Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Which Candidate Scares YOU the Most?
Now that we’re 80% of the way through the holiday season, it’s getting easier to breathe. It’s been strange since it was my first birthday without my dad..and even stranger that it was over 70 degrees on my birthday.
On my birthday I went to see a movie, Charlie Wilson’s War starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Aaron Sorkin (he of West Wing fame) wrote the script. And it was so good….very honest look at how the US viewed the Afghan conflict with the Soviets and how our support of the Afghan rebels has impacted the War on Terror today. It was interesting to me to see how career diplomats and CIA officers had a different view of the possible implications of supporting the rebels..and well-meaning individuals upset that apple cart. Left unspoken, however, was the damage caused by the end of the Soviet Union. Perhaps another day?
To round out my left-wing Christmas holiday season, I’ve been reading American Fascists by Chris Hedges. Have you heard of dominionists? Did you know Huckabee is one? As a secular American it *horrifies* me that the Republican front-runner got into politics because there wasn’t enough Jebus in the political arena
“I didn’t get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn’t have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives.”(source)
I’d call him a “soft dominionist” and many of the people that I’ve met like that aren’t mean (they don’t hate people different than themselves) but tend to be *very* ignorant of other worldviews. Yeah…I want a person like that as my president…NOT.
Other than that….we enjoy the warm weather here. Homeschooling is going great. We’re settling into our community ...things are going great.
On my birthday I went to see a movie, Charlie Wilson’s War starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. Aaron Sorkin (he of West Wing fame) wrote the script. And it was so good….very honest look at how the US viewed the Afghan conflict with the Soviets and how our support of the Afghan rebels has impacted the War on Terror today. It was interesting to me to see how career diplomats and CIA officers had a different view of the possible implications of supporting the rebels..and well-meaning individuals upset that apple cart. Left unspoken, however, was the damage caused by the end of the Soviet Union. Perhaps another day?
To round out my left-wing Christmas holiday season, I’ve been reading American Fascists by Chris Hedges. Have you heard of dominionists? Did you know Huckabee is one? As a secular American it *horrifies* me that the Republican front-runner got into politics because there wasn’t enough Jebus in the political arena
“I didn’t get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn’t have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives.”(source)
I’d call him a “soft dominionist” and many of the people that I’ve met like that aren’t mean (they don’t hate people different than themselves) but tend to be *very* ignorant of other worldviews. Yeah…I want a person like that as my president…NOT.
Other than that….we enjoy the warm weather here. Homeschooling is going great. We’re settling into our community ...things are going great.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Why don't secular homeschoolers have more of a voice?
Very interesting post here about inclusive groups being shut out by fundie groups like HSLDA. And to a certain extent that's true....Michael Ferris and his flying monkeys really try to make homeschooling a RWFNJ (Right-wing, fundie, nut-job) territory...but that's just about 10% of the problem, IMHO.
3 years ago, when I started homeschooling, I started an inclusive homeschool group with a friend. And things imploded multiple times due to 3 main reasons reasons:
1) Inclusive means Christians are going to join. When things came up, like do we call it a Christmas party or a holiday party, one of the RWFNJ blew a gasket over calling it a Holiday party. A whole bunch of ugliness happened...because RWFNJ really had her own agenda and didn't get that not everyone in the group celebrated Christmas. Then a few other of the RWFNJs started spouting "War on Christmas" rhetoric from FOX (or their church). No one wants that kind of conflict at a personal level...especially in groups involving their children. Many of the secular homeschoolers began to feel uncomfortable (unsafe) due to the high level of childish emotions from adults. If anyone is interested, I've kept most of the emails from that debacle...email me if you'd like to see them. I'd give this about 10%.
2) This is the biggie...I'd give it 50% of the problem...secular homeschoolers don't make good soldiers/followers. It's like herding cats! Everyone has their own individual agenda and isn't interested in something bigger. Christians have two things going for them: a belief that sacrifing for today can result in a better tomorrow and a belief that submission is a good thing. Secular homeschoolers tend to want it NOW and exactly their way....and if you have 30 people in a group, not everyone can have their way about every issue.
3) Inclusive groups tend to avoid organization and rules to prevent some of the conflict due to problem 2...and then when things start to escalate, there isn't a procedure in hand to deal with it. Some of the people in the group I helped start needed two things; to be kicked out and on meds. But, the leadership of the group, (and I include myself in this) spent endless hours agonizing about how fair would it be to limit the troublemakers' speech on the list or if they should be removed from the group. A Christian group would have prayed on it and booted out the insubordinate loon...staying on message. Their is something to be said for that kind of control within a group. I'd say this is 30% of the problem.
So, in closing, I'd like to restate my position: The biggest obstacle to inclusive/secular homeschoolers are ourselves. If we want what HSLDA has in terms of recognition then we have to adopt certain of their behaviors (organization, leadership, dedicated followers)
3 years ago, when I started homeschooling, I started an inclusive homeschool group with a friend. And things imploded multiple times due to 3 main reasons reasons:
1) Inclusive means Christians are going to join. When things came up, like do we call it a Christmas party or a holiday party, one of the RWFNJ blew a gasket over calling it a Holiday party. A whole bunch of ugliness happened...because RWFNJ really had her own agenda and didn't get that not everyone in the group celebrated Christmas. Then a few other of the RWFNJs started spouting "War on Christmas" rhetoric from FOX (or their church). No one wants that kind of conflict at a personal level...especially in groups involving their children. Many of the secular homeschoolers began to feel uncomfortable (unsafe) due to the high level of childish emotions from adults. If anyone is interested, I've kept most of the emails from that debacle...email me if you'd like to see them. I'd give this about 10%.
2) This is the biggie...I'd give it 50% of the problem...secular homeschoolers don't make good soldiers/followers. It's like herding cats! Everyone has their own individual agenda and isn't interested in something bigger. Christians have two things going for them: a belief that sacrifing for today can result in a better tomorrow and a belief that submission is a good thing. Secular homeschoolers tend to want it NOW and exactly their way....and if you have 30 people in a group, not everyone can have their way about every issue.
3) Inclusive groups tend to avoid organization and rules to prevent some of the conflict due to problem 2...and then when things start to escalate, there isn't a procedure in hand to deal with it. Some of the people in the group I helped start needed two things; to be kicked out and on meds. But, the leadership of the group, (and I include myself in this) spent endless hours agonizing about how fair would it be to limit the troublemakers' speech on the list or if they should be removed from the group. A Christian group would have prayed on it and booted out the insubordinate loon...staying on message. Their is something to be said for that kind of control within a group. I'd say this is 30% of the problem.
So, in closing, I'd like to restate my position: The biggest obstacle to inclusive/secular homeschoolers are ourselves. If we want what HSLDA has in terms of recognition then we have to adopt certain of their behaviors (organization, leadership, dedicated followers)
