Dear Anti-Obama-Speech-People

[des.]

A couple of days ago, I could not have been more annoyed by the "anti-Obama-school-speech" protesters I have read about online and have watched on the news.  Women crying because their children may be "indoctrinated" with a message they did not agree with.  I even replied to some posts about it with the same tone and sarcasm.  How could anyone be so...well...stupid?

Before I begin, let me say that I still do not agree with you.  There are a couple of reasons.  The first one being that indoctrination is a long process that could not possibly take place over the planned course of the speech and brief accompanying "lesson" provided as a guideline for teachers.  The second is that you already willingly send your child to a school that is indoctrinating them with beliefs you probably don't agree with, and you don't seem to have an issue with that.  The third is that you are sending your child a shitty message.  "Don't listen to someone I don't like."  If you are doing the wonderful job of instilling morals and values in your child you claim to be doing, do you really think an hour long speech is going to reverse it?  Or even "take away"  from their education?  Really?  You do not see the possible discussion about education and government this could provide? 

Now that I've said my piece, I will begin with the reason I am writing this journal, and it is for you, "anti-Obama-school-speech-people."  I appreciate you.

This weekend, my family and I visited the museum and Peace Memorial Park on Okinawa.  It was horrifying and sad and a lot more rushed than I wanted it to be.  There was a room called the "testimonial room" where you could read the stories written about the Battle of Okinawa by the survivors, mostly teenagers.

From reading through the information in English on the walls and watching the video, something struck me.  Almost all of the people in the videos were children.  There were children in schools, being told that they had to pledge to the emperor of Japan, children in their classes being INDOCTRINATED.  Those children grew into families and adults who would later die in a 90 day bombardment and then, if they survived, might actually kill themselves and their families to honor the message they had been given in school.

And although I do not think you would know indoctrination if it hit you in the face, I realized something.  NONE of our leaders can be compared to the government that did this to the Okinawan people, to Hitler and his Nazi party, or to any infamous group of people who have ever truly succeeded in indoctrinating the youth of a country.  And do you know why?  Because our leaders are leading Americans.  And Americans wouldn't take that shit.

We'll take the NCLB Act, we'll take the Patriot Act, we'll take the dumbing down of our school system and the even some of the Iraq War.  But I know, as soon as someone goes into our schools and begins to tell our kids that they have the responsibility to die for someone else (please, oh please don't talk about Obamas Youth or any stupid contrived shit like that in my comment section, please), that socialism and communism are the "way to go", or that they have to tell on their parents for ANYTHING...well, you people will be all over that shit.  You just won't take it. 

Although I find it utterly bewildering, I appreciate it now.  Because it shows just how great our nation is.  We are so free, that we can make a fuss about something we may see as a form of inappropriate leadership and nothing bad will happen to us.  If the indiscretion was true, it's comforting.  It's comforting to know I'm in the presence of people who are still willing to fight for what they believe in, and who recognize the vulnerability of our children, if nothing else.  People who have not been vigilant in these areas in the past have allowed themselves to be overtaken by those who ultimately destroy them.  So...thank you, and I mean it.  Thank you for remaining vigilant.  However overly-vigilant it may be...I truly have an appreciation that you recognize and exercise your right and have not forgotten history. 

Just...please.  Please stop watching Fox News.

Thanks. 

-Des.

[Mama0f3grlz]

Sep. 7, 2009 at 10:20 PM

[yogapantz]

Sep. 7, 2009 at 11:05 PM

love the tags! ha ha

[I_Am_A_Rock]

Sep. 7, 2009 at 11:13 PM

Des, you are freaking brilliant. This seriously gives me chills. And yoga's right... awesome tags.

[des.]

Sep. 8, 2009 at 2:24 AM

thought you'd like that...lol

(Original Poster)

[Shari82]

Sep. 8, 2009 at 10:08 AM

Just a reminder: When Bush spoke to students, Democrats investigated, held hearings

Byron York
Chief Political Correspondent
09/08/09

The controversy over President Obama's speech to the nation's schoolchildren will likely be over shortly after Obama speaks today at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. But when President George H.W. Bush delivered a similar speech on October 1, 1991, from Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington DC, the controversy was just beginning. Democrats, then the majority party in Congress, not only denounced Bush's speech -- they also ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate its production and later summoned top Bush administration officials to Capitol Hill for an extensive hearing on the issue.

 

Unlike the Obama speech, in 1991 most of the controversy came after, not before, the president's school appearance. The day after Bush spoke, the Washington Post published a front-page story suggesting the speech was carefully staged for the president's political benefit. "The White House turned a Northwest Washington junior high classroom into a television studio and its students into props," the Post reported.

With the Post article in hand, Democrats pounced. "The Department of Education should not be producing paid political advertising for the president, it should be helping us to produce smarter students," said Richard Gephardt, then the House Majority Leader. "And the president should be doing more about education than saying, 'Lights, camera, action.'"

Democrats did not stop with words. Rep. William Ford, then chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, ordered the General Accounting Office to investigate the cost and legality of Bush's appearance. On October 17, 1991, Ford summoned then-Education Secretary Lamar Alexander and other top Bush administration officials to testify at a hearing devoted to the speech. "The hearing this morning is to really examine the expenditure of $26,750 of the Department of Education funds to produce and televise an appearance by President Bush at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, DC," Ford began. "As the chairman of the committee charged with the authorization and implementation of education programs, I am very much interested in the justification, rationale for giving the White House scarce education funds to produce a media event."

Unfortunately for Ford, the General Accounting Office concluded that the Bush administration had not acted improperly. "The speech itself and the use of the department's funds to support it, including the cost of the production contract, appear to be legal," the GAO wrote in a letter to Chairman Ford. "The speech also does not appear to have violated the restrictions on the use of appropriations for publicity and propaganda."

That didn't stop Democratic allies from taking their own shots at Bush. The National Education Association denounced the speech, saying it "cannot endorse a president who spends $26,000 of taxpayers' money on a staged media event at Alice Deal Junior High School in Washington, D.C. -- while cutting school lunch funds for our neediest youngsters."

Lost in all the denouncing and investigating was the fact that Bush's speech itself, like Obama's today, was entirely unremarkable. "Block out the kids who think it's not cool to be smart," the president told students. "If someone goofs off today, are they cool? Are they still cool years from now, when they're stuck in a dead end job. Don't let peer pressure stand between you and your dreams.

[I_Am_A_Rock]

Sep. 8, 2009 at 5:48 PM

Just a reminder, Shari82, Bush was investigated and hearings were held due to the cost and legality issue surrounding his school appearance. It had nothing to do with a possible political agenda behind the speech. But way to put a spin on it.

At any rate, the outcry surrounding Obama's speech is in no way comparable to what happened with Bush.

[des.]

Sep. 9, 2009 at 2:06 AM

-sigh-   So what, Shari, what does that even have to do with my post?

(Original Poster)