I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

This is progress?

Pertaining to an earlier conversation on the existence of several sets of communities with their own laws (however we classify them as laws or "community standards"), the stay at home daughters movement. In this case, it's Vision Forum's version of "Biblical Law." Also pertains to arguments over how "subjective" and "punitive" Islamic/Sharia law in in regards to women (when actually it's nothing of the sort, and again, goes to community values that are given the imprimatur of Religion because, well, the majority of the community ascribes to a particular religion, even though the religion arrived after the practices were in place). Not as vile as genital mutilation, but still not anywhere near even pre-Enlightment thinking and really a degree of grayness (in this case, IMHO, the sexual slavery is still there, and scaring is mental instead of physical). It's also germane to my arguments on how the Right-To-Life Movement isn't actually about anti-abortion, but about rolling back feminism and the sexual revolution.

While the movement's numbers range into the tens of thousands (not very big), they are, by far, not the only group that espouse this tripe. So, yes, when people point outside and shout, "They're bad people," you now know why I refer to the beam in our own eye.

And, again, it's not religion. It's culture. It's a thousand year battle.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

[headdesk]

I know plenty of these people in the homeschooling movement. Why bother getting an education for a daughter who's never going to work?

Yeah, divorce and death never happen.

This is not to say that all or even most homeschoolers think this way - just a portion.

Anonymous Cassie

Steve Buchheit said...

Cassie, there's a lot of home schoolers that do it for the best reasons. My wife and I have worked with them to help their kids be exposed to good science equipment and tools. However, there is a large percentage that fall into this category as well (including some that I also worked with in a professional capacity). It just boggles my mind that this kind of mentality continues.

Not that being a stay-at-home Mom is bad, or that a wife wanting to please her husband is somehow a regressive. There is a difference, however, in if it's a free choice made by the individual, or one imposed on them either forcefully or by reducing their prospective world to nothing more than that (as it seems to be for the people mentioned in the article).

Anonymous said...

You helped out homeschoolers? I knew there was a reason I liked you.

I wouldn't even say it's a large percentage with this mindset; My guess it's statistically significant but not large - say, 10%. I think that they are the stereotype of homeschoolers that most people accept uncritically because they don't know any homeschoolers. All homeschoolers are crazy abusers that keep their children under lock and key lest they fall into sin, dontcha know?

Both that stereotype and the mindset you originally posted annoy me. I don't assume all atheist homeschoolers that I know (and I know plenty) are soulless, empty beings with no concern for the spirit of their children.

AC

You're not going anywhere tonight, are you? Our roads are incredibly dangerous down here - water turned to ice with snow on top. slick

Steve Buchheit said...

Hey Cassie, well, we had classes tonight. So, yeah, I was out there.