Land of the Free?

       

      Recently, there have been plenty of headlines about young children in Islamic waging war for their religion. In extreme cases, we hear about children as suicide bombers or foot soldiers. Palestinian children, especially, are taught from a young age that it is honorable to die in the war against the Israel. We hear these stories, most of them occuring halfway around the world, but we never consider that some people might be teaching their children these values in the United States.

        Click here to watch a documentary about an extreme southern religious camp, in which children are taught that it is "their time" to wage a war against the "new" America, and turn it back into a nation ruled through the teachings of the Bible. While this camp may not be as extreme as the ones in the Middle East, it still carries a one-sided message that only one religion is truly right. Is this against American values? Furthermore, is it wrong for a parent to teach the righteousness of only one religion, even though in America we are supposed to be able to chose whatever religion we want?

       This got me thinking even more about Doc 'Oc's blog post. He asks if it is the role of schools to teach "democratic values". Of course, it is against the constitution for a school to teach children one specific political spectrum, but isn't it also against the constitution to teach children to advocate for communism or fascism, two political doctrines that would contradict the constitution? Where do we draw the line between a child's right to learn impartial information and our duty as a country to continue our government as we know it?

Desperate Housewives in Saudi Arabia

Wikileaks has done it again! Wikileaks has released many damaging documents pertaining to war and foreign policy, but this time the document that I am most interested is about American television. An article you can read by clicking here says that Wikileaks recently leaked a document stating that America is using its television to persuade Saudi teenagers against waging Jihad against secular countries. Read this excerpt below:

"Reruns of shows like "Desperate Housewives" and "Friends" run uncensored on television in Saudi Arabia, giving the average Saudi a glimpse into American life and culture. And like many an American couch potato, these Saudi tube enthusiasts are fascinated by what they're seeing."

When I read this I began thinking about our civil liberties discussions in class. It is obviously not against the constitution to subliminally message teenagers from another country into sympathizing with America, but is it ethical or a violation of civil liberties? When reading this I was reminded of anti-communist TV and propaganda during the Cold War. I thought about how these situations were different, and came to the conclusion that the main difference was that one situation involves American citizens and one does not. Does our nationality as Americans influence us in our discussions of civil liberties?