I have ALL kinds of thoughts about the march in DC and the Covington Catholic kids.
1. Teens are dumb
The pre-frontal cortex doesn't fully form until a person is 24 years old or so, which means teenagers are primed to make stupid decisions. That is just what they do.
2. Students who do not attend school with a diverse population often have "ideas" about their superiority.
I say this as a person who attended private school my entire life. I was under the assumption that public school was "bad." I thought private Catholic school was "the best." It wasn't until I was getting my master's degree in education that I got to see that public schools often offer more opportunities for students. Private schools might be good for some children and families, but they aren't necessarily "the best."
3. If you're wearing a MAGA hat, chances are you subscribe to some of the beliefs about how things used to be (read as "When white people had all the power, all the time").
I do not own a MAGA hat because I will not financially support Donald Trump in any way. I personally think he's a charlatan. If you think he's wonderful, you are entitled to your opinion. I am entitled to my opinion that you are easily duped.
America has, historically, been great for one group of people: white men. Not women, not blacks, not Asians, not gays or lesbians, not indigenous populations. To make America great again means to make it suck again for all those other people who are not white men.
If you leave the confines of your little bubble and go to DC for a march, you should probably be aware that your hat will provoke sentiments in others, and many of those will not be positive. You may be yelled at or ridiculed. That comes with attending public marches (which is why I never attend such marches).
Knowing that these sentiments will not be positive, you should be aware that if you do things like tomahawk chops (and you're not at a Braves game) while a Native American man is near you, it will probably be considered insulting.
If you yell things like "Build a Wall" in the midst of a government shutdown that is contentious at best (look, it's understatement), that might be ridiculed, too.
4. If you're an adult who is taking teens with unformed pre-frontal cortexes to a march in DC, you may want to discuss these things IN ADVANCE and urge them not to wear such accessories that will make them targets in a politically-charged atmosphere.
5. If you're an adult taking teens with unformed pre-frontal cortexes to a march in DC that is supposed to be about respecting LIFE, you may want to consider all forms of life in the respect equation. Not just white, fetal life.
All life is all life.
Indigenous lives.
Black lives.
Gay lives.
Latino lives.
Addicted lives.
6. If you're an adult taking teens with unformed pre-frontal cortexes to a march in DC, you may want to think about and discuss how much recording of events happens at these events and that there is this the possibility that acting foolish will get you a lifetime of notoriety on social media.
7. . If you're an adult taking teens with unformed pre-frontal cortexes to a march in DC and you see something going down, you may want to intervene and GET THE KIDS OUT OF THAT SITUATION so that they don't have notoriety on social media and get crucified by people who think they are smug little shitheads (which they may very well be, but they are teenagers and don't understand the fallout from their actions).
So while I think the kids were idiotic, I am left wondering why the heck the adults who were there didn't put their allegedly fully formed pre-frontal cortexes to better use.
1. Teens are dumb
The pre-frontal cortex doesn't fully form until a person is 24 years old or so, which means teenagers are primed to make stupid decisions. That is just what they do.
2. Students who do not attend school with a diverse population often have "ideas" about their superiority.
I say this as a person who attended private school my entire life. I was under the assumption that public school was "bad." I thought private Catholic school was "the best." It wasn't until I was getting my master's degree in education that I got to see that public schools often offer more opportunities for students. Private schools might be good for some children and families, but they aren't necessarily "the best."
3. If you're wearing a MAGA hat, chances are you subscribe to some of the beliefs about how things used to be (read as "When white people had all the power, all the time").
I do not own a MAGA hat because I will not financially support Donald Trump in any way. I personally think he's a charlatan. If you think he's wonderful, you are entitled to your opinion. I am entitled to my opinion that you are easily duped.
America has, historically, been great for one group of people: white men. Not women, not blacks, not Asians, not gays or lesbians, not indigenous populations. To make America great again means to make it suck again for all those other people who are not white men.
If you leave the confines of your little bubble and go to DC for a march, you should probably be aware that your hat will provoke sentiments in others, and many of those will not be positive. You may be yelled at or ridiculed. That comes with attending public marches (which is why I never attend such marches).
Knowing that these sentiments will not be positive, you should be aware that if you do things like tomahawk chops (and you're not at a Braves game) while a Native American man is near you, it will probably be considered insulting.
If you yell things like "Build a Wall" in the midst of a government shutdown that is contentious at best (look, it's understatement), that might be ridiculed, too.
4. If you're an adult who is taking teens with unformed pre-frontal cortexes to a march in DC, you may want to discuss these things IN ADVANCE and urge them not to wear such accessories that will make them targets in a politically-charged atmosphere.
5. If you're an adult taking teens with unformed pre-frontal cortexes to a march in DC that is supposed to be about respecting LIFE, you may want to consider all forms of life in the respect equation. Not just white, fetal life.
All life is all life.
Indigenous lives.
Black lives.
Gay lives.
Latino lives.
Addicted lives.
6. If you're an adult taking teens with unformed pre-frontal cortexes to a march in DC, you may want to think about and discuss how much recording of events happens at these events and that there is this the possibility that acting foolish will get you a lifetime of notoriety on social media.
7. . If you're an adult taking teens with unformed pre-frontal cortexes to a march in DC and you see something going down, you may want to intervene and GET THE KIDS OUT OF THAT SITUATION so that they don't have notoriety on social media and get crucified by people who think they are smug little shitheads (which they may very well be, but they are teenagers and don't understand the fallout from their actions).
So while I think the kids were idiotic, I am left wondering why the heck the adults who were there didn't put their allegedly fully formed pre-frontal cortexes to better use.
No comments:
Post a Comment