https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/04/children-are-not-property.html
"“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not
depart from it,” the Book of Proverbs says. To certain right-wing Christians,
the concept is simple: A child can be broken, or stamped into shape, much like
any domesticated animal. Though all parents hope they’ll pass their values onto
their children, for some that hope is more of a mandate. My own parents believe
that Proverbs is the word of God, and they believed, too, that a righteous
upbringing would produce an adult in their image. Who can blame them? The idea
that a child should replicate her parents does not belong only to conservative
Christianity or to religion at all. A proverb is common wisdom, and lately this
one is hard to escape. Authoritarianism is gospel to modern conservatives.
Nowhere is that clearer than in their assaults on children.
The “parental rights” movement is not new, but it is enjoying a resurgence.
Adherents say they’re protecting children from harm, broadly defined. After an
art teacher at a Florida charter school showed students a picture of
Michelangelo’s David, parental complaints forced out the principal. Members of
Moms for Liberty call for book bans across the country; books with LGBT content
are at special risk of removal. The architects of state bans on
gender-affirming care for minors say, falsely, that children are at risk from
predatory physicians and activists. A “gender cult” destroys families, claimed
conservative commentator Matt Walsh. “The child they held as a baby and raised
and gave their lives to and loved and still love becomes, suddenly,
unrecognizable,” he said. “I would rather be dead than have that happen to my
kids.” The real sin isn’t that trans youth will suffer but that the parental
grip might loosen."
Via Diane A.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
