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I don't talk about politics much on LJ.
This latest brew-ha-ha over Obama's evil mind games with America's children has me puzzling over mindsets. And to show that willful ignorance is equal opportunity, I distinctly remember a few parents getting outraged at Bush Jr. talking to their children. (Different issues - socialism or war - same outrage.)
What kind of children are people raising where certain things are just too dangerous to be heard? So you might not agree with Obama's politics. Or Bush's politics. (Not that either of them would ever get into heavy politics with the wee kiddies, but that's another story.) Has the very act of hearing different ideas become so toxic to our thinking? Surely the children, throughout their lives, will encounter many different philosophies and values and morals from people all around them. Shouldn't the parent want to discuss that with their child? Or is the example given to stick fingers in the ears and simply despise, or at best ignore, anyone who thinks differently?
I'm reminded of Mark Twain's "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg," one of those stories you read in high school that stuck with me. Here was a town that prided itself on its virtue. The town's motto was "Lead Us Not Into Temptation." The problem was that the second it was led into temptation, the town fell flat on its face. The townspeople then realized that they couldn't really claim virtue if that virtue was never tested, and the town's motto was changed to "Lead Us Into Temptation."
Over a hundred years ago, Mark Twain mocked the folly of that bury-your-head-in-the-sand thinking. Sure the story is about falling to greed rather than about listening to different ideas, but a hundred years later some still think that the best plan is the ostrich method. As parents, shouldn't the better option be to show that the ideas and values passed to their children can stand up to anything that comes along? Instead of showing that the ideas and values passed along are so fragile, that the child might possibly be "brainwashed" the second a different idea is heard?
This latest brew-ha-ha over Obama's evil mind games with America's children has me puzzling over mindsets. And to show that willful ignorance is equal opportunity, I distinctly remember a few parents getting outraged at Bush Jr. talking to their children. (Different issues - socialism or war - same outrage.)
What kind of children are people raising where certain things are just too dangerous to be heard? So you might not agree with Obama's politics. Or Bush's politics. (Not that either of them would ever get into heavy politics with the wee kiddies, but that's another story.) Has the very act of hearing different ideas become so toxic to our thinking? Surely the children, throughout their lives, will encounter many different philosophies and values and morals from people all around them. Shouldn't the parent want to discuss that with their child? Or is the example given to stick fingers in the ears and simply despise, or at best ignore, anyone who thinks differently?
I'm reminded of Mark Twain's "The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg," one of those stories you read in high school that stuck with me. Here was a town that prided itself on its virtue. The town's motto was "Lead Us Not Into Temptation." The problem was that the second it was led into temptation, the town fell flat on its face. The townspeople then realized that they couldn't really claim virtue if that virtue was never tested, and the town's motto was changed to "Lead Us Into Temptation."
Over a hundred years ago, Mark Twain mocked the folly of that bury-your-head-in-the-sand thinking. Sure the story is about falling to greed rather than about listening to different ideas, but a hundred years later some still think that the best plan is the ostrich method. As parents, shouldn't the better option be to show that the ideas and values passed to their children can stand up to anything that comes along? Instead of showing that the ideas and values passed along are so fragile, that the child might possibly be "brainwashed" the second a different idea is heard?