Letters to the Editor
melthough
Published Letters: 1264 Editor's Choice: 102
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Why not?
[Read the article: Mama made me racist!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As the only parent who directly taught me any values at all, my mother taught me sexism. Why not racism too?
I was unable to link to the original paper for some reason, but I agree that 4- and 5-year-olds don't necessarily consider where their beliefs come from. I also believe that finding differences and ostracizing the different ones is a basic primate trait. Read about baboon behavior for a few minutes and you won't need to go looking for which forces are "teaching" tribalism. Also, the age of 4 or 5 is a particularly dramatic time to be looking at. They don't choose 5 randomly as the age when children are ready for schooling; kids are making huge social and conceptual leaps at that time, and, in particular, learning that they can apply rules to people besides themselves. That makes for a kindergarten atmosphere that rivals junior high for ruthless enforcement of social norms. People who think children are born as innocent, peace-loving cherubs who have to learn how to hurt other people have never had children.
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There could be a lot of things going on
[Read the article: Teen pregnancy: It's baaaack]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I doubt that not knowing how to use a condom is one of them. I think PP is pushing the abstinence-only "education" button because it makes an easier subject line and they know they will get more donors that way. But the issue is more complicated. Diversion of funds into religiously motivated propaganda (I refuse to dignify it by calling it "education") has occurred in concert with several other factors that add up to a systematic push by the Bush administration to reduce access to birth control and abortion.
I suspect there are some ancillary factors as well: economic prosperity results in fewer "social ills" of all sorts, and a larger and larger group of Americans do not enjoy economic prosperity. Also, my generation of teens saw the discovery of AIDS unfold for several months on the TV news. We got the message that unprotected sex can KILL YOU. For many different reasons, kids do not seem to be hearing this message anymore. It's time they started again.
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@Ray Sharp
[Read the article: Teen pregnancy: It's baaaack]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A ray of sunshine! Thanks for the professional insight.
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@snarlingcoyote
[Read the article: Is a need for skinny jeans in the genes?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Doesn't the fact that you can induce anorexia in mice suggest merely that it is a basic survival response that can go terribly awry in both mice and humans - either by being too extreme or by not being tempered by an essential counter-response that is dysfunctional for some reason? Knowing that you can get this response to occur tells us nothing about what stressors might cause it to manifest. But I think the idea that skinny fashion models "cause" anorexia has always been too simplistic (it's also mostly a straw man, as there can't possibly be a one-to-one correlation or all girls would be anorexic). When you're depressive, you find all sorts of things about your daily life that are "causing" the depression. But, like anorexia, depression is more complicated than that. Everybody has depressing things happen to them; depression is the inability to process them. Perhaps anorexia is similar. I think it is telling, thought, that MOST women see the skinny fashion model as the ideal and any ripple or jiggle as an absolute horror. The fact that we don't all react by starving ourselves does not mean it's not a genuine problem in our culture.
BTW, just tangentially, have you seen the mouse article in this month's Harper's? I thought it was very interesting.
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I have my own radar, thanks.
[Read the article: Sex offender alert!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]There are a few people around town who have set off my don't-let-the-children-talk-to-that-stranger alarm. When a friend showed me pix of local convicted sex offenders, two of them were there! I was impressed with my skill. It even works on people who haven't made the list yet.
But please. Get into the car and lock your door just because a pervert walks by? That is freakin pathetic. What's the person going to do - start fondling your child right there on the street in front of you? Let's say it's an exhibitionist. Seeing him or her doing something private in public will not kill anyone. Sheesh.
Also, I know we've gone over this before, but there are lots of "sex offenders" out there who have committed minor crimes (or have been accused without committing one) that have nothing to do with children. And lots of parents, stepparents, grandparents, babysitters, uncle, aunts, brothers, sisters, friends, boyfriends, girlfriends, teachers, preachers, troop leaders, priests, nuns, and next-door neighbors who have not been and will never be convicted.
Just trust your instincts and teach your children to trust theirs. It preserves civil liberties and is also more effective.
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Thanks for the laugh, Tyler_Mason
[Read the article: Sex offender alert!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's been a long Friday!