Was listening to Fox News and they were doing a story about a place where almost everyone there was being intolerant and divisive. They called this other group "those people" and basically ran them down and slandered them.
Where? Seattle. Who was the people with their noses stuck in the air? The liberal elite of Washington State. Who was getting slimed? NASCAR fans.
I just sat in my chair thinking – if this was another group, like blacks, that were getting singled out for this kind of prejudice, it would be ALL over the press, wouldn’t it.
The back story is that NASCAR is looking for a subsidy for a new race track. Fair enough – they don’t have to cough it up. What just seems to be so typical is that while the Libs say that we all have to be tolerant and inclusive, it just seems that this applies only if you think like the Libs. Their groupthink seems to demand an orthodoxy that all but says "Think, act, and be like us? You’re fine. Don’t – get away from me". And by the way, they were calling all NASCAR fans nothing but poor, white trash who have beer bellies with no sense of style. Or at least style like us.
Figures, right? Well, while the talk is all about San Fran values, or California values, it seems like Washington state really wants to give the former a real run for their money with this story (H/T: TCS Daily):
Some Seattle school children are being told to be skeptical of private property rights. This lesson is being taught by banning Legos.
A ban was initiated at the Hilltop Children’s Center in Seattle. According to an article in the winter 2006-07 issue of "Rethinking Schools" magazine, the teachers at the private school wanted their students to learn that private property ownership is evil.
And then teachers wonder why they are coming under more and more attacks…and this one is justified. The right to control, to own, "stuff" goes to the heart of the capitalistic society. I keep seeing this more and more as I see teachers not teaching the fundamentals but going after subjects like "social justice", eliminating competition, and the like.
You know, things that make the real world work? I do have do wonder if these teachers can play chess, for they certainly are not thinking several moves ahead. Without ownership, without the incentive to do better, earn more, the taxes that pay these teachers would evaporate.
Even more so at a private school – private tuition payments come from those that can afford it – where do these teachers think it comes from? Without the private sector operations, the parents could not keep that school going.
According to the article, the students had been building an elaborate "Legotown," but it was accidentally demolished. The teachers decided its destruction was an opportunity to explore "the inequities of private ownership."
What, that people who show up for work, have a good idea, schooling, a little luck and work their tails off do not deserve more than those that do not? Once again, the mind set of "zero sum game" shows it horrible face.
A lack of context and history really shows up here. Look back in history – capitalism has been the only form of economics that has truly raised the standard of living, not just at the top, but at the bottom too.
Want evidence? We are the most powerful and richest nation the world has ever seen. Rugged individual willing to take the economic risks to better themselves and their family have created staggering amounts of wealth. However, at the same time, it has raised the standard of living for everyone! Don’t think so?
Yes, there are those that we consider homeless and destitute. There are pockets of poverty. But consider this – the poor in the US, on a per capita basis, would be classified as middle class in most European nations. Contrast our poor against those in the Bangledesh, in North Korea. Tell me that the median ‘poor" here are worse off then in other countries.
According to the teachers, "Our intention was to promote a contrasting set of values: collectivity, collaboration, resource-sharing, and full democratic participation."
Once again, the socialist groupthink mantra – we are all in this together, we all have to help each other, and no one should have more than anyone else". Let me add that I have absolutely no idea why only socialism can posses "full democratic participation"?
The children were allegedly incorporating into Legotown "their assumptions about ownership and the social power it conveys." These assumptions "mirrored those of a class-based, capitalist society — a society that we teachers believe to be unjust and oppressive."
Sigh….let’s just bite the hand that feeds us while we are at it, right?. Let me ask one simple question – if I go to their house, would I be able to just take anything of theirs that I catches my fancy? I don’t ask this to be trite, but I do have the feeling that the answer to my question would be an immediate call to the police. Extending this reasoning – would they have the conviction of their ideas by working for free? Naw, didn’t think so.
Does it not occur to these misguided people that all other economic / political system are shown themselves to be failures? Or are these folks prime examples of those teachers that have lead to the phrase of "dumbing down of America"?
They claimed as their role shaping the children’s "social and political understandings of ownership and economic equity … from a perspective of social justice."
Ah, that liberal phrase that sums it all up….yet so amorphous, what does it really mean? Who gets to decide what is justice and what is not? In this case, the teachers certainly have the power to indoctrinate these little kids as to right and wrong…..yet, isn’t this the domain of the parents? What of their reaction to this teaching of a left-wing political ideology to little kids?
So they first explored with the children the issue of ownership. Not all of the students shared the teachers’ anathema to private property ownership. "If I buy it, I own it," one child is quoted saying.
Seems like the kids are smarter than the adults (as I sit next to TMEW watching the new Fox show "Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader" – wonderful irony – no, in general, the adults are not).
The teachers then explored with the students concepts of fairness, equity, power, and other issues over a period of several months.
At the end of that time, Legos returned to the classroom after the children agreed to several guiding principles framed by the teachers, including that "All structures are public structures" and "All structures will be standard sizes." The teachers quote the children:
"A house is good because it is a community house."
"We should have equal houses. They should be standard sizes." "It’s important to have the same amount of power as other people over your building."
There is so much that can be written about this. What stuns me the most is the lack of "next step" thinking – if kids are taught to think that our social system is rotten to the core, and our society comes under attack, who would want to defend it? Think about it – if your mind has been set such that everything you see around you is unfair, unequal, and you are nothing but a victim, would you be willing to put your life on the line to defend it?
Better not come after my Legos…..
