(11-19-2023, 04:42 AM)Rhythmcs Wrote: We all impose on open and innocent minds, don't we? Pretty much the job description for parenting. Generously, it's not the act itself but the contents of the imposition. My kids were raised with mission christianity and environmental paganism. It's a surprisingly good fit to anyone unfamiliar. I don't feel that they're worse for the imposition. They would find it difficult to navigate their own families - let alone their society or our social group, if we hadn't imposed in that way. Quite the opposite. I feel like we've given them a very broad foundation for the type of life they live now and the type of life they can have, if they want it.
They're still young. We don't know how it will all pan out. We know that they're already more than the sum of our two parts. They have some agency here. Our best efforts to impose may hit the brick wall of their personal identities. Maybe they grow up and don't want anything like the life we want, or the life we want for them. That'll be cool too. I'm sure I'd struggle with it in the moment - but even that would ultimately be a good outcome of their childhood indoctrinations. Hearing and seeing those they have the greatest implicit trust for lay out their view of the world and deciding..on second thought, nah.
I don't understand why grown men who don't even know this little Girl can get so offended at what she wears.
I think that it's a male thing.
We have several Muslim friends who wear a hijab like this little Girl does.
One couple used to live across the street from us. A Black Woman from Kenya who married a white guy from Iowa.
He converted to Islam when he married her.
Another Muslim Woman is my wife's best friend, from Chad. (Which we hope to visit Chad some day.) Their sons are engineers (one mechanical and the other aerospace). Their sister is still in Medical school, and will be a doctor soon.
Her and their daughter both often wear a hijab.
Almost 45 years ago, back when I was married to my ex, her friend and coworker married an Iranian student. She also converted to Islam, and would sometimes wear a hijab. Nobody forced her to.
But then large gangs of students started having rallies in front of the Administration building, which was right next to the building that housed the math department on the 4th floor.
Since I had a window office, every day over the noon hour, I'd have to listen to deafening shouts of "USA!" and "Iranians Go Home!" in my office while I tried to work or eat my lunch.
A restaurant on the edge of town had a sign that said, "Iranians Not Welcome Here!"
Of course, that was illegal, so the Human Rights Commission made them take it down.
But the restaurant owner also owned the farm next to it (actually surrounding it, so I suspect that the restaurant land was originally part of the farm). So the owner erected a huge billboard on his private property, hovering high above the restaurant, that said in big bold red letters, "Iranians Not Welcome Here!", which was legal, since it was on private property, and not on the restaurant property.
One day, our friend got onto an elevator in the university dormitories.
Five white guys got on the elevator with her, and the door closed.
By the time the elevator door opened, she had cuts and bruises all over her face, and several broken ribs.
Stuff like that can happen when Girls and Women offend men.
A lot of Women are afraid to wear a hijab these days. Girls and Women should not have to live in fear of men. Not here in Iowa, and not anywhere.
We all need to teach our children that Girls and Women have the right to make their own choices, and that their bodies ought not to be a battleground for men, regardless of how they may choose to dress.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Teach Your Children (Official Music Video)
