In addition, by doing this, they are saying that telling children the truth- that CHRISTmas is historically and primarily a Christian celebration of the birth of Christ- is harmful. They are saying that if historical truth such as the evolution of the celebration of Christmas is inconvenient or upsetting, children should not have to learn it. This is dangerous territory.
Well, this news appeared on various news feeds this week: Keep 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' Poster Out Of Classroom Kileen ISD Board Says. You can read the article for yourself, but the upshot is that at a Texas school, the school nurse made a poster for her clinic door which depicted Linus in the famous scene where he tells Charlie Brown the true meaning of Christmas, including the lines of dialogue from the scene. The school principal told her she would have to take it down because it might offend someone of a different religion or of no faith at all. The poster offender protested, and the matter ended up in front of the school board, who have backed the principal's play, saying that the poster violates the First Amendment. Now, I'm not an American so can't claim to be a constitutional expert, but it's my understanding that the First Amendment forbids religion being imposed on people by the government. Surely no one seriously thinks that a cartoon poster on a school door is a governmental attempt to force religion on anyone. I'm not, however, going to spend time discussing the constitutional validity of this argument, or whether the nurse has the right to put up the poster in a public building. Instead, I'm going to focus on what I consider to be the most worrying aspect of this occurance. This is the reason the principal gave for banning the poster- that someone might be offended by it. My first objection to this is that it is self-censoring; refraining from doing something for fear that someone, somewhere might object to it. As I understand it, there weren't any complaints about the poster at all... the mere thought that one could occur, however, was enough to drive the principal to this spineless action. Secondly, even if someone did say that they were offended, why should that result in censorship? It was literally only one complaint that caused the Virginia school board to temporarily ban To Kill A Mockingbird and Huckleberry Finn. This is nothing less than the tyranny of the minority, where the hurt feelings of a few take precedent over the wishes of the vast majority of people. My next objection is to the idea that children should be shielded from anything which might somehow offend them. School is supposed to be equipping these kids to function competently in the world- the real world, where not everyone will agree with them or hold the same opinions and beliefs. Part of becoming an educated, mature person is learning how to deal with dissent in a sane and civilized manner. We're not doing these children any favours by teaching them that they don't have to tolerate anything that they disagree with or are offended by. We're not equipping them for life by banning things they have a problem with, rather than expecting them to argue their positions intelligently and informedly. This is how we've ended up with a bunch of college kids who, when confronted by an opposing opinion, scream, cry, destroy things, and run for safe spaces in order to hide from reality. In addition, by doing this, they are saying that telling children the truth- that CHRISTmas is historically and primarily a Christian celebration of the birth of Christ- is harmful. They are saying that if historical truth such as the evolution of the celebration of Christmas is inconvenient or upsetting, children should not have to learn it. This is dangerous territory. Lastly, this is Peanuts we're talking about here; could anything be more harmless and wholesome? If children can't be expected to handle something so innocuous and innocent, then what can we expect them to handle? In my opinion, anybody who finds themselves arguing that A Charlie Brown Christmas is too controversial and dangerous to risk exposing kids to needs to reevaluate their opinions, their world view and, frankly, their lives. And if you are one of the delicate snowflakes who are offended and/or triggered by the sight of a cartoon character quoting a few lines of scripture well, I can only recommend one course of action:
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