Metaphors Have Meaning: The Hidden Cruelty of Andrew Cuomo.
I like the way this guy writes. Like an early Pete Hamill.
>>>>It is, therefore, jarring and even repulsive to hear his son, Governor Andrew Cuomo, make declarations such as, “There is going to have to be a death penalty for failing schools.”
It would be a mistake to dismiss this savage statement as simply indicating a generational shift in politics between a father and a son who both happen to have been elected governor of what historically has been one of the most progressive states in the union. (By the way, could you imagine Governor Al Smith or Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt employing such a sadistic metaphor for anything, never mind a vital public trust like a school?)
It would also be a mistake to dismiss it as a mere slip of the tongue or a mere metaphor, not to be taken literally or given more weight than it deserves. What Cuomo is doing is displaying the language of power, specifically that of the state to exercise power of the most brutal kind: the power to kill something that lives. Knowingly. Consciously. Legally.
That such language, coming out of the mouth of the highest official in NY State while speaking on the subject of education, is considered acceptable, however, is an indication of how savage we have become as a people. Or, rather, how savage our leaders have become and how passive many of us have become under their leadership — even when it comes to education. Indeed, perhaps especially when it comes to education.>>>>
the rest: http://raginghorse.wordpress.com/2013/08/31/metaphors-have-meaning-andrew-cuomo-and-others-and-the-not-so-hidden-cruelty-of-corporate-education-reform/
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