Re: ...meanwhile in a school in Houston
by
Basil Seal
07/22/2008, 10:54 AM
I already posted this to an almost identical thread, but I think the response is equally applicable to you, mutatis mutandis :
Wow, this is the same kind of relativism I encountered
when I criticized a recent Slate-Architecture piece on Dubai. It seems
the American new left is always ready to exculpate Middle East
practices so long as something even remotely commensurable is going on
in the U.S.
For the record, though, (since you obviously were too lazy to read the report yourself before disparaging Applebaum), it wasn't "buried in some textbook."
The report (which the author provided a link to, mind you) is over 70
pages long, replete with dozens - perhaps even hundreds - of instances
of hate mongering.
Moreover, the comparison to a single private school in Texas - which you don't even provide any evidence for in support of your claim! -
isn't simply shallow - it's fatuous! And on so many levels!
Is the American government behind the production of the mural you speak of? No!
Does the phenomenon you reference pertain to a majority - or even a significant subset - of American schools? No!
Does the mural you reference contain exhortations to immanent violence? No!
Do
'End of Times' theories or this alleged mural, for all their inanity, teach children that
they are prohibited from being friends - let alone associating! - with
adherents of other religions? No! (If you dispute the existence of such
commands in Saudi textbooks, read the report)
Is
there even a constitutional way for the American government to censor
the textbooks of private religious schools or home-schooling? No!
(Obviously you're not familiar with the case of Pierce v. Society of Sisters,
in which the Supreme Court identified a right of parents "to control
the education of one's children" outside of public schools - it seems
you new left webrooties aren't particularly well-versed in old-school
left civil liberties)
From a democratic theorist point of view,
is there a meaningful distinction between a state's commissioning of
insidious religious textbooks and the production of putatively
inappropriate textbooks or murals by American private schools? YES!
Make sure the logic of your comparison is sound before rattling off a knee-jerk response.