Returning from summer hiatus, Post–deconstruction was taken aback by the Wall Street Journal’s choice to publish prolific letter-to-the-editor writer and Brown University philosophy Prof. Felicia Nimue Ackerman who, in taking the side of purportedly “immuno-compromised” teachers and school staff over K-12 students, made a straw-man argument suggesting that such weakened educators face death unless mask mandates are imposed on children. Of course, no one is being asked to face death. But it’s certainly past time to urge recalcitrant educators to find a different line of work.
The original draft of the email below was sent to Prof. Ackerman and copied to three of her senior Brown philosophy department colleagues and to WSJ op-ed page editor Paul Gigot. The professor replied within a half-hour, copying all. A brief but telling back-and-forth then ensued (see farther below).
Dear Prof. Ackerman,
Your WSJ letter to the editor in Saturday’s edition may prompt many readers to wonder if you are childless and/or one of those “immuno-compromised adults” you seem so worried about [“Should Kids Have to Wear Masks in Schools?” A12, Aug. 14].
In any case, braver, better adjusted grown-ups outside Brown’s rarefied campus understand innately that sickly, weak adults — and even healthy, strapping adults — must sometimes be sacrificed for the benefit of the innocent children who comprise our future.
If barely useful mask-wearing retards learning and otherwise makes for less healthy, less globally competitive American kids, how will we possibly afford to care for all the sickly older folks already overwhelming our bound-for-bankruptcy Medicare and Medicaid programs?
Just as the ranking officer on a lifeboat, faced with dwindling rations of fresh water and food, must regretfully decide who among the sick and injured is next to be prayerfully and gently lowered over the side to slip and sleep beneath the waves, sensible adults today must prioritize healthy young students over sickly teachers and school administrators.
And thankfully, in the immediate instance, this choice needn’t be so harshly Darwinian or ghoulish as to result in the actual deaths of any immuno-compromised educators. Our much easier choice is to urge and assist such educators to find a different line of work, away from the unmasked kids they apparently fear.
For we can’t foolishly disrupt any longer the critical academic, psychological and social development of millions of healthy kids simply so several thousand weakened and/or fearful adults can hold on to tenured jobs they may not be particularly good at in the first place (see steadily mediocre test scores relative to those of competitor nations).
America used to be a brave nation. But increasingly, as the influence of Ivory Tower ideologues spreads like scurvy on that proverbial lifeboat, we seem more like a nation of selfish cowards. And with all due respect, your letter exemplifies such cowardice.
Darren McKinney, Washington, D.C.
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Prof. Ackerman replied Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021 at 9:50 AM
Dear Mr. McKinney,
Decent human beings, in rarefied atmospheres or elsewhere, understand that adults matter just as much as children and that death is worse than wearing a mask. Your letter exemplifies ageism and ruthlessness.
We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness,
-FNA
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Post-deconstruction replied at 10:20 AM:
I’m a 62-year-old without children, Prof. Ackerman. I’m neither an ageist nor am I ruthless. Ask anyone who knows me. They’ll tell you I’m a pretty good guy who, at least occasionally, can be downright selfless. In fact, in two instances I’ve risked my life to protect weaker, younger strangers under attack by armed criminals, helping to bring said criminals to justice and receiving civilian commendations — including the Carnegie Hero Fund Medal — for doing so.
And from this basis of duty and honor I can irrefutably assert that truly decent adults know in their bones that children must always come first. That you haven’t learned this universal truth and yet are allowed to teach in the Ivy League merely reinforces my earlier point about the spread of cowardice.
-Darren
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Prof. Ackerman replied once more (in a something of a huff, using red text) at 10:36 AM:
Good Americans know “in their bones” that we’re all equal. I see no point in continuing this discussion and will not read further messages from you.
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And finally, at 11:37 AM:
Sure, we’re all equal in the eyes of God and under the law, professor, even if the likes of Hunter “Van Gogh” Biden and Hillary “Private Server” Clinton may be a bit more equal than others.
But such equality doesn’t and shouldn’t prevent any one of us from nobly sacrificing for the good of the whole. And for the sake of our kids, teachers and school administrators with genuine health concerns over Covid should do the right thing by looking for other work.
Meanwhile, perhaps Mr. Gigot would consider moderating a Leary-Liddy-like debate between us to be streamed live at wsj.com. You could represent inconsistent Ivy League thinkers who, were it not for their desperate desire to stay out in front of fast-changing pandemic politics, would more typically side with fellow traveler Zeke Emanuel in calling for the rationing of health care. I’ll represent America’s unwashed deplorables who feel our first obligation must always be to our children — even if they’re someone else’s children.
Are you game, professor? How about you, Mr. Gigot? Promoted properly, such a debate could garner an awful lot of clicks. So please be in touch.
-Darren