Raising kids, raising awareness?
That's not political you may think, simplest job in the world really. Or not. After a certain age they start asking questions, partly because they have seen their mother have a fit while watching Fox News, partly because there are some references in TV shows/series that they just do not understand, partly because they overheard discussions.
Like why are Americans so obsessed with their job because of the medical benefits? Surely they get health care without a job? And why this outcry at a supermarket not paying health care for its workers? Why is the terror alert always elevated on FOX, even though nothing has happened in the last 4 1/2 years? Why do governments not care about global warming? How come people have to run around in those orange suits with bandages over their eyes? What is torture? Why do the torture people? How come people are locked up without going to court? Why are they building a big wall in Israel? How come the war on terror is not finished, normally wars in the schoolbooks are over fairly quickly? Whay are they arguing about spying on people? Can they really listen to my phone conversations? Why do they put all this colour and stuff in food? What does it do? Why are animals becoming extinct? Why do some shoes cost more even though they are all made in China?
No, they do not ask those questions everyday, but they do come up and it is sometimes hard to answer. Hard, becuase you want to give a concise short answer, while at the same time trying to get all the relevant facts in. The more complex our world has become, the harder it is to know, understand and explain all. It was definitely easier in Roman times. I do not think that all of us understand 100% of the background of what is currently going on in the world. Plus with so many forms of communication available to us today we are further inundated with excess information. Trying to find backgrounds on stories in the internet is time consuming and laborious, and you spend hours filtering out junk. Like stories about Brad and Angelina (who cares?).
You can, of course, take the easy option in keeping with our times, send them out of the room or tell them they are to young or that they would not understand. In grown up speak that would be a "no protest zone" (don't want to be confronted with this), or for security reasons or "not enough background information available to them". Sounds familiar? Our governments tell us that often enough when they do not want to discuss issues.
I see the problem in trying to explain facts and events to others, not necessarily just children, whom we are trying to persuade to become more involved or at least awake to what is going on around them as the length and volume of the information available. Unlike some news stations which pretend that all stories can be simplified, good or bad, and have a snappy slogan, reality is long, sometimes boring, history. If the information is too short it will tend to be more biased and extreme. So with lengthy stories we lose listeners/readers to boredom and apathy even as we try and rouse them. The challenge for everyone is the same as that of raising kids - finding a short succinct way of communicating information, hopefully arousing some curiosity to investigate further.
No, I am not criticizing anyone here, just thinking about some of the stories I have read today. Like Al Gore's speech on MLK day -- Not short, but good reading.
Like why are Americans so obsessed with their job because of the medical benefits? Surely they get health care without a job? And why this outcry at a supermarket not paying health care for its workers? Why is the terror alert always elevated on FOX, even though nothing has happened in the last 4 1/2 years? Why do governments not care about global warming? How come people have to run around in those orange suits with bandages over their eyes? What is torture? Why do the torture people? How come people are locked up without going to court? Why are they building a big wall in Israel? How come the war on terror is not finished, normally wars in the schoolbooks are over fairly quickly? Whay are they arguing about spying on people? Can they really listen to my phone conversations? Why do they put all this colour and stuff in food? What does it do? Why are animals becoming extinct? Why do some shoes cost more even though they are all made in China?
No, they do not ask those questions everyday, but they do come up and it is sometimes hard to answer. Hard, becuase you want to give a concise short answer, while at the same time trying to get all the relevant facts in. The more complex our world has become, the harder it is to know, understand and explain all. It was definitely easier in Roman times. I do not think that all of us understand 100% of the background of what is currently going on in the world. Plus with so many forms of communication available to us today we are further inundated with excess information. Trying to find backgrounds on stories in the internet is time consuming and laborious, and you spend hours filtering out junk. Like stories about Brad and Angelina (who cares?).
You can, of course, take the easy option in keeping with our times, send them out of the room or tell them they are to young or that they would not understand. In grown up speak that would be a "no protest zone" (don't want to be confronted with this), or for security reasons or "not enough background information available to them". Sounds familiar? Our governments tell us that often enough when they do not want to discuss issues.
I see the problem in trying to explain facts and events to others, not necessarily just children, whom we are trying to persuade to become more involved or at least awake to what is going on around them as the length and volume of the information available. Unlike some news stations which pretend that all stories can be simplified, good or bad, and have a snappy slogan, reality is long, sometimes boring, history. If the information is too short it will tend to be more biased and extreme. So with lengthy stories we lose listeners/readers to boredom and apathy even as we try and rouse them. The challenge for everyone is the same as that of raising kids - finding a short succinct way of communicating information, hopefully arousing some curiosity to investigate further.
No, I am not criticizing anyone here, just thinking about some of the stories I have read today. Like Al Gore's speech on MLK day -- Not short, but good reading.
Posted at 1/19/2006 06:16:00 PM UTC
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2 Comment(s):
Al Gore's speech certainly wasn't short reading, however I found time during my vacation to spend an hour reading it. In its essence it was a simple speech, yet it had enough in it to get people talking about it. I'm as curious about how people view Gore these days as anything. But that's the subject of another blog entry.
Blogging, to me, is all about education. I feel that when I blog about a given topic a number of times, looking at different angles on it, I have to educate myself. The intent of the effort is to educate others. Perhaps some that read what we write will choose to educate others themselves.
One has to believe that every big change begins with a small step. How we live our lives, and how those with children choose to guide those that will inherit what we make of things, has a bearing on the cosmic wheel we're all taking a ride on.
She's still young, so the questions are fairly limited. Our youngest was quite shocked by the TV pictures of the 11/9/2001 and kept on drawing it for a while. It was a BAD THING in his kids world (he was 5). But he found it just as hard to accept and understand how pictures of the war in Afghanistan were any better. Plus he just did not see how one must lead to the other. I am looking forward trying to explain how the death of just one person in 1918 led to World War one.
Kids understand retribution, as anyone with more than one kid or with siblings will acknowledge. What they do not understand is beating up the whole class, neighbouring classes and kids in another school ties into the retribution thing. After all, they are not allowed to beat up a child in another class just because they suspect he might have something he's not allowed to bring to school. Not even if he has the biggest sweet supplies in the neighbourhood. Hmm. sound like Iran and Iraq.....
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