Melissa Kotačka

Feisty nerd | Educator | Counselor | Thanatologist | my two degrees in Slavic literature might not be useless after all 🇺🇦 | She/hers | Views mine, all mine

[Kendra Middleton @KendraMiddleton]

Every time Harrison Butker misses a field goal a woman gets a PHD 🗣️

[Boze Herrington, Library Owl 😴🧙‍♀️ @SketchesbyBoze]

“The humanities are useless” is propaganda, designed to discourage young people from pursuing careers in literature and the arts because those careers are vital to a flourishing society. We’re reaping the results with a public that is compliant and ill-informed, as was intended.

[Nick Pettigrew @Nick_Pettigrew]

Polio was eradicated because Jonas Salk chose not to patent the vaccine, if you want a perfect example of a socialist act.

[Ethan Clark wx @EthanClarkWX]

Bad, bad news: More data is being lost. This is not a good sign heading into Hurricane Season. Weather service offices are severely understaffed and underfunded. Weather data will continue to be degraded across the United States. This is unacceptable. We should be funding more…

[Ryan Breton @RyanBretonWX]

There is a lot happening in NOAA and the National Weather Service.

I recommend reading this joint statement from @ametsoc and @nwas: https://t.co/fD8NxRabtK

[March For Our Lives @AMarch4OurLives]

Your "prayers" don’t mean a damn thing when you’ve spent years blocking every common sense gun law and making Florida more dangerous.
Where’s your action, Governor?

[Nikos Unity @nikosunity]

@Acyn Autistic people pay taxes. Autistic people work. Autistic people fall in love. RFK Jr. just doesn’t see them as human. That’s the problem.

[Robert Reich @RBReich]

Tyrants view educated citizens as their greatest enemy.

Slaveholders stopped the enslaved from learning to read. Nazis burned books. Dictators censor media.

That’s why Trump is attacking education, science, museums, and the arts – to prevent us from learning.

It's Fascism 101.

[Melissa Kotačka @mkotnc]

@JosephVu459909 @romanhelmetguy @SketchesbyBoze And in education, "STEM" includes the natural, physical, and biological sciences. Even the nomenclature of "hard" (e.g. chem, bio, physics) vs "soft" (e.g. soc, econ) sciences is a binary implying valuation.

No one is saying chem isn't valued. We're saying the humanities are.

[Melissa Kotačka @mkotnc]

@JosephVu459909 @romanhelmetguy @SketchesbyBoze The original tweet notes where devaluation of the humanities has gotten us, collectively: disinformation runs rampant; garbage data are used to make bad faith arguments; & we can't hold two contrasting ideas at the same time. Humanities & STEM aren't either/or; they're both/and.

[Melissa Kotačka @mkotnc]

@JosephVu459909 @romanhelmetguy @SketchesbyBoze I literally agree above that the sciences also are great for critical thinking, along with humanities. We need both, which is the basis for college distribution reqs. AND when societal convos & policies push science/math at the expense of humanities, we all lose out (cont)

[Tony Pann @TonyPannWBAL]

Ok. I guess I have to address this. The information on your phone app comes FROM data provided by NOAA for free. NOAA gathers weather data (daily balloon launches) and feeds it into the modeling so your phone can tell you it's going to rain tomorrow. Saying we don't need NOAA or the NWS because I can see the weather on my phone, is like saying we don't need farmers because I can just go to the grocery store. End of rant. You may continue scrolling....

[Melissa Kotačka @mkotnc]

@romanhelmetguy @SketchesbyBoze Ty for the dialogue. 1990 is a good metric to reflect the recovery trend from the 70s/80s, and* since 2012, humanities degrees have lost a lot of ground. We need humanities AND sciences, the og definition of liberal arts.

*not but, bc both are true

https://t.co/7kUy4Aro3G

[Melissa Kotačka @mkotnc]

@romanhelmetguy @SketchesbyBoze I'll assume you're replying in good faith, so I will, too.

More people are going to college, so without percentages or other ways to compare variables directly, this is not a strong counterpoint. Humanities also teach us to analyze data beyond face value.

[Boze Herrington, Library Owl 😴🧙‍♀️ @SketchesbyBoze]

We went from “what good are the humanities?” to “suddenly, no one can read” in about a year, and the answer to the first question is the disinformation and lack of critical thinking you see all around you. *That* is why you need the humanities. This is what they prevent.

[Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta @malcolmkenyatta]

The guy in the WH refused to release his own tax returns, but he wants to give some random billionaire access to yours.

[Molly Jong-Fast @MollyJongFast]

You voted for RFK JR

[Nicole Lee Schroeder, PhD @Nicole_Lee_Sch]

Hey all of these things are examples of a eugenics playbook in action:
1. Normalizing epidemic diseases
2. Removing proven drug therapies from market
3. Claiming disabled people can "work out" to restore health
4. Institutionalizing ppl in "health" camps 1/3

[Evan Fisher @EFisherWX]

🚨 Promises kept! That’s what you’re supposed to say, right?

Terminated “based on performance”…

That’s how some folks who gave everything during Helene are being treated. That’s disgusting, and it absolutely fills me with rage.