Mascot least of Cambridge’s problems
Residents buy into bizarre conspiracy theories
The Front Page
Morning Update
Sunday, December 12, 2021
By Ken Tingley
Cambridge residents met Thursday to address the crisis in their community - the school mascot.
While Washington County continues to have one of the worst Covid-19 infection rates in the state, Cambridge citizens rallied around their Indian mascot with some willing to risk over $11 million in state aid to keep it.
There are far greater issues to be discussed these days than how you label your football team, but after hearing what some of the residents were concerned about, it has far greater problems.
Evan Lawrence, a free lance writer for The Post-Star, reported this about the meeting in Saturday’s newspaper:
- One man insisted the mascot issue was “critical race theory” and that the it is connected with “transgender agenda,” the Black Lives Matter movement and LGBT clubs in schools.
- A retired teacher claimed that mascot controversies and Covid “are all part of a bigger agenda to destroy democracy and America.”
- Another resident insisted that declining grades and behavioral problems at the school stem from requiring children to wear masks. He said that the masks damage children’s brains and development by cutting off their oxygen and raising their carbon dioxide levels.
That last one should stay with you.
If these selected few are representative of the residents in Washington County, it is no wonder it has the second highest infection rate in the state.
The mascot issue is simple.
Dozens of Native American groups have gone on the record objecting to the visual images associated with sports teams who use the Indian and Warrior nicknames. If you watch a Florida’s State football game, you still see the crowd doing the “tomahawk chop,” which is probably as far as you can get from a respectful portrayal of Native Americans.
The state education commissioner has demanded Cambridge remove all imagery and references of its mascot or risk losing its state funding. That’s probably going a little far unless the state commissioner is willing to make a blanket ruling regarding all schools who use objectionable mascots.
Cambridge and its small school have many challenges. Spending money on mascot litigation and risking its state aid are not worth the fight.
But what may be more important and more frightening is the reality that individuals are speaking in public about bizarre conspiracy theories as if they are real.
I’m not sure how to use the word “delusional” here without being insulting.
What we often see on the cable news, what we shake our heads at when late-night comics show us the video clips is alive and thriving in our backyards.
You can only hope that those that spoke at last week’s meeting are in the minority, or perhaps not of sound mind. But I suspect that Cambridge is not alone, nor is Washington County.
Perhaps they all kept their masks on too long during the pandemic. Perhaps, they are speaking from experience. Unfortunately, I suspect the opposite is true.
It would have been nicer if those conspiracy theorists were booed off the stage by their fellow citizens, but there is no indication that happened.
I wonder how many were nodding their heads.
I wonder how many were wearing masks.
I wonder how many will end up in the emergency room or hospitalized in the coming week.
Some suggested that Cambridge needs an education curriculum to explain the atrocities against Native Americans.
I think a program that debunks conspiracy theories and teaches citizens how to recognize disinformation is more desperately needed.
And not just in Cambridge.
Is it free money?
Voters in Queensbury and Glens Falls will both be voting on whether to approve million-dollar capital projects on Tuesday.
While some of the proposed Queensbury spending - a new roof at the elementary school, and new boiler - appear essential, you do have to pause at the proposal for a new multipurpose synthetic turf field and a new playground at the Barton intermediate school.
What really irks me is that school officials use the same argument they have been using for generations: The capital spending will not raise our school taxes because the money would be 72 percent funded by state aid.
Of course, we all know that state aid is not grown on a tree in Albany. It is also generated through taxes, some of which we pay.
I’d feel better about the capital projects if schools avoided that argument.
Cheers for journalist
It did my heart good Saturday morning to read that the Adirondack Hockey Hall of Fame finally got around to voting in long-time Schenectady Gazette journalist Mike Kane.
By the time I got around covering the Adirondack Red Wings as a columnist in the 1990s, Kane was the dean of the hockey writers and all the writers followed his lead.
He was knowledgeable, fair and not a “homer” in any sense of the word. He was a true professional.
I’m so glad his service to the sports community is finally being recognized.
Book signing
If you are out today, I urge you stop by the Troy Shirt Factory where I will be signing copies of “The Last American Newspaper.”
You can find me up on the third floor in Room 308 - fellow author Matt Rozell’s space - from 12 to 1:30 p.m.
Matt has a new book out too, so you might want to make a dent in your Christmas shopping with one stop and get both books.
New outlet
I had not been to the Bookhouse and Sweetside Records in Glens Falls until this week. It is located in the Troy Shirt Factory annex right next to Rock Hill Bakehouse Cafe.
It is a cool little book and record shop that you really should check out. They also are now selling “The Last American Editor” as well as some new and used books and a pretty vast collection of vinyl records.
I also replenished the Chapman Museum supply of books while wishing Executive Director Tim Weidman well after hearing about his impending retirement.
I say thank God the retired teacher is just that! No one with those crazy ideas belongs in any school system spewing conspiracy theories, although I’m sure there are many, many more who believe nonsense like this.
They need start teaching Critical Thinking Theory in school. Along those lines, I’ll plug Jay Heinrich’s fantastic rhetoric book, “Thank You for Arguing.”