It takes a village...

The Simpsons - It Takes A Village has been added as a related post - related requested by PlayhousePals on that post.

The Simpsons - It Takes A Village has been added as a related post - related requested by PlayhousePals on that post.

They say it takes a village to raise a child. Texas is one heck of a village.


(Also, where the hell are her parents???)

>> ^possom:

Similar to http://goooh.com/ that has been around for awhile, only they are focused on Congress, which imo, we need to tackle first.


While you ARE right. IMO what really needs to be tackled is the perception that the President can turn the country on a dime. FAR too many people, left and right, have this perception that The President will either fix everything, or ruin everything.

We're seeing this right now, Bachmann is playing the "OMG Gas prices are so high purely because of Obama, I'll bring them back down again" It's a joke, Obama can't control these things, nor could Bachmann bring them down singlehandedly.

I see this every election. When Bush was elected, everyone was panicked that Roe v. Wade was going to get overturned. When Obama got elected, people panicked about guns. It's fucking ridiculous.

It takes a village. And Congress is the biggest part of that village. The problem is, most people still think it's all about the President...It's not.

>> ^draak13:

People make stupid comments all the time. Whether or not it was intended, this thread was essentially trolled off-topic with enormous rants about religion vs. atheism. Instead of going on forever about it, why not pay as much attention to it as it deserves? Immediately after the religious posting, Enoch magnificently addressed and concluded that religion doesn't consistently shape behavior nearly as much as good parenting in just 1 post. Of course the religious faction is going to reply back; their religion is a strong component of their identity. Just don't mind it and continue the thread forward.
If it's possible to salvage this thread at all, we were actually talking about how behavioral shaping comes most strongly in 2 forms revealed so far:
1) Mass showing of materials which help instill understanding of people who are very different from normal in some way, with sincere discussion (such as dealing with bullying the gay or mentally retarded individuals)
2) Parenting, to ensure that children hold strong values about understanding each other and treating each other well.
Are there any other interesting ideas to add to the list? Also, point 2 is huge; how do you get more parents to parent better?


I think 2) is in fact overrated. Most of a child's development nowadays comes from social interactions at school and in their neighborhood. Judith Harris expounded on this in her book, The Nurture Assumption. Parents have the most impact on their child's early development, before they can socialize on their own. In that small period of time, you can develop a child's intellectual potential, but the moral character, if not already determined or strongly limited by genetics, will be molded by future social interactions. Of course, parents are included in these social interactions, but their influence will be much diluted, especially compared to the school authority figures, the real authority in a school kid's life (they can make life miserable for them both at school and at home, by telling the parents).

So, as the saying goes in Africa, it takes a village to raise a child. Again, something known in the time of the ancient Greeks. Even Plato admitted this, although he tried to bring religion in, hence why he wasn't taken seriously. In this perspective, 1) should be an integral part of society's behavior at large, not just in videos. Although of course videos can have a pregnant effect on a child's mind and act as a surrogate to real life examples. The problem arises when those children are let go after school: they see that real life is not like the videos. They can then try to change the real world, become apathetic or worse, become cynical. And this is what is wrong with preaching: the hypocrisy of the "do as I say not as I do".

To prevent this, you have to teach intellectual self-defense at the same time as the reasons why behavior as shown in the videos is more desirable than behavior seen in real life. This would be hard for even philosophers to do, not to mention underpaid elementary school teachers. In our philosophy department here, there is a minor in "philosophy of children". It has nothing to do with describing the essence of children, but more with how to talk about philosophy with children: how to approach concepts in general and how to touch difficult subject matters. Still, the goal is not for the philosopher to teach children about moral/ethics, but to teach how to think about such things.

So, as a parent be a good role model and teach your child how to fish (think) instead of just giving him fish (preaching). For example, instead of trying to always be the best you can be around your child, be yourself. And when you fail to uphold a principle or whatever, instead of giving excuses be frank and explain why people sometimes fail even if they start with the best of intentions. The important thing is not that you be the best today, but that you be better tomorrow.

Also, never think you can shield your child from anything. Better it be you that show him the ugly things than he finds out by himself or through friends/society. That way you can explain and answer his questions. So: sex, drugs, violence and death education at a very young age repeated at various times to ingrain the facts (not the moral preaching). No need to be hands-on of course! Don't want you all to go rape and kill your children or something.

This is as much as you can do, I think, to "protect" or "arm" your children against society's more nefarious influences without resorting to indoctrination or physical confinement (although these last two options sound more like blinding and amputating than protecting really). If all children were educated like this, we may not get a perfect society (the genes!), but at least it should be a better society and certainly a more honest and open one.

>> ^VoodooV:

I despise both parties but it just galls me how the myth is still being perpetrated that the dems, or even more outlandish, Obama himself is directly responsible for our situation.
He's just the poor schmuck responsible for cleaning up the mess and sure, I haven't been as impressed with him as I hoped I would be. But for Christ's sake, he's just one man. It takes a village. Even the most left wing nut doesn't believe Dubya was the man pulling the strings. If anything, HE was the puppet.
Left AND Right are responsible


I disagree.

Both Dem's and R's are responsible for the situation the Nation faces--but Dem's aren't that far left. Progressives are appalled by the actions of both parties. The Democratic Party bosses are in the pockets of big business as much as the R's are--but you are placing blame on ideological sides instead of on the political parties who are responsible.

I despise both parties but it just galls me how the myth is still being perpetrated that the dems, or even more outlandish, Obama himself is directly responsible for our situation.

He's just the poor schmuck responsible for cleaning up the mess and sure, I haven't been as impressed with him as I hoped I would be. But for Christ's sake, he's just one man. It takes a village. Even the most left wing nut doesn't believe Dubya was the man pulling the strings. If anything, HE was the puppet.

Left AND Right are responsible

might take a village to get this on the sift, but can we do it? yes we can.