Every now and then I like to go to the FOX News and CNN websites to compare their news stories. It's quite amusing; the stark differences between their featured articles - and even moreso the titles and content of their articles - highlight the fact that virtually every news source is at least a little bit biased. FOX is, of course, more of a Republican-based organization, whereas CNN and MSNBC are more Democratic. I'm not a huge fan of any of them* but if I do feel the need to check one of them** I go to CNN more often than not, because hey, if I'm going to get the biased version of something, it may as well be the biased version that I'm more likely to agree with!
Anyhow, as I was persuing through the glorious bounty of FOXy news, I stumbled across this article. Sex and young children; what a wonderful opportunity for a story! No, really - put those two things together and you're bound to piss somebody off. Piss somebody off and they'll probably yell about it, which will cause more people to check out the story and thus visit your channel/website, which then generates more money for you! Who could pass it up?***
Look, there's even the bonus feature of the story involving Planned Parenthood and religion. Planned Parenthood is loathed/seen as the devil incarnate by a number of people, presumably because it promotes "safe sex," in part by making contraception available even to teenagers, and provides the opportunity for abortions. Could you get more controversial if you tried, FOX? (Okay, probably yes. But hush.) And then religion, well, I doubt I even need to explain why it's controversial. Like, if you don't know that religion is the subject of many a debate, then where the HELL have you been living? (Hahaha, Hell... get it? ...No? Okay.)
I suppose the topic of sex and sex-related things (body parts, babies, etc.) has always been, and will continue to be, controversial for a number of reasons. For chrissake, people can't even agree on when sex is "dirty"/"slutty"/"impure" and when it is "necessary"/"acceptable"/"a sign of love." Marriage? An ongoing relationship? Anytime it's between two adults? And what is it okay to teach in schools, and to which ages? Should high schoolers be taught how to use a condom? Should middle schoolers? Should kids in elementary school even know what sex is? Should young children be taught about child molesters so they speak up if something happens to them, or is that just polluting their minds?
I don't know the answers to any of those questions, and it's not the inherent annoyingness of FOX news or the stupid, pointless stories that are blown way out of proportion that made me frustrated enough to write this. It's the fact that the organization "Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum" was quoted, multiple times, in this article.
This may not strike a chord with anyone reading this. However, for a project for school, I stumbled across this very organization while I was researching.
They are the epitome of everything that is wrong in America's thinking. I mean, look at their website. Read what they say. It just makes me so legitimately angry. THESE are the people who are "poisoning" children's minds, not the schools. THESE are the people who create bigoted adults. It's not that the school system is always right - clearly they're not, or else public schools would be in better shape - but honestly, HOW do you expect school systems to improve if they're not allowed to test out new strategies (within reason)? How can schools improve if they have random "citizens" breathing down their necks and telling them that they're doing everything wrong?
For me, though, they're not just another fundamentalist grassroots group. "Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum" formed because of an argument that arose in MY county because of something that happened in MY school system.
Longish story short: a few years back (2006/2007ish), the Board of Education for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) decided, "ohai, maybe it would be a good idea to teach Health students about teh gays." Nothing offensive or racy, just a simple "hey, there are gay people in the world, they are very probably born that way, respect them, don't be a jerkface, thanks." I believe that actual lesson was something about respect and tolerance. I don't know how it is in other counties; in MCPS, you have to get a permission slip signed to be present for the "family life" unit of Health. No big deal; 99.9% of students' parents sign it and everybody's happy. To teach this lesson about gays, another permission slip would be sent home, and if you signed it, great; if not, that was fine too. I don't remember the exact number, but a clear majority (like 85% or higher) of parents were fine with the lesson. However, some of the more touchy parents (and a few non-parents, like what the fuck are you even doing it doesn't concern you) were all OOOOOOOH MY GOD YOU ARE INFECTING TEH KIDDEHZ MINDS YOU HORRIBLE HORRIBLE PEOPLE LET ME TAKE THIS TO THE SUPREME COURT OH WAIT THE SUPREME COURT DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT LET ME APPEAL THIS TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF MONTOMERY COUNTY (OR WHATEVER IT'S CALLED) INSTEAD!!!111~~!~! And thus the "Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum" was born. Meanwhile, the rest of Montgomery County was all lolwut. Predictably, the judge ruled in favor of MCPS and the lesson continued and is still being taught today. Contrary to popular belief, the children are not all dying from the impurity of it all.
It sucks that such an idiotic organization is from Montgomery County because it means that they are tangentially connected to me. Ew. I also feel a tiny bit guilty about their existence, like I should be responsible for containing them. It's one thing when you have the crazies running around one town, but once you hand them a megaphone, you've... well... you've screwed everyone over. (Thanks, FOX.) Actually, it's sort of funny/strange how these lovely people originated in MoCo**** because practically EVERYONE here is some version of a Democrat (because I don't know about you, but when I think of liberal, my mind jumps straight to Maryland...). Usually pretty moderate Democrats, yes, but the Republicans don't have any real political power. And yet thanks to these STUPID STUPID IDIOTS WHO GIVE CONSERVATISM A BAD NAME, the few people outside of Maryland who actually know of the "Citizens for a Responsible Curriculm" (I put their name in quotes because they are not ACTUALLY "for a responsible curriculum," as they claim) most likely think that MoCo is chillin' with the cows and possibly George W Bush. Which is true for part of the county. But not most.
God, I feel like this post seriously degraded in quality. Mais c'est la vie. RANTING IS FUN WHOOOO!
PS, I have been seriously jamming to DJ Earworm's United States of Pop 2009 (Blame it on the Pop) (fab title, yes?). I arrived at that party 2 months late (I'd heard about it before but was too lazy to actually look it up) and BOY AM I GLAD I ARRIVED AT ALL. So much better than most of those songs individually FO' SHIZ. (Some of them are catchy in that "you may look down on me for liking this but it is very very catchy indeed so shut up" way, but some are just WHY WAS THIS EVERY PRODUCED.)
* Because a) they are far too focused on "infotainment," as they say, i.e. spending a ridiculous amount of time talking about the deaths of celebrities as though wars and such are nonexistent and b) sources of news should be as unbiased as humanly possible; get a talkshow or something if you want to spout your political beliefs, but your news should be FAIR and BALANCED
** I usually check The Washington Post (either the physical newspaper or online) because I've grown up with it and developed a bit of an attachment and because I like to tell myself (possibly delusionally) that a newspaper is bound to have at least some integrity in it
*** Other than, you know, sane people
**** I really hate this abbreviation but I'm too lazy to keep writing out the full name
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