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| What lessons are republican representatives teaching America’s kids? Here are ten of the worst things the right wing role models for our children. Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune |
By RANDA MORRIS
Republicans
complain about video games and Hollywood,
routinely whining that the influence of the mainstream media on
the next generation is ‘destroying America.’
They claim that the ‘unGodly‘
and the ‘sexually immoral’
are encouraging young people to become degenerate, God hating heathens, bound
for eternal damnation.
The Republican agenda is destroying the fabric of
American society.
Who is
really destroying the fabric of American society? Is it the gays with their ‘homosexual agenda,‘
and Disney with
their top secret plot to corrupt the minds of all children via cartoon feature
films with catchy theme songs? Or is it another segment of society altogether?
A segment of our population that teaches American youth that violence is
the answer to all problems; one that role models disrespect for
everyone, from teachers to
the police,
to the president;
a segment of our population that pretends to be ‘Godly,’
but values wealth more than humanity and role models that truth in everything
they say and do?
Republicans
are horrible role models for America’s young people. Representatives of the GOP
promote an agenda which is racist, classist, sexist, violent and uneducated.
And that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Here are
the top ten reasons that Republicans make horrible role models.
It’s OK to degrade women.
1. Sexism.
Just this week, Senate republicans voted
against the equal pay for equal work
act.
Republicans have repeatedly stood against the
Violence Against Women Act. They consistently pass legislation that
attempts to take away a women’s right to determine what happens to her own
body. They blame single mothers for
the ills of society, almost as often as they blame gays, liberals, atheists and the devil.
What
republicans role model is nothing more than arrogance and egotism. They attempt
to disguise these character flaws behind terms like ‘traditional family
values.’ They teach boys to disrespect their
mothers, sisters and female classmates. They teach girls that it is their duty
to allow others to disrespect them.
They teach young men that they aren’t required to control themselves sexually. They teach young women that if boys look at or touch them
in a way they don’t like, it must be their own fault.
These are
not lessons that most parents hope their children will learn. They are lessons
that lead to girls and women being harmed, and to boys and men doing jail time.
They’re lessons that lead to lawsuits and harassment suits and personal injury
suits and lost wages suits and lots of other things that aren’t good, for
either boys or girls to learn.
Try violence first.
2. Violence:
Whether they are demanding that the United States get involved in another war,
calling for the killing of Muslims in
the streets, marching around like Nazis showing off their guns or threatening to kill the president,
the Republican mentality is one that teaches children that violence is the answer to all problems.
‘Negotiation is weakness.’ ’Diplomacy is
for sissies.’ ’Just shoot and
kill everyone you don’t like.’ This strategy is
to be applied to people who hold different religious views,
different political views,
people who come from other cultures,
those who have different skin colors or
those who are ‘not the same‘
in any other way.
Let’s not
forget that conservatives believe that the only way to deal with criminals is
to kill them.
Also, the only way to deal with someone who makes you uncomfortable is to kill them, under Stand Your Ground laws,
another barbaric product of
the GOP shoot first and shoot last mentality.
Needless
to say these are not lessons most parents would choose to teach their children.
Disrespect for authority is good.
3. Disrespect;
Republicans role model disrespect in
everything they say and do. Disrespect for the President and
members of his cabinet.
They show disrespect for public workers, police officers, fire fighters, teachers,
and just about every other person of authority, namely
those who most Americans try to teach their children to respect.
To
republicans, even our men and women in uniform are
not worthy of respect or compassion.
Instead they’re just props to
be used in the latest production of the never ending GOP political theater.
They are the first to send US troops off to war,
and the last to fulfill their promises to them, once they’ve returned back home.
You don’t have to play well with ‘others’.
4. Racism;
Most parents don’t want their children to grow up full of hate.
They don’t want their kids to judge others based
on the color of their skin or
their country of origin.
But Republicans consistently
resort to using the Southern Strategy,
a strategy originally created by
the GOP to woo racist southern
voters. It’s used to manipulate and divide people,
by turning the races against
one another.
Republican
party leaders cultivate a culture of fear, envy, hate and bigotry.
They sell their base a distorted version of
reality, full of paranoia, mistrust and suspicion. These are not traits most parents want to cultivate in
their children, but the message is always there. “That guy is out to get you.”
“Those people
want to take stuff from you.”
“Someone over there is plotting something that threatens your
entire existence.”
Do not get an education.
5. Education:
Republicans are strongly opposed to learning.
They generally oppose public education, and specifically oppose anyone learning anything that
falls outside of their personal religious beliefs.
Republicans deny science, despise math, reject facts, alter history, condemn
reading and even oppose critical thinking in schools. Let’s not even discuss sex education.
While GOP
leaders pander to religious extremist’s demands for government enforced and
funded religious indoctrination, their reasons for wanting to dumb down the populace are motivated by other factors. Promoting the idea
that being educated is a bad thing, an anti-God thing, a ‘liberal elite’ thing,
makes being uneducated seem appealing, especially to those who are uneducated.
Most
parents hope to see their children do well in school. They want their kid to
get all A’s, and that includes getting good grades in Science and math. They
would like to see their kids to develop analytical and critical thinking
skills. Parents also want their kids to know about STD’s, where babies come
from and how to keep from getting one. Ignorance just breeds more Republicans.
The value of a person is based on the amount of wealth and
possessions they own.
6: Materialism: Stuff matters.
What you need is more stuff.
The more stuff you
have the more important
you are. People who don’t have stuff
are worthless.
The Republican role model for American children is superficial, materialistic and
centers on the accumulation of money and things, at the expense of other people.
Parents
have a hard enough time trying to teach their children that they don’t have to
get stuff all the time. Thankfully, this stuff phase is one kids usually
outgrow with age. Republicans, on the other hand, really believe whoever has
the most toys in the end wins. They never got the message, “you can’t take it with you.”
Most
parents don’t want their child’s identity and sense of self worth tied up in
how much stuff they do or don’t have. They hope for something better, like that
their kids will turn out to be compassionate, generous, honest, kind, well
mannered, that they will do well in school (see number five), become a valuable
member of a community, and they hope that their kids will aspire to make the
world a better place. To put it another way, greed and selfishness are
not character traits that most parents hope to see flourish in their kids.
Don’t give a hoot, go ahead and pollute.
7: Environment:
Just throw your trash wherever you want. (God will clean it up?) While many
parents strive to teach their children to appreciate nature and respect the earth, water and wildlife,
the message Republicans send is quite different.
The GOP philosophy is
that there’s nothing about the earth in and of itself, that is valuable. If you can’t rip
it up, siphon it off, drill it, frack it, mine it or
exploit it in
some other way, it’s worthless. Everything on earth is meant for monetary gain.
If it can’t be bought and sold it has no value.
Name calling is a good substitute for reasonable debate.
8: Less Than Civil Discourse: This is a constant.
While most people would prefer that their children not call names or hurl insults at
other people, Republicans have made this standard procedure for
the adults in government. Debating facts and statistics or
engaging in civil discourse are
things of the past. If you disagree with someone, spew all sorts of verbal insults, scream over them, cut them off when they are speaking or just dismiss what they are saying as ‘lies and propaganda‘.
If that doesn’t work, shout Benghazi and run.
Never listen to the other person. Instead of thoughtfully considering other views,
do whatever it takes to
silence them.
If someone attempts to express a point of view that falls outside the one you espouse, just shout words like traitor, commie, Nazi, feminazi, fascist, un-American, liar, anti-God, Obamabot,
etc… If it’s a woman, call her a whore.
If it’s a man, call him a lazy moocher,
feminine and weak or
just go with whatever else comes to mind. If it’s the president, you can always fall back on the n-word.
GOP role
models include the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, Chris Christie, Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann, Louie Gohmert and
many others, all cut from the same cloth.
The message is you don’t have to respect others who disagree with you.
The loudest, rudest,
most obnoxious person wins,
not on the merits of the argument, but because they successfully shouted over opposing
voices.
Honesty is not the best policy.
9: Lying:
One thing almost every parent wants is for their children to grow up to be
honest. Republicans are notorious for lying.
Whether they’re lying about Obamacare,
fictional death panels and guillotines,
or inventing scary stories about FEMA camps and lizard people,
honesty is not something Republicans have
developed a reputation for.
Republicans lie as
a matter of policy.
From lying to kids about sex to lying to their followers about ‘Benghazi,’ distorting the truth is a way of life for
the right wing.
It’s hard to keep track of
all the things that Republicans lie about, from trickle down economics to President Obama’s record, even the fact checkers can’t keep up.
Here’s a
newsflash, even though republicans claim to be the ‘family values party’ (the
biggest lie of all?)dishonesty is
not a trait that most families value.
Say one thing, do another.
10: Lack of Integrity.
The level of hypocrisy in
the Republican party is totally astounding.
Whenever a GOP politician is caught doing the exact same thing they campaigned
against, the standard excuse from the GOP is ‘dems do it too.’
Admittedly,
Democrats aren’t perfect, but it’s rare to find one who ran on a platform of
“vote for me, and I’ll outlaw stuff based
on my righteous right-winged feign devotion to God and the Bible.”
It’s also rare to hear Democrats campaigning against other people’s supposed sins, homosexuality, drug use,
the irreligious beliefs or
some other perceived evil.
Once
you’ve gone around trying to convince everyone that you’re a devoted religious fanatic who will save America from its sins, it’s a totally different ball game when
you are caught doing drugs, cheating on your wife, having a same sex fling, ripping off your own supporters or doing a host of other things that
are supposed to be against
your own religious beliefs (the ones you tried to shove down everyone else’s
throats). That’s the definition of hypocrisy.
Integrity
is doing what you say. It’s living by the same standards you seek to impose on
others. Most parents hope to instill some sense of integrity in their children.
A good way to avoid raising children who lack integrity is to keep them away
from republicans.
It’s time to clean house.
This is by
no means a comprehensive list of the ways that republicans are negatively
influencing the youth of America. While I’ve tried to include as many links as
possible to illustrate the points, there’s no doubt that there are thousands of
other examples that can easily be found, just by doing a casual Google search
of any of the topics touched upon here.
There’s no
doubt there will always be political figures who set a bad example for the next
generation. Yet we can start to fix this problem by demanding better than the
average republican mentality, when it comes to our country’s leaders.