Raising Racist Kids

[Jason Tandro]

Is that grounds for having your children removed?

I'll agree that it's bad... but that's just a slippery slope. Soon it will be: Oh, you're part of a religion that thinks homosexuality is a sin. You're raising your kids to be homophobes, so you don't have the right to have kids.

What about this?

And there was a video on Youtube about this sort of thing happening in Canada a few years back, but I can't find it.

[Freedan]

Raising your kids to think homosexuality is a sin is one thing. You're not teaching them to actively hate someone, just disagree with their lifestyle. Most religions teach 'love thy neighbour', and to tolerate even if you don't agree. It's not like you're teaching your kids to call gay people faggots.

Racism doesn't include any of that. They're teaching their kids to openly hate and degrade those they see as 'inferior'. And they're instilling it from an age where the child doesn't know better. That's a different situation, and not acceptable.

[Jason Tandro]

I agree with you, Freedan. But again, the problem with drawing a line is that a line is subject to change. There are homosexual activists (for instance) that would consider preaching against homosexuality in ANY capacity to be a "hate crime".

Is it right to stifle opinions, even ones the we find morally repugnant or idiotic?

[Freedan]

To me, the line where parents can instill their (sometimes bigoted) beliefs is crossed when they teach their kids that everyone who isn't a certain race is evil and should be killed.

Such a case happened here a few months ago. A man and woman sent their daughter to school with a swastika drawn on her, with the girl claiming black people should be killed. I have a hard time accepting that the school was wrong when they scrubbed the swastika off her.

[Miss Prime Blue]

Rasing your kids to hate others is wrong, but not illegal, unfortunately.

[psychokind]

there's no need to raise your children to hate, they'll find out who to hate sooner or later

[Jason Tandro]

@Freedan: That's the exact thing that got me on this conversation. And I think that telling the girl to scrub off the swastika is fine, but doing it themselves crosses a line with me. Not on the racism issue on the "teachers should never touch their students" issue. But that's a derailment waiting to happen so I'll leave it be.

Miss Prime Blue has it right here.

[EverPhoenix]

unfortunately it isnt illegal. thats the problem. and telling people they cant raise their kids the way they want to - even if they are instilling beliefs in the kids that are blatantly wrong from the perspective of any outsider - is going to result in backlash.

sometimes i think that society has evolved to benefit those who would seek to abuse it