Category Archives: Education
VIDEO: Americans Can’t Name First Amendment Rights | MRCTV
Filed under American History, Culture Wars, Education, The Constitution
More on preemptive nuclear strikes…. OMG
Here’s a quick follow-up to the Mark Dice post the other day about his fake petition to nuke Russia video. RT (Russia Today) reports doing a man-on-the-street fake petition, by approaching Moscow pedestrians and trying to acquire their signature agreeing to nuke America. Most of the Russians reportedly refused to sign the petition and expressed outrage at the suggestion:
http://rt.com/news/266848-russia-nuke-america-poll/
I’ll leave it to you to ponder this, but in the Dice video, what alarmed me the most was that not a single person actually took the time to read the petition – they just signed it.
Filed under Culture Wars, Education, Foreign Policy, General Interest, Politics
I Still Blame the Communists | The Weekly Standard
Filed under Culture Wars, Education, General Interest, History, Politics
Another sighting of Lenin’s ghost
Lenin’s ghost roams the halls of academia, with another haunting being sighted:
Is having a loving family an unfair advantage?
Yes, by reading to your children, this lunatic suggests you are giving your child an unfair advantage, so posits philosopher, Adam Swift… More to come on this subject of presenting ideas to destroy civil society and families under the guise of “social justice” and other deception by college campus Marxists and sundry left-wing whackos, I just need to check my white privilege at the door first and review the approved list of words I can use that aren’t hurtful or hateful -maybe tomorrow I’ll write it….
Filed under Culture Wars, Education, General Interest, Politics
Aquamarine vs. turquoise
Finally, here is a post on factions, that’s so simple even a 5 year-old can understand the problem. Adults might get stuck in their rigid ideological beliefs. All beliefs are not morally equal – some when carried to extremes have horrific consequences for millions of innocent people, while others can do remarkable good for the entire world. That is the TRUTH.
Let’s say you believe very strongly that a color is aquamarine and I believe equally as strongly that that color is turquoise. Being that we both believe a different thing, many avenues are there for us to choose. We could argue and get so angry that we end up hating each other and never speak to each other again. I could feel so strongly about my belief that I kill you. We might even kill each other fighting over who is right. I could even decide that it’s not enough to just kill you, but because you’ve convinced your whole town that the color is aquamarine, it’s necessary to kill all of them too.
Of course, on the less extreme side we might agree to consult an outside expert on color to settle the matter, perhaps, we could call the Crayola Company, after all they’ve been naming colors since 1885 in Easton, PA, near where I grew up.
We might argue, passionately and often, clinging to our beliefs (as President Obama accused those rural people in PA), but in the American tradition, we could agree to disagree and at some point, shake hands and say, “Let’s go have pizza!” Presented to most 5 year-olds, the vast majority will agree that it’s stupid to kill other people just because we disagree, on the other hand most adults refuse to even listen to differing opinions. Maya Angleou, renowned poet, expressed it exactly right:
“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.” –
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/26244-hate-it-has-caused-a-lot-of-problems-in-the
So, in America, being a country forged together by a people committed to INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM, we have The Declaration of Independence to ensure our God-given, unalienable rights are not infringed upon:
Sadly, in America our political partisanship swirls dangerously to extremes – where hate has swelled to such a level that many Americans choose to receive all of their news from sources that align with their political views. The hate and extremism goes so far that even the President of the United States works to divide Americans into hostile camps. Distrust turns Americans into furtive enemies, partisans avoiding those who hold an opposing view, with ideological walls being girded to lock out all who dare to disagree. Even codes are enacted in our universities to silence opposition.
We must tear down these partisan walls! We must work to find common ground, or we can not face the threats beyond our borders. President George Washington warned about the dangers of extreme partisanship in his Farewell Address:
“I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the State, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.
This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.
The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
So, beyond my stating it is a parental duty in a civil society to train your children to respect the rule of law. George Washington tells you that it’s a duty to discourage extremist politics – the duties are required to be a good citizen. I wrote a post in 2013 titled, “The duty of a wise people”. on this subject.
There was a time, not so long ago, when American school children were routinely taught about this speech and American principles. Sadly, today I suspect many school children don’t even know who George Washington was. And mentioning The Constitution, too often and too loudly, will get your name on a Homeland Security watch list as a right-wing extremist…
The power of free thinking
To understand the power of free thinking, I recommend reading , “My Bondage and My Freedom” by Frederick Douglass. Here is a free gutenberg.org version, but I have it downloaded on my kindle, so here is the free kindle version too.
Frederick Douglass was born an American slave in 1818 in Maryland and he died a champion of human rights, an abolitionist, a writer, renowned orator, but most of all a FREE man in 1895. (short bio here).
Douglass relates how as a slave, learning to read was forbidden, but a white mistress undertook teaching him to read for a short time, before being reprimanded by her husband. From that point on, Douglass embarked on a secret, dangerous mission to educate himself:
“Seized with a determination to learn to read, at any cost, I hit upon many expedients to accomplish the desired end. The plea which I mainly adopted, and the one by which I was most successful, was that of using my young white playmates, with whom I met in the streets as teachers. I used to carry, almost constantly, a copy of Webster’s spelling book in my pocket; and, when sent of errands, or when play time was allowed me, I would step, with my young friends, aside, and take a lesson in spelling. I generally paid my tuition fee to the boys, with bread, which I also carried in my pocket. For a single biscuit, any of my hungry little comrades would give me a lesson more valuable to me than bread. Not every one, however, demanded this consideration, for there were those who took pleasure in teaching me, whenever I had a chance to be taught by them.”
Douglass, Frederick (2009-10-04). My Bondage and My Freedom (p. 85). Public Domain Books Kindle Edition.
Douglass heard some white boys mention a schoolbook, The Columbian Orator, and determined to acquire a copy. He bought a copy for fifty cents. The Columbian Orator was a popular 19th century schoolbook filled with speeches and essays, geared to promote republican virtues (in other words, good citizenship, if you are living in a republic like the United States of America) and patriotism. To quote Douglass:
“I had now penetrated the secret of all slavery and oppression, and had ascertained their true foundation to be in the pride, the power and the avarice of man. The dialogue and the speeches were all redolent of the principles of liberty, and poured floods of light on the nature and character of slavery. With a book of this kind in my hand, my own human nature, and the facts of my experience, to help me, I was equal to a contest with the religious advocates of slavery, whether among the whites or among the colored people, for blindness, in this matter, is not confined to the former. I have met many religious colored people, at the south, who are under the delusion that God requires them to submit to slavery, and to wear their chains with meekness and humility. I could entertain no such nonsense as this; and I almost lost my patience when I found any colored man weak enough to believe such stuff.”
Douglass, Frederick (2009-10-04). My Bondage and My Freedom (p. 87). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.
He continued:
“Once awakened by the silver trump of knowledge, my spirit was roused to eternal wakefulness. Liberty! the inestimable birthright of every man, had, for me, converted every object into an asserter of this great right. It was heard in every sound, and beheld in every object. It was ever present, to torment me with a sense of my wretched condition. The more beautiful and charming were the smiles of nature, the more horrible and desolate was my condition.”
Douglass, Frederick (2009-10-04). My Bondage and My Freedom (pp. 87-88). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.
Minding Your Manners
Wow, it took a major psychological study to conclude that what used to be considered a parental duty, to teach your child how to behave, really is the most important “skill” you can teach your child according to this article in the British Daily Mail:
“The new research in published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.
The researchers who led the study found that children with high self-control – who are typically better able to pay attention, persist with difficult tasks, and suppress inappropriate or impulsive behaviours – are much more likely to find and retain employment as adults, spending 40% less time unemployed than those who had a lower capacity for self-control as children.”
Filed under Culture Wars, Education, General Interest
Willful ignorance: Bondage for the modern era?
Sometimes, well, let’s make that often, progressive politics appears to be very much a “cut off your nose to spite your face” childish temper tantrum. The ongoing flights of these social justice loco birds’ loopy reasoning can leave you dazed, dizzy and decidedly dumbfounded, but be brave and wade through the entire linked blog post, “Why Grammar Snobbery Has No Place in the Movement”, discussed in a piece, “Proper English Grammar is Now Racist”, at The American Thinker this morning.
The grammar snobbery post comes from Melissa A. Fabello, a self-described social justice warrior and an English teacher. Let’s bow our heads and pray that none of our children or grandchildren end up subjected to her politicized propaganda that setting standard English as the standard is a form of class privilege and inherently oppressive. Ms Fabello’s arguments on ‘”privilege” appear, not surprisingly, on a blog called “Everyday Feminism”. She writes:
But there’s a difference between understanding standard grammar and demanding it, between believing there’s a time and a place for so-called “proper” English and ridiculing anyone who steps outside of what you deem “acceptable.”
There’s a difference between appreciating language and being a snob.
And the last place that we need grammar snobbery is in social justice movements.
And not just because getting hung up on the correct use of homonyms or subject-predicate agreement is distracting to the job at hand, but also because purporting one form of English as elite is inherently oppressive.
In Fabello’s view, “it’s important to note that any time we create a hierarchy by positioning one thing as “better” than another, we’re being oppressive.” ( all bold-faced statements are hers, not mine). Yes, the American march to mediocrity follows the beat of some decidedly off-beat drummers. Obviously, she was not reared by my mother, the strictest teacher on there’s a right way to just about everything in life, from how to fold your underwear to how to help your neighbors.
Patricia L. Dickson, author of The American Thinker piece mentioned above, sums up this bizarre alter-universe of progressive political thought:
“The entire article is a futile attempt to justify the failure of the public school system. The author is using the soft bigotry of low expectations under the guise of social justice.”
Some of the very practices American slave owners used to keep their black slaves submissive now appear to be sold as “empowering”. In the words of Frederick Douglass, a writer whom Ms Fabello should study closely:
“Slavery does away with fathers, as it does away with families. Slavery has no use for either fathers or families, and its laws do not recognize their existence in the social arrangements of the plantation. When they do exist, they are not the outgrowths of slavery, but are antagonistic to that system. The order of civilization is reversed here. The name of the child is not expected to be that of its father, and his condition does not necessarily affect that of the child.”
Douglass, Frederick (2009-10-04). My Bondage and My Freedom (p. 29). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.
Laws were enacted in some states forbidding slaves to learn to read or write, in the belief that their education was a threat to the slavery system (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/experience/education/docs1.html).
Learning standard English, if not the language in the home, should be viewed as an opportunity toward advancement, just as acquiring any other foreign language can open many doors too. Promoting willful ignorance in the name of “social justice” will keep many black children locked in poverty, hopeless and dependent on the largesse of government welfare programs – from cradle to grave. Perhaps, that is the intention. Is this bondage for the modern era?
Filed under Culture Wars, Education, Food for Thought, General Interest, Politics
libertybelle diaries 