had been changed. I apologize again for the confusion.
        acqq 7y ago
        > is it's possible someone edits a comment before they see there's a reply to it (this is pretty easy with HN's interface). For years I use "delay" in my HN user settings: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=231024 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=231024 (Just to point to those that missed that possibility).
- chongli 7y ago
  I'm not too familiar with teaching in the US. Could you elaborate on the problems caused by the teachers' union?
  - OnlineGladiator 7y ago
    Basically, the union puts teachers before students. Which doesn't sound too bad, until you realize they always put teachers before students. They make it impossible to fire teachers who are known to be awful, even when they've been offered incentive programs to eliminate bad teachers (they would literally be paid to fire bad teachers). This doesn't sound too bad, until you see what happens after decades of rot. The American education system, according to anyone who's ever tried to fix it, is legally unfixable so long as the union exists. That union can block any change from happening, and they block everything that would threaten any teacher. The reason we don't hear more about this is because rich people send their kids to private schools. I'm not saying the education system is simple and eliminating this union will magically create the best education system on Earth, but I definitely believe they single-handedly share more responsibility than everything else combined, including poor funding for public schools. While it's obviously trying to convey a message, I'd strongly recommend the documentary Waiting For Superman. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566648/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1566648/

PavlovsCat 7y ago

Noam Chomsky about the lack of continuity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5meC4Z61qGg&t=15m45s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5meC4Z61qGg&t=15m45s