In the interest of full disclosure, I have eaten bugs. I was in Cambodia on a human trafficking awareness mission. A woman was selling roasted crickets, and I bought a bag for a buck and ate one or two. Maybe three. I always believe in trying new dishes so I thought, “Why not?” They weren’t half bad. A little heavy on the salt and soy sauce. And to be honest, I wouldn’t eat a bowl full of them while watching football. But they were alright. That said, I have two steaks marinating in the fridge right now that are headed to grill this evening. The upshot is, I have tried eating ze bugs. I know whereof I speak when I say I’ll take a pass. I’ll take a cheeseburger every time. Except on steak night. Which is tonight.
But of course, there are those who have been baptized into the First Church of Climatism. Some, if not most of these folks I think, enjoy the power that comes with posturing, hectoring, and bossing people around under the banner of saving the planet. In fact, I am convinced that 75% of climate outrage is the product of people getting in touch with their inner totalitarian. With that in mind, we take you to Spring Canyon Middle School in Springville, Utah. As part of an English assignment, teacher Kim Cutler purchased bugs approved for human consumption from a website and gave them to her students. It was part of an assignment on–what else? Climate change. The premise was that cows, which produce methane, are depleting the ozone layer and should be replaced with ze bugs. According to Fox News, the school issued the following statement, “Middle schoolers loved the ‘ewww’ factor, many of them gave bugs a try (and even a few staff members!). Many thanks to our English teachers for creating fun and engaging lessons.” And the kids may have had a fine time since middle school students are still young enough to enjoy icky stuff and it was probably a fun change of pace from the usual lesson plan.
However, there was also an essay assignment. For the essay, students were told that they could only argue for eating bugs and against eating beef, since cow flatulence poses a dire hazard to said ozone layer and life on Mother Earth. According to Ms. Cutler, there is no evidence to support eating beef over bugs and thus any pro-beef argument cannot exist. Well, there are other points of view, whether Ms. Cutler chooses to acknowledge them or not. What seems to be the case here is that the evidence Ms. Cutler likes is the only evidence that should be considered, and she has appointed herself the Holy Arbiter of Facts. One mother, Amanda Wright, was concerned that children were being indoctrinated into the religion of climate change and talked with the principal about how her daughter was not given the chance to create a rebuttal or discuss the other side of the issue. The principal, Alison Hansen, said that the assignment was about finding facts. Cutler stated, “All the evidence has suggested, that we probably should be eating bugs – it’s good for the environment, etc. But I didn’t know that that was an offensive topic to indicate.” Exploring and even debating climate change is not offensive.
Read more at: pjmedia.com
