As curmudgeonly as I am about the whole Day of Silence thing, neither do I think this is a good idea: Parents Urged to Stage 'Day of Silence Walkout'
Personally, the DOS being about "propaganda" has not been my experience. I guess my schools have been relatively good about keeping the focus on anti-harassment. Plus, I get the feeling that a disproportionately large percentage of my students can smell propaganda from a mile away, and are quick to question it.
Anyway, groups like CWA and MassResistance annoy me just as much. I mean, talk about propaganda.
Where are the voices of calm, cool reasoning?
Personally, the DOS being about "propaganda" has not been my experience. I guess my schools have been relatively good about keeping the focus on anti-harassment. Plus, I get the feeling that a disproportionately large percentage of my students can smell propaganda from a mile away, and are quick to question it.
Anyway, groups like CWA and MassResistance annoy me just as much. I mean, talk about propaganda.
Where are the voices of calm, cool reasoning?
posted by Matt | 11:39 AM
2 Comments:
The striking facet to me about this whole thing is how we (as parents) need to raise our children in a counter-culture. Because not only are the mainstream views generally wrong, but the method of their activism is ineffective. (After all, how is being silent going to help gay people? It doesn't. Similarly, buying Prius won't save the earth, and increasing taxes on rich people will not help poor people.)
Maybe I'm off my rocker on this one, but I'm seeing less and less merit in that which is mainstream culture. And I don't know how to let a kid grow up (in a realistic fashion) while combating the tripe that infuses all aspect of youth living.
After all, how is being silent going to help gay people? It doesn't.
I think the idea is (purportedly) to "raise awareness" about the harassment, bullying, etc. that goes on. If I were to break it down even further, it would go something like:
Premise 1: There are people in our community who live in fear of being themselves, lest they get teased, beat up, etc.
Premise 2: No one should have to live in said fear.
Premise 3: If we 'be' those people for a day, and publicize it, then everyone will be made more AWARE of their plight.
Premise 4: The increase in "awareness" will lead to a decreased incidence of bullying.
But as I've said before... what about those others of us who also feel as though we can't speak our mind, because we might disagree with one or more of the points being made?
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