Whatever Happened to "Let Kids Be Kids"?

I made the mistake of commenting on the subject of this post to my mom's board without having first read the article. My first reaction was this: "Because clearly two men can't be best friends without getting sexually involved. Seriously. It's a KID'S show. Why do people need to keep reading into shit that's just not there?" 

My comment, I believe, was true enough, if left to its own merit. Americans are, in my opinion, hyper-focused on dirty sex and alternative lifestyles.  The saying used to be that a girl and a guy couldn't be just friends without there being something sexual or romantic involved. I guess the same thing is now true of ANYONE who's ever friends with anyone else, regardless of their gender. 

I don't believe that my initial reaction was entirely uncalled for. However, once I went back and read through the article, I was presented with a slightly different picture than the one I mistakenly assumed, and I believe one that's much worse than what I'd originally thought.

Group Pushes To ‘Let Bert And Ernie Get Married’ On Sesame Street

An online campaign is calling for the producers of TV’s “Sesame Street” to allow characters Bert and Ernie to get married in an attempt to “put an end to the bullying and suicides of LGBT youth”, according to the group’s Facebook page.

...am I the only one that found this entire idea to be completely absurd? I mean, I truly do feel for the kids and parents of kids that are dealing with LGBT issues, but this idea is ridiculous! Sesame Street is a KID'S show, meant for toddlers through kindergarteners! 

But this needs to be handled in a different way. Parents: how about teaching your children-- when they're OLD ENOUGH to understand!-- to be accepting, to love and value everyone for who they are as a person, instead of introducing homophobia and bigotry? Why rely on a children's television program to do it for you if you actually WANT your children to grow up tolerant of others?

...oh, wait. I believe I covered that elsewhere. (Read here, here, or here.)

Moving on. 

I understand completely the feelings of the parents that don't want something like this to take place. Not everyone in the world has religious or moral views in line with the LGBT lifestyle, nor does everyone feel that their four year old ought to be subject to learning about alternative sexuality (or any at all, for that matter!) through a children's television show. For all the people that would find this objectionable, marrying Bert and Ernie would be tantamount to taking Sesame Street away altogether.

Leave the infant through six year old age group alone, people! Let them live in a world where two boys or two girls can just be friends. They'll find out about the more lurid aspects of our nihilistic, sex-crazed society soon enough.

Mandatory Sex Ed for NYC School Children

NYC to mandate sex education in public schools 

According to the New York Times, middle and high school students in New York City are being forced to attend sex education classes starting as early as this year. Allegedly, the purpose of this is to teach kids safety and responsibility. I'm pretty sure there's much more to this. Look here:

"The curriculum includes lessons on how to use a condom and the appropriate age for sexual activity," says the article.

My big question is this: since when has it been the responsibility of anyone besides a child's parents to teach them about sex? This article was linked on one of my mom's groups, and I was the only one that dissented against the mandate. Everyone else thought it was just fine, and at least one said that SOMEONE had to do it, because clearly parents weren't. My point, though, is that it SHOULD be the parents.

Where is the curriculum for this sex ed program? How am I to know whether these teachers are going to be putting forth the moral standards that I'd care to hold out for my children?

...for that matter, what do THEY think "the appropriate age for sexual activity" is? I'm sure they won't tell 10 year olds that the appropriate age for sexual activity is marriage.

I find this mandate to be highly disturbing. It's yet another example of parents not taking the time out of their apparently so damn busy lives that they can't be bothered to properly raise their own children. How easy to be lazy and focus on yourself; just let the state do the child-rearing for you. Hell, while you're at it, why don't you just sign over your parental rights altogether? That's what the state would rather you do, anyways.

This whole attitude is sad, disgusting, and pathetic. If talking to your children about sex is so embarrassing that you need to have the state do it FOR you, then you may want to reconsider having them altogether, because you're certainly NOT mature enough to have had them in the first place.

Leaving Won't Make It Better.

This is purely an opinion post. Take it as you will.

On one of my mom's groups this morning, one of the ladies expressed a desire to leave the country for some other shore, I suppose with the idea that it'd be better to not be in the US if things keep heading in the direction their pointed. While I know the idea of this might sound tempting, it isn't effective for at least a couple of reasons.

The first of these is simply this: it doesn't matter where you go or what country other than the US you try to live in. You will not escape from what's being planned for our world. The elites don't just want the United States under their total control. Why stop there, when they can have the entire world? Whether or not you think they can, THEY do, and that's all that matters.

Secondly, I understand the desire to run away and try to find somewhere more peaceful and/or "safe" to live. I truly do. People talk about the Fight or Flight instinct all the time, and it's a natural instinct to run when faced with something so very overwhelming as the potential destruction of our entire society and way of life. 

But the answer isn't running away.

If everyone on the planet decided to just run away, there would be no one left to fight. This thing isn't going to go away if we simply bury our heads in the sand! It takes consistent and concerted effort on our part to stand up and fight against it, and only through doing that will we be able to stop total world domination by the elitists. Yes, it IS frightening, on a deeper level than anything Hollywood could ever pull out of its ass. It's far more frightening because it's REAL. 

We can stop it, if enough people are willing to stand up against it. As the adage goes: it's better to die on your feet than live on your knees. If we don't fight against what's coming, that is exactly what will happen!

Justice Served, For Once

New Orleans cops convicted in post-Katrina shootings case

"Today's verdict by these jurors sends a powerful, a powerful, unmistakable message to public servants, to law enforcement officers and to the citizens we serve and indeed to the world," U.S. Attorney Jim Letten said. "That message is that public officials and especially law enforcement officers will be held accountable for their acts, and that any abuse of power, especially that power that violates the rights and the civil liberties of our citizens, will have serious consequences."

"The citizens of this country will not, should not, and we intend that they will never have to fear the individuals who are called upon to protect them," Letten declared. 

Humiliation, Not Always a Bad Thing!

 It gives me never-ending pleasure when I can find something so early in the morning to talk about. I found this little article (posted in its entirety below) through one of the mom's groups I frequent. It was apparently the subject of some debate, though I can't honestly see what for. The article asks pretty simply if it was a good idea for this man to humiliate his son in the manner in which he did.

I answer with a resounding "YES!", but I'll post the article first, and then explain why.

Best Facebook update of all time, posted by a dad

Sometimes the internet surfaces something so completely delightful, we can forgive it for turning us into Googfacetubemail droids. This Facebook update, posted by a dad who came upon his son Chris's profile when the teenager forgot to log off, is just that thing. Here, Shine readers, for your viewing pleasure, the best Facebook update we've ever seen:

In case you can't read it: "To all of Chris' friends: This is his father. My son carelessly left his account logged in [sic] so I decided to snoop around. Upon reading my son's personal information, I would like to clear a few things up. My son is not a "gangsta," he will not "beat a ho's ass" and he will most certainly not "roll a fatty wit his boyz." So for all of those who think he is some hard ass thug, think again...he is Chris _____[redacted], a 15 year old kid that was afraid of the dark untill he was 12 and cried at the end of Marley and Me."

The message is hilarious, obviously, though as a mom (and therefore now forever on the wrong side of cool. Sigh) part of this joke also gives me pause. I hate to be a buzzkill, but....exposing a teenager's obvious personality contrivances and affectations, the 'face' they're putting on to hide deeper problems and insecurities, may feel satisfying in the moment, but it doesn't really seem like the way to help a kid. In fact, it seems alienating and mean. We have no idea if this message was followed up by a sound parenting moment or a great dad-to-son talk (and with talk of rolling fatties at 15, you know, we sort of hope it was) and if it was, well, then maybe this badass Facebook message worked. If not, well...won't Chris just find another forum to discuss being a gangsta and beating ho's butts? One that brings him even further away from his dad?

I'll start at the top of the exposition portion of this article. The mother who wrote this article said this sort of treatment toward a teenager seemed "alienating and mean". I personally don't think that it was at all.

Sometimes, the best way to get through to a person is to humiliate them.

It doesn't sound so nice when putting it that way, but it's the God's honest truth. This teenager obviously thought that it was cool to be "gangsta" and undoubtedly he was just saying the things he thought his alleged friends wanted to hear. I highly doubt this is the sort of kid that routinely "beat a ho's ass", but the fact of the matter is this: he shouldn't have sacrificed himself and who he really is JUST to fit in with some crowd.

Look. I know what it's like to be a teenager. We all do; we've been there. It's definitely not easy. There's tremendous pressure to fit in, go with the crowd, to be like everyone else. And if your friends are doing and saying things that you otherwise would balk at? ...well, you just put on a "front" and go along with them.

However, as parents it's our responsibility to help our children-- of ANY age-- to develop their own personality and sense of identity. It shouldn't be gotten from their peers, or social media, or the television. And having grown up under a strict father myself, I don't find that humiliating this teenager was a bad thing at all.

After all, who among us would actually WANT their child walking around saying things like they're going to go "roll a fatty" with their friends and "beat a ho's ass"?

One other thing the woman who wrote the post said got me thinking. She implied that now that the boy had been humiliated by his dad in this fashion that he would just find another outlet for these "gangsta" attitudes and that his father had done the worst thing possible by further alienating his child. I don't find that this is the case at all. One can't even begin to guess as to the nature of the relationship between this father and his son. For all we know, they're the average white-bread American family, going to church on Sundays and eating dinner all together at the table every evening. Of course, they COULD be alienated from each other, too.

Regardless of their personal situation, I feel that it's a parent's business to be involved in their teenager's life, whether they like it or not. Yeah, we parents? We're not "cool" at all. We look at things differently from our children.  We're old-fashioned. We're "out of touch". But it's our responsibility that they're raised RIGHT. Not just letting them do whatever they want as soon as they want.

It might suck to be uncool, but it's what we signed on for when we had children in the first place.

I know if my son grew up and started acting "gangsta", I'd put a stop to it immediately, and quite possibly in the same way as this man did with his son! Acting in this manner would in no way be true to his true identity, and would only be a manifestation of his desire to fit in somewhere. Kids are so desperate to be anything that they're NOT in today's day and age, and it's frankly infuriating. They need to learn some pride in who they actually are, not try to fit in so hard that they lose everything that makes them, them.

And as parents it's our JOB to see to it that they don't lose themselves.

I can only hope that by posting that message on Facebook, this wayward teenager managed to lose all his "gangsta" friends. And while the incident was undoubtedly mortifying, this kid will grow up and get over it. There's no doubt that other friends will come along; they always do.

I'm sure this dad will be watching closely when they do, too, just as I will be as my own son grows up.

 

Television-- The Greatest Evil of Our Day

When I stop to think about what I would consider one of the greatest evils of this century, a lot of things can come to mind. War. Famine. Disease. Bigotry. These are truly evil things. However, I feel that there's one thing very few people think about but everyone in modern-day society relies on.

Television.

TV is evil? people might question me. I've always been less than fond of the "boob-tube", but lately my feelings on it have grown quite a bit stronger.

Take, for example, an article published today on CNN's website, based off a study done by the University of California Los Angeles. The study was regarding children from the age of 9 to 11-- more commonly called the "tween" years-- and what values they tend to hold above all else.

It found that above all, tweens value one thing above all else: fame.

The study, published in the Journal of Psychology Research on Cyberspace, found children aged 9 to 11 now hold “fame” as their No. 1value.  Fame ranked 15th in 1997. This raises red flags for researchers, who say the shift in values over the last 10 years may have a negative effect on the future goals and accomplishments of American youth.

No exertions of morality or honesty or being accepted. No. Kids today want what they want when they want it, and they believe they deserve this because the almighty television tells them so. I've taken to call this the Entitlement Generation. Look at Disney's afternoon lineup, and you'll easily see what I mean.

Hannah Montana. Sonny with a Chance. Shake It Up. Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream. Just some of the shows they press on kids showing tweens becoming famous, getting on tv, or starting their own "super mega-band".

The list goes on and on, and that's just Disney. Take a look at the shows on other typical children's channels and you'll realize that the media is pushing kids to fame instead of hard work to achieve their ends.

Children today are inundated with assertions that they'll have control over their lives, get what they want, and always have a good time if only they can get to be famous. Who needs to get good grades or go to college when it'd be far easier to be "discovered"? Why worry about making friends, learning social social skills, and being responsible when you're going to leave all those friends in the dust when you're famous? Don't worry about being nice to people you meet; after all, soon they'll be seething with jealousy and licking your boots, DYING to be Just Like You.

"With Internet celebrities and reality TV stars everywhere, the pathway for nearly anyone to become famous, without a connection to hard work and skill, may seem easier than ever,” said Yalda Uhls, a UCLA doctoral student in developmental psychology and lead author of this study. “”When being famous and rich is much more important than being kind to others, what will happen to kids as they form their values and their identities?"

Morality in today's day and age has taken a steep downcurve. It's as easy to see as opening up the local newspaper or watching the evening news. The television-- undoubtedly THE babysitter of the 21st Century-- is certainly not helping the problem. The fact of the matter is that children are impressionable. They tend to believe what they see and take things at face value. And while any tween would balk at being called a child, they are simply that. Their intellect isn't fully developed, nor their standards of morality and other values. 

In this day and age, both parents are often forced to work to make sure that ends meet, leaving tweens and young teenagers to their own devices. When everything on the TV screams at them "Go be famous!" and their parents aren't there to instill proper values in them, what else are they to think?

There's a simple solution to this problem, folks. Get rid of the television. Monitor your child's viewing and the websites they frequent. Start being parents instead of letting social medias raise your kids! 

It isn't enough to just bemoan the glaring attitude problems of today's generation, shaking your head and washing your hands of it. These children are our future doctors, lawyers, and politicians. 

Start DOING something about it!

Article- Study: Tweens aim for fame above all else 
Disney Channel lineup found here.

Waiting For the Coup.

Rather than go on a lengthy diatribe against "Super Congress" or the debt ceiling debate that's been going on these past few weeks, I want to post this video that explains EXACTLY what the debt ceiling is for. Yes, it's from a popular television show, but not only is it true, but it shouldn't be too hard for many Americans to follow, considering they think that "reality tv" is actually reality.

Watch and learn.

If you can't figure it out, folks, we're being held hostage, and the result of the bills being passed through the Senate and Congress right now are nothing more than an attempt to cause terror in the American people.

That's right. Our own government are a bunch of terrorists, something we SWORE to stand against after 9/11. Not only that, but they're also committing an act of treason against the entire US government, because their Super Congress bipartisan committee will undermine all the checks and balances held in place by the current system.

It's time for Americans to wake up and start to pay attention to this stuff. Unfortunately, by the time they do, it'll almost undoubtedly be far too late. The bill to make defunct all the powers of Congress is set to pass today.

Video found through MoveOn.org