The (former) president's reading lesson

[Joel S. Berson]

I too was appalled when I saw that scene on live -- or at least
reasonably contemporaneous -- television.  What shocked me then is
that no-one commented on it at the time (to my knowledge).

My impression is that Moore does not comment either, but simply lets
it run.  However, the effect of his silence is much different.

Joel

At 8/23/2009 01:44 AM, Dennis Baron wrote:
>President Obama's health-care initiative may be visionary, but his
>faith in the Bush administration's "No Child Left Behind" program,
>with its emphasis on standardized testing, prompts me to reprise on
>the Web of Language this 2004 essay that first appeared in Education
>Week.
>
>One scene in Michael Moore's 2004 documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" keeps
>playing in my head: George Bush placidly following along as second-
>graders from Florida read a story called "The Pet Goat." Off camera,
>in New York and Washington, planes are crashing into buildings. "The
>Pet Goat" is far from riveting, yet it keeps the president in his seat
>as the most devastating terrorist attack in the nation's history
>unfolds. . . .
>
>read the rest of this post, updated and illustrated, on the Web of
>Language:  http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>____________________
>Dennis Baron
>Professor of English and Linguistics
>Department of English
>University of Illinois
>608 S. Wright St.
>Urbana, IL 61801
>
>office: 217-244-0568
>fax: 217-333-4321
>
>http://www.illinois.edu/goto/debaron
>
>read the Web of Language:
>http://www.illinois.edu/goto/weboflanguage
>
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