Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Conservative Snowflakes

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by

James A. Bacon
in

by James A. Bacon

Delicate snowflakes aren’t found only on college campuses. Some conservatives in Virginia, it seems, are just as prone to melting down and suppressing images and ideas they don’t like.

It appears that “multiple parents” have approached Patrick County Supervisor Denise Stirewalt with concerns about reading materials their children are being exposed to in school. What are we talking about? Inappropriate sexual content? Profanity? Suicide? Race war? Genocide? No, we’re talking about Norse mythology stories.

“One instance involved a third-grade student who was having nightmares as a result of a story he had read in class. The story was a single Student Reader, Unit 6, titled ‘Gods, Giants, and Dwarves,’” reports the Martinsville Bulletin. The story has been removed from the curriculum.

Good grief!

I don’t know for a fact that the parents who complained are politically or culturally conservative, but Patrick County is a very conservative and Christian community. And I don’t know how graphic the material was that the child found so disturbing. But with those caveats, I feel moved to issue a warning: conservatives, don’t adopt the pathological traits of the left! Don’t become snowflakes! Don’t coddle your children! Cultivate the virtues of courage, resilience, and determination.

I understand that fragility and victimhood have become the coin of the realm — victimhood confers a bizarre kind of authority today. But the benefits are transitory. Victimhood is the philosophy of losers. Adversity is part of life. The only way to thrive is to learn how to overcome hardships, which means coping with uncomfortable images and thoughts. Be strong. Teach your children to be strong.

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49 responses to “Conservative Snowflakes”

  1. Thomas Dixon Avatar
    Thomas Dixon

    We’ve been programmed to be weak, fat, and lazy.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      We?

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Frog?

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Rodent.

          1. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            That works.

  2. Lefty665 Avatar
    Lefty665

    All wusses please keep left.

  3. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    “Conservatives, don’t adopt the pathological traits of the left! Don’t become snowflakes! Don’t coddle your children! Cultivate the virtues of courage, resilience, and determination.”

    Why the Conservative penchant for telling others (even other Conservatives… sort of) how to raise their children…? Maybe concern yourself with your own…

  4. Eric the half a troll Avatar
    Eric the half a troll

    You know you run a blog that actively deletes any comment that might be viewed as mean, right? Conservative snowflakes indeed…

  5. CJBova Avatar
    CJBova

    I don’t disagree with the idea of not turning children into snowflakes, but I’m not sure there isn’t more to the situation. Here’s a link to the referenced unit. https://www.kyrene.org/cms/lib/AZ01001083/Centricity/Domain/3573/Gods%20Giants%20and%20Dwarfs%20Reader.pdf
    Without knowing more about the child, or what upset him so much, it’s hard to say if the parent was justified. I will say I had a classmate in 3rd grade who was killed by a ricochet from a handgun in a park, and I could see myself being upset by the death of Balder in the reader back then. There are other stories of betrayal and death that are told in such cold, abbreviated ways that they have no sense of myth about them and are extremely unpleasant to read.

    1. Nathan Avatar
      Nathan

      “I will say I had a classmate in 3rd grade who was killed by a ricochet from a handgun in a park, and I could see myself being upset by the death of Balder in the reader back then.”

      I have worked with thousands of youth at summer camps and 4H. One will occasionally work with a child who has had a traumatic experience with almost anything, including a swimming pool. This is normal and to be expected.

      In my view, the proper response is make appropriate accommodation for the child, children or class at issue. I wouldn’t ignore the issue, but I would try not to overreact either.

    2. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      I saw the movie The Fly (1958) at age 6. Spent weeks staring at the shadows in the corner of my room at night.

      That was just the first of the Saturday matinee Creature Features that traumatized my poor little butt.

      1. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        For me it was Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds.

        I spent a lot of time outside at that time and kept a watchful eye out for birds after seeing the movie.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          I can STILL see Suzanne Pleshette wedged between the wall and the bed with her eyes pecked out.

  6. Dick Hall-Sizemore Avatar
    Dick Hall-Sizemore

    The member of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors also voiced concern about other books that she thought were not appropriate for children that were available in libraries and read to students in schools. She failed to mention that those books were not in Patrick County schools and libraries. The Superintendent of Schools clarified that in an interview later.

    Apparently, the Supervisor was engaged in a little preemptive censoring. After all, she said, “Our children are so impressionable.”

    One of the books she mentioned specifically was “It’s Perfectly Normal.” by Robie Harris. Ms. Stirewalt, the Board member, told the newspaper she was concerned about the book “because of its references to sex organs and illustrations that ‘may violate obscenity laws.’”

    The subtitle of the book is “Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex, and Sexual Health”. It would be sort of difficult to discuss those subjects without referring to sex organs and having illustrations. It is recommended for ages 10 and up.

    Based on the sample pages Amazon provides, the book is a tasteful, frank discussion and description of sexual subjects. It is the kind of book that parents who are squeamish about talking about such things with kids should love. Just give the book to their kids and they can get out of having “the talk” with them. There is one aspect that may concern Ms. Stirewalt, however. While the book does not advocate promiscuous sex, it is realistic and does not advocate abstinence before marriage, either.

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      Do they hide the Sears catalog in that part of Virginia too?

    2. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      For what age/grade students do you think the book you mentioned is appropriate?

      I would not want to see the material it contains included in classwork in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade, but 5th? 6th? I don’t know.

      I’m not even saying such material should be banned for younger kids. After all, a determined kid is going to find it if he/she is looking for it, anyway.

      I am asking at what age/grade would you think it appropriate to make that book part of the school curriculum.

      1. Not Today Avatar
        Not Today

        Girls begin menstruating, on average, between 9 and 12 these days (3rd to 6th grade). They are capable of becoming pregnant, are sometimes impregnated by rapists at those ages, and too often infantilized. This is important, necessary, elementary information for girls. They cannot advocate for themselves, effectively identify and describe predation, or understand their bodily functions (including arousal, no different than helping boys understand nocturnal emissions) without this information. Every. Single. Woman. Whether she believes in/practices abstinence before marriage or not needs to know how her body works. AND SO DO MEN! So much of the idiocy in policy we see today is advocated by men and women who have no idea (information is withheld) how bodies actually work.

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          I don’t disagree with anything you wrote, but you did not answer my question.

          1. Not Today Avatar
            Not Today

            I thought I did. If a girl is old enough to menstruate, she’s old enough to read in a book about these perfectly normal bodily processes/functions/feelings. That includes elementary students. Shame-/fear-based education helps predators and punishes victims.

  7. Stephen Haner Avatar
    Stephen Haner

    The great Ambrose Bierce defined Christianity as the perfect religion for the moral improvement of your neighbor. Instruction in the Hebrew Pentateuch or in the Christian New Testament are both avoided in the public schools, and would quickly spark litigation, so I’m not sure I’m defending instruction in Norse, Greek or Roman mythology. Fair is fair. 🙂

    I’m more worried about whether the kids can read with comprehension at all, or do read something other than a screen, than I am about what they read. The library may exist and be never used. Plenty of parents freaked over the Harry Potter books! (Now I understand they are out of favor because the House Elves are viewed as slaves.)

    1. Nancy Naive Avatar
      Nancy Naive

      60 some years ago, my Jr. High offered a class in “Comparative Religion”. It was one semester of reading the Bible, and one semester for all the other religions.

      Clearly a smokescreen.

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        I wouldn’t be so sure. Christianity was and still is the largest religion in the United States. It seems reasonable to me that a religion class would cover the predominant religion of the society in which it is being taught in greater detail than other religions.

        1. Nancy Naive Avatar
          Nancy Naive

          Or, given it was Norfolk, which shutdown rather than integrate, it was a No Prayer in School get around.

          1. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            I’m not saying that’s not possible, or even likely, especially given the time-frame. I’m just saying there may be a less insidious explanation.

          2. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Yeah, but why go that route when there’s a deliciously nefarious possibility… red meat!

          3. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            How Machiavellian of you…

      2. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        It’s a part major part of our history and culture. That sounds like a beneficial class.

        When I went to the Middle East, I tried to become familiar with Islam, Judaism, and others to some degree. How else can one understand what is there, without taking the time to learn about the driving forces for much of its history? It also helps to avoid offending people.

    2. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      The great Ambrose Bierce defined Christianity as the perfect religion for the moral improvement of your neighbor.

      That’s a good one. I had not heard/read that particular aphorism by Mr. Bierce before.

    3. Nathan Avatar
      Nathan

      (Now I understand they are out of favor because the House Elves are viewed as slaves.)

      Actually, they are now out of favor because J.K. Rowling knows what a woman is.

      “A Complete Breakdown of the J.K. Rowling Transgender-Comments Controversy”

      https://www.glamour.com/story/a-complete-breakdown-of-the-jk-rowling-transgender-comments-controversy

    4. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      The great Ambrose Bierce defined Christianity as the perfect religion for the moral improvement of your neighbor.

      That’s a good one. I had not heard/read that particular aphorism by Mr. Bierce before.

    5. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      The great Ambrose Bierce defined Christianity as the perfect religion for the moral improvement of your neighbor.

      That’s a good one. I had not heard/read that particular aphorism by Mr. Bierce before.

  8. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Non-snowflake Virginia history. It was 50 years ago this year the Worrell brothers were talking smack in their bar in VB and one of them bet the other he could sail his Hobie 16 catamaran from VB to Miami nonstop. Moreover, if his brother wanted he could sail his catamaran with him, and he’d beat him there.

    No snowflakes they.

    Beowulf too?

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      It’s been my experience that people who sail boats in open waters, skydive, climb mountains, pilot small aircraft, race cars and/or motorcycles, or participate in other activities that have a high potential to put your life at risk are generally of the “non-snowflake” persuasion.

    2. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      It’s been my experience that people who sail boats in open waters, skydive, climb mountains, pilot small aircraft, race cars and/or motorcycles, or participate in other activities that have a high potential to put one’s life at risk are generally of the “non-snowflake” persuasion.

      1. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        There are still, within reach, records to break. The first solo nonstop circumnavigation of the Americans was done only within the decade.

        (Don’t tell Steve, but if not for global warming, the NW Passage may not have been there.)

        I wonder if anyone has tried a solo nonstop circumnavigation of Europe-Asia, and/or the Dark Continent?

    3. Nathan Avatar
      Nathan

      Beowulf gave me nightmares. Not the story. That’s fine. What caused me problems was Old English.

      1. WayneS Avatar
        WayneS

        Funny!

        I managed (barely) to slog my way through Sir Gawain and the Green Knight in Middle English my senior year of high school.

        Beowulf in Old English might just have caused my head to explode.

      2. Nancy Naive Avatar
        Nancy Naive

        wiðoutan gewand!

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          wiðoutan gewand

          I learned very little Old English, but I got “wiðoutan”(without) right away.

          Gewand had me stumped because in German, “gewand” mean ‘vestment’, ‘robe’, or even just ‘clothes’.

          I was pretty sure you were not spontaneously announcing that you were not wearing clothes, so I went ahead and looked it up in an Old English dictionary and found out it means ‘hesitation’ or ‘doubt’

          So, without a doubt, I have translated your comment.

          1. Nancy Naive Avatar
            Nancy Naive

            Ah, the internet! Such a tool! A fount of knowledge.

  9. Nathan Avatar
    Nathan

    “When Stirewalt talked with her district’s, Peters Creek, school board representative, Ryan Lawson, about the issue, the story was then removed from the curriculum in that third-grade class, she said.”

    Sounds to me like it was handled appropriately. So what’s the big deal? This is third grade. Not with you on this one Mr. Bacon.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/611408560ecd342fd37017e16923e80ac95a3b4d5995bb4b5f9878b596086464.jpg

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      Since I do not know what specific content the parent found objectionable, I am not willing to support its removal.

      I also don’t like the idea of a single complaint leading to removal of an item from the adopted curriculum for an entire class.

      Perhaps there was more than one complaint, but the quote you referenced implies otherwise.

      1. Nathan Avatar
        Nathan

        I read the linked article and it sounded to me like the book was removed from the curriculum for that class, but was most likely still available for students to read if they wanted to. That’s my take anyway. I don’t see this as a big deal.

        If I were in that class, I would have probably read that book on my own. I loved ancient myths and legends at that age. Norse, Native American, Greek, Roman, I liked it all.

        I also like comic books, and Thor was a favorite.

        1. WayneS Avatar
          WayneS

          …to me like the book was removed from the curriculum for that class, but was most likely still available for students to read if they wanted to.

          That’s good. I still think it unfair and unwise for schools to make curriculum changes for an entire class based on a single complaint. I’ve got no problem with having alternate materials and work for the child of a complaining parent.

          1. Nathan Avatar
            Nathan

            I have no problem treating third graders like children, mainly because they ARE children.

            A child who has nightmares about a story like that is probably sensitive in other ways too. If it’s one book, one time, for the entire year, I don’t think it’s a problem to avoid singling out that child. Just make a minor change to that one lesson, and you’ve probably gained a supporter out of that parent.

          2. WayneS Avatar
            WayneS

            That’s a good point.

  10. Nancy Naive Avatar
    Nancy Naive

    Hmmm, afraid of the future, clings to tradition and the past, unreceptive to new ideas and technology… snowflakes.

    Meh, give the kid a Bible and a gun. He’ll be fine.

    1. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      A kid could do worse – as long as he concentrates on the teachings of Jesus, doesn’t ask TV preachers to help him interpret what he is reading, and takes an NRA-approved firearms safety class before setting out on his own.

      😉

    2. WayneS Avatar
      WayneS

      It worked for Johnny Cash…

      And a kid could do worse – as long as he concentrates on the teachings of Jesus, doesn’t ask TV preachers to help him interpret what he is reading, and takes an NRA-approved firearms safety class before setting out on his own he should be okay.

      😉

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