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Early Childhood Military Education?
Does our national security rely on top-quality early childhood education?
Yes, say the military leaders of Mission: Readiness, an organization led by retired military commanders that promotes investment in education, child health, and parenting support. In March, Mission: Readiness released national and state-by-state education briefs, declaring that “high-quality early education is not only important for the children it benefits but also critical to ensuring our military’s long-term readiness. . . . Investing in high-quality early education is a matter of national security.”
Actually, the generals are right, but for all the wrong reasons.
They see early childhood education as military readiness training. Mission: Readiness argues that investment in early childhood education for at-risk and low-income children will pay off in higher graduation rates and lower incarceration rates—expanding the pool of potential military recruits. “Recruitment and retention challenges could return if America does not do a better job now of producing more young men and women qualified for service,” says the mission statement on the organization’s website. “We must ensure America’s national security by supporting interventions that will prepare young people for a life of military service and productive citizenship.” 
Illustration: Katherine Streeter
Who are the young people for whom these military leaders are supposedly advocating? Low-income, at-risk children—the pool of children from which the military has traditionally recruited. What sort of education do the generals want for these children? Skill-and-drill, standards-driven, assessment-burdened curriculum that prepares children for skill-and-drill basic training, for standards-driven military discipline, for test-based military promotion. The generals’ aim is to prepare low-income children to be soldiers, trained from their youngest years to follow directions and to comply with the strictures issued by the ranking authority. That’s not high-quality education; that’s utilitarian education designed to serve military and economic needs.
This approach to education may prepare young people for a life of military service, but it certainly does not prepare them for citizenship. The Mission: Readiness statement of purpose unwittingly exposes a central conundrum in the organization’s thinking: “The earliest months and years of life are a crucial time when we build the foundation of children’s character, how they relate to others and how they learn.”
Exactly. High-quality early childhood education teaches for citizenship, not for test taking and reductionist assessment. The goal is not compliance but creativity, critical thinking, and compassion. Children are invited to engage meaningful questions in collaboration with others, to embrace complexity, to strive for the well-being of others with generosity, to pay attention to issues of fairness, and to act with courage, conviction, and imagination. Top-flight early education fosters in children dispositions toward empathy, ecological consciousness, engaged inquiry, and collaboration. These are the dispositions of citizens.
Citizens care for their country and its security. They inhabit the commons and they act on behalf of the common good. They are emboldened by personal sovereignty and know themselves to be protagonists in the unfolding history of their country—not passive observers, not dull-minded consumers, not obedient followers of military or government direction, but patriots acting for the good of the commonwealth. Active citizens, thinking critically and compassionately, resist military action as the quick and easy answer to complex challenges. They point out the horrifying absurdity of the idea of “collateral damage.” They fight against imperialism and work for justice nationally and internationally.
This is the citizenship that our nation needs at this juncture in our evolution. Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a gulf slicked with oil, pristine lands on the chopping block for drilling and mining, health care out of reach for nearly a third of our people, unions under siege by state governments and by corporations—our nation needs citizens concerned with national security, with the well-being of our nation. There is much work to be done, and it will take citizens, not soldiers, to do it.
So, yes, because high-quality early childhood education prepares children to be citizens, it is essential to national security. The investment should and must be a national priority.
107 Comments so far
Show AllRecently one of our public school elementaries had a day in which vets came and advocated military service to six through twelve year olds. Militarism is part of us--what other country celebrates vets with four or five holidays, license plates that broadcast wars drivers have fought in, and continuous storytelling about how the military "protects our freedoms"?
If those elementary schools had an ounce of integrity they would be counterbalancing those militant vets with visits and speeches to those kids given by the VVAW [Vietnam Veterans Against the War[, the IVAW [Iraq Veterans Against the War] and the Veterans for Peace. Counter recruitment is the key so these young kids do not end up being cannon fodder in order to justify the lies that they are given by their government just as I was told those many years ago in a place called Vietnam.
Erroll they should equally be counterbalancing those militant vets with visits of those kids to DOD hospitals such as Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Brooke Army Medical Center and various VA medical centers where they could visit with the veterans who suffer from serious combat related injuries including traumatic brain injury, post traumatic stress disorder and military sexual trauma such as rape that they suffered at the hands of fellow service members. They should also have visits by organizations such as the Disabled American Veterans.
Absolutely correct.
If elementary schools, middle schools, or high schools sponsor or provide access to military recruiters or Pentagon mindset opinion shapers by labeling it a form of early childhood education or career opportunity counseling, then any public school administrator or Board of Education should be required to provide equal access to citizen advocacy organizations like Veterans for Peace or Iraq Veterans Against the War. This is what real civics is all about. We don't need to quarrel needlessly over militarism as an illegitimate message or a legitimate lifestyle choice. The remedy is for schools to be absolutley certain students are exposed to both messages or to neither.
As a member of Vets for Peace, I've gone before a couple of local Board of Education meetings when high school career days opened the doors to the recruiters but not to peace advocacy groups. VFP makes available a colorful, graphically slick mini-history of US militarism patterned after the "People's History of the United States" tailored to counterbalance the Pentagon's messaging, geared to the 7th through 12th grade literacy level. The publication is entitled "Addicted to War." Part of the approach is to insure that if enlistment literature is left available in the guidance counseling office, so should copies of this free handout.
It is very hard for Board members, superintendants, principals, or teachers (even if they are very hawkish) to argue against equal access for veterans' groups and antiwar groups if they are openly confronted with the argument that either you present both sides of the militarism coin, or neither. How can an educator advocate censorship and subliminal messaging?
Bill from Saginaw
Photius
While that may sound like a good idea it could very well backfire. If they were, for example, to see a soldier who had one or more limbs blown off by a roadside bomb, and if they were to talk to that soldier about his injuries, it, unfortunately, would not be all that surprising if that maimed and crippled soldier, either in mind or in body, were to tell that impressionable young person that what they had suffered and endured was because of some nebulous noble cause and that they did not regret for one instant what had happened to them. Contrast that likely attitude with the scene in the film Sir! No Sir! where the male nurse, after describing how patients at a VA hospital who had returned from Vietnam would have to be spoon fed during their meals because they could not lift the spoon to their mouths and how they were unable to go to the bathroom by themselves, observed that not one of those veterans stated that what they had gone through over there was worth it.
To somewhat risk a generalization, it appears that the generation of today is much less likely to question authority than the generation that ended up in Vietnam. It appears that so many of those who are in the military today are so unwilling to believe that they put their lives and limbs and mind on the line for absolutely no justifiable reason whatsoever. What noble cause? What price glory? So few of these soldiers are willing to ask these basic questions which leads one to lament that so many of them are so quick to believe what they are told by their commanding officers and those in the mainstream media. It is regrettable that so many of them seem to have left their brains behind in the civilian world. If only they had the courage and the common sense to read War Is a Racket by former Marine Smedley Butler and War Is a Lie by David Swanson.
Erroll you make a good point. Perhaps it is the parents of these children that the generals wish to indoctrinate with misguided nationalism and militarism who should also visit the wounded in our DOD and VA health facilities. That might dissuade these parents from allowing their children to be brainwashed after they see the untold suffering that our government's policies has inflicted upon a generation of our youth.
DROS: See what I mean about "Mars rules."
"While the rockets red glare
The BOMBS bursting in air..."
Gee. Ain't that something to lay homage to. NOT!
Between the military programming, the celebration of martial heros in films, and the video games that simulate the FUN of using joysticks to slay foreign, anonymous "enemies," many children are becoming vulnerable to this conditioning.
When religion sides with war, and teaches equally young and vulnerable minds that it is "God's" will that they hate other (those of other nationalities, ethnicities, or practicing religions), the skids are yet more fully greased for war, and/or maintaining the U.S. make-war state.
Then there's the economic factor. No jobs and bills to pay. Better get Johnnie off to the military. Aren't THEY hiring?
Meanwhile, Gaia strikes back with karmic blowback every direction the eye can see.
Hey Siouxrose:
Have you seen The Onion Video, "Restoration Of 'Star Spangled Banner' Uncovers Horrifying New Verses"? Worth it for a moment of comment relief, however twisted.
http://www.theonion.com/video/restoration-of-star-spangled-banner-uncovers-horri,17691/
I bet all them there generals at Mission Readiness just LOVE Jesus. You know, the "Prince of Peace".
What if Code Pink had that kind access to kid's minds?
Jesus said: "Think not that I come to bring peace on earth, I come not to bring peace but a sword." Matthew 10:34, the only one of his prophecies that did come to pass. Would that it were only swords that were used by and kid soldiers of tomorrow.
The Pentagon funded video games of violence, warmongering, propaganda promoting war in conjunction with the Pentagon employees visiting schools to instill militarism mindlessness into the psyche of children is terrorizing and abusing children by the USG. The Pentagon funds the training of children soldiers in Africa, testing ground for how to train USAn children.
The undemocratic, Constitution-shredding militarization of our society must stop. The organization March, Mission: Readiness and its 'retired' generals are way out of line and should be reigned in. Children's educational, for the well-being of our democracy, needs to be free of the malign, undemocratic influence of the military-industrial-complex.
This quote from the group couldn't be more wrong. “high-quality early education is not only important for the children it benefits but also critical to ensuring our military’s long-term readiness. . . . Investing in high-quality early education is a matter of national security.” Wrong: quality early education is essential to the development of citizens who will participate in our democracy and ensure its survival....childhood education's purpose is not to develop clones who are subservient authority, especially undemocratic military authority that has repeatedly engaged in costly, deadly, undeclared 'wars'.
The eerie Mission: Readiness report is way out of line and is a real threat to our civilian controlled democracy...these quotes make my skin crawl. “Recruitment and retention challenges could return if America does not do a better job now of producing more young men and women qualified for service,” “We must ensure America’s national security by supporting interventions Illustration: Katherine Streeter
that will prepare young people for a life of military service and productive citizenship.”
Brainwashing to kill for the fascist amerikan empire starts early; all signs of how desperate the collapsing empire has become !
Great article. The statement “We must ensure America’s national security by supporting interventions that will prepare young people for a life of military service and productive citizenship.” is quite revealing. This is a proclamation of empire. It's always easy for warmongers and proponents of empire to justify the indoctrination of our youth with misguided notions of nationalism and militarism under the guise of ensuring the state's national security. Of course " The generals’ aim is to prepare low-income children to be soldiers, trained from their youngest years to follow directions and to comply with the strictures issued by the ranking authority." These low-income children represent a plentiful and renewable supply of canon fodder to support empire.
The National Security Act of 1947 created a national security state in America that has fostered this kind of thinking and is contributing to the downfall of this nation.
I wish I could remember who made the statement "When generals make mistakes it is the blood of others that is shed."
Photius, you again!
Here we are in complete agreement.
I’ve posted on this subject before, but here is the perfect forum. John Taylor Gatto spent a decade researching and writing on the origins of our public schools, and the result, The Underground History of American Education, is available free online at http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/chapters/index.htm
Gattos’s central thesis is that our system is adapted from the Prussian system, which perfected an education that produced the perfect soldier: easily subjugated, unimaginative, incapable of free thought. The robber barons Carnegie, Rockefeller, Ford, etc. enthusiastically pushed and paid for this form of education in forced schooling to create the perfect worker drone and consumer, knowing it would pay off handsomely. As we read endless arguments on how to tinker with our present system of education, it is worth reading Gatto’s more radical take on the issue: tinkering will not do it. You can reduce class sizes and add smart boards, but if the curriculum does not change, if the curriculum is still largely controlled by centralized governmental mandates, we still have a system designed to dumb down children and prepare them to comply with whatever their superiors tell them to do. This requires a stunting of the imagination, a curriculum with no room for thoughtful analysis--something that, despite our distorted perception of the young, children are brilliant at.
“We must ensure America’s national security by supporting interventions that will prepare young people for a life of military service and productive citizenship.” Yes, the low-income, at-risk children are certainly in need of being better formed in their most tender, plastic years to obey the skill-and-drill curriculum that will enable them to grow up to be fine soldiers. Maybe if the police in my fair city, Cleveland, would stop invading their homes and pointing their guns at them while they’re still young children, maybe if so many of their parents weren’t in prison for drug crimes and crushed by poverty, maybe if their young lives were not so chaotic, they’d better be able to comply with the skill-and-drill, line up, sit down, shut up curriculum. Perhaps this vast pool of potential soldiers would be better formed if they didn’t have that countervailing system—the police state—telling them that there’s something very wrong with authority, something very wrong with compliance. Have these retired generals thought of that?
As for “productive citizenship,” I don’t think these retired generals are talking about the sort of citizenship Ann Pelo is. Citizenship for them more likely means blind patriotism, something that is impossible if you encourage critical and creative thinking.
If you possibly can, get your kids out of school. I've been trying to fly the idea of communities of parents sharing homeschooling responsibilities, but am not getting very far. Althought the parents decry the damage being done to their children, they can't imagine that they could do a better job themselves. If only they knew. I'll continue to try.
Hello Elizabeth. Excellent post. I told you in the other thread that I am not monolithic in my thought. I knew that we would share common ground on a number of issues. If you will excuse the expression, we are kindred "spirits".
Elizabeth, Just wanted to send you a word of encouragement on the homeschooling front. Check out the many yahoo groups if you haven't already. Some are really active and may lead you to families who are doing just what you described. We've found many and are doing it. Keep trying...
Photius, Erroll, Bill from Saginaw... ALL excellent posts! Bravo. You guys are a testament to the fact that Mars need not conquer every man's soul.
"These low-income children represent a plentiful and renewable supply of cannon fodder to support empire".
Precisely the intent of Chevron's ad campaign touting "Human Energy".
Disgusting, isn't it.
dbl
We already set the stage for military mentality with G.I. JOE, TV shows, " News" as FOX knows it, etc. That is all before the age of four years old. Schools have rank and file seating, churches have " Soldiers of the Cross ", and maybe worse of all our national anthem promotes war. Consider the build up to WWII with the depression, CCC programs and the " marketing " of war. Almost seems like it was a plan from all sides. These generals who want more early education for military training , are merely promoting extensions of themselves for they are products of this system. They see the goal as "defending' when in fact they are invading.
Bill Brown, Pine City, MN
You said it! Education for militarism, blood lust, and the excitement of the kill is already flooding the country, without some cheesy school program to sell it. No doubt the promoters of the cheesy school program stand to gain financially from it, but they are pikers compared to the entertainment industry -- the real educators of youth.
Is not our "esteemed" Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, fully onboard with this program of using schools as an instrument of military-readiness? Did he not promote ROTC programs in schools when he was CPS in Chicago? Surely we are ready by now to add "education" to the "military/industrial" (and media) complex that rules our country. And has he not promoted by federal policy and dollars a "race to the top" among schools competing with one another to see who can produce the purest form of standardized comprehensive testing of students that so militates against a "citizenship" education in the schools? No wonder military recruiters lick their chops at the prospect of a school system that generates robotic conformists rather than people with the capacity to question the patriotic duties they are called upon to perform. A perfect fit, actually, between the agendas of the military and educational bureacracies.
You will find here http://shop.scholastic.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=67243&langId=-1&storeId=10001&catalogId=10004
a book for 2nd and 3rd graders on PREDATOR drones!
I am speechless. Wow.
Next step in war readiness will be the big army mens' cloning of themselves, if they haven't already donated their cells to the process. By the time kids starting school now reach military age, the robot soldiers or nasty little war buggers that can kill unseen will no doubt be in use, and these well prepared for the task children can be used against their parents, neighbors, friends, etc.
What a wonderful world we live in. Isn't life grand?
Mission: Readiness - An incubator for imperialism.
likeitornot sez: " Fool's make fool's of themselves and continuing the cant of failed prejudices, failed policies and failed ideology is the mark of a fool."
Tha't woul'd explai'n wh'y yo'u continu'e t'o pos't.
Touche'.
Bill from Saginaw
Very funny. Please, likeitornot, at least learn how to use an apostrophe. It's not that hard (hint: plurals don't use them). Try a search containing the words OWL, Purdue, and apostrophes. Then we can laugh at your actual ideas rather than concentrating on your technical incompetence.
likeitornot, "without national security you have no well being as a nation." So who is going to invade us? Mexico? Canada? Maybe some Islamic Caliphate? National Security is code for Imperialism. The biggest threat to our national security are crime syndicates masquerading as politicians, industrialists, bankers, and,yes, generals, among others. They swear no allegiance and recognize no borders.
"Let's remove them from your neighborhood." Remove who? I don't have any soldiers in my neighborhood. Not yet, anyway. There is a difference between my local county law enforcement and Xe, or Strike Force Delta.
Poverty has as much to do with prejudice and distribution of wealth as it does with education. We use violence, fear and prisons to protect the rich from the poor. Education in the USA, like most everything else, is a for profit enterprise designed to keep you in debt and in line.
Wave the flag, sing the anthem, recite the pledge, support the troops, tithe on Sunday, get on your knees and pray. Failed ideologies, you say. We support our "failed ideologies", like we support international terrorism' and if you don't , you are a terrorist, by golly.
"Fools make fools of themselves." They move to DC after being elected by fools.
Phili, Phoenix, Elizabeth H: Great posts, all! Glad to see so many intelligent comments on this thread. Bravo!
There was a "Young Marines" recruitment poster in the reception office at my kids school, naturally located in low income neighborhood.
"Young Marines" recruits kids as young as 8.
http://dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/innocent-flesh%E2%80%94recruiting-kids-to-kill-2/
Sick.
....Post-Constitutional America
P-Con,
Try contacting Vets for Peace or your local antiwar group. Somehow, come up with a poster of equivalent size and graphic quality.
Go to the principal's office and demand that your poster go up alongside that of the JarheadJungend, or that the Young Marines propaganda be taken down. If the principal blows you off, repeat process with the superintendant, then going on the agenda for the next Board of Ed meeting if the status quo is bureaucratically rubberstamped.
As a taxpayer and concerned citizen, you have every right to make these elected and nonelected public officials stop functioning as a propaganda arm of the Pentagon. Indirectly, your example will teach your 8th grader (and a bunch of other onlookers) a civics lesson ten times more powerful than all that glitzy bullshit about how the US Navy is a global force for good, even if (especially if?) they still blow you off and all you come away with is a short spot on the local TV news and an irate letter of support or two in the local paper.
Bill from Saginaw
likeitornot I am a decorated veteran who served 15 years in the United States Army with two combat tours. I disagree with your assertion "What these General's are really saying is that the men and women that decide to serve, for whatever the reason need a decent education."
The national security state that we created in 1947 has done little to provide for the well being of this nation. It has foster roguery around the world overthrowing democratically elected foreign governments and suborning civil liberties within this very nation. I refer you to Pulitzer-Prize-winner Tim Weiner's monumental work titled "Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA". Weiner catalogs the multiple failures of the CIA that was created under the Nation Security Act of 1947 that have actually jeopardized this nation's security.
As opposed to proselytizing children of lower socio-economic status to support their goals of empire, the generals could be advocating for compulsory military service in the armed forces, or they could be advocating for an equitable military draft that would allow them to have access to the kids who have the fortune of having parents who can afford to purchase decent educations for them. As you said, the latter children seldom serve in the military. True national defense should be a burdened share by all able bodied citizens.
Your wrote: "Without National security you have no well being of the Nation. It's like cop's. Don't like em? Let's remove them from your neighborhood or city and see how you enjoy being free of "suppression"
I don't know what community you live in, but where I live, I would actually like to see a reduction in law enforcement officers. Law enforcement is one of the most corrupt institutions that exists in this nation. I live in Texas. We have a veritable police state in which people live in fear of law enforcement officers. My state leads the nation consistently in the number of executions that are performed. The State of Texas has in fact executed innocent men within the last decade. These executions have in fact been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States. My state leads the nation in the number of cases of individuals who have been wrongly convicted of crimes and have subsequently been exonerated due to the heroic efforts of individuals working with organizations such as the Innocence Project. Many of these people who were wrongly convicted were convicted of capital crimes and were on Texas' death row. Many of these individuals that were wrongly convicted served as many as 30 years. A substantial number of the cases resulted from not only mistaken eyewitness testimony but actual incompetence on the part of law enforcement and prosecutorial misconduct such as the withholding of exculpatory evidence. Most of those who were wrongly convicted come from that same demographic population that the generals wish to proselytize. Our national security state mentality has also lead to a militarization of many branches of law enforcement that has done nothing to promote the safety of our communities but simply lead to an erosion of our civil liberties
PHOTIUS: Few phenomena are more respected by the angelic kingdoms than witnessing what once had been a warrior transformed into a truly enlightened man. On behalf of the unseen realms, may I extend gratitude.
Bill from Sag: Great Civics lesson (and practical advice), indeed.
Siouxrose I am far from being an enlightened being. I try to follow the path of the bodhisattva putting the welfare of others before my own. I thank you for your kind comments.
dbl
Another good post, Photius. I'm in agreement about the true purpose of much of our CIA. And the cops! Well, our military has been preying on citizens over there, and it was only a matter of time before the chickens came home to roost. So we are of kindred mind in many areas, although I love a good debate where we aren't.
Yes, in some ways compulsary military service might make the populace finally sit down and think about whether they want their Johny shipped off, and even what is actually going down over there, but I don't think the idea will ever fly. It would be hugely unpopular, and the Pentagon doesn't need it. Better to keep working on the poor, a huge and growing resevoir of largely untapped potential for volunteer service. Come to think of it, if I were master of the universe, I'd see all those drug charges as an opportunity: what do you want, three years in prison or off to Afghanistan? After all, the veterans I know tell me Afghanistan is all about poppy trade anyway, and these kids have experience!
"compulsary military service...would be hugely unpopular"
and highly illegal.
reference the 13th Amendment.
the phrase is 'involuntary servitude.'
(how many times do I need to point this out?)
Yes, I know. But that's just a piece of paper, remember?
Considering the fiscal crisis that has been imposed on public education by those seeking to destroy it, I'm not sure we should be rejecting this initiative just because of the source.
" We call on all policymakers to ensure America’s national security by supporting interventions that will prepare young people for a life of military service and productive citizenship; this includes fully funding early childhood education programs, improving graduation rates, supporting families in ways that improve parenting skills and reduce child abuse, improving child health, mental health and nutrition services, and helping troubled kids get back on track."
http://www.missionreadiness.org/about_us.html
I have a problem with this comment, Denruter:
"You know this appeal to militarism has been around forever. What we see now is nothing new."
It carries the same subliminal subtext as those who say there have always been tornadoes, or that the elites in America have always disrespected every democratic ideal.
By making a comment like your opening line, you essentially cloud the fact that there is a definite UPTICK with respect to what's going on.
Militarism is a fabric of American life, one made worse since Eisenhower watched the power plays following World War II. With so much money to be made from the rebuilding of Europe, the seeds of Disaster Capitalism were planted.
What we didn't have before, and certainly not to the present extent were:
1. Legions of nuclear weapons
2. Legions of mercenary troops who answer to NO sovereign government. (For God's sake, these are professional killers for hire!)
3. Legions of other well-armed nations
4. A world where poverty rates are growing as fast as millionaires are finding ways to purchase politicians (and related policies)
5. Drone warfare, which makes murder all the easier
6. A lack of checks and balances within the 3 branches of our government
7. An acceptance of torture as PART of the protocols of war
8. A Unitary executive who can arrogate to himself, the license to kill
9. A completely captured press that seldom to never presents the truth about empire's ambitions and activities
10. A dangerous conflating of militarism with patriotism to the point where conscientious objectors are being portrayed as potential domestic terrorists!
Just as the climate change deniers on C.D. try to say there have always been earthquakes (but shy away from the EVIDENCE of enhanced frequency and intensity coupled with such recent events), to suggest that war has always been with us, masks the evidence of how much war has been further embedded into the Homeland Security State's apparatus during recent years.
This form of moral relativism, and/or painting with exceedingly wide brush strokes covers up more than it reveals. Thus it hardly does Truth justice. I find that slippery...
The comments in your 2nd paragraph are enough to make me not bother with a response here at all. Anyone who still plays the "prove it to me card" given the length and breadth of climate CHAOS deserves to have their head or bank account (given the possiblity they are paid to take this stance) examined.
As for what I do... I have been on the front lines of raising consciousness, mostly in an unpaid capacity for 30 plus years. Do not lecture me.
And your argument that we, like all nations, are enshrined in war is another one of your whitewash/painting with the broad brush stroke examples. How many nations have the record the U.S. does in the recent killing fields? How many dropped nuclear weapons? How many are the #1 arms salesman to a world that IS dangerous, thus virtually guaranteeing more spreading conflicts in which to sell yet more weapons.
Mars, and the premise of war, aggression and militarism, may belong to human nature, but it's mostly been reinforced by patriarchal governing bodies, particularly those that have wedded state power with religion! See any female Popes lately? How about percentage of presidents or prime ministers around this green-blue earth? Or do you think men speak FOR women, and that that is a given?
Militarism is THE disease that results when everything is taken, reinforced, and expressed through the MASCULINE side of sentience, or collective perception.
I am not going to extrapolate on that theme now. I have done so on countless previous occasions. If you don't see that factor at work, or if you've, like so many men, just bypassed "the whole feminism" thing as some leisurely outlet for well to do women, then you're missing one of the key factors that has led the world both to militarism, and the cusp of the abyss (where humanity's been led).
Elizabeth H: I will make note of the reference you suggested. I still use dial-up so it takes forever to download those types of things. When I travel and have access to an open Internet, I'll check it out. Thank you.
Denruter,
My thanks to you. I stopped commenting on this thread partly because of the sniping and bullshit from SR. All of her Mars nonsense and complete intolerance to opposing points of view.
She is full of crap and needs to stick to Tarot cards and astrology readings...
I concur with you Denruter. It is hard to reason with those who's minds have been enslaved by religion and superstition. These people who otherwise act rationally and rightly demand evidence if someone were to make an extraordinary claim such as "the moon is made of cheese" are willing to accept religious and superstitious propositions in the absence of evidence. They accept religious and superstitious propositions on faith. That is irrational. In another thread I faced vicious assaults because I challenged a number of commentators' assertions of the existence of a reality beyond matter. I cited extensive evidence that modern science provides no evidence to support the existence of spirit, soul, Qi, efficacy of intercessory prayer; psychic phenomena such as ESP, telekinesis, or any world beyond matter.
Entities such as gods, demons, souls, spirit, heaven, hell, and purgatory are metaphysical and cannot be sensed. Statements affirming the existence of these metaphysical entities are not true or false but "nonsense" in a very literal way. In fact, you cannot even imaging the kinds of experiences that would verify such entities. Yet when those who make these positive assertions are asked to provide empirical and reproducible evidence to substantiate their truth claims they can't and typically respond with arguments full of logical fallacies. It is then we who have demanded evidence who end up being castigated and accused of lacking critical thinking and often become victims of ad hominem assaults. Albert Einstein said famously, "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." Few have uttered wiser words.
As I wrote in another thread, rational critical thinking is hard work. It is often uncomfortable, and sometimes it leads one into unexpected directions. The philosopher Bertrand Russell famously remarked, "Many people would rather die than think; if fact most do." Russell was correct.
"And why should not those with this B.S. not be called to task for their nonsense?"
-- Yes, those that spout out nonsense should be called out. So, why have you not answered GwNorth, me and Siouxrose when we called you out about the nonsensical statement you made... "militarism is a fabric of all nations." ??? And, yes, Siouxrose did mention this (among a few other relevant non-astrology points) but you chose to degrade her instead. Why is that?
Rose may be a great writer and thinker but she gets into the habit of talking with her head up her ass when insulting other people. While we fight here, they're winning the war on brainwashing children into military education.
"Rose may be a great writer and thinker but she gets into the habit of talking with her head up her ass when insulting other people."
-- Umm, great. Thanks for sharing your opinion about somebody's personal character. But that was not the reason I made a comment to Denruter and NOT YOU.
"While we fight here, they're winning the war on brainwashing children into military education."
-- I am not fighting here... I simply asked Denruter a question about why s/he chooses to ignore being called out for writing nonsense, while at the same time attacking another for doing exactly what s/he is doing. Can you understand that? Or would you prefer to sidetrack the issue I brought up by blathering on about your opinions of somebody's personal character.
I don't want to rain on your parade but it was a fact. Did you think I was too dumb to overlook who's writing nonsense? Den and SR both fucked up, fair enough? I'm out of here. CD isn't worth wasting time on. Bye.