Voluntary Censorship

I've oome to the conclusion it is not just the left that invented politically correct, in thinking about how people say 'polite people do not discuss politics or religion', I realized that Victorian England society was the first (that I know of) that dictated what was acceptable to speak of in public. Not that the left hasn't used this to their advantage lol. But social mores and taboos keep a lot of people from speaking their mind. In some ways, this may be good, but it does lend itself to being used to silence what we don't want people to know, and opens the door for the 'correct' viewpoint (sarcasm) to be the ONLY viewpoint talked about.

The human mind naturally SEEKS the truth. And there used to be a high standard for truth. It was not relevant to the situation. Many things can stand as opinion, but there are also many things, FACTS, that cannot and should not be altered to fit someones bias.

Just think of all the things people do not discuss. I can remember feeling angry at my family (who normally discussed EVERYTHIN) for not telling me about the SpSpanish Inquisiton, may have had something to do with my family being Catholic, but when I read Fox's Book of Martyrs, I was LIVID that I did not know about it before hand. lol

I am in complete agreement with you and Mr. Bryan.

yes, they are fed nonsense-- in Arizona, they spend weeks studying for the yearly AIMS testing-- to insure they are getting a "good" education. Of course those lost weeks are spent learning test taking skills and studying questions from previous AIMS tests, not learning. Heck, they don't even teach critical thinking in school anymore, even at some colleges. It's amazing, and horrifying, how the schools operate. My boys told me I never censored them-- but I taught them how to censor themselves. Both of them always had full access to all the information at my disposal, and it paid off-- not as much for the older, because he was raised by his father the idiot-- and was public schooled. But when he finally came to live with me, he started to catch up. He and I talk regularly on the phone, and my younger son calls regularly as well, so they still ask questions-- and get answers.

According to the kids, I allowed almost no TV that wasn't educational. I never censored ANYTHING-- but they had to be able to read it out loud to my face or show it to me, without shame, or it wasn't allowed in the house. My younger son Dillon and I were just talking on the phone, and I told him about this discussion-- and he told me about the one time he tested me out-- Apparently there was a rapper called Eminem-- and Dillon had earned some money, and bought the CD. I never gave an allowance, but I paid for chores done above and beyond those expected of a family member, and if I have to borrow from my kids, they get 10% simple interest, always. At any rate, Dillon bought the CD, and as with anything brought home, he was allowed to go through it personally first. When it came time to read the lyrics to me, however, he couldn't make it halfway through-- he was too embarrassed. So we discussed it, and he STILL couldn't read those things to me. I told him what my Gram told me-- don't allow anything in your life that you're not willing to stand on a street corner with, and share with everyone who walks by--man woman or child, for an entire day. I still follow that rule, and it hasn't steered me wrong yet. he took the CD back to the music store and re-sold it at half price-- so he paid with the embarrassment as well as losing half the money he had worked hard for. I asked him after I laughed about it with him if he had ever tested the rule again, and he told me he didn't dare. Both my boys had X Boxes, and Nintendo, and played violent games-- but not until they were teens and bought the systems themselves, in Dillon's case, and bought by Dad in Ryan's case. Dad the idiot had strict censorship-- and Ryan didn't do well in that department. When the other half compares the boys, he says Dillon turned out far better than Ryan-- but I apparently only had Ryan from birth to 9, then from 17 on--so 8 years got lost there. And having met the idiot-- I can see why Ryan has problems.

You were indeed a 'cool' mom. I wish there were more of you. PARENTS decide what is appropriate for their children. And parents decide what values and ethics to teach their children. I home schooled too, my son was 12 and when I tested him with the acheivement tests Illinois required he tested out at 12.9 grade level. My son with learning disabilities tested out two grade levels higher in language, and 12.9 in math than the public school said he had to meet to remain homeschooled. My other sons were at least one grade level and sometimes two ahead of their grade level, and my daughter, who never saw a public school was reading at age 3, second grade level. I exposed them to the truth, we read many books such as Orwell's and Tolkein's and Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago. We discussed anything and everything according to what they thought about and wanted to know. Now children are fed the party line and expected to only regurgitate the answers, and time is spent telling them what to think, rather than HOW to think.

Peer pressure and name calling are both very potent means by which people are kept from exchanging ideas and therefore finding truth within the exchange.