One of the biggest problems I have with primarily liberals and socialists, but Republicans and conservatives are to a lesser extent guilty as well, is how they have absolutely NO PROBLEM brainwashing their kid into a particular ideology before that kid is even the age of 10.
I've seen it at the fair where the parents have their kids carry some damn democratic candidate's balloon around. I've seen it at the Wellstone memorial/rallies/protests where the burnt-out, druggie-come-parent has their infant-kid wear a "Never Park the Bus" Wellstone t-shirt.
The hypocrisy is just so utterly repugnant.
On one hand you have a (typically) liberal who is all about independent thought, the freedeom of this, the freedom of that, moral relativism, nothing is "wrong or right" just different, and pushing open-mindedness, and dont' be so close minded, blah blah blah.
And on the other hand have absolutely no moral qualms about effectively brainwashing their kid at such a young age when all the kid wants to do is go out and play.
I can see it now at the household of the non-nuclear, modern day, hatred is not a family value, government employed granola democratic family;
"Johnny, time for your daily readings from Das Kapital"
"But Moooooommmm!!! Jimmy and Steve are going to the old pond, they said they saw some turtles there!!!"
"NO! What did I tell you about our daily devotionals at the dinner table. You are going to appreciate the values of communism if it's the last thing you do!"
Or heck, these parents who are so freaking green EVERYTHING HAS TO BE ORGANIC!
"Mom, can I have some ice cream?"
"No honey, that's Dairy Queen! They don't have all organic ice cream and probably treat their cows inhumanely."
"But Mooooooommmmm! Jimmy and Steve always get to go to Dairy Queen!"
"Yes, but we go to the Mother Gia Coffee and Ice Cream Haven. Here, have an all-organic scoop of barely-wheatgrass-ice cream. It's made in Kenya by workers who are paid a living wage!"
So you could imagine my infuriation when I read this post by Noahtorious.
At what point do you stop and say, "hey, you know, maybe childhood should be scared and void of brainwashing of any kind???? Maybe I should let my kid just have that childhood innocence and enjoy their youth without making him/her into nothing more than a brainwashed automaton like the radical islamic imams brainwash young boys into becoming suicide bombers?"
Why can't you just let the damn kid be a kid?
Of course, the reason why is two fold;
1. The left derives its value and meaning in life from being a "leftist." It's not, "I'm a good father" or "I run a good plastics firm" or "I'm the best auto-mechanic in town." It's, "I'm a leftist, I care about things and take on noble causes to help the disadvantaged." Translated into English that means, "I don't want get my hands dirty becoming an auto mechanic, besides, that would take effort, I just want to sit and bitch and moan and whine and become a professional activist while I fool myself into thinking it's for the "poor/children/disadvantaged" when in reality, deep down inside, I know it's for myself greedy psycho self and I just wish to masterbate my ego." When this is what the ENTIRE VALUE OF YOUR LIFE is based on, you'll have a tendency to foist such a "noble" philosophy on a 4 year old.
2. They're just plum afraid that if the kid did think about it, and actually had an independent thought, they may come to a different conclusion than their parents. Additionally, they may realize what frauds their parents actually are and hold them responsible for their situation. They might wake up one day and say, "Hey Mom, why was it you and Dad weren't married when you had me. And why was it you guys got divorced, and why did you go to all those protests instead of working up a college fund for me? And why did you prevent me from growing up with the rest of normally functioning society and instead instill this tripe in my psyche." (odd, but that sounds an awful lot like Christianity....HOOOOO! ZINGGGGGGG!!!!)
I'd love to see them explain to their children.
Of course, I already know the answer;
It's Bush's fault.
9 comments:
Were you the 'anonymous' commenter for the post that you made reference to on my blog? If so, I couldn't figure out if you were being sarcastic or if you were an angry, hate-filled moonbat troll. If you weren't the one who left those comments, then never mind.
BTW, I linked to one of your posts on my site, on a post entitled "Briliance on Display". You must not have the linking/trackback feature set up on your blog, otherwise I would have used that.
Hey N,
Yeah, I saw the link, but no, it wasn't me that made the ornary post. Don't know the backtrack feature, haven't delved into Blogger that much.
Recall, O Captain, that many of the children's games and activities we remember with such fondness, certain groups (almost said "parties") have essentially banned entirely from the childhood experience.
Can't have the little rug monkeys playing dodge ball without protective padded suits and helmets, and if you want to build a tree house on your own property? Forget it; get a building permit or Face The Wrath of the city/neighborhood association/whatever. Sell lemonade? Nope, gotta get a permit (true story from Roseville, incidentally).
As for kid's books? In this case, you're far better off NOT walking into that section at B&N or Borders; get 'em some classics, and let the urchin discover the joy of reading on their own. That's what happened to me, with that book on WWII, and I turned out just *BRING BACK PREDREADNOUGHTS!* fine.
It's always kind of freaky when you see kids who seem to have had political ideas foisted on them by their parents, but I don't think it's really much to be concerned about. Once they mature, most kids will either start to examine the evidence themselves and come to their own conclusions, or become apathetic and only support their parents' beliefs nominally. I don't think many people live their entire lives as zealous activists of their parents' philosophy without first thinking about it for themselves.
Brainwashing children seems to be a wide-spread human activity, not particularly restricted to any portion of the political spectrum. If it's popular, that makes it OK, right? No, that's not what I'm saying - you have noticed it, and are bothered by it, in self-professed "lefties". This is probably a sampling artifact, of what group of people you are scrutinizing. Turn the same glare towards the extreme right-wing, I expect you will find similar behaviour. It's probably a universal human desire to have one's offspring agree with one's own thinking.
"You be quiet and listen to your uncle, young man! He knows the TRUTH!"
"But Dad! Jimmy found a dead rat under the porch! I wanna go look at the maggots!"
Seems politically-neutral in it's occurence, but I haven't actually sampled.
The proverb that begins, "Raise up a child in the way he should go..." is easily confused with brainwashing by those who oppose that way.
As a father, I can't just sit idly by and let my kids run amok through life; I am responsible for their healthy development. This includes instilling good values in them, but also must include critical thinking skills. Every maturing child reaches a point where he or she becomes aware and starts to question what was, until that moment, simply assumed to be true.
I'm extremely grateful that my parents taught me more how to discern truth than what truths to arrive at.
The best way to pass on values, before that moment of awareness comes, is to live them out and to make them a normal part of the environment around the child.
For her birthday, my eldest daughter once received a toy VW Beetle that came with a Mommy and a Baby in a car seat. The first thing she said when she opened it was, "Where's the daddy?"
The next day I bought her a matching Daddy (and painted a wedding ring on his unadorned hand; the Mommy had one, after all). I was so proud of my daughter for recognizing the missing piece in that scenario, and I was thus assured that I'm doing this parenting thing mostly right.
Hey All,
Yes, it could be applied to anything, but I particularly remember some rally at the U of MN where there was this 2-3 year old child with a Wellstone shirt.
Certainly I've seen it with Republicans and conservatives as well, but the left seems more prone to it.
Additionally, you can see it with anything. The perfect example is religion.
Cripes.
Christian, Muslim, you name it, the parents foist those beliefs on kids more for the parents benefit than the child's. Some 2 year old kid has no concept of God or religion, but by jolly little junior, you're going to hell if you don't believe in XYZ!
And to insist your child go to Sunday vacation bible school is repulsive. Cripes, can't let your kid enjoy childhood without ruining it with a bevy of repsonsibility and rules, the impetus for which they can't comprehend.
Almost, ALMOST as repugnant as insisting your children strap bombs to their stomachs and go blow up infidels.
Does anyone really call them selves a leftist?
I live in Cambridge, Mass - the heart of liberalism in America I'm told - I've never heard anyone refer to themselves as a leftist.
I have heard some nutjobs use the that term and "liberal" (with a sneer) many times inside of a single sentence - but you guys don't sound like that type.
In my experience the liberal loopy-ness is usually milder than neocon loopy-ness. Being an obsessed vegan seems less likely to have the negative impact of being an obssesive gun collecter - if only because a zuccini doesn't have the range and fire power of an M-16.
I've met both sorts. Perhaps it's because I find an insistant, annoying recycling evangalist less up to their elbows in my mindset as compared to the bible-thumping guy on the corner (of Harvard Sq. on Sat. nights) who openly asserts that I must have all sorts of moral faults and my parents did a terrible job that prevents me from accepting Jesus as my savior right then and there. At least with the recyling jerk my error, my sin, didn't exist since before the doctor got to slap me when I was born, and will also leave me alone after my death. (Well, ok, there might be a little Soylent Green action - but I'll never feel it.)
Regarding brain washing - I think a fair sampling will show that "liberal brainwashing" is probably not in the top fifty list of things to get fixed. When was the last time a liberal lobbed a bomb, had to be dug out of a compound by the FBI, or were caught planning an assasination? Seriously - at the grassroots it's bakesales and marches on one side and militas and exterminist cant on the other. One side eschews violence (which I think is unrealistic - this is not a peaceful planet we're on) and the other seems to glorify it. (and when I talk about violence I mean physical, economic and psychological) The end result of either extreme could be just as dire for all of us, but I know who I'd feel safer with as a fellow citizen in the meantime.
Last bit - does anyone think "Mallard Fillmore" is funny? I consider it to be in the same group as the "Curtis" comic when it comes to actual entertainment value. (i.e. I only look at it to see how unfunny and vacuous a comic is allowed to be and still get published.)
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