The American right wing ordinarily loves it when youngsters are seen and not heard, but this week, the silence of youth is driving them absolutely bonkers.
Tomorrow is the National Day of Silence, and it has the reactionaries of the right gnashing their teeth in agony.
You see, the National Day of Silence is a day of protest being held in schools across America. Protest by uppity youngsters in general makes people on the Right mad as heck, but the subject of this protest gets them particularly riled up. The Day of Silence protests bullying against non-heterosexual students.
A protest against bullying? Oh my goodness, why, that’s, it’s, uh, well, compassionate, and humane, and in support of an orderly and safe educational environment. Dear me, but it actually makes a lot of sense.
In some places, like in Katy down in Texas, school authorities are trying to crack down on the anti-bullying movement. That’s weird, given that those same authorities are supposed to be the ones to prevent bullying themselves.
The Superintendent of schools in Katy, Texas wrote to teachers there, declaring that if they want to crack down on students engaged in the Day of Silence protests, that’s fine with him. “The degree of exposure and political posturing currently being generated is bringing more attention to this particular subject than is necessary,” he wrote.
The exposure given to the issue of bullying is larger than necessary? I wouldn’t want my kids going to a school in a district with a Superintendent with that kind of attitude.
Let’s not dismiss all of Texas as part of the pro-bullying crowd. In Dallas, Texas, over 20 community organizations are supporting the Day of Silence, and the mayor of Dallas wrote a proclamation in support of the Day of Silence. Good for him.
The Day of Silence isn’t promoting some kind of far out, extremist agenda. It isn’t declaring that everyone must like everyone else. It isn’t telling the children of right wing radicals that they have to become fond of their non-heterosexual classmates. It merely gives the message that, if you don’t like someone just because they’re not heterosexual, that’s not a good excuse to become violent or cruel.
Parents, teachers and school administrators who can’t understand the good sense in that message fail to understand the need for a community that gets along in spite of differences, and are not serving their children well by their examples.
———-
Related campaign gear:
- Don’t Tell Mama I’m A Lesbian lapel stickers
- If You Don’t Like Gays Then Don’t Sleep With Them t-shirt
- These Colors Don’t Run Either bumper sticker
People who oppose opposition to bullying? That’s a moral rot in our nation’s heartland right there, yep.
Um. This a good thing, but they could’ve picked a better time for it: I know at least two states (MA and ME) whose public schools are all on vacation this week.