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Some stories are just too good to pass up, and yet as time passes it’s hard to remember what you wanted to say and yet there is so much more things to say!
So here’s some brief information of articles that I found interesting. They’re taken across the spectrum of what we talk about here at MInTheGap. I’ll take a quote from the site and also talk about my opinion of what is being presented. We’ll do this as a new series as a way to get the latest on what I think on all these different matters.
Special Report Exposes America’s Forced Abortion Epidemic
One of the things that the pro-choice groups seem to want to trumpet is that abortion gives women choices. Well, in more and more cases, it’s taking away choices as women are forced into abortions in all different manners:
In Georgia, police arrested Rozelletta Blackshire after she allegedly forced her pregnant 16-year-old daughter to drink turpentine in an attempt to abort the pregnancy. The mother and two of the girl’s cousins were charged with criminal abortion after the teen told a school counselor her mother had forced her to drink turpentine. The teen is three months pregnant and the health effects of the turpentine on her and her unborn child are still unknown.
‘Ban Harry Potter or face more school shootings’
Mrs. Laura Mallory believes that the Harry potter books are getting children to like and be involved in witchcraft. She goes so far as to say that the books seek to indoctrinate children into witchcraft. She believes that children have a hard time separating fantasy from reality, and are acting out casting spells on people.
The school argues that it they were to take out all books with references to witches they would also have to take out “Macbeth” and “Cinderella.”
“[Harry Potter books are] not educationally suitable and have been shown to be harmful to some kids,” Mallory said.
She argued that teachers do not assign other religious books like the Bible as student reading.
Do big breasts lead to paradise? Colombia asks
Every weeknight millions of Colombians tune in to watch a smash television series about the indignities suffered by a teen-age girl willing to do anything to get her breasts enlarged.
Tired of being poor and going to school with no good jobs in sight after graduation, Catalina decides to do what her friends have done and get breast implants in order to snag a gangster boyfriend who can take care of her.
What she is willing to do to get the procedure done is what is attracting people to this twisted show. The star believes that if she has an overflowing bosom it will be her “passport to heaven,” so she does everything she can (including prostituting herself for money) to get the procedure done.
The real tragedy on that last one is that people want to tune into watch something like that! Give me a break…and I thought US TV was bad.
I like the problem you have…too many ideas (links)…this is a great idea for us, your readers!
Harry Potter has been shown to be harmful to some kids? That may be so, but the same could be argued for any book. They don’t seem to have any evidence that Harry Potter is particularly harmful. I can think of many worse books out there. Alan Garner’s “Elidor” has a seance, and his “Moon of Gomrath” has segments of a real spell.
Phillip Pullman’s books are blatantly atheistic, and in one series he portrays God as a frail old angel who is being manipulated and finally dies!
I could pick on plenty more. But ultimately attempts at book censorship are doomed always to be counter productive. I think it is better to read the books our children read, and discuss the ideas and where the author goes wrong.
I love the concept of reading these things and discussing them with our kids, what a great thing for family unity…to not just forbid something and drop the subject, but to explain your stance. I think though, to successfully do this, you’ve got to be this way early on. For instance, my girls know Harry Potter books are evil…that they celebrate witchcraft. They know that witchcraft is something people go to college to learn, that terrible things are done in the name of wicca, etc. They don’t want to touch HP books with a ten foot pole, because we’ve talked about it since they were 4 and 5 years old. I wouldn’t have brought it up that early, except that they heard about it at the library (on posters), or from acquaintances. When they’re old enough to learn and responsibly debate the HP books, then I have no problem with reading the first couple in the series WITH them and discussing it together. I’d need to be well versed in the subject before hand though, so personally, I hope my girls don’t want/need to take it this far.
We parents aren’t required to explain our reasons to our children, in fact, when we do this too much at too young of an age, it causes more problems than it helps. But as they grow older, reasoning things out really bonds you. Your children know they can trust your judgement, the same way you trusted their ability to understand and give them time to question.
However, I’d be irate if a grade school teacher assigned HP books to my child for reading. There are much better books that actually qualify as classic literature, and what a waste of time and intellect, imo, to assign pop fiction such as HP. I know they do it because it’s about the only way they can get some kids to read…
So, we homeschool. :O)
The real crime in the big boobs show is that in some cases, bigger boobs might actually get a woman further in life (of course it shouldn’t be that way but that is a reality in some cases).
🙁
Anthony
Journey Through Divorce
Mary, I agree we should start early. But in the course of raising our children we need to help them develop the tools for thinking and understanding issues that will stand them in good stead when they leave home. Thus I think it is important that we teach our children to read and hear things that we disagree with, in order that we can tell them (a) why we disagree with those things and (b) how they too could arrive at these conclusions.
We don’t homeschool, although our system is a little different from yours. However, I also would be unhappy if pop fiction were being proposed rather than some classics such as the Narnia series.
My sister’s daughter was given a reading list from her school which surprised me because it omitted Enid Blyton. What the school was interested in was vocabulary development in the books, and Enid Blyton apparently does not vary her vocabulary much.
Our priorities may differ though, and as I’m the one who takes the children to the library and bookshops, I can suggest titles to them. (My five year old is reading “Haffertee”, which is a Christian series about a hamster. She also read the first page of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – but she’s not quite ready for that yet!)
Regards,
Stephen
The fact that someone would do anything for a boob job is sad. However, even worse is that people find that entertaining. It really says something about our culture. We watch TV without our gurads up and don’t think critically because we are “relaxing”.