We might want to remember what Hussein said on the way to the gallows, because I think it’ll turn out to be more than a little prophetic.
“Iraq without me is nothing.”
[Source: MSNBC.]
I caused a little trouble last year with my short rant against Santa BS. Well, we’re at it again with more schools struggling with the issue.
According to the article,
“Children as young as nine were told that only ’small children believe in Father Christmas’.
And yesterday their parents criticised teachers for taking the ‘magic’ out of the festive period…”
The magic? Pardon me, but if the magic of the season for you hysterical parents out there is anchored to the myth of a strange man sneaking into your home at night, eating your food, and then leaving cheap Chinese goods behind, then you probably ought to be committed. Is that really what it’s about for you? Therein lies the magic?
Schools are designed to educate our children – not perpetuate mythology. Of course it’s alright to teach kids mythology in context – a great deal of our civilization is built upon it – but children are confronted with enough of their parents’ mental deficiencies without being indoctrinated with phantasm by educators.
Don’t my tax dollars subsidize enough adult fantasy (my own included) as it is?
Educators are probably taking the safe approach by saying, “I don’t know, go ask your parents.” But do they also have to do this about the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, myriad Bogeymen, the Spaghetti Monster, God, and so on? Where does it end?
Remember what I said the other day about honesty not always being the easy way?
True, it’s kinda hard to sit your kid down and tell them you’ve been lying to them. And you deserve what you get when you are confronted with this moment – whether a teacher brings it upon you or a neighborhood brat who told your kid the truth. If only it were so easy to excise the many other myths you’re packing into their pretty little heads. Children are made no better by them; the world is chock full of true love and beauty that can be shared (and be “magical”) without parents trying to relive their own flawed childhoods with their kids as a canvas.
Something I asked last year: could Santa and all these other fantasies give parents easy intellectual escapes by providing “ready-made” historical “story packages” so they are not forced to make the hard spiritual and intellectual voyages necessary to teach kids authentically?
For example, how many Santa-obsessed parents have taught their children the actual truth about Christmas?
In fact, how many parents themselves know these truths?
Well – at least I’ve finally decided what I’m getting you delusional parents for Christmas.
In Aquarius Now, Marilyn Ferguson wrote:
“Each society believes it is on the knife-edge of knowledge and looks back with pity on peoples of earlier times because of their ignorance. We forget that future generations will look back on us the same way.”
So, I got to thinking – in a generation or two, what generally-accepted social assumptions and behaviors are we engaged in today that will be looked upon by future, more-awakened generations as grievously misguided? What are today’s Dred Scott decisions? Today’s sociocultural blind spots? There’s no question there are quite a few – I suppose the challenge is in finding them.
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I know this is going to sound pretty insensitive to many of you – but brutal honesty sometimes does. I’ll try to be gentle.
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Well, Donald Trump has decided that Miss USA Tara Conner deserves a second chance to change her partying ways. I hope The Donald was clear about what the problem is, though. It’s not that she’s out until 3AM doing coke and making out with Miss Teen USA – nono, that’s fine, darling. Great publicity. We love it, we do. Trump said, the issue is that “she’s not doing her job“. She’s been blowing off (sorry) photo shoots and fundraisers. This we can’t have. Trump again makes his business (and PR) acumen quite evident.
Courtesy of my personalized Google home page, my three quotes of the day are:
“I’m seventeen and I’m crazy. My uncle says the two always go together. When people ask your age, he said, always say seventeen and insane.”
– Ray Bradbury
“What we become depends on what we read after all of the professors have finished with us. The greatest university of all is a collection of books.”
- Thomas Carlyle
“The people who are regarded as moral luminaries are those who forego ordinary pleasures themselves and find compensation in interfering with the pleasures of others.”
- Bertrand Russell
I really like Austin. Nice vibe, warm people, rich cultural scene, and a generally cool spot to be. I’m going to spend a little time here.
I spent the last couple of days exploring the Gulf Coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. I was blown away by the scope of the Hurricane Katrina devastation – especially along the Mississippi coast (the Biloxi region particularly.) I have never seen destruction on this scale.
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In the pitch blackness of the Georgia woods late last night, the Milky Way glowed an eerie white-green glow. What I love about being in the middle of the woods is the absolute lack of light pollution and the sky is alive with millions of stars – the stardust spreads from edge to edge. The rising moon had started to drown it out a little, but it was still unlike anything you’d see near a city.
I was really in the middle of nowhere – even seeing a road or a light was a rare occurrence in this southwestern section of the state. As I zipped along, something that looked a bit like a cat darted into the road and went right under the side of my car before I could react. I felt it go under my rear wheels with a nasty krrump.
Awww, shit.
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If you’re into mini golf, cheesy adventure parks, pancakes, pawn shops, wicker markets, old people, seafood buffets, beachwear superstores and trinkets ad infinitum – you’ll love Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I didn’t; I left.
