AceM2's Journal: Liberal Indoctrination starting early

This WABC news story really makes me sick. You can no longer post a picture of the President without also posting one of his democrat challenger? I better start calling all the local government and military offices to tell them they aren't allowed to show pictures of the President. Maybe this rule even applies to local government officials?

Anyway, all of this really brings back memories of my pre-homeschool days and reminds me of stories my friends have told me about their own experiences. Luckily, at home I am allowed to have pictures of several presidents in the areas I study in. See, my parents always thought it was important that I understand politics. Even as I small child, I remember admiring President Reagan and watching his speeches on the television. Back then it did not matter to me who was a Republican and who was a Democrat. I have always had respect for the Presidency, no matter who it was in office.

Even in my little extremely rural hometown, where most of the population is republican, our teachers/instructors/professors have always been insanely pro-democrat. For the most part, I do not really care as long as they do not hold my more conservative beliefs against me. Now, in college it was was nice that I could challenge most of my instructors openly. My peers were able to hear both sides of the story and make up their own minds. Luckily for me, at the college level there was only one teacher really targetted me because of my beliefs. On the bright side, this allowed me to be more vocal and popular. It actually seems strange that a conservative would have popularity as being a rebel.

My first experience with the indoctrination was way back in my early elementary school years. My school decided to take part in a poll to let the children pick the President. Many students knew who they liked, but they were not aware of party differences. The sheet they gave us to fill out was extremely difficult to understand, and required the teachers to explain how to fill it out. Well, before we even realized what was going on, our teachers had us all signed up as Democrats! We were told that if we valued our education and such, we should vote this way. Regardless of which candidate we preferred. At least half the class followed the instructions given, and so they only found out they voted for the wrong person later when the numbers came back.

So as far back as elementary school, we were being taught that if you wanted a good education and prosper, you must vote Democrat. Most of these kids were not as politically aware as I, they did not watch debates, did not read, and basically believed whatever their teachers said. Of course most of these same kids still are not politically aware even though they have voting power now, but that is a discussion for a later time.

I did not attend a public high school, so I was spared further indoctrination. I do however have stories from my friends, both liberal and conservative. It is not uncommon to hear jokes about President Bush told at the beginning of class. It is not uncommon to hear that a math teacher would interject politics into his or her lecture on geometry. The students hear this garbage over and over every day, and eventually it starts to stick. Political jokes are fine, but it is sad when making fun of the President becomes part of the daily lecture. Even worse, it is considered okay by many to make fun of the President, but you better not show him in a good light without also showing the contender.

While this news story does anger me, it also makes me so glad that my parents encouraged my political interests. I have such extremely intelligent friends who cannot tell you the name of Senator Kerry's VP hopeful, but they will tell you how much they hate Bush. The teachers have actually made this kids stupid by not forcing them to go research for themselves! They have been spoon-fed pro-liberal ideas their entire adolescent lives, and now they only know how to repeat what they have been told to believe. They cannot tell who al-Zarqawi is, but they have strong anti-war opinions. I do not care which way you vote or if you are a pacifist, but your opinions do not mean a whole lot to me if you do not even know what you are talking about in the first place.

The most amusing thing is, these are the same people who were telling me the Military is going to brainwash me into something evil. *shakes his head*

Good article.

[Zeriel]

I agree, the indoctrination is awful these days, and the number of irrational people (on every possible party, I might add) who vote without thought is really getting me down.

I'm a principled Libertarian, which might even mean I'm more annoyed than the Republicans over this sort of crap, given our beliefs about control and coercion (two acts to which neither major party is, sadly, immune).

Re: "Intelligent Friends"

[GenSolo]

I have such extremely intelligent friends who cannot tell you the name of Senator Kerry's VP hopeful
That's doubly sad since John Edwards is even their Senator.

Re: "Intelligent Friends"

[AceM2]

They and their parents do not care enough to even pay attention to that, they vote based on what they have been fed over the years. How do you think Edwards became our Senator in the first place? :P

Re: "Intelligent Friends"

[GenSolo]

Well, I always blamed it on some sort of statewide brain fart mixed with a desire to have a balance against Jesse Helms who many if not most thought was too conservative. Your theory may work better ;)