The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 423 - West Virginia Textbook War

Episode Date: April 1, 2020

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the West Virginia Textbook WarSourcesTour DatesRedbubble Merch

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. You're listening to the dollop on the All Things Comedy Network. This is a

bilingual American History podcast where each week I, Dave Anthony, read a story from American history to my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. We are, is our first pandemic podcast? Yeah explain to people why this maybe sounds a little different. Well we don't know how it's gonna sound. Explain to the hundred thousand people who are left over ten years from now. Okay. Why is that weird? Dear nomads. We rebuild. We are currently both quarantined and are in our separate abodes and so this is the first time we've ever done a podcast online apart as opposed to face-to-face. This is

like we usually kiss or bump noses or whatever. This is like you've got mail but a podcast. That's exactly what it is. I don't even I the guy who said it is gonna now say it's not exactly like that so don't. I've never I've never seen that movie so it is spot-on. Well and I remember very small bits. Okay then it's right. So it's a hundred percent right. So this is the you've got mail podcast pancast. That's what this is a pancast. Yes it's a pancast. So we want to say we're sorry the tour was postponed. Obviously you guys understand why. So all the dates are being rescheduled as much as we can for later in the year or next

year and hopefully those work and then of course if you can't make it we have told all the venues to give out refunds or you know some of you guys are gonna be hard up for cash. Get a fucking refund. It's we've made it and if they don't if they don't give you refund send me an email and then I yell at them. That's how that works. Okay right. Yep you're the muscle. And then to those people who are you know it's the end of the month a lot of people have lost their jobs hang in there. You know Congress gave people a little bit. Some people are gonna fall through the cracks on that one. But I would say go to Dave Anthony

Comedy and I'll put up a how to organize a rent strike so you guys can download that. And you know there's gonna be a lot of people who are going to be not paying debts and not and not not paying rent and you know you have to organize. There's already been people that have been organizing buildings and doing rent strikes. That's what you have to do. If you have no money and they're allowing rent memoratoriums on mortgages but not on you know actual people paying rent to those people. So we the people are gonna have to fight a little bit on this one. Yeah we're gonna do it. There'll be some growing pains

coming up. There's some growing pains but they are they are blowing it. They're showing who they are and we as a people will absolutely come together. And just the other day just yesterday or a couple days ago in LA we held a car protest. We in our cars went to the mayor's office. That was amazing. Did honky-dee honks and let them know we're still out here. I almost like a car protest better. I hear you. There's a I don't know. Let's see. Let's see. Yeah yeah there's like let's segue it into my dates. So those are also canceled. They're postponed. Some are rebooked but yeah so like everything else we're just kind of

waiting to figure it out. Yeah my brother and I got fired but then they just on fire. What? That's crazy. What I mean. What a time. Yeah my sister and brother let both go fire. Good times. I'm sure that'll be fine. I miss you too. Thank you. I mean how I just it just took so long. Yeah you know now this is like you've got mail. 1974. Oh. All right. You're Lord Jesus Christ church. Well it's a little late for him. Oh I should mention where L dollop is now a podcast. Oh yeah. Or Spanish language and doing great. Yeah it's doing amazing. It's like in the top 10 in Mexico. I'll probably put one up on the feed this week.

Yeah just so people can listen to in Spanish. It's weird that you actually did it. You called it a bilingual podcast for about probably a year and a half before it actually now is a bilingual podcast. Well Gary have you ever heard of the book The Secret? God everything about how you just worded me was awful. Kanoa County is in West Central West Virginia. Appalachia area. Okay. About 300,000 people live there in 1974. I've got a feeling I'm gonna be pissed. I may give a little what they call a little diet tribe. No not a diet tribe. I'm gonna a warning and where it's gonna be used and some people some people will

use it in this episode. You're gonna use it? Well some people say it and I take the quotes. You want to say n-word? You'd rather say. I'm not gonna say n-word. I'm gonna use it because we're all adults. Okay. And people actually said it and I don't believe in watering down the heinousness of the past. Okay. The city of Charleston is in the county as well as especially in 1974 a surrounding rural area. It's an area of just dreams. Okay. City with the urban center which is more diversified, varied manufacturing jobs. The state capital is there and there's wealthy suburbs around it. Two-thirds of the county don't pretty well financially.

Okay. Right. Not east. Up to the east and what they call the haulers of West Virginia. The county could be considered a classic hillbilly area. Okay. So I assume guys playing jugs. David. Do you understand the damage that the jug player and the washboard striker has done to the hillbilly redneck community? So much. Will they ever get out of the shadow of the jugblower Dave? No. Even today people roll in with jugs and they go, hey King guys play me a song. Well I know a lot of you too. No. I want something weirder. I know the I know a lot of Chumbawumba. No. What? Are you guys socialists? Well I don't know. I know. We

hate socialism. Okay. Back it up again. No. That was really like it. Yeah. I felt like I was there. Yeah. So a third of the county is obviously very poor. Small houses and isolated valleys, winding roads, dozens and dozens of churches, mostly coal miners. Okay. They live for decades through poverty, black lung disease and pretty much any hardship America could throw their way and they were white. Okay. White as white can be. Super white. The whitest of the whites. Whitey whites. Life was boom and bust cycles in the east controlled by a few large coal companies. They lived in company housing. Baugh had to chop at

company stores. They got hurt in company mines. They would be arrested by company cops, sentenced by company judges. It's a company town. And we've talked about that before. That basically just means like all on-site stores and everything are just it's made by this. Right. Right. You can never get out of debt. It's just hell. Right. Jesus Christ. Many of the young at this point were fleeing to cities like Pittsburgh and Cleveland when they're old enough. Those who stayed were paid starvation wages, underemployed and undereducated. The area really fell behind much of America in the infrastructure. Okay. They were

controlled by the money in the urban areas around Charleston. People who had moved there to exploit labor, swing their weight around and run things. Sure. City people. Right. City folk. Right. Those in eastern Kanawa County came to resent them. Okay. Sure. This is very applicable, Dave. It really is. So the coal miners in Hillbillies, they believe in God. They also believe in getting justice through unions and strikes. They're a big, big union people. Okay. In 1974, there's an energy crisis. So coal was doing a little bit better at that time. They had deep fundamentalist roots, super into the church, the born-again

business, as you like to call it. Yeah. The BAB. Babs. You know, the television started making its way out there and they started to see the rest of the country. Wow. Jesus, that's telling. In 74? Well, yeah. I mean, TV is still, I talked about it. Yeah. Yeah. Why? It took a long time for, it took a long time for a lot of that stuff to get out there. That's crazy. Civil rights. What'd you do? What'd you do? Yeah. Fuck. Nice. Yeah. Sex. Yeah. All right. That jug guy was like, I'm gonna take old juggy and back for a minute. Is that what he said? Yeah. You know, they saw this little rights movement. Oh my God. I wonder if that's where it comes

from. It is. Women's lib, anti-war hippies, gay rights, drugs, crime, all the American and moral decline, right? They're seeing it all. That's what they're saying. Okay. Now, a woman in ours and moral decline. Can you imagine? Oh, man. Yeah. Your little head popping. Well, man, sometimes I wish I could just go back to me and juggy. Back before I knew that women could vote. So a young lady named Alice Moore was born and raised in the small town of Acton, Tennessee. She was the daughter of a TVA dispatcher. A TVA, what's that? Tennessee Valley Authority. Don't NYPD the TVA, pal. What does that stand for? Oh, buddy, you don't know what

the TVA is? What were you born yesterday? So Alice was raised in the church of Christ. Good. When she was 17, she got married to Darryl Moore, who was a local young minister. Okay. Starting out in his ministering ways. Sure. Right. I assume at that point, you're just 100% annoying. Oh, I just, I was just thinking in my head, like, what would a young minister, what is, it is so weird to be like, I don't need anything else. I'm for sure. All you're thinking of is just someday I want to be a rich minister. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Okay. Taking advantage of people. So there you go. Now I get it. Yeah. So they started having kids. Alice did not go to

college, but she read, read a lot. She took a lot in. Not a big fan of that. No, that is not, is not where she should be. Alice believed man acted upon God's faith in standard set down by the Almighty. She rejected out of hand anything that was outside of this belief. Okay. You sound like you're really into her. Well, I mean, I just, you know, it's just, it, it, I've never been able to understand this take on existence. Every fiber of me feels the exact opposite. 100% when you're just like very early, like hell if it wasn't in the Bible, I'm like, even, but I was like, eight. I was like, this thing's really crazy. So

Alison Daryl moved to Charleston in the early seventies. Okay. Had four kids at this point. Nice. Alice is not very political up until 1969. Okay. When the Kanoa County Board of Education approved a sex education program. Oh boy, that she knew it was not okay. That is not okay. Just do what we do and never figure it out and keep having children. You got your kids learned about hanging things and any parts. Right. Yeah. No. Isn't it better to just walk around your whole life completely baffled by your genitals? Yeah. Yeah. That's what I've been doing. Isn't that what the Lord of the Planet? I literally have no idea what's happening.

Oh boy. Oh dear. It's changing again. It's changing again. He has risen. It's a miracle. Wait, we're not supposed to be doing that because we're what the people who don't understand it. Oh, right. Well, I enjoyed it. You don't need to referee the bits throwing flags on bits. Yeah. Welcome to quarantine, bitch. Oh God. Tell me to move my camera a little bit so you can see more of me. I want to mind sing a little bit more of you. Look, I'm very bright. Whoa. You want me to go to the top? Let's see how the computer turned out. Oh, hello knee. Hello knee. In shorts. Dirty devil. So Alice obviously very concerned about what they're

teaching her kids with the sex ed stuff as her other other parents or the church going parents. They want sex out of the schools. Alice is very charming. She's very well spoken. So she became the spokeswoman for a group of well off parents. Great. Great. She called the sex education program quote a humanistic atheistic attack on God. Some would call this group people who have nothing better to do. Well, God, as you know, is very against sex. That's why he gave us sex parts. Yep. What a weird devil. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, he gave us hungry, hungry hippos and got pissed when we played. That's right. What's his deal?

He's just a very strange individual, this God. Very strange, isn't he? Yes, Garrett. And this one's a he. Yeah. This one's a he. This one's a he. This version of God's the he where he's like, no, you don't touch each other. Just let it get wet and yours get big. Exactly. Yeah. Just stand there. Hers will get wet. Yours will get big. Do not touch. No. The Charleston Daily Mail said the school board was indifferent to parents. People complained and they just ignore it. They said the board seemed like a prisoner to school administrators than being in charge. Right. So conservative parents push Alice to run for the county board

of education. And she did and she crushed her opponent. And very soon after sex ed was removed for the from the Kenawa County Schools. See, that's how you do it. Yeah. Welcome to democracy. Yes, finally. So now Alice was a local voice for the right and for parents who were conservative. And she quickly had a following in the county and in the Charleston area. Okay. There was a recent state mandate that quote, schoolbook should portray the contributions of minorities to American culture. My God. This is this is the next target. What to remove that.

Going to unwite this bitch a little bit. I mean, I think you're wasting those valuable pages with accomplishments that whites that could have been making. This this was because the federal government had recently offered up money for districts that would embrace multiculturalism. All books up until now have been. Yeah, I mean, yeah. So all books up until now have been about white people for white people. Right. How great white people mostly upgrade white men work. Sure. Right. And honestly, when you see the track record up until then, who could argue? Oh my God, look at what's happening right now. It's all white men

being amazing. Name one thing they've done wrong. Can't can't think of anything. Thank you. One textbook publisher quote, there was an almost an absence of any African American literature. On April 11 1974, the board was presented with 325 books to approve for the schools. Okay. Teachers said they thought it would be a typical meeting. Sure. That's going to be the books have been carefully selected over a year long process with a selection committee and two sub selection committees all made up of teachers. Okay. All teachers are figuring out what books would be great for

the year. A lot of teachers are very excited because they get to teach something new. Right. Authors of new question. Have they consulted the one book they should be consulting about their decision? Well, that's a very good question. Have they been the good book? You're talking about the cookbook? The Holly Bibble. Oh, the Bibble. Yeah. Well, they're they're gonna get to that. How many books? How many books over the year? 325. 325 Bibles. Okay. They did it again and again. Authors of new books included James Baldwin and George Orwell. But Alice objected. Alice objected to what was known as a

dialectology. This was a teaching approach to encourage students to feel more comfortable expressing themselves by using their natural dialect. So everyone talks a little bit differently. All of our cultures have a little bit of a different thing that they say a little bit different way they say words. Sure. So they were like, let's let's make kids more comfortable learning by using some of that language. Okay. Alice, quote, there is a correct way to speak. Oh my god. There may be some slight variations, but dem is never correct. Dat is never correct for that. If we are talking about this as a dialectology, I won't

approve these books. At the time, this is an incredibly rare moment for a parent to question the expertise of teachers. Oh my god. What? Yes. You mean there was a time when they were respected and paid and all that? Yes. This is literally. Yeah, this is literally something that history teachers should teach in school. The history of our teachers used to just have it so much fucking better. You know, we really appreciate it. This is day one, but we're just going to go straight to chapter 18. The chapter is called Your Parents Are Fucking Idiots. Finally. Another board member asked her why they shouldn't leave it up to the

professionals. That's why they were paying them, he said. Quote, I mean, what am I? I'm an accountant. Man. Yeah. After some discussion, the board accepted the books, but because of Alice, they didn't buy the books and they put it off until they could be looked over more. So they're going to. They're going to re scrutinize. They're going to let Alice scrutinize the books. Yeah, that's basically what's happening. By the way, you know a job you just talked yourself into reading 325 books, stupid. You just talked yourself into reading 325 books, dumbass. So right when the meeting ended, Alice's husband walked up to her, handed her a book, and

said, quote, I want you to look at what you've just adopted. He was holding Malcolm X's autobiography. Oh, wow. That's for her. She's like, oh, my, keeps falling into chairs. Oh, more chairs out the window, the window walks into traffic. No. He pointed to a quote, all praises due to a law that I moved to Boston when I did. If I hadn't, I'd probably still be a brainwashed black Christian. Oh, yeah. Alice was her heart just jumps out of her chest and smashes against the wall. She then told the superintendent she wanted every single book sent to her house. Boy, what a great, I just, man, if you think about,

if you were getting like Malcolm X literature into these public school, I mean, just right off the bat, the difference that makes as far as just cultural difference, the way that people feel. I mean, that's huge. Yeah. I read, I read his autobiography when I was in high school. Yeah. Everybody should. Yeah. And he is the shit. I mean, yeah. Alice then went over the books and that she was appalled. It was her worst nightmare. There was every nightmare she could have imagined. Sure. She found quotes from monsters like Alan Ginsberg, Sigmund Freud, Eldridge Cleaver, and George Jackson. There was swearing. There was

sex talk. Oh, no. And anti-American Black Panther quotes. You know what I would love to just be a fly on the wall would be to, and I'm not not even in a perverted way. It would just be a very clinical way to watch her and her husband have sex and watch how that goes down and what the lead up is like and what the rules are. And you know, I'm sure it's so I'm sure it's so gnarly. I think those people just get that. I think they're just freaks. Yeah. It can't be much foreplay. Get in there. Full freak. Yeah. On May 16th, the board met again with the textbook selection committee who was requested to come and explain why they

had chosen the books they chose. But when they tried to explain, Alice would cut them off and challenge them. And not just about the books content, but the entire idea behind this new program, which was state mandated, which was government. Sure. So she's just like, no. I veto it. She argued emphasizing race and culture was anti-Christian. What? How is that possible? Because in her mind, race and culture, the way it is, it's about white people. And she's like, you can't emphasize race. Well, that's what you're doing with all the books about white people. Yeah. Like you can't emphasize race. Right. But why is not a race? That's

like when you call the first movie the first one. It's the original. It's not the first one. You don't say Jaws one. Jaws. So she argued emphasizing race and culture was anti-Christian. And less of the white version. Anti-authoritarian and depressing. Good Lord. Someone's worried. Sorry. Anti-authoritarian. She didn't think a state institution had the right to teach something other than what she was teaching her children. What a crazy concept. But that's what they, that's still a thing. That's more, that's a thing more than ever. But even just hearing it, you're just like, what is the point then? No. Why would you want your kid? I want my

kid to learn stuff. I don't know. Yeah. What are you talking about? Yeah. Hire a babysitter so you can watch or watch. So over the month before the next meeting, Alice was busy contacting people to rally the cause. She got wealthy mothers on her side. What was the, were they racially diverse? These group of humans? Oh, that's weird. No. Strongly. All white. White. Interesting. White ladies. White ladies. Very powerful group. Yep. She spoke in front of church groups, community organizations, anywhere she could. She would explain what upset her and read quotes from the books. She hinted out, printed up excerpts that she thought

were offensive. Alice was also worried the books would expose white kids to black people talk. Then they would learn to quote, speak in ghetto dialect. Yep. Denominant. How many young white men have been ruined by being able to speak ghetto dialect? No. I remember when I was 18 and I finally got to listen to hip hoppery. Oh my God. I didn't have this one. My brain was developing. Who knows what I would have been? Mother? Tennis? At these meetings, she would often say school should just teach her kids to read basic math, a bit of American and world history, government and English. And that's it. She said this. She said the

school was violating her right. I would just be like, ladies, shut the fuck up, would you? Would you shut the fuck up, please? She said the school was violating her rights as a parent because when it came to her kids, they were quote, intent of making them more open-minded than I wanted them to be. How is she saying? I mean, it's like, it was comfortable because there was like a 20-year period when we buried our rhetoric. And now we're back out of the open, but like this is like, it's like the cicadas of honesty. But this is like backwards, what she's saying. You're literally saying, I want my child to be

closed-minded. I need a smaller brain in my boy. The vice president of the local Charleston NAACP said he read the books and didn't find them offensive. But Dave, was he white? No. Oh, well. Interesting how that is always part of the issue, isn't it? He did find a hole in my theory. Like a jug. On June 24th, ten ministers came out and said they supported the books. But two days later, 27 other ministers said the books were immoral and indecent. We need to find more ministers. That day, the West Virginia Human Rights Commission backed the book. So there's all kinds of people coming out now that would work to come

down on either side. But it's also just, yeah, exactly. It's also one of those things now where now it's a thing. This is where if you're the school, you just immediately go, take your kid to a different school then, lady. Like if you got a problem, go somewhere else. But because now it's a thing, now it's an issue, now it's going to be able to build. So it's building. And she's been rounding people up. So up until now, a normal school board meeting had about 25 people attending. Okay. The meeting on June 27th had over 2,000. Oh my god. The audience filled the hallways. Excuse me, sir, we're gonna be running out of punch

soon. We are underestimated the punch. We have enough to serve 65. The audience filled the hallways. They stood outside in the rain. They peeked through windows. They're all holding umbrellas. By the way, they listened over loudspeakers. This is, this is, this is what happens when you don't have TV. That's right. You know, you're like, let's go. Yeah. Alice had a petition signed by 12,000 people in the county. The petition stated books should not be allowed if they led to the questioning of quote, the family unit, which comes from the marriage of a man and woman. I'm gonna be sick. Belief in God, the American political system, the

free enterprise fiber of music. Ow. The free enterprise economic system. The laws and legal system. This lady has been white for too long. The laws and legal system of the nation and state, the history of America as the record of one of the noblest civilizations that has ever existed. Oh my god. I mean, I just was like, that's what I mean. It's like, where would you and I start to argue with this woman? We would be like, we'd be like, we are so overwhelmed with what to say to you that we can't talk. You just hit her in the face with a pan. Like, I don't know what else to do with this. Literally, like you cannot. I mean, I'd be

like, no. God damn it. Never mind. You're right. And that's just some of it. It goes on and on. I'm sure. So the board, with all these people, they give into the protest and agree not to buy eight of the most upsetting books. Okay. But it's a start. One was Sigmund Freud's character and anal eroticism. Alice was, Alice was disturbed. Character and anal. It's not anal. It's not that anal. Well, you say character. I mean, that to me just sounds like, or it could be. I don't know. I read Freud. Maybe he's talking about buttholes. I would hope so. I hope he was. That's right. We did a lot of, we did a lot of blows. That's right. Yeah.

Loved a bit of blow. Alice was disturbed that Freud said boys wanted to have sex with their mothers and girls wanted to have sex with their fathers. Alice believed that children read this quote. I knew that thought would never leave their mind. Yep. Yep. Just how a human mind works. Exactly. That's how it works. Yep. Every detective or taken from any dangerous thought or it will be consumed by it. And if you hear, if you hear that, you're like, well, now I want to fuck my mom. Like, that's just how it works. No, but you know what it is? It's like, instead of, it's what she's doing, which is making you think I want to fuck

my mom. It's like when you're like, Hey, I got to set an alarm for something. You set an alarm for it. Now you're going to remember to do it because he said an alarm. You did this extra step. So when you're highlighting the idea that like, I don't want them to read that part because then it'll get in their heads. That's what'll get in their heads. More than anything. Saying that makes someone just go like, wait, why? Oh, it isn't my head. You're right. It's like, Oh, no. I've got a shot. Fuck me. Oh, my thing's coming up. Oh, no. She brought up a chapter in the Eldridge Cleaver in which book in which he discussed the crime of raping

white women, even though the chapter had been removed from the textbook. Okay. So what? Okay. All right. Well, it was in his, it was in his autobiography, but they had taken it out of the textbook for kids. Sure. Alex said this did not represent black culture. Eldridge Cleaver does not represent black culture. A member of the local NAACP chapter stood up and said in a very reasonable language and tone that maybe a white woman shouldn't be discussing what does and does not represent black culture. Wow. How dare you? The point Alex drove home was that these textbooks were questioning the American values of parents in the

community. This is, that's right. The world's a country club to her. So, you know, a lot of people came up to talk. She grilled the committee members. She grilled the teachers who said it was okay to question values. Some parents said if they had done a good job as a parent, their kids' views could not be undermined by reading an opposing view in a school book. Wrong. This meeting wound up for three hours. God damn it. And then at the end, the books were approved by a three to two vote. Okay, all of them? Except for, I believe, I think the eight are not appropriate. Okay, right, but still. So, this is, this does not appease

Alice and her peeps. Right. They began discussing creating private schools. Mm-hmm. Reverend Charles Quigley said he now had 100 parents who are ready to send kids to private schools that he was thinking of creating. And now, because this happened, Alice's movement grew. And she took her fight to the local media. She bridged the class divide of the county. Now it wasn't just the wealthy religious culture warriors, but the men and women of the poor eastern, eastern coal mining part of the country were being brought in. Okay. There, the local ministers took up the cause and they preached in their churches. Conservatives

of the middle class suburbs and working class whites working together against the more liberal urban peeps. Mm-hmm. The anti-textures first textbook supporters. Mm-hmm. Teachers for some reason thought educators should make decisions about curriculum and textbooks. God, they just don't get it, do they? No, they don't get it. What the who the fuck are they? How dare they? The Reverend Jim Lewis of St. John's Episcopal Church became the public face of the pro textbook side. The Reverend Marvin Horan from Campbell's Creek became a leader on the anti-textbook side. And Horan called for a boycott of the schools until the books

were gone. Okay. Wow. That's just like, come on, just, it's uncles. Yeah. Pamphlets were passed around with the offensive text, you know, taken out. Ah, yes, the salacious out of context details. That's right. There was also a book of poems from which this horrifying rhyme was taken. Oh, God. Quote, I was standing on the corner not doing any harm. Along came a policeman and took me by the arm. He took me around the corner and he rang a little bell and along came a police car and took me to my cell. This was considered offensive because it ridiculed the law. What, in what? They were not happy with E Cummings poem. I like my body. Wouldn't you read that?

Be like, oh, you have nothing. They were not happy with E Cummings poem. I like my body because it called pubic hair electric fuzz. But Dave, there's no other thing to refer to it as from now on. Nails it. Good Lord. That's what I mean. If she hadn't highlighted that, I would never be like, I'm going to use that. I know. It's great. Yeah. She set the alarm. So they were also upset by the second century tale of enter entries who pulled a form from a lion's paw. We've all heard that one. Yeah. Well, that is a terrible, that is a terrible, terrible story. Well, now the reason they're upset by it wasn't the story. It was because students were asked

to compare it to the story of Daniel in the lion's den in the Bible. Oh, but they're vastly different. A parent quote. What I have a problem with is comparing a myth, which is clearly a myth to the Bible. Oh, you know how that. What I have the problem with is comparing a myth to the story of the lion and the thorn. It's a, I mean, I mean, that's, imagine, that's, that's what I mean. You can't, when someone goes like, yeah, but the Bible said to you like, well, I just, I can't, I can't fight this thing. Alice quote. That's put in the Bible right on the level of fables. Yep. Yes. Yes. Yes. That's right. Unlike Noah did not build one boat

to house every species of animal to be thrown to the side like some fool. Moses did not literally split an ocean in two to be ridiculed by some story about a lion that can speak. Alice began campaigning in the hollers of East Panama County. She did not have a hard time winning over the white working class churchgoers. As I said, there were night meetings on street corners and in churches. And this brings in another dimension to the battle. So the fight is between cities and rural America. Okay. And the rhetoric was increasing day by day. What was the rhetoric was? Yeah. Right. A group named the Christian American

parents group. Already. I hate you cap. Just based on your name. Yeah, cap. We're Christian American parents. They picketed Hex stores because one of the board members was the president of the stores. The anti text ministers. Wait, what's what kind of store? Hex is I think it's just like a department store. Okay. The text minister is pushed for the schools to be closed down. On August 27th, the Concerned Citizens Group, these fucking names just they never, they're already the way that it's just they vote to boycott the schools until the books were gone. So the schools opened on September 3rd. They were surrounded by

picketing parents holding signs that read things like I have a Bible. I don't need those dirty books. No peaceful co insistent. Sorry. No peaceful coexistence with satanic communism. Oh my God. Jesus. Yes. Text books. Yet. Why is the way why is Russia always been the plot line? I mean, it forever rushes been the bad guys. So easy. I mean, but in this one, I'm like, wait, where are they even? What? Yeah. No, I mean, the Russians hacked our curriculum. Yeah, I mean, you know, you go through any of any of the the black American intellectuals and you're gonna run to a streak of socialism, you know, right? Yeah, right. The first day, 20% of

the 45,000 students were absent. Okay. The schools in Charleston were full. It was the rural schools where attendance dropped. Interesting. It was also union country. So crossing the picket line at the school was very hard for the parents who were doing it. Even though it was even though it's not even though it's not like you're striking for the coal mine, it's they just don't like to cross a picket line no matter what. Well, yeah, I mean, probably because it's like, I mean, at this point, like a cultural, but in this case, it's a it's a it's a douchebag picket line. Yes. Yes, you should not fear to cross this fake threshold. But it's

also like, I can't I mean, just imagine being like over this will shut your school down. I'm taking it to that level where you're like, we would rather kids be not go to a school. And again, so they're feeling like the liberals are telling us what what we can and can't do. That's what this is. And also, I mean, yes, it's exactly, it's just the ingrained racism in that religious movement. It's just and and they and they were the people be like, that's not true. Look at Eddie, Eddie's black. See? Okay, game over. And don't bring that here. So at that day, the first day of school, 20,000 showed up in an anti text

book rally. 20,000 fucking people. That is a lot of people. And some women went to coal mines to talk the miners into joining them. The next day, 3,500 coal miners walked off the job in support. Wow. The wild this wildcat strike spread to other counties, and even Easter, Kentucky. So all these now other coal mines are walking off the job. And now there were expert seasoned organizers involved in this movement, which took things to another level, of course. Not all coal miners were religious, some were Democrats, but they just didn't like the elitist liberals telling them what to do. Right. One quote. And in this case, what

the elitist liberals are telling them to do is just let their school have a curriculum that is read your books, books with stuff that you don't want in there. Yeah. That's right. So like always, the Democrats find a way to go to the right. So one coal miner quote, they was going to teach my kids socialism and homosexuality. They was teaching situational ethics. Now by situational ethics, he means whether it was okay to lie or not. Like there were examples in the book of, is there an okay time to lie? But of course there is. Of course there is. Read back that quote very quickly, please. They was going to

teach my kids socialism and homosexuality. They was teaching situational ethics. So when you start... Socialism and homosexuality go together, at least in my part. If you're her, when you're Alice, when you start this, you don't like the way that they're changing the way that the kids speak. And then you listen to how that guy just said, you're like, don't let that guy get interviewed anymore. That is not good for the initial point I made. I know it's okay because he's white. But... But this is the coalition that you're building, right? Of course. White, white suburban Christians. Yes. And by any means, I mean, not, you know, like it is

the white Malcolm X by any means. They will compromise their own morals by just in the way that they're worried that this is what's going to happen in their schools. They're compromising their own morals to make sure that they're unable to compromise the morals of their children through the school. Look, this guy is basically saying, I should be reading other books, right? Yes. His entire point is, I should probably be reading outside of my my small world. Right. So now the national media, which has been focused on the anti-busting riots in Boston, came to West Virginia. Finally. The more media came, the more

angry both sides seemed to become. Over weeks, the miners' strikes spread from business to business. Plants, factories in the county and others, other counties. Most businesses where it spread, that's the thing I can't, I kept reading. It's happening in other counties outside of, like this is all happening in one county, but the strikes are spreading to other counties. Like it, I just... Dave, it's religious coronavirus. It's moral corona, Dave. Most businesses were against the strike, but some with fundamentalist owners gave money to the strikers. The school boycott and accompanying strikes were nothing like anyone had ever seen.

Sure, Union Solidarity explained what the coal miners were doing, but it wasn't just that. There was also a new contract coming up, and this gave the United Man workers a bit of leverage. Right. So there's part of it too. Yep. The coal stocks were heading down. The miners also had a couple of recent victories over the governor. So it's all kind of coming together. Everything's kind of working in a great way. Then the windows of the Board of Education building, most of them were shot out by a shotgun. Five days after opening day, the school attendance was down to 77%. It was down 77%? 272%. Okay. I was like, holy shit. 23% of kids are not

coming. Right. Okay. That's still a lot of kids. Of course. Tons. Alice tonight, she had anything to do with the boycott, but she did ask for the school superintendent's resignation. Sure. Well, that there's straight checks out. Doesn't seem like she did that. And things are just starting to heat up. On September 10th, city buses were stopped as the drivers walked off the job. Now 11,000 people had no way to get around. The Daily Mail put out a front page editorial telling the board, quote, make text concession. The ordinary trade and commerce upon which all of us depend must not be impeded. Oh, my God. The textbooks are not worth the fight that

is being made over them. What? Oh, God. The liberals were here. Yeah, exactly. The neoliberals have arrived. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, honestly, if there was the Paul Revere for liberals, he would say, the conservatives are coming and all the liberals would just hide their heads and say it. They say, that said, the board voted to remove the books for 30 days so they could be reviewed more. Jesus Christ. Because it's just, it's just they're getting so much better. Let's try reading them backwards. It would be a citizen review. What is that? So Alice, so they were gonna put together not teachers, but people. Oh, good. Yes. Let's get, here we go. Let's get

stupider and stupider. Alice took the compromise to 12 anti book leaders. And while people are waiting outside as this meeting is going on and the people outside are singing gospel songs, right? What a great vibe. The leaders all agreed to it. But Reverend Marvin Horne said he didn't think the protesters would agree outside. And she should go tell them. So Alice went outside and she read the compromise to the crowd. Most of them are from, you know, the Eastern Eastern County area. And one man said he was there to quote, get this government down to where they're listened to us little old hillbillies. Good news. Another, another held a sign that read even hillbillies have

constitutional rights. As Alice read the compromise, she was booed. So they're getting more radical than her. Yes, but it's also when, when you like, when you're the ability to feel marginalized all the time is just such an innate talent in our culture. Well, we've got a whole, we've got a giant streak of people who could be victims all the time. Yeah. So after Alice read the compromise, people booed and then a woman yelled quote, we want more. We want those filthy books out. Period. Burn them. And the crowd all cheered. Good. This is why this is why you negotiate with terrorists. That's right. Later that day at a rally of a thousand, Reverend Horne said he had aired when he agreed to the compromise. He was the

current anti text spokesman. And he said he would resign. But the crowd refused to let him step down. That classic. You guys, I really, I let you down. I let you down. I'm gonna, I'm not going to do this anymore. And the crowd goes, no, but I don't know. So he positioned, he had now positioned himself to be the leader of the most radical hardcore protesters. Okay. So the new textbooks began to be removed on September 12. I don't know. I might be wrong about that. When I say removed, I think maybe the eight, but anyway, they had been put in, I guess now they're being taken out to be reviewed. Okay. That's right. Sorry. The board members named three members each to make up the citizen review committee to look over

the books. The anti-textors said this wasn't good enough, as we know, and they weren't gonna put their kids back in school. And then students at Washington High High School were now livid at what they saw as censorship. 1200 students walked out and shut down the high school. And they said that would stay that way until all the books were returned. There we go. A new judge have been appointed and he said he would do everything he could to stop the protesting. On September 13, the superintendent closed the schools because he was concerned for kids' safety and he was hoping to calm all the tensions. It didn't work. The next day, Maltoff cocktails were thrown into schools. Schools back on. Come

back, everybody. Things started getting crazy. Two men were shot. Another was severely beaten. Car windows were smashed. The national media was covering the escalating battle. A CBS news crew was beaten by anti-text protesters. Oh my God. Schools that weren't even using the text in two nearby counties were closed because people were now picking them. Coal companies estimated they'd lost. The other school is too far. We're doing it here. The other school is too far. We're doing it here. I mean, I believe in solidarity, but we have to close. Why? We didn't have those textbooks. It's just, we're so stupid. We're just so stupid. Fuck, I have a cramp. Oh, Dave. Name it. But Frank? There you go. Frank the cramp.

So coal companies estimated they lost 12 million. Schools are continuing to be attacked. By September 27, there was an estimated 300,000 in damage done to schools. Jeez. So with all this going on, Alice Fleestown, the sheriff was being overwhelmed that he asked the governor to send the state police in to help. So what is her deal? She is just like, oh, it's all new much. It got out of control. Yeah, it did. It did. So she's the dog who caught the mail truck? I don't know that one. What? Isn't that what it is? The dog who caught the mail truck? Yeah. You don't know what to do once you've achieved your goal that seemed impossible, and now that you've gotten it, you don't actually know what to do with it? She hasn't achieved

her goal. It's like when the Republicans embraced the Tea Party, and then the Tea Party took over the Republican Party. It's the same thing where you don't understand the power of the people you're working with, and they have more strength than you. Yeah, but it's also like, cry me a river, like you are the one who lit the fuse to what you have to explosive area and are now like. I'm not sympathizing with her. I'm just saying I understand. You've taken years in this argument, Dave. You've always been on her side of this argument. It's fair. She's pretty hot. So the sheriff asked for help. The Army helicopter's going over me again. That's fine. It's all right. Then the governor said he wouldn't help out

the sheriff unless the sheriff declared it a state of anarchy. And then this was just to embarrass the sheriff because he was a Democrat. So now the politics of it are all also fucked. On September 18th, 11 protesters were arrested for violating a new court injunction against picketing on school property. Three of them were ministers. One was Reverend Charles Quigley who told the mail quote, praying that God will strike three members of the county board of education dead. Jesus Christ. Why would you tell the paper that? What kind of God is this? It's not zoos. This is what a God is. It's just very rude. Just a rude person. He's just like a bouncer. Yeah. Oh my God. God is a bouncer. God is 100 percent

a bouncer. Hey, uh, no, unfortunately, we're gonna have to ask you to get the fuck out. My Lord. But why? Yeah, he said, look, it's ladies night. Excuse me. What? But I committed my whole life to you. Everything was for you. Yes. Sorry. Must it say? It says ladies night. It's a $10 cover charge. Unless you got cleavage, which you do not, my friend. Hey, give the vote. Uh, God got very sopranos. Hey, maybe you could go down the screw. Yes. They got a open bar tonight. Have you never heard of it? Yeah, we'll screw yours. Get the fuck out of here. Hey, knucklehead. Get over here, little knucklehead. Now look at this guy likes nuggies, don't you? Ah, you're going to purgatory, my man. Uh, so after this guy says this,

it's printed in the paper. People are shocked. A couple of days later, he backs off and said he wasn't praying for their death, but for God and Alice to bring an end to everything. Sure. So you can say that could be misconstrued. Sure. Very clear quote. What do you have? When I heard that, I thought that's what he meant. Yeah. On October 3rd, the state school superintendent said the decision to remove the books for review was probably illegal and their view group was also at the same time turning into a shit show. Okay. The six anti-text members formed a splinter review group. Now there are two separate review committees, one pro and one con. Oh my God. Oh my God. On October 10th, school board member Al

Bert Anson had had it. He resigned from the board. He was done. He said it was because he could not accept the removal of good textbooks. Now a guy who was a member elect to the board was sworn in. I don't understand how a guy was a member elect this far down the road, but whatever. Yeah, I'm okay with not understanding superintendent politics. Anti-text groups kept meeting and demanding the three pro board members and supervisors resigned. 18 protesters were arrested on October 7th when they blocked a school bus full of kids. Violent started breaking out again. Three elementary schools were vandalized on October 9th at Campbell's Creek. Cars were burned. People were injured. On October 18th, someone shot at an empty

bus as it drove down a street. Four days later, no driver. No, there was, yes, there's a driver, but nobody else. That's not an empty bus, David. That's what an empty bus means. That's a childless bus. You were pitching ghost bus. No. Yes. By the way, we should probably pitch ghost bus. Who are you going to call? Ghost bus. That's it. Four days later, a school was dynamited at Campbell's Creek. The idea that dynamite is a verb. Ludicrous. Dynamited. That sounds like what a four year old would say in pretend time. Come on, Jimmy Walker. No, but he's no dynamite. Different, Dave. He didn't say dynamited. You didn't even, you just didn't think I'd get that reference and you'd be able to skate. I really didn't.

Well, too bad. Hip-hop. Now, there were no injuries because the school was empty. A pro book person shot an anti-text guy through the heart. He somehow survived. What is happening? What is this? Is this Van Helsing? Shot him through the heart and survived. Then the Citizen Review Committee endorsed four books. The Splinter Review Committee rejected those four books. More and more schools were being dynamited or firebombed with Moltov cocktails. Then 15 sticks of dynamite were blown up near the gas meter at the board of education offices right after a meeting ended. There were no injuries. School attendance dropped down to 73%. I'm surprised. It dropped down. It was 73% before, I thought. It was 77. Oh, not

73. Okay. Private Christian schools are now opening everywhere. They're in church basements. They're in old gas stations. They're in storefronts. I wouldn't want to go to school in an old abandoned 76. I would. I would fucking love that. I can't stagger and teach you about hubcaps. Now, this is a very valuable lesson. I've got everybody's term paper about license plates yet, but I will soon. Questions? I thought this was going to be about Jesus and Jesus stuff. Of course it is. Dumbass. Going to get to Jesus once we get through some of the hubcap bullshit. Jesus did everything. What does Jesus have and God have to do with hubcap? Well, the Lord does create everything, didn't he? Answer me, William, didn't he?

The Lord created everything, didn't he? Yeah. Therefore, hubcaps is something, isn't it? Therefore, He created these. Okay. Now, go put your head in the water where we put the tires to see if there's a leak in them. Punishment. I come on the only student. That doesn't matter. You go do that. When you come back, we'll be back in session. Get back to hubcappery. Later, we're going to teach you dynamite. That's cool. Well, tell you what, I'm drunk. I don't know what to tell you. I'm in shit. What it is, you want this coat hanger? No way. I'm scared. Jesus help me. Jesus Christ. Hey, look, dude, I'm a mechanic. I'm not supposed to be dealing with this shit. I'm trying to teach you. We don't need to learn about hubcaps.

We can learn about other stuff. What is the question you want? What we cannot teach you is sexual education. I want to know about the wieners and the vaginas. That's the one thing I told you was off limits. I can't be teaching you that. That's what I want to know about. Well, shit, dude, look. How come I don't have both? Well, come on. What are you talking about? The idea, I'm not going to know. I'm not taking the bait on this. It's hot, right? Look, the best feeling in the world is when you put your penis in a lady. Holy shit, my voice just changed. Jesus Christ happened. The Bible was quote, the main textbook of the schools. A televised

board meeting was then held on November 7th. It was held at the Charleston Civic Center because they thought thousands would want to attend. But only 100 shut up because they were all worried about violence. Alice presented her own guidelines for the books. The board ignored them. The board then voted 4-to-1 to put the more controversial books in school libraries. If students got permission from their parents, they could read them. That's what they've come down to. They've taken the eight books out of the library. All the other books are going to be in the school. So essentially all the shit that's going on, she has pretty much gotten nothing. She got eight books put in the library.

Well, she's gotten a hurdle. Yes, it's a hurdle, but yes, nothing really, ultimately. Anybody who wants to read it can read it. Which would have been the case anyway. Yeah. So this is clearly not enough for Alice. Alice said the kids who couldn't read the books would just be made fun of. I know what happens to a child like that. They are the laughing stock of the school. Here it is. There it is. There it is. Yeah. Guess what? If you're the fucking parent who's having books taken out of school, then yes, your kid is going to be the laughing stock of the fucking school. She's been mocked. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. She's like, no, because then what happens is they all say that you're the one who's weird and that you're weird and that because you're weird, you can't join the rest of the birthday parties. And because you missed that birthday party, your mom tells you that you can't have a birthday party and all you want is a birthday party because you told your friends you'd have a party at your birthday party when you turned 12. Okay. So I'm just going to take off. I'm not comfortable with this. I wanted an ice cream cake and I was giving carrot. Okay. You're 30.

Oh, shit. 31 outfall. Okay. I gotta go. The door's locked. Okay. I'm going to throw myself out the window. Oh, windows. Made a bulletproof glass. Yeah. It's 74, really? I've invented a way.

In West Virginia, there's the... Yeah. We got TV and opened a Pandora's box. But the protesters felt like they were being condescended to by the cultural leaders with this decision. Sure. Then the supervisor announced he would begin enforcing attendance laws. Alice said parents would be forced to teach their kids at home. A reverend at a rally said they would set up their own school system.

So to a lot of black people, this is all just about race. Yeah. I wonder why. What do you think of them, that indication? Black writers, Dick Gregory, Elridge Cleaver, Langston Hughes, and James Baldwin were all called anti-Christian and anti-white. An English teacher, quote, I think it was about race, not about culture. I think it was a pent-up fury about the civil rights movement, and they were afraid blacks would

be coming so well educated that they would take their jobs. It's also this. It's also the constant fear that any culture other than yours is going to be inserted into society and that it's going to change your position. So you operate from a place of such paranoia when you have everything. Yeah. You don't want anything to change. The level of privilege to be like, there can be no other voice here. Yeah. To go on with the quote. And then when I saw signs that said, get the nigger books out

of the county, these signs were everywhere. And one day I looked out my window and saw the Ku Klux Klan, and I knew this was racial. So at some point, it started out like a cultural thing and an economic thing, and then the races came. So now people are literally walking around holding these signs, and the Ku Klux Klan is there. So now you've got the merging of the poor working class, the suburban Christians, and then the fucking racist. All right. We're going to take over the party. The president of the Charleston NAACP said he had seen graffiti on rocks in rural areas

that said, quote, get the nigger literature out of schools. And black people are being racially abused by white Christian protesters at the schools. Groups from both the right and the left started coming in to get in on the action, including the John Birch Society, the Heritage Foundation, the Klan, the National Education Association. The Klan had been involved for a while. They started having cross burnings, and the anti-textors were now spending money in time publicly disavowing the Klan. And on November 10th, in Royal Campbell's Creek, a rumor started that a carload of black people were coming to the town to attack. A caravan.

A caravan. So a hundred local white guys got out their guns. They put all the women in a church, and they waited for these black caravans to come. But then police came and said it's all bullshit and told them all to go home. On November 15th, a bunch of extreme anti-text protesters had the superintendent and the four board members who voted for the compromise arrested. Now, I can't figure out what else happened with that. That's crazy. Yeah, so they just... Then on November 21st, the board accepted Alice's guidelines. They would bar books that

pried into a child's home, taught racial hatred under my religious ethnic racial groups, insulted patriotism, used the name of God in vain, and used offensive language. This would be applied to all April 1975 books, not the current ones. So the next year, four had to unlearn it all. Yeah, there will be four screening committees now of teachers and parents. But Alice is still not satisfied. What an asshole. An anti-text group took out a full page ad in the Charleston Gazette with lines from

offensive books, like, quote, and you feel like sweating and goddamning worse and worse. And listen, you yellow bastard, what the hell's the idea? Or, oh, damn, your mother's cups. Oh, my God. Oh, damn, your mother's cups. All right. Good. Now we're just... I just love taking shit out of context and putting that in the... Good Lord, your mother's cups.

The U.S. Commissioner of Education spoke about the book controversy and took the side of the parents. Teachers groups denounced him. Alice was thrilled and said the commissioner should immediately, quote, cut off all federal funds to teacher training and promotional programs or new educational concepts until guidelines can be established to protect... Until rain washing is fulfilled. Yay. On December 12th, the board meeting was held. This one was televised. The board compromised even more by officially approving the first private school to be run by fundamentalists.

So now they're officially allowing private schools. But there was still a lot of heckling going on at the meeting. And eventually, protesters rushed the stage or the main table. One man jumped on board member F. Douglas Stump. The supervisor tried to pull him off and he was attacked and punched. A woman rushed in trying to mace the supervisor and then more people attacked. It turned into a massive brawl. After it was finally over, police used video to make arrests. Oh, wow. They went to instant replay. Yeah. About a week later, a man who spent a lot of time with the anti-text... at the

anti-text book headquarters in Kendall Street. A dumb name for a place. I mean, just listen to that. Anti-text book headquarters. All right. We're the ATB HQ. What do you guys do there? Well, basically, anytime someone's trying to broaden their mind to touch, we make sure to put blinders on them. There's a lot of people out there right now trying to, you know, learn stuff. I mean, the thing you got to remember is what happened to your parents is all that matters. Okay?

Yeah. No, that makes no sense. Because a lot of people say crazy shit about how America was discovered, but they don't understand that white people came off of trees. What? White people was part of trees. Then we just picked. We picked each other off trees, and that's why it was our land originally, not the Native American people. So... Yeah. I'm just going to... I'm going to just walk backwards out the door.

I don't like the way you walking out real slowly, like you're all perturbed and such, but... I'm not. You're white, so I got to just... I think so. Great ideas. I heard great ideas here. You're totally white, right? Yep. All the way through.

What color's your blood? I don't even... white? Yeah. Very. Mine too, friend. Okay. All right. I will come back with mayonnaise and stuff.

Sounds like you will come back. Once we finish with that mayo, we can give it to my juggler friend here, all whistling it. Okay. Bye. How long... Hey, friend. Friend, how long do you think you'll be until you come back with all that mayonnaise? It's going to... A couple of days, I got to get the mayo truck.

I can't put that long. That's wild. The day with the mayo truck. I can put the mayo truck here. Yeah. Get you mayo in 15 minutes, man. It's a tanker. Oh, you're bringing the big boy. Yeah, big boy.

See you tomorrow, mayo man. See you tomorrow. You guys are great. Love you. I love what you're doing. Love you. Okay. You'll say it. No. I won't.

I won't. Bye, mayo. Love you. So, this guy who spent a lot of time with the anti-tech book headquarters in Camel's Creek was interrogated by police, and he confessed to throwing dynamite into the local school. I dynamited him. He told them that it was actually part of a bigger plan. He said at the headquarters, they discussed putting a blasting cap into the gas tank of

a car at a school. Holy shit. So, after the kids got in, the driver would reverse and hit the brakes at the bottom of the hill, and the car would blow up with the kids inside. So, they're domestic terrorists. Yeah. Right. Up until that point, the bombings were in empty buildings.

The Reverend Marvin Horan and five others were arrested for conspiracy. People were shocked to see the Reverend Horan's name in the paper. In January, Ku Klux Klan members spoke to a crowd of anti-testers and offered legal aid to Reverend Horan and others arrested. Horan praised the Klan as the only group that, quote, fights communism, socialism, niggerism, and Judaism. No, I mean, the Klan, they really, they know how to fight. But I mean, it's a trial.

It is. It's like once you've invited this evil element in. Yeah. It's in. It's in. At the trial, the dynamite thrower said, Horan had told the others that the Bible supported the bombing. Yeah.

Read it. He read it. He read them passages from the Bible. What? One was, quote, there's a time and a place for all things. A time for love, a time to hate, a time to kill, a time to be killed, a time for peace, and a time for war. Oh, yeah.

Yep. There it is. So we should blow up some kids in a parking lot, right? There it is. Yep. Revan Horan was convicted on one count of conspiracy on May 19, 1975 and sentenced to three years. His followers believed he was railroaded and still to this day believed he was railroaded.

Sure. After the trial, things settled down in the county. The book supporters claimed victory because the books went back into the schools, but many schools actually refused the books. And for years, teachers were so concerned about controversy they wouldn't assign modern books to students because teachers could become targets. Some teachers are still angry today as they were then. Distrust of public education became a permanent legacy from the Kenawa textbook war for the

entire country. The anti-text people today see themselves as pioneers and revolutionaries. They say they came before Fox News and Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh. Yeah, you called it. Yep. Unlike other countries, there is no federally mandated curriculum in America, control is local. Today, we still fight over control of school districts and Alice's opinions never changed.

Recently, she said, quote, I believe in indoctrinating my children. I start with a basic assumption that God exists. I do not want them to be open minded in areas where God hasn't spoken. God is right. God is right. Everything else is wrong. God. She blames the media for distorting the issues of what they were fighting for.

Television has been the greatest moral disaster this country has ever known. She regrets compromising and allowing the 30 day review of books believing if she had not agreed, they would have won the fight. In 2011, she was awarded the Dr. Robert Dreyfus courageous Christian leadership award from frontline ministries and the Exodus mandate project, which encourages parents to homeschool or put their kids in Christian schools. The county textbook controversy is when middle class Christians worried about their values, working class whites upset with cultural elitism and racist first came together.

This would become the coalition that the right would use to gain power for decades. So she started it all. And it led to where we are. Congratulations. You know, Dave. Hi, it is a pool. One person just has to piss at it. No way.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean, it is just, yeah. It's amazing how everything seems to gain a goddamn following. Yeah. I mean, at least now we're in it. Now we're in a place where there are two parties in America and one doesn't believe in a virus. Yes. One exists so that the other seems rational.

Yeah. Ireland, right? That's where we go, Ireland. All right. Well, good. At least I don't have to drive home. Good news, I'm home. Nice.

At least. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I want to hang out later tonight anyway. Yeah, yeah, we'll do, we'll do some milkshakes. Let's take it over to Zoom. You know what I mean? Ah, yes.

How great is it that Zoom, Google Hangouts? Like everyone was just like, no, we choose Zoom. Google Hangouts, like, we've been preparing our lives for years. It's like, nah, Zoom, fuck you. Did you see there's another company called Zoom Enterprises and people accidentally bought their stock and it went through the roof. Oh, they're like, finally, what do you guys make? Frisbees.

Zoom Enterprises. All right. We'll do it next week. Okay. I'm in. I have them available. Yeah. I think I traveled that day, but I should be back fairly early.

Where are we going? Where are you going? I have a weekend of shows that weekend with my friends in a city, but then it's a big time city. And they got to go do comedy there. And I'll be like stressed out, like, ugh, can't believe we got to do another show. But when you just live in your home, then you go, oh, why was I worried about that? Do you remember when we had shows lined up and I was so convinced they were going to be canceled that I wasn't buying airplane tickets and we just kept talking to our agent, like, yeah, no, they'll happen.

Well, do you remember before the last live show, the last live show, when we were saying this is going to be our last live show for a while and Burt was like, do you really think so? And you were like, oh, Burt, it's over. You were like, you're going to be canceling your tour. And he's like, you really think so? You're like, yes, you are not doing those dates. And he was like, really? Yeah.

It's over. Yeah. Yeah. All right. All right. Guys, everybody hang in there. We'll get to this. It's going to be, it's going to be hard.

Let's, I mean, the truth is, as we both know, it's what's great when the entire Senate votes for something that is so bullshit as this, it's kind of freeing because it should tell everybody that we are actually on the same side. These people are just on their own team. The system is being exposed for not caring about us at all. Yes. And at the end, that will be, as it plays out, that will be a good thing. We, as a society, are running a diagnostic and there are so many things we forgot we downloaded. We're like, what the fuck is this shit?

So it is tough. And to be, you know, to everybody who's working, you know, working their asses off and stressed out and everybody can't work and is stressed out, it's just your government should not make, will allow you to feel this way. These are the people you elect and pay. So, it's bullshit. Both sides. Yep. Gobble, gobble.

Gobble. Gobble. Now wait, how does this work? Do we say goodbye, extra goodbye? Are you going to stop recording? We have an ending that we usually say. Oh, we used to sign cards. We used to go places.

We don't do anything. We don't say shit anymore. Can't sign cards. The main source for this episode was Megan Day's article, this violent 1974 clash over textbooks in West Virginia, prepped the nation for a new right movement. Megan's a great writer. You can follow her on Twitter, at M-E-A-G-A-N-D-A-Y or just, you know, Google that. Google that name.