Posted on Friday 17 June 2011
I like John Amato. His site, Crooks and Liars, has a lot of good stuff. But I think he gets this one wrong. It seems that he is attempting to tar Tim Pawlenty with the company that Pawlenty keeps. His brush? A guy named Ray Shakir. There is video at that link and a list of the things that Shakir has said that mark him as a person who seems to have a tenuous grasp on reality. But the thing that Amato focuses on misses.
In response to a special education official who said there was “no such thing as an uneducatable person,” Shakir told a gym full of citizens: “I would dispute that fact. There are certainly individuals that are uneducateable. I am simply suggesting to you and everybody else that there should be a line drawn where the taxpayer is responsible to educate certain people.”
I watched the video and I think Shakir has a point. We should be having a discussion about this.
- Is the school system the place and method for dealing with those people who are so learning disabled that they may need care for the rest of their lives?
- Who should pay for it?
- What is the responsibility of society in this case?
I don’t know the answers for these questions, but we should be asking them and trying to answer them. Shakir’s interlocutor/interrogator says the following in response.
You are physically making me sick. What you are saying, Mr. Shakir, is immoral, unethical, and illegal.
The guy was telling Shakir how he felt. Why? Why was that important. You are sick? Then puke. Oh, you aren’t puking? You are exaggerating? Why? Why exaggerate? The guy then goes into statements that can not be true. Immoral? Why was it immoral? Shakir was talking about public policy and it is a matter of discussion. Unethical? There was no talk of rights and responsibilities. Only the statements meant to shame Shakir. I don’t thing the guy in the vest really know anything about ethics. I think he thinks he knows, but that does not convey knowledge. Illegal? I doubt it.
To be clear, Shakir has some weird ideas, but this clip is not the damning evidence that Amato thinks it is.