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Genuinely Furious...

Friday

Friday

Bazinga!
It's all ruined for me. All of it.

Our school is having a Multicultural Holiday Feast, and I find myself questioning the wisdom and motivation behind this event. Why not dip into our own culture to teach the meaning of the holiday?

More and more, when I see that word, I question. I no longer have an automatic positive response when confronted with this curriculum.

I feel like I've lost a fundamental aspect of my educational philosophy, and I'm pissed off. I'm being forced to step out of my comfort zone.

Dammit to hell... :rwmad:
 
What I mean to say is why do we automatically include all cultures in every aspect of American life? We teach how different societies celebrate holidays, we interweave other cultures in the core subjects, we define American history by the history of other countries.

I'm not saying the U.S. needs an ethnic cleansing, but when do we get to celebrate and praise the American way of life for what it is?

Holy shit...I've gone off the deep end. I really have....
 
You mean your "American way of life", right?

The "American way of life" is why people from various religions and cultures come here, so that they can be free to express/practice it without whatever restrictions were being placed upon them in their native countries. Multiculuturalism itself isn't bad, but perhaps the wild extent to which "political correctness" has overtaken people's sensitive natures has gotten out of hand.

You probably just want a simple nativity play in a public school without all the other stuff and having it deconstructed by committee, which I have no problem with. But cultural problems rarely have systemic or institutional solutions that work for everyone, so maybe we as Americans just have to evolve to a 'next phase' that's no longer a messy PC cultural salad without reverting to ghettoization.

Or something. WTF do I know, I'm a poo-flinging Mine Fielder...
 
Morrhigan said:
"Our own culture"? What culture would that be?
Click to expand...

^^And that, right there, is the absolute, bottom-of-the-barrel worst effect of multiculturalism -- the idea that America does not have a culture of its own. Now that doesn't mean that it should be exclusive -- just the opposite. It should not exclude American traditions in favor of every other culture's traditions.
 
America does indeed have a culture all its own, gawd we import it enough to every nation in the world that will allow it.

The trouble is that we've been in a cultural tug-of-war with each other since, well, going back to Reagan may not be far enough to truly encompass it, but it's as good a milepost as any. But Pat Buchanan was right at the RNC in '92 when he said that we are in a "cultural war"...and we don't need to be. We can still be a melting pot and feel truly American if we would all just stop being so rigid and territorial about our particular corners of the culture.
Or something. WTF do I know, I'm a poo-flinging Mine Fielder...
Click to expand...
Same applies here.
 
American culture is based on a conglomerate of several cultures. I'm asking seriously... how would you define "our culture"?
 
Eggs...you are welcome in the "above the line" forums anytime... ;) :D

Wordin...and I was there, pushin' with the best of 'em. That reminds me...I need to spend those Macy's Dollars before they expire.

Morrighan...I'm struggling with this myself, right now. I don't know. Maybe not feeling obligated to include how Indians, French, Chinese, and Japanese celebrate Christmas is what I'm getting at. Maybe concentrating on the core subjects without having to embellish them with cultural references is what I'm getting at.

However, I have no idea if that is even possible anymore.
 
Morrhigan said:
American culture is based on a conglomerate of several cultures. I'm asking seriously... how would you define "our culture"?
Click to expand...

"our culture" is American culture. That means including everyone's "corner" of it. That means not excluding traditionally mainstream holidays like Christmas (without the fucking "X". It may have started out as a pagan holiday, but traditionally in this country, it's the celebration of the birth of Jesus, and he was fucking not Jesus X.)

I think the point is that it isn't right to exclude European-based traditions in favor of everyone else's, any more than it's right to exclude everyone else's traditions in favor of white ones.
 
Nothing more or less than what I said. Separation of church and state, if it is to be enforced by law (and it was never intended to be; that being, you know, the whole point -- if church and state are going to be separate, then neither has a damned thing to say about the other) -- should be enforced absolutely, and absolutely equitably. No nativity scenes? Cool -- no prayer calls outside mosques over P.A. systems, either. No official use of the word, "Christmas" (no fucking X) in schools? Fine -- no mention of Chanukkah or Kwanzaa in schools, either, then -- or, at the very least, bastardize the names in kind.

Ideally, though, the Supreme court, and every other court, would just butt the hell out and actually abide by the First Amendment, which reads: (pertinent text emphasized):

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Click to expand...

Now it seems to me that Christianity has gotten pretty sorely prohibited over the last fifty years. There is nothing in the Constitution about a separation of church and state in the context of prohibiting free exercise. That's the whole point of the First Amendment.
 
Well, here's a good example of how "separation of church and state" really only translates to "separation of Christianity and the public":

Menorah and Judaic ceremony in front of the White House.

16114.jpg


Is anyone here under the false impression that a cross and a Christian ceremony would have been permitted to go unhowled at there?
 
My little girl brought home a "holiday" CD made by her teacher.

The songs:

Sov Sov Sov/Dreidel:

S'vivon, sov, sov, sov
Chanukah hu chag tov
Chanukah hu chag tov
S'vivon, sov, sov, sov

Dreidel spin. Spin, spin, spin
Chanukah, Chanukah
Dreidel spin. Spin, spin, spin
Chanukah, Chanukah.

Nes gadol ha ya sham
Chag simcha hu-la-am
Nes gadol ha ya sham
Chag simcha hu-la-am

Nes gadol ha ya sham
A great miracle happened there
Nes gadol ha ya sham
A great miracle happened.
--------------------------------
Happy Happy Kwanzaa:

Chorus:
Happy Happy Kwanzaa
Light The Candles One By One
Happy Happy Kwanzaa
Can be celebrated by everyone

The 1st day of Kwanzaa stands for unity
We are one big family

The 2nd day of Kwanzaa
Self-determination
We make our own way under the sun

Chorus

The 3rd day of Kwanzaa
Responsibility
We can do it together
Joyfully

4th day of Kwanzaa
We buy from each other
Sharing with our neighbors
Is helping one another

Chorus

The 5th day of Kwanzaa
Our purpose is to know
Who’s shoulder’s we stand on
And that is how we grow

The 6th day of Kwanzaa
Beautify your world
‘Cause we’ve got special talents
Each and every boy and girl

Chorus

The 7th day of Kwanzaa
Believe with all your heart
If you believe your dreams come true
Each day’s a brand new start
----------------------------------------
What song was chosen to represent Christmas?

Jingle Bell Rock:

Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock

Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring

Snowing and blowing up bushels of fun

Now the jingle hop has begun


Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock

Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time

Dancing and prancing in Jingle Bell Square

In the frosty air.


What a bright time, it's the right time

To rock the night away

Jingle bell time is a swell time

To go gliding in a one-horse sleigh

Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet

Jingle around the clock

Mix and a-mingle in the jingling feet

That's the jingle bell,

That's the jingle bell,

That's the jingle bell rock
------------------------------------
Huh? WTF was that?! Through these songs, she was introduced to the basics of Hannukah and Kwanzaa, but Christmas is relegated to jingling horses?

Damn, TQ, I'm really beginning to see the disenfranchising of American culture that multiculturalism is producing.
 
Correct. But there is a song explaining the basic tenets of Kwanzaa, and a song, in Jewish, touching upon the miracle of Hanukkah.

This teacher sucks. But I already knew that.
 
Kwanzaa is a bullshit holiday made up by an ex-Black Panther murderer-turned-professor.

Ron Karenga, Department of Black Studies, California State University, Long Beach

It's B-U-L-L-S-H-I-T
 
Though I do disagree with emphasizing Kwanzaa over Christmas in public schools, I don't see how the celebration is bullshit.

Yes, 6, I know this man is a convicted felon. And I know that you will point out his professional shortcomings.

However, I think the seven principles of Kwanzaa are honorable ones, no matter what the motivation behind them might be.
 
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