29 June, 2009

Conservative bias in my brother's government textbook

This weekend, my brother tried to pawn off on me his old government textbook from this last semester (not the one pictured), but of course I refused (wtf made him think I would want an old government textbook?). Later, he happened to mention that he didn’t want to keep it because it seemed to have a strong conservative bias. Now shocked and fascinated, I leapt over to him and the book, begging for an example where the bias was noticeable, as bias of any kind is blasphemous to the entire idea of a textbook.


The following are a few excerpts that exhibit this bias, which I was pretty surprised to find were as strong as my brother purported:



from “How a Bill is Passed”:


“First, a Democrat suggests something retarded. This idea, or bill, then goes to committee, where Republicans try to make it a little less retarded.”


from the glossary:

“Affirmative Action: something the Democrats came up with as a way to suck off their minority constituents.”


from “Prayer in School”

“This is a wonderful opportunity for children to express their faith in the Lord, but the Democrats, who worship Satan, have been trying to do away with this time-honored tradition, since whenever a prayer is uttered in their vicinity, they experience the sensation of acid having been thrown in their ears.”



I was, understandably, immensely offended and horrified that the school would allow such a textbook, so I’m thinking of writing them a letter in protest.

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