As usual, Ali Velshi delves deeper into the flesh. While most laugh at Alabama yoga silliness, he used Jennifer Rubin to explain the reality.
This is why Velshi is must-see TV
Ali Velshi highlighted a story that proves the lengths the GOP would go to in order to distract. Who would have known that Alabama outlawed teaching yoga 30 years ago? NPR explains.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has signed a bill to allow public schools to offer yoga, ending a ban that stood for nearly 30 years. Christian conservatives who back the ban said yoga would open the door for people to be converted to Hinduism.
The new law allows yoga to be offered as an elective for grades K-12. While it erases a ban that, over the years, some schools had not realized existed, it also imposes restrictions on how yoga should be taught. Students won’t be allowed to say, “Namaste,” for instance. Meditation is not allowed.
“Chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, and namaste greetings shall be expressly prohibited,” the bill states. It also requires English names be used for all poses and exercises. And before any students try a tree pose, they’ll need a parent’s permission slip.
Alabama adopted its yoga ban in schools in 1993 — one of many fronts in the culture wars in the United States. And it was a fight to undo the ban: State Rep. Jeremy Gray, a Democrat, first introduced a bill to revoke the yoga taboo more than a year ago. His new bill got final approval Monday — the last day of the legislative session.
This may seem like simple GOP cult-like behavior of the region. Conservative pundit Jennifer Rubin got it mostly right on Velshi as she gives the real reasoning.
“They’ve come to believe that this is politics.” Jennifer Rubin said. “That talking about yoga in classrooms is a substitute for governing, for solving actual problems. You know the state of Alabama is not one of the top ten states when it comes to education, health, longevity. It’s not like there’s any dearth of problems in the state of Alabama. But this is what they focus on. And it’s actually, it’s funny. But it’s actually strategic because they didn’t talk about this nonsense; if they didn’t fan the flames of white Christian nationalism, then they’d actually have to address it the problems of Alabama. They’d actually have to vote for things and be held accountable. So they can’t have that. So let’s talk about yoga and Dr. Seuss and the whole, you know, grab bag of nuts that these people obsess about.”
But it is a lot deeper. Many human beings find it hard to change their positions after they have articulated them. After they have made it a part of their being. Because many followers of the Republican cult tend to respond in a knee-jerk manner, their party uses that against them. They have them acquiesce to detrimental policies to their health or personal economies very quickly with soundbites. Before the full nature of the con by their party is evident, they’ve already committed themselves to the con. And more often than not, pride forces them to keep their erroneous position.