Under normal circumstances, one would consider parental involvement in education to be a good thing, a welcome step in the right direction for progress. But with every step forward, faith becomes shattered and broken by parents who pick the wrong battles for the wrong reasons. Texan parents from the Mansfield Independent School District, located southeast of Fort Worth, are outraged at the idea Arabic language is being offered as a new elective course for middle and high school students.
The new program would be funded by a five-year $1.3 million grant by the Department of Education. District officials reportedly filed for the grant because the federal government lists it as a critical language, due to the demand and shortage of Arabic speakers. Even though this should be a simple and understandable addition to evolving curriculums, controversy finds itself breeding like an unstoppable virus.
The parents are upset because they weren’t notified and there was no public debate on the subject. The Mansfield School District apologized and backed down, when it really should have risen to the challenge.
But why is public debate at all necessary? When other critical languages such as Chinese and Russian were added to the curriculum, parents never voiced such rights and concerns, which would be questionable at best.
In a time where the need for a diverse knowledge in other languages is not only useful for diplomatic and trade reasons, but increasingly necessary, we are are one of the few nations left that, comparatively, is underwhelmingly monolingual.
If parents want to be involved in their children’s education, that’s perfectly fine. But more importantly, for it to have any impact, they must be responsible and realize the students aren’t the only ones required to do some learning.
Parents could start by understanding that the constant biased and misinformed beliefs being voiced don’t in any way help our students excel. The question is this: What is repeatedly pushing us back into what feels like the Dark Age, the bottom of the global and American barrel? Is it unwarranted fear, a brimming ignorance of facts, unfounded hatred or a loathsome cocktail of all three?
We can recant tales of the Alamo and courageous forefathers, but when we turn our eyes to the present, what do we have? Whatever list you can conjure, education isn’t present, and with situations like this seeming to arise every week, it never will be.
Marcus Smith is a English Freshman and may be reached at [email protected].
You overlooked the fact that it was MANDATORY. The teaching of Arabic language, culture and history was to be MANDATORY in several schools in the district. This was changed because of the public outcry and the progrm was later dropped. I have no problem with Arabs, Muslims or anyone like that. My high school offered Arabic as foreign language. But when you force children to learn about it like US History, without any public input, that is crossing the line. It is important to learn about other cultures and people but do not mandate on language over another. Isn't that discrimination against other cultures/languages?
Keep on writing man.
okay but since we're going to be deeply involved in the middle east for probably the next 10+ years, maybe it should be mandatory to learn about the culture and people that we brazenly write off as some sinister "other". maybe the next generation can aspire to something slightly better than imperialistic barbarism. or maybe they just need another semester of texas history (omitting the reason why texas broke it off with mexico, of course).
Thats fine but give them a choice. Like we do now with foreign language. The issue here is not Xenophobia or hatred of Arabic people. It is the fact that students were to be forced to learn about Arabic language, culture, and history in order to graduate with absolutely zero input from parents. They were not scared of the Arabs or Islam. They were concenred about their lack of input in their own children's education. Assume for me, that your child's school district required that your child take a year-long, government-sponsored course about the WWF. You would be a bit concerned about this right? Your tax dollars are paying for it. You had no say in it. You would be upset and rightly so. Hence, this is the wrong way to go about this. Learning Arabic would definitely be a useful tool for many vocations in the future but we should not make it compulsory. If I don't want to work in Saudi Arabia/Iran/etc.. why should I be forced to learn about them. Say I want to go to Germany. I should have the option to take German instead of Arabic. Also, your anti-Americanism is showing. I won't go into that Texas comment because it is off-topic but please keep it in check.
pro-wrestling is irrelevant to the real world, arabic culture and language very much is. wow that was easy.
parents don't get to decide a lot of things about the school curriculum. they don't get to exempt themselves from classes they don't think they'll need, nor should they. i brought up the texas history thing as an example of a class that is way more offensive (the sanitized tale of heroic white people vs the mighty and terrible mexican army) than any arabic studies course. our state history course could be cut in it's entirety with no repercussions, at all.
a working knowledge of arabic culture is useful for other reasons than work or travel. maybe like being an informed voter and citizen.
you remind me of science majors who don't think they should have to take humanities courses. these people are almost always horrible dullards with no knowledge of anything beyond their tiny niche of expertise. and you can cram that "anti-american" jive up your ass, thank you.
Ok let us make it more relevant then. How about mandatory marksmanship and firearms training classes you must take before you can graduate. Every high school student must take it if they want their diploma. I think that is more necessary and meaningful to real life.
As for the Texas history, just further show your own bias. That all you focus on is the negativity in the past and not the things that made this a great state and country. I find it offensive that you would bash your state as such. I think it is important that we know the history of our state and country first and well before we go off and dabble in others. Knowing about our history, why the people died and what for would create a better citizen and voter than something that has nothing to do with our place we live in. But hey most kids don't know the states, the history, presidents and how we got to be anyway so why would your mandatory class be any better.
And you remind me of all the social science majors and art majors who after they get in the real world cry about how unfair it is that they don't earn or make as much as those science and engineering majors do. Because if it wasn't for them you be still toiling in the fields praying for rain. And for that matter most of the complaints usually revolve around Comp 2. Since Philosophy and Ethics were better and well needed choices that I saw a good benefit from.
Also I got a boot that I will gladly put up there for you, ya jive turkey.
lol @ internet tough guy
"Knowing about our history, why the people died and what for would create a better citizen and voter than something that has nothing to do with our place we live in."
oh you mean when the noble and heroic texan patriots revolted because mexico abolished slavery in it's territories? let us hail our great forefathers who fought valiantly to keep human beings as property.
the rest of your post is word salad, sorry to break the news to you
That isn't the only reason but hey glad you know how to skew things to fit your basis belief there.
Just shows that you know that what I said was true and can't come up with a response. I am not just "internet tough guy", but also in real life too. However it is wrong pick on little ignorant children.
lmao what are you going to do, give me a knuckle sandwich at recess? walk around as if your fat body is intimidating and not ponderous/hilarious? you're a stupid clod and your writing makes this clear, hth.
oh well, as long as their were other reasons, i guess that makes fighting to keep slavery alive okay.
the main point of contention here is "should students have a working knowledge of arabic culture and history?". you don't think future voters/citizens/politicians should have those things, because you're an imbecile. i don't see what there is to talk about.
So all you can do is insult people like a little child, very mature. But I wouldn't have to because your type in real life roll over and tuck their tails beneth themselves like the dogs they are.
Next what slavery? In case you forgot there was a war about that and more than a million people died fighting over it. But hey it was evil white men fighting amongst themselves so it really wasn't real. Keep throwing that card around, it isn't effective because it isn't real any more here. It is also not as bad as you wish it was.
I think that future students should be allowed the option but not forced. First we should worry about what goes on here and know about our country and goverment before we go out and force others to learn about other locations and place.
lol u mad bro?
what do mean, what slavery? i just explained that to you, read my other post if you didn't understand.
one side of the civil war was evil; the traitorous confederacy fought tooth and nail for the right to enslave, kidnap, beat, murder, and rape human beings through slavery.
i'm sorry you don't like being reminded of the atrocities your beloved south has committed but i don't care. every confederate soldier, from jefferson davis all the way down to the lowest illiterate lieutenant should have been executed for treason and war crimes.
listen to you. so wrapped up in your white privilege, you don't even thing the effects of slavery are "real". ugh.
You seem to incite that there is still slavery going on here in this country just like there was back then. I beg to differ. Who said I ever sided with the south? You have such a narrow mind set you can't see beyond you liberal roots. But that is not to say that in the north there were not atrocities that happened to the populace committed by the federal government. Guess you like to forget that part of history too. You say that I pick and choose? Look who is talking mr pot. Your the racist going on about white this and white that. You know that this crying wolf is starting to wear thin and show that you are nothing more than a little child being spoon fed socialist communist beliefs. Seeing racism where there is none.
Yes there are effects but to act like we still live in the 1950's and 60's shows how out of touch you are with reality. You do a disservice to those in the past with your crying like a babe when you have no real back bone to stand on.
oh and i meant to ask before, why'd you stop responding to me in that pro-life legislation thread? is it because you made some stuff up and i responded with facts and figures? that must have been pretty embarrassing for you
I was using wrestling as an example. And you say Arabic culture is necessary because we will be involved in that region for years to come? Isn't European culture necessary as well? I mean we've only been involved there for, what? 250 years? Its definitely less important. Parents don't have a lot of say in their children's curriculum because it has never been needed. Math, Reading, Writing, Science. Those are all important basic skills. Arabic is not one those core four studies needed to succeed. Also, I'm not sure that you are aware, but the the Texas Board of Educators was primarily liberal until not too long ago. So all that 'offensive' stuff you've been taught was the product of their books. You know absolutely nothing about me except this screen-name I use so I hardly think you can make any judgements about me save my political beliefs and maybe not even that. Also, you stray from the facts yet again, and resort to insulting a huge majority of the UH student population because you think they are 'dullards' when they are the ones who will invent new technologies and help the entire world. Oh, and cursing really makes you sound like you know what you're doing. That really shows the 'civility' that the liberal movement has been touting recently 😉 Stick to the topic buddy.
okay i don't care if i'm being rude
"Isn't European culture necessary as well?"
world history courses tend to tightly focus on europe for much of the semester. arabic culture and history is added on almost as an afterthought.
"Also, I'm not sure that you are aware, but the the Texas Board of Educators was primarily liberal until not too long ago."
lol you absolute moron
look just step up and admit that you have a hang-up with arabs. education isn't a zero-sum game where another mandatory course will take away from the basic core classes.
You run out of facts and resort to name-calling, calls of racism, and baseless assumptions. You look like a fool and constantly avoid the subject and question poised to you. I suppose anything I say will simply be ridiculed by you because you have no basis for your arguments. But irregardless, you have lost the argument. When you run out of facts you name-call. Classic denial. Have a nice day amigo
who told you that the texas education agency were mostly "liberal"? how could you know this? do they make a habit of talking about their personal politics? you made a dumb unsourced claim, refused to provide proof, and now you're crying because i called you dumb for doing so.
also, why do you think being in favor of arabic studies in school is "liberal"? is it because you're a conservative guy and you aren't in favor of it? that's another pretty dumb assumption.
if internet debates hurt your feelings this much, maybe you should spend the evening alphabetizing your cats.
You see how the college student behaves in his natural habitat. When confronted with facts and logic he hides behind a smokescreen of insults and ill-based assumptions. Now we see how they really work. In reality, he has no opinions. Only what he hears from Crooks&Liars.com and the like. He also likes to assume that he has frightened the opposition when in fact he is a source of amusement for them. Running around like a headless chicken, dodging hard questions, and espousing groundless claims and accusations. This is what has become of the liberal in today's society. They are a dying breed however which means we need to be extra careful around them. We wouldn't want to offend them now would we? They might call the ACLU and have a heart attack. Hahahaha. Anyway back to your questions:
The Texas board of Education was mostly liberal for quite a while there. That is why there was such an uproar when they tried to change the history books to actually reflect what really happened instead of making Americans seem like crazed, unjust, savages. I'll be the first to admit they did not get everything right but they fixed many liberally biased parts of the curriculum.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/arti…
I never said that studying Arabic was liberal. I said it was appalling that such a huge decision would be made without parental input. Irregardless of the topic. You could insert any controversial topic there. Firearms, Arabic, Russian, LGBT rights/history/cluture, etc.. It would still cause an uproar no matter what.
Also:
I don't remember crying.
I hate cats.
Contribute something useful to the conversation other than insults. Your giving intelligent liberals a bad name. 😉
lol i love how you and that other waterhead still think i'm a "liberal". oh well, i guess that's what comes from a lifetime of having your right-wing family dictate your beliefs to you.
look, i don't believe that all viewpoints must be respected at all times. i don't really think that one day, if i explain it carefully enough, you'll finally understand the point. so it's better to just beat up on you. hth.
your article just says that the majority conservative board wanted the history curriculum to reflect their values. as for the quotes, of course the conservatives on the board are going to talk about how liberal (which is a codeword for evil and anti-american and bad) the school curriculum is. because they want to change it. which is what they did.
You haven't explained anything. You seem to support stifling of others' viewpoints. And your threatening me. And your still avoiding the topic. But, please do go on. You seem to have turned into the comic relief on this page. By the way Marcus Smith, excellent job. So please continue 'cakewalk'
so nothing huh?
I'm asking you to continue. You have offered nothing of substance to the discussion. You seem to like to insult me though. I'm waiting for you to actually discuss the topic. Do you think it is acceptable to force children to learn about a controversial topic, sponsored by tax dollars, without parental input, in order to graduate. You have yet answer that question my friend. Or you can keep avoiding the topic. Your choice.
why should learning arabic culture be controversial? why do you think this concerns parents so much? why should it?
do you understand what a bummer that must be, to live in a country where your religion, customs, ancestral homeland, and even traditional clothing are seen as threats by a sizable portion on your own countrymen? can you step out of your privileged social role for just one second and imagine that
i was actually pretty civil to you in the beginning, but then you tried to throw that lame anti-american garbage in my face. was i supposed to just let that slide? sorry, insults are all you deserve at this point
'why should learning arabic culture be controversial'
Because we are at war with radical Islam. There is no way to distort that. I can provide quotes if you want.
'do you understand what a bummer that must be, to live in a country where your religion, customs, ancestral homeland, and even traditional clothing are seen as threats by a sizable portion on your own countrymen? '
My ancestors sure did. My father was the son of a full-blooded Cherokee and my grandfather is a Jew who immigrated to America from southern Europe. Ask the Jews. Ask anyone who is not Arab who lives in the Middle East. Ask the CBS reporter who was sexually assaulted by a group or Arab protestors.
'step out of your privileged social role for just one second and imagine that ' 'insults are all you deserve at this point'
So your in a position to judge me and figure out what I deserve? By whose standards? By yours? Are you 'better' than me? Now who's in a 'privileged social role'. At least you are answering questions now. We're getting there.
and now, god willing, you're going to put some other similarly innocent people through the same hardships as what your ancestors went through. way to admit that your driving motivation here is just to maintain your own cultural hegemony.
"So your in a position to judge me and figure out what I deserve? By whose standards? By yours? Are you 'better' than me?"
uh yes, i am unequivocally better than you. you hold to a poisonous xenophobic philosophy that takes a total lack of empathy to adopt.
also, you might want to at least glance at the wiki for white privilege before you answer this post, just saying.
wait you have quotes proving that we are at war with islam? please share them.
also, not all arabs are muslims, but im sure you knew that already, right?
part 2
'you're going to put some other similarly innocent people through the same hardships as what your ancestors went through. way to admit that your driving motivation here is just to maintain your own cultural hegemony. '
The case you mentioned is definitely not how Muslim's are treated in the US. I have not heard, save for a few crazies, of Muslims being persecuted in America. Also, you completely missed my point. I understand what you were trying to say but you missed it entirely. Why are the Jews persecuted and attacked by Arabs? (this is directed at you) Oh and that CBS news anchor would not have been attacked had she been wearing appropriate clothing as dictated by the Muslim culture. You said yourself, 'even traditional clothing are seen as threats ' Your hypocrisy is incredible.
'not all arabs are muslims'
True but lets break this down shall we? The total population of the Middle East is about 349 million people according to the Middle East Review of International Affairs. The total Muslim population in the Middle East is about 20% of the total followers. Meaning roughly 300 million out of 349 million are Muslims. Now they are not all radical Muslims, but many are fundamentalists who prohibit women from driving, showing themselves in public etc. This is irrelevant but I thought it might give some a better idea of fundamentalist Islam. There was a married girl who was raped in a Muslim community. A judge convicted her of coitus outside of wedlock and sentenced her to 100 lashes on her bareback. She died at 80. Fun fact of the day.
'i am unequivocally better than you.'
Ill take a page from your book then bro. 'can you step out of your privileged social role for just one second' and come be down here with us mortals because apparently you are so much better than us. And if you are so much better than us, why waste your precious time on here arguing with people who are obviously below you? Also, keep race out of this man. You love to bring in the whole "white privilege" thing in like every discussion you have on here. It's kinda sad. It implies the fallacy that all white people are privileged and don't have to work for anything. And we have already established that I'm not white so you can skip that whole bit.
Anyway, You avoid the question again. Do you think it is acceptable to force children to learn about a controversial topic, sponsored by tax dollars, without parental input, in order to graduate?
I guess I'll just keep posting this as a response to anything you say until you answer me because you'll just avoid it otherwise. You still continue to amuse me my friend. Carry on.
Whee. Here we go again.
Islam is the only religion in the world that will let girls burn to death in a fire rather than be seen in public without a headscarf.
Islam is the only religion in the world that requires female genital mutilation and the dehumanization of women via the facelessness of the burqa/niqab.
Islam is the only religion in the world that prescribes the death penalty merely for coming to your senses and stopping worshiping their pedophile prophet.
Islam is a blight on the world.
And you are college educated? Shame… Get out of Texas and see the rest of the world.
I agree with Saleema. Islam is not a blight on the world. It is a religion and its followers are some of the most polite and nice people I have met. Your comments were out of line.
Thank you for your article. I completely agree.
Those that claim any religion or race is a "blight on the world" are not only ignorant, but hateful racists.
I am so tired of these articles. Arabs are not being persecuted. This case is just another example of idiot parents who are too xenophobic to allow their children to learn a useful language. Why do our Middle-Eastern UH students think they are the victims of some sort of vast prejudice conspiracy?
I think you are missing the point and so did the author of the article. It isn't that they were teaching it or that the school got the money for it. The point is that it was going to be mandatory for a student if said student wanted to graduate. That is what angered the parents and many people. If it was just an optional elective like Spanish, French, German, Chinese or Russian then you could justify the xenophobia. But what it really is about that parents didn't have a say in something that was mandatory to their child's graduation.
i don think anyone claimed a conspiracy. there was a comment above that called islam a blight on the world and this person is just responding to that ridiculous statement.
i think you have some issues, o white man
Rude was stating that the reason for the outcry was that the parents are xenophobic. Which is not the case. I was responding to the middle part of his comment. But I can see how you would throw out the overplayed card.
And what issues might that be? That I don't think we should treat the class as mandatory like, english, math or science?
i was directing my comment at Rude actually. no need for the outburst
Oh, everyone else is a racist, but you assume that I'm a white male. Nice.
no it's just the mentality of a white man. your superiority complex oozes through the internet
sorry but you really do sound like a comfy privileged white dude.
i mean, you straight out said that the parents were being racist and then IN THE SAME POST couldn't understand why americans of middle eastern descent would be dismayed at having their culture treated like a threat. because you don't experience that.
that's what i think MaryJ picked up on anyway, i don't claim to speak for her/him
who should be blamed for your racism?
I agree with people on that the problem here was that it was to be made mandatory for the student to graduate high school. Not just as an elective but every kid no matter what would have to take it. That is where the line is drawn. I have no problems if you want to take it as a non mandatory elective. But to force it without a choice well what did you expect. Of course no one had a problem with chinese and russian, they were optional for you to take. It wasn't forced that if a student didn't either take it or pass it they wouldn't be allowed to graduate as if it were a math, english or science course.
Arabs and the problem with many Sunni Muslims is that they like to shove their views and beliefs down other peoples throats. This is America and we don't stone women to death or force them to cover themselves and not allow them to drive.
If you believe in subjugating women than leave. Its not like you guys have contributed to this nation, you just leech off of everyone else and take government handouts.
Leave America alone and leave!
Sometimes I see little glimpses of Al-Jazeera on this site(which to the people writing these articles, might see that as a compliment) . They always want to sympathize for the poor-wittle muslims. But then I remember what these muslim people are doing in Europe and realize that unless the people of the US get informed with what's going on across the pond, we will be in the same situation……………….You can keep your Sharia courts.
do you even understand what al-jazeera is? it's like accusing someone of being "too cnn"
sheesh, it's like you're afraid of arab words. grow up and stop being such a racist
It is a radical TV station that preaches and skews stories to promote sharia law.
you're being ridiculous. it's not a religious organization, it's a news source. because it's in the arab world, you assume they promote islam? there are arab christians and arab jews working for aljazeera as well. or do you think the middle east won't develop their own news sources, only the united states is allowed their channels…jesus christ, you're ridiculous
Arab Jews? Cool! Who, exactly? Can you name some names, please?
Avi Lewis and Richard Gizbert ring a bell? Also israelis are often featured on aljazeera and aljazeera english, as well as arab jews such as roger hanin.
remember when some scammer convinced the cia that al-jazeera was sending out coded messages to terrorists? and he sold them some fake intelligence for millions and then fled? this is pretty much exactly why middle eastern studies should be mandatory.
al-jazeera is basically the BBC in the middle east but uninformed dupes like mac think that it's some secret al-qaeda front because he mainlines US propaganda straight into his eyeballs.
Simpletons like him are the reasons that right-wingers get an ignorant rep
yeah that's why
Well my mistake then, must be another channel over there that I was thinking of.
But I will say this that it should not be made mandatory. It should be allowed as an option just like any other course.
smooth move ex lax.
Real mature and adding to the conversation.
says the racist claiming aljazeera spreads sharia law. there are no news channels in the middle east that "spread sharia law"
there's propaganda the bad guys make, but that's not "news" and everyone knows it
I am offended that you say that. I am not.
Second a real man (person) admits they were mistaken or confused two different stations. A little child makes worthless and demeaning comments.
Do you think that there is only one station that covers the whole region? No I don't think so.
so tell me smart guy, which station WERE you talking about? al-arabiya? lbc? mbc? future tv?
lmao…there isn't a station that spews sharia law. you're just a fear-mongering racist.
you already admitted above you are woefully uninformed about the middle east in particular and the world in general. why are you still arguing the point
Dear Cakewalk,
I salute you.
Sincerely,
JMA
high five
I admit that I mixed up a station. And what point would that be? The fact that jma so far has only used insults like a little child that they are? Or that he is insinuating that I am something I am not?
You must admit that there is more than just one "news" station over there. That in many of the so called up standing countries are very oppressive against many rights we enjoy here.
All I have heard is evil bad America and "whitie" hates any thing that isn't qhote as an argument from the child jma.
lol
I know you are funny and pointless.
Oh and to correct the miss type "qhote" should be "like them".
i like how you completely ignore my legitimate question. i guess it's because you don't have an answer, you ignorant RACIST! hahahaha
Further proof that you are nothing more than a little child who does nothing but name calls and insults to others. Keep it up just shows the immaturity you possess. And I did but you seem more content to insult and call people names.
hey i know "little child" is the only belittling insult you know, but now that you've made this a racial thing, its really starting to sound like you're calling me and JMA "boy". just want to give the opportunity to clear the air here.
I will clear the air, I am not a racist. You and your ilk have. The reason I use that is it is a fitting description of your foul mouth and that of JMA. Calling names with out proof only accusations.
ah. me and my "ilk". always running around, crying racism like we always do, right? jesus, dude
why not just come out and say "you people". i would've respected you more.
Yes I am glad you admit that is the first words out of your mouth it seems.
I take it you had to use a dictionary on that one huh? you people would probably offend you. Leading not only to more frustration on your part but another "it's whitey's fault, whitey is so privileged" rant when you know nothing of my experiences and back ground. Laugh it up fuzz ball, your running out of steam bailing on others with insults and no facts.
white guy on the internet who quotes star wars thinks black people complain too much about racism, film at 11
See all you can see is race, all you talk about is race. All you judge upon is race, you assume everything by race. Sounds like your a racists then. I have never claimed on here once that you are this race or religion. Yet you have jump right to that comment from the get go.
And the reason I said that is I think it is funny. And I wasn't commenting on a particular group I was making it about you the neonate fool. Take it you never knew what ilk means till after the comment you made.
you were implying that me and my ilk (black people) were crying racism and demonizing "whitey". how can i not take that as a racist statement.
also, please stop talking like a cartoon supervillian. it's making everyone really uncomfortable.
I never once mentioned race you fool. I mentioned ilk as in those who hold your belief and comments on here. You are the one who jumped to that conclusion with out any evidence or proof. Just shows you don't even know what the word means. i was implying you and in particular JMA started using the race card from the beginning. So you and your ilk started this and can deal with the truth. That the race card is a well worn and over played that crying wolf isn't working anymore. And if using colloquialism confuses you then my apologies for using unknown words that you don't know.
i don't think anyone argued that there wasn't more than one news station. i think they're all jumping on the fact that you actually claim there's a "radical station spewing sharia law" in the middle east. even i find that laughable
I believe it was a Palestinian station one that had not only news stories slanted that direction but also lovely children programs aimed the same slant. Yes the are and the only way is through childish insults and unsustainable accusations.
did you seriously confuse aljazeera (one of the news leaders of the WORLD) with a hamas propaganda broadcast?!
you might as well have confused msnbc with the revolutionary communist party podcast. yeesh..
it's called books, mac. they don't hurt. you learnnnn things from them, and then you don't say such stupid things
we are but children before the great and terrible maturity of mac, the guy who threatens to beat people up on a message board.
look upon his conflating hamas propaganda with al-jazeera and despair.
i think i'm in love with you
liberal-commie bros 4 lyfe
townhall.com/columnists/MichaelMedved/2010/10/20/disapproval_of_islam_is_no_indication_of_bigotry/page/full/
I find it disappointing (though amusing) that this piece was inaccurate from the opening paragraph.
More disheartening is the fact that a vast majority of the debate in these comments also ignores the fact that these classes were going to be REQUIRED. Not an elective – like Spanish – but mandatory, in order to get the Federal funds.
It's easy to blame a failing (36th-ranked) Texas education system on "ignorant" and "fearful" parents, especially when you've no kids of your own. Yet neither ignorance or fear of Muslims and heir beliefs are at issue here, and Mr. Smith should have gotten his facts straight before attempting to craft an Op-Ed which, at the end of the day, deals with a separate and completely unrelated topic It gives him the appearance of another product of a failed Texas education system, quite possibly.
I also weep for the ignorance of anyone commenting who thinks this issue has anything to do with culture or religion.
A voice of reason amidst a cloud of simpletons
Do you like "neutral" keith olbermann?
so that's a yes. i thought that liberal-commie-traitor word mush sounded familiar
And claims at being a middle ground neutral party is a bunch of malarkey on your part.
what
lol you started your argument off with quotes from a war criminal and a dictator.
what i was getting at is that being a muslim is incidental to al-qaeda's political aims. they would be just as determined if they were buddhists or scientologists. labeling islam and arabic culture as Dangerous does nothing but reinforce an us vs them bunker mentality.
'lol you started your argument off with quotes from a war criminal and a dictator.'
Bush was a war criminal?
'what i was getting at is that being a muslim is incidental to al-qaeda's political aims. they would be just as determined if they were buddhists or scientologists. labeling islam and arabic culture as Dangerous does nothing but reinforce an us vs them bunker mentality'
That is not the point. The point was that we are at war with radical Islam, as shown through the events above, which is why it is controversial.
so muslims aren't being persecuted in a country where "muslim" is used as a slur and islam is seen as dangerous and controversial. got it.
"Do you think it is acceptable to force children to learn about a controversial topic, sponsored by tax dollars, without parental input, in order to graduate?"
i know what you're trying to do, stupid. you want me to say yes so that you can come back with "so what about creationism?????" or whatever pet topic you think will rile me up the most. unfortunately, i'm not interested in playing "baby's first socratic dialogue" with you.
students should be forced to learn about topics outside of their own comfort zone. i'm sure many high-schoolers don't understand why they have to read literature as part of the curriculum, but it doesn't matter. learning the difference between sunni and shia islam is relevant as hell.
'students should be forced to learn about topics outside of their own comfort zone. i'm sure many high-schoolers don't understand why they have to read literature as part of the curriculum, but it doesn't matter. learning the difference between sunni and shia islam is relevant as hell'
This I agree with.
'so muslims aren't being persecuted in a country where "muslim" is used as a slur and islam is seen as dangerous and controversial. got it. '
Muslim is not used as a slur. Islam as a class is controversial because we are at war with a radical sect of it.
'i know what you're trying to do, stupid. you want me to say yes so that you can come back with "so what about creationism?????" or whatever pet topic you think will rile me up the most. unfortunately, i'm not interested in playing "baby's first socratic dialogue" with you. '
I'm actually just asking you to answer a simple question. I'm pro-choice. I just want you to answer my question. Do you think it is acceptable to force children to learn about a controversial topic, sponsored by tax dollars, without parental input, in order to graduate?
"The total Muslim population in the Middle East is about 20% of the total followers. Meaning roughly 300 million out of 349 million are Muslims."
you need to clarify this because it looks you're saying
a.) that the total muslim population of the middle east is 20% of muslim followers
and
b.) 300 million is 20% of 349 million.
so maybe sort that out
20% of the entire Islamic faith lives in the Middle East. 20% of the faith equals about 300 million. There are roughly 349 million people living in the Middle East. Hope that helps.
"And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them" [7:2]
Thou shalt surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of the sword. [13:15]
"And when the Lord thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shalt eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee." [20:13-14]
Guess who's holy book that's in? That's Deuteronomy, folks. Yep. That's the Bible.
Muslims aren't saints, but let's stop pulling the wool over our eyes thinking the problems in the Middle East are because of a violent Islamic religion. The Judaic/Christian scriptures have their fair share of violent teachings in them which have been used to justify everything from the Inquisition to American Slavery. The Catholic Church recently declared Islam the largest religion in the world (over a billion strong). If Islam really preached unfettered violence, the West would be a smoking crater right now.
The problems in the Middle East are more-so due to political reasons than religious reasons. People like Osama bin Laden use religion to further their political goals, just like Christians have used their religion to justify the Crusades, the Inquisition, slavery, colonialism and "the white man's burden", and a host of other vices.
So chillax and try to get a balanced view of the Muslims. You'll find most of them friendly, hospitable, and simply upset with American foreign policy.
However, the Bible does not proclaim that Christians should wage war against those of alternate faith. Those scriptures are from Deuteronomy in which the Israelites were being persecuted and were forced to live in the wilderness. This was God proclaiming that He would protect them and deliver their enemies unto them. This is not advocating a 'Holy War' like verses in the Koran do.
just like the muslim verses that tell them to make war come from a historical context in which they were being persecuted by the pagan and jewish tribes of arabia.
KNOWLEDGE, dude. it does wonders.