I’ve been staying away from political posts – heck, I’ve been staying away from politics altogether – but I had to get this off my chest. Besides, it came to me by way of the Carnival of Homeschooling.
Man, I can’t get away from those guys over at Green Mountain Daily. Even when I am not reading it, they find me.
Imagine my surprise when I went over to read the CoH and found that Ed Garcia (aka kestrel9000) was being taken to task by Alasandra for his anti-homeschooling post on Daily Kos.
I just wonder how these civil libertarians find a way to justify their view that the state has the right to force parents to raise their children a certain way (their way, of course).
One of these days I am going to take the time to do a montage of their deep-rooted hypocrisy and blatant double-standards.
Just not today.
well, I look forward to it…
Charity, you, like Alasandra, appear to have either missed, or are ignoring, the update I posted to the diary:
In retrospect, I think my brush is a bit broad here, and I should take into account that many secular progressives homeschool their children and are not part of the Christian revisionist movement. However, I’m still not a huge fan of the concept of homeschooling. Perhaps an emergency moratorium on religious exemptions to standards such as exists in VA is a better solution than the blanket ban suggested in the Floro piece.
I only know that I’m not an educator, and neither am I a dentist, and therefore would not drill holes in my kids’ teeth.)
Furthermore, I did not post the piece to GMD, but to Daily Kos and 2 other blogs, and for you to drag John into it is inappropriate.
Furthermore, you assert that I said that children “belong” not to the parents, but to society. I never said that, and do not feel that human beings are anyone’s property, adult or child.
Suppose children in a homeschool situation were taught that the Holocaust was a myth, and that the white race was superior? Would you be cool with that?
That aside, let me explain to you why that piece was researched and written in the first place.
On a Virginia politics blog that I started with another guy, I posted a picture of a local conservative blogger along with a Libertarian political candidate with a humorous caption.
This blogger responded by accusing me of disrespecting five people killed in a farm tragedy that I was at the time unaware of, attacking us as parasites because in the past we have received public health care assistance due to my wife’s extensive disabilities, accused her of drug abuse, and other vicious personal attacks grossly out of proportion to the ribbing I gave him. These people homeschool their children under Virginia’s religious exemption to the homeschooling requirements which people who homeschool their children for other than religious reasons are held to, a set of exemptions which I still feel should not exist. (I feel that churches should be taxed, for example, and am a militant proponent of the separation of church and state.)
That said, I wish you had left GMD out of it. I conceded in my diary that I used an overly broad brush, and had elected to leave GMD out of that mix as it was not a Virginia or national site. By your posting here, you have nullified that decision for me, and I don’t particularly appreciate it.
I just wonder how these civil libertarians find a way to justify their view that the state has the right to force parents to raise their children a certain way (their way, of course).
I’m sure you were aware just how disingenuous this statement was when you wrote it. I continue to assert that neither parents nor the state have any right to instill children with a falsified and fabricated view of history such as that propagated by David Barton. This is typical of the conservative viewpoint that only they themselves matter, and the rest of the world be damned.
Montage away.
No, I read that part. You kind of miss the fact that I am a conservative, Bible-believing Christian, and though I use materials with a mixture of worldviews to prepare my children for what they will encounter in the “real” world, I strongly feel that parents have a right to teach their kids whatever they want to – even if I disagree with it.
I honestly did not realize that you would be upset when I made that local connection to GMD. It is quite possible that I would not have, if I had known it was such a big deal, but the fact remains, you are a front pager there – on a political blog – so it is fair to bring up other political views that you hold, whether or not you posted them there, IMO.
It’s not like I brought your job into it.
Part of the reason that I was so steamed over this was that you are not the first GMD frontpager to suggest that when a parent has views that he doesn’t agree with, the state should forcibly take that right away.
And, yes, I would support the right to homeschool for a family of white-supremacist, Holocaust deniers. A right is a right is a right. I do not say that certain rights only apply to people who agree with me, thus the whole hypocrisy and double-standards thing.
I would love to do a full post about this right now, including a response to some of the comments on your Kos post, but I have a son who really wants to play chess right now and his brother is not here. A gal’s got to have priorities.
No.
You do not have the right to instill children – yours or anyone else’s – with factually-incorrect historical revisionism – also known as LIES.
As Moynihan said, “You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts.”
I said it, I meant it, i stand by it, and if I was a CPS worker, I would support such parents’ right to homeschool their children being taken from them.
And, failing their compliance with the rule of law, the children being removed from the home.
Religious beliefs do not give you the right to fill the minds of children with falsehoods.
Period.
Man, I can’t get away from those guys over at Green Mountain Daily. Even when I am not reading it, they find me.
Boogaboogabooga!
teehee…
It is ever so fascinating that secular progressives feel that their worldview is so correct and as a consequence entitle them to tell parents what they should and should not be allowed to teach them. If only they allowed such strict orthodoxy when it came to upholding traditional moral standards!
It is ever so fascinating that secular progressives feel that their worldview is so correct
I like the term “secular progressives” because its ancillary would be “sacred regressives.” heh.
You’re so clever, John.
Personally, I can’t stand the term “progressive.” For one thing, they are always holding up progress.
“Sacred regressive”…love it! I would have to agree with Charity…progress and innovation are ever so disruptive.
You’re so clever, John
I aim ta please.
We’ll be seeing you at the BBQ Sunday, yes? No better way to spend your theologically appointed day of rest than resting at the beach with a burger!
Last time I checked this was the United States of America, and I have the right to practice my religion of choice, or not practice any religion at all.
I also have the right to teach my children at home, and to teach them in the way that I see fit.
It blows my mind when I read statements from folks who support the state taking away children from their parents based on whether or not those folks agree with the parents political, religious or education beliefs.
How Taliban of you.
–NH Homeschooling Mama of 7