Middle of the Week Angst

Work

Five and a half weeks left in the school year and everyone is going nuts. The change in the weather makes all of us crazy, especially the kids. I peer out the window fantasizing about summer, fishing, and sitting contently reading a good book and puffing on a big maduro. I know what so many non-educators will say, "You're so lucky to have summers off." Yeah well, teach six classes of 35 students five days a week and within the week you will know what I feel like. There's lots of thankless jobs, but many get respect--police officer, fire fighter, etc. Teachers don't get it much; not that I need it, because I don't. But please shut the fuc__ up and don't bitch about education. What most critics don't realize is that many teachers spend their so called vacation time preparing for the next year, attending professional development workshops (we are required to show a couple hundred hours of it to renew credentials every five years), traveling to places and doing things that make them better teachers.

When is a chicken not a chicken?

A chicken is always a chicken, so let's call it for what it is. Granted some may be Rhode Island Reds and some Cornish, and some just cartoon characters but they are all chickens. The point being that words have meaning and we shouldn't be afraid to call it for what it is. The same holds true for terrorists. A number of news pundits, so called experts, politically correct intellectuals, and ill informed politicians want to avoid offending anyone's sensitivities by using different labels for the Boston Bombers. Why?

It is clear now that while the Tsarnaev brothers were influenced by radical Islam. By radical I am talking about the variety that sees the West as a cultural and political enemy, almost the antithesis of Islamic theocracy. They may not have been the al-Qaeda/Wahhabi driven variety but the most definitely were Islamist terrorists, so let's call them that. Hell, two accomplices that helped them drove a Mercedes with the license plate "Terrorista #1". I have been in a prolonged debate on Facebook with two gentlemen who have different opinions. One sees radical Islam as no different than any other religion and professes the superiority of atheism. The other buys into the blame America first view and points to our activities in the Arab world as the cause of terror today along with our two-faced support for it through oil purchases from the Persian Gulf.

My counter to gentleman #1 is that while atrocities have been perpetuated by pretty much all religions in the past, Christianity in particular has recognized such transgressions. While appropriate amends may not be realistic the mere recognition of un-Christian acts is both recognized and taught in schools. While emphasis is placed on the brutality of the Crusades, little is mentioned of the Muslim barbarism to convert "by the sword" as Islam marched through North Africa and into Europe. I emphasize that Christianity has evolved in a framework influenced by Greco-Roman thought which values the questioning of actions and religion. "Is this the moral thing to do?" Not that the church always follows the answers to that question but there is internal self examination and criticism. None of that occurs in Islam which grew within a non-western philosophical framework. As for atheism, many mass murdering modern governments (Pol Pot, Stalin, Mao) butchered tens of millions in the name of atheism. Solzhenitsyn emphasized that one reason for theatrocities in Russia was in fact the absence of religion as a moral guide. Evil is evil and it is found in all religions, creeds, and ideologies.

My counter argument to gentleman #2 is that he takes a relativist, politically correct, "thats how it is taught in school" view of Islam. I will be the first to stand up and say 99% of Muslims are good people, I have had them as students, neighbors, etc. However #2 does not recognize the influence extremist views of Islam, particularly Wahhabism, has on the religion as a whole. Dissent in a Muslim controlled country is not allowed. Freedoms are not protected. Women must cover up, be silent, and not attend school. While the Christian faith stands up as one to denounce someone like David Koresh or those that bomb abortion clinics, you do not see that same mass movement in the Islamic world. As individuals in America, sure, Muslims privately denounce the actions of the Tsarnaev brothers, but as a religion united, no they don't. To blame America is a fallacy in logic. While I am now not a supporter of nation-building, to lay blame on a third party like the US (ie. We buy oil from Saudi Arabia. The Saudis support terror. Thus we support terror against ourselves.) gives those that should be held accountable a pass, a get out of jail free card. Should Eli Whitney be held accountable for the extension of slavery because he invented the cotton gin? Many believed slavery was ready to die in 1800 because it was not economically sound, but the cotton gin and subsequent rise in demand for cotton was a shot of adrenaline into the institution of servitude.

Don't get me wrong, I am all for ending oil imports from the arab region but that means developing our oil resources, pipeline, shale, fracking, etc. I don't see our environmentally obsessed, politically correct President or Congress doing that. So not buying from arab countries means a drop in supply which means an increase in price. Screw middle American again!

So let's just call a chicken for what it is. Let's call a terrorist for what they are. Let's teach our kids that words have meaning and ideas are important before it's too late.

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