In Remembrance of Sydney J. Harris

Resemblance to real persons is strictly coincidental.

"I am a man of firm principles; you tend to be stubborn; he is pigheaded."

The lesson behind such I/you/he constructs is that we tend to choose words that flatter our side and diminish the other side. They remind us that our own perspective is not neutral. The same behavior, depending on our point of view, can be called thrift, penny-pinching, or greed. Or confidence, arrogance, or bullying.

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As a boy, I used to read a newspaper column by Sydney J. Harris titled "Strictly Personal." He would occasionally write language-conscious pieces using that basic "I/you/he" structure. From them, I learned to love language and also to beware of my own self-serving biases. I remembered Sydney J. Harris fondly this past week.

I had written a blog post ("All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten"). In it, I made the case for teaching children in school not to be bullies, racists, misogynists, homophobes, etc. In contrast, I pointed to the Innovative Teachers of Texas (ITTexas). Its mission is to "liberate" teachers from "any responsibility not related to academic success." Euan Blackman happens to be a director of ITTexas. He also happens to be running for trustee of the Richardson ISD. I considered his leadership position with ITTexas to be a dealbreaker. I still do. But Blackman's response to my blog post reminded me of the old I/you/he language construct. In a comment of his on Facebook, Blackman said he supports:

established classroom management, school discipline policies, counseling referrals when needed, and age-appropriate character education rooted in shared community values

Source: Facebook.

On the other hand, he said the education establishment supports:

ideologically driven programs and curricula, often developed by external organizations with specific political or cultural agendas, that go well beyond basic civility, empathy, and personal responsibility.

Source: Facebook.

Well, OK, then.

Euan Blackman may not be old enough to remember Sydney J. Harris, but he provides a good example of choosing words that flatter his own side and diminish the other side. Perhaps I could be accused of doing the same thing in my original post, but, if so, here's a crucial difference. Euan Blackman is running to represent RISD as a trustee. I'm an opinion blogger. Voters who want to get the culture wars out of our schools maybe ought to consider voting for neither one of us. Vote for someone else altogether. There are two other candidates running for that place.

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Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

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"Kind words for my side,
rough labels for the other;
same deed, new costume."
—h/t ChatGPT