Seriously, though, to paraphrase Voltaire: I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!
Or as I have seen on one rather argumentative person's .sig line: I'm just showing you my opinions. This ain't a gift.
Personally, I don't find the speech nearly as offensive as the actions people take based on that speech.
The teacher isn't going to make someone say they are sorry and stand in the corner because they hurt your feelings. Right. They don't let the teachers have that much disciplinary power these days because they might hurt the feelings of the perpetrator....
Yeah, I know; I like the Aaron Sorkin version from "The American President".
Everybody knows American isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating, at the top of his lungs, that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free, then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest." Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.
I agree with you. I think it's sad that instead of getting excited about an election year, I start dreading the rhetoric, and the bile, and the anger, because it's like being the kid in the room of bitterly divorcing parents.
I think it's the anger that upsets me most.
On one hand, I'm glad when people post links to things and articles. It's ok to educate. For example, the chik-fil-a thing, I was unaware of until it started the great Facebook Wars of '12. I'm glad to know about it so I can make my own opinions, but reading the comments that are posted in RESPONSE to the links ... the anger and the rage makes me sick.
Bleh. Living in the time of political rebirth always sucks.
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Seriously, though, to paraphrase Voltaire: I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it!
Or as I have seen on one rather argumentative person's .sig line: I'm just showing you my opinions. This ain't a gift.
Personally, I don't find the speech nearly as offensive as the actions people take based on that speech.
The teacher isn't going to make someone say they are sorry and stand in the corner because they hurt your feelings. Right. They don't let the teachers have that much disciplinary power these days because they might hurt the feelings of the perpetrator....
BTW, glad to see you posting again!
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Everybody knows American isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, 'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say, "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating, at the top of his lungs, that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free, then the symbol of your country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest." Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.
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I think it's the anger that upsets me most.
On one hand, I'm glad when people post links to things and articles. It's ok to educate. For example, the chik-fil-a thing, I was unaware of until it started the great Facebook Wars of '12. I'm glad to know about it so I can make my own opinions, but reading the comments that are posted in RESPONSE to the links ... the anger and the rage makes me sick.
Bleh. Living in the time of political rebirth always sucks.
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