T-shirt of Che wearing t-shirt of Che.
-PJ
Posted on 04/29/2010 6:07:41 AM PDT by Kaslin
I learned long ago that shopping with teenagers requires me to patronize places I would otherwise avoid. The combination of loud, thumpy music, unreasonably priced clothing with manufactured holes in the knees and overly perky salespeople reminds me it is good to be a grown-up.
Recently, however, owing to his incessant habit of rapid growth, my 15-year-old son needed new shoes. Thus, I found myself in the chain store Journeys, where one finds all manner of casual footwear, including styles even a mother can approve.
The Journeys store at my mall is well-managed and well-staffed. The salespeople are truly some of the friendliest, most attentive and most competent I've found in a store that caters to young shoppers.
Still, I can't look these guys in the face. This is because despite their pleasant demeanor, every member of the sales team is pierced and tattooed in the extreme. They even sport "gauged" ear lobes — piercings that stretch the lobe to resemble elephant ears.
So gross.
So I adopt a strategy I have dubbed "Product Scrutiny." Basically, I focus all my attention on the shoes under consideration as though I have never before bought footwear.
On our recent visit to Journeys, it happened they offered a freebie — a hat — for which we qualified by virtue of the size of our purchase. Two pairs of shoes, two packs of socks, tell the folks what they've won.
When the salesman shows us the free hat, I say, "Hmmm, I think the only time this style works is in the Cuban military or with a Che Guevara T-shirt."
My son nods in agreement as we both conclude the hat will go directly to the Halloween closet.
But my comment isn't lost on our salesguy, who offers cheerfully, "We have Che T-shirts!"
I say, "But he was a cold, brutal killer and the chief henchman for Fidel Castro. Why put him on a T-shirt?"
To which the young man responds, "Hey, viva la revolution. I dont like to live in the past."
I can't leave it at that, so I say, "Even in the present, he remains a heinous murderer. Being dead and all, he can't exactly rehabilitate himself."
Transaction complete, my son and I walk to the mall exit, and Jimmy listens to me rant about the magnitude of idiocy and ignorance that seems to permeate an entire generation.
How have we become a culture that thinks it is cool to wear T-shirts and caps glorifying a brutal mass murderer who helped to oppress a society with the scourge of communism? How have our young people adopted a philosophy as vapid and useless as "I don't like to live in the past"?
And what happens to a culture whose youth are so uninformed and uneducated?
Unfortunately, according to a recent study by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, we're going to find out. A few weeks ago it released the results of an annual survey of college freshman and seniors, in which 14,000 incoming and outgoing college students were given a 60-question civics test.
Half of the incoming freshmen failed the test, and worse, only 54 percent of graduating seniors passed. The schools that did the worst — that is, their graduating seniors actually scored worse than they did as freshmen — were among the nation's most elite schools.
Another important finding, though, is that four years of college influences students' opinions on a few popular yet polarizing issues: Abortion, gay marriage, prayer in schools, the divinity of the Bible and the opportunity to succeed in America. That the influence regarding these issues is resoundingly liberal is so obvious as to be a cliche.
So there's the answer to a couple of my questions. We're a culture whose young people think Che is cool because "The Communist Manifesto" is required reading for thousands of college freshmen, but not "The Federalist Papers" or even the U.S. Constitution. They've adopted a vapid "live for today" philosophy because they don't learn the history of our government or anyone else's.
What happens to such a culture?
Only time will tell.
"What are government schools charging parents? The fee to parents for our **price-fixed** government monopoly schools is tuition-free."
~~~~~~~
Most conservatives are not stupid enough to neglect the fact that they RIGHT NOW must pay school tax -- whether or not they have children in school.
I am elderly and retired; why is my property taxed to support public schools?
I repeat: TANSTAAFL!!!
You know it’s funny. To think that there was a time in America when the very words-”communist, fascist, nazi, etc...” were scary words. People had been taught that these were evil! Not anymore, I guess!
I don’t know if this is all over the USA or all over the world. However, there was a time when in UT, even on the jr. high level, they were teaching about the “Constitution”, Declaration of Independence” and the “Bill of Rights”. This was still being taught 20 yrs. ago when my own two girls were in junior high/high school.
They were even being taught in junior high about what communism was all about, and what was WRONG with it! We saw disturbing films about schoolchildren turning their parents and teachers and others in on the sly. This was something I never thought could happen here, but it has! Now maybe in many places, it still being taught and considered a bad thing. I sure hope so.
I told my teen-age nephew why I didn’t want Obama to win and he asked why. I said “Well, he’s a socialist that’s why!”. Then this boy asked “Why not, what’s wrong with that?”. I was so shocked, I didn’t know what to say! I thought most young people still were being taught that leftism (communism, socialism, whatnot) was awful; I guess not anymore! I don’t know where this boy got that from, but I’m starting to wonder!
I’ve noticed that many left-leaning gov. leaders are soooo anxious about labels and names. They get in a huff if anyone even suggests that they or the Pres. are called “Socialist, or Marxist”! They act all defensive or hurt that anyone would think that way, let alone call someone that! (Steny Hoyer, recently)
Yes indeed! And the USA SF’s who were also “around” at the time, or so I”ve heard.
In no way did I suggest that government schools were expense-free or tax-free. Therefore....It is impossible for me to defend a strawman argument of your creation.
When a parent shows up their socialist-funded, single payer, Prussian-model, prison-like, government school the tuition charged for admittance is tuition-free. Yes, it STINKS! What the government is doing is running a price-fixed cartel that puts private schools at a great disadvantage. If a private industry were to attempt this the CEOs would soon be in prison. But...Down on the “Animal Farm” government school bureaucrats live in the farmer's house. Private industry CEO are sentenced to prison.
If conservatives are going to have any hope of shutting down the government school system, then when the parent shows up at the conservative school, the price charged will need to be tuition-free, because that is the price charged to the parent.
As for tuition-free private schools, we have an important historical model: The Catholic Schools. Millions of Catholics are still alive who enjoyed ( and are very grateful for) a **tuition-free** PRIVATE education. And...If you will Google the words “ Wichita, Kansas, Catholic schools”, you will see we have a MODERN example of tuition-free schools TODAY!
I personally believe that if government had not put its great big hairy foot smack dab in the middle of the education market in the mid-1800s to early 1900s, that today we would have had tuition-free private K-12 schooling for all of our nation's children.
Americans are very very generous and committed to education. Proof is that we have colleges and universities today with endowments in the BILLIONS upon BILLIONS! If government had stayed out of K-12 education, we would have seen similar charitable funding of private K-12 schooling.
We also see ( from our experience with tuition-free Catholic schools) that education that is received through charity engenders a spirit of **gratitude** and a willingness to be charitable to others as well. Government on the other hand breeds feelings of entitlement.
As for”TANSTAAFL!!”, if it is meant to be an insult, sorry its sting in lost on me, since I haven't the foggiest notion as to what it means.
By the way...do you profit directly or indirectly from the government schools? Is this why you are attacking my post? ( Just wondering.) If you are a government school defender, I do NOT NOT NOT post for your benefit. I post for the benefit of conservatives with open minds. Thank you for another opportunity to do that.
You, on the other hand, have presented no even one point to refute anything that I have posted.
correct
T-shirt of Che wearing t-shirt of Che.
-PJ
"When a parent shows up their socialist-funded, single payer, Prussian-model, prison-like, government school the tuition charged for admittance is tuition-free".
~~~~~~~~
When I arrived at a public school with my kids, I had already paid their tuition (plus that of free-loaders) through my taxes. Their schooling was pre-paid (by me), not "tuition free".
If you are talking about the 'freeloaders' riding free on my taxes, then we are in agreement...
~~~~~~~~
What does your (redundant) "the tuition charged for admittance is tuition-free" mean?
When I arrived at a public school with my kids, I had already paid their tuition (plus that of free-loaders) through my taxes. Their schooling was pre-paid (by me), not “tuition free”.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If that is the case,( government school tuition is “pre-paid”) why are people with no children paying anything at all for government schools?
Why are people who have paid **more** than what it costs to educate 2.2 children ( the average birth rate of the typical American woman) why are they forced by the government to pay for government schools year after year until they die?
The point is that government schools are SOCIALISM! The government forces the neighbors to pay, and when the parent shows up at the government school he is NOT handed a bill!
Every day that a child attends a government school he learns to be comfortable with socialism . He learns that the government can take money from his neighbor to pay for a service his parents want for tuition-free! If the government can do that with schooling, why not a thousand other socialist wants and needs? ( Is a “duh” necessary?)
( I am beginning to think that you are NOT a conservative. You are instead a defender of our socialist-funded system of government schools. )
There. You have been 'educated'... '-)
~~~~~~~~
FWIW, while I was composing my previous comment, my fifth-grade granddaughter's (public school) teacher called to advise us that she (granddaughter) had scored 100% on math and 98% on reading on her TAKS (Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills) tests -- which, of course, earned her a "Commended" rating in both categories.
Unfortunately, we’ll all have to pay the price of their education.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Unfortunately, conservatives are doing little to SHUT our government socialist-funded and socialist-model system of schools.
Conservatives are doing little to set up alternatives.
The Marxists are busy demoralizing America and conservatives do almost nothing meaningful to counteract it but instead send their kids to government schools and stupidly think that socialist government schools can be reformed.
Government schools are SOCIALISM!! SOCIALISM CAN NOT BE REFORMED!!!
Spikka zie la Engrish?
If the government is providing that lunch it will cost many times more than what it should.
And... Congratulations to your grand daughter and her parents. She and her parents are doing a **GREAT** job of afterschooling!
If you know of a child who can read, write, and do arithmetic thank their **PARENTS** (and the child ) for doing a great job of afterschooling or homeschooling. The only thing a government school does is send home a curriculum for the parents and child to follow.
And..Yeah!...I thought I was dealing with a government school defender. Thank you for the multiple opportunities you have given me to get a few conservative ideas out to other conservatives.
That it does because classical (liberal arts) education is nearly dead, it is derided as a way to get an easy degree. It has been replaced by Marxist indoctrination so instead of an education students now get job training and indoctrination. Where does one go to find someone under forty who is actually educated as opposed to merely having diplomas? I don’t think I have met a young person in years who could pass the test to ENTER high school as it existed fifty years ago and I don’t mean dropouts I mean people who have university degrees. My stepson who is a computer science graduate knows MUCH less about history, civics, geography etc than I learned by fifth grade and the schools are much worse now than when he attended.
This has been done deliberately because people who know the history of collectivist government will not vote for it, you need ignorant dupes who have been taught to have self esteem rather than actual knowledge.
How can we hope to turn this tide when we have millions of voters who are too ignorant to see the truth and plans are underway to create millions more voters like this. Millions upon millions who can look at a wart hog from Chicago and see a pink Unicorn.
One better would be a picture of a Che-T-shirt-wearing Che laying in a hole in the ground,partially covered in dirt.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.