The Year Of Medieval Thinking
Pro tip: only the uneducated thought that the Earth was flat in the Middle Ages. Wonder what future generations–should they so exist–will have to say about who the truly uneducated within today’s society are.
Pro tip: only the uneducated thought that the Earth was flat in the Middle Ages. Wonder what future generations–should they so exist–will have to say about who the truly uneducated within today’s society are.
The Article: Escape from Christian Fundamentalism – the Kids Who Flee Abusive, Isolated Christian Homes by Kathryn Joyce in AlterNet.
The Text: At 10 P.M.on a Sunday night in May, Lauren and John,* a young couple in the Washington, D.C., area, started an emergency 14-hour drive to the state where Lauren grew up in a strict fundamentalist household. Earlier that day, Laurenās younger sister, Jennifer, who had recently graduated from homeschooling high school, had called her in tears: āI need you to get me out of this place.ā The day, Jennifer said, had started with another fight with her parents, after she declined to sing hymns in church. Her slight speech impediment made her self-conscious about singing in public, but to her parents, her refusal to sing or recite scripture was more evidence that she wasnāt saved. It didnāt help that she was a vegan animal-rights enthusiast.
After the family returned home from church, Jenniferās parents discovered that she had recently been posting about animal rights on Facebook, which they had forbidden. They took away Jenniferās graduation presents and computer, she told Lauren. More disturbing, they said that if she didnāt eat meat for dinner sheād wake up to find one of the pets she babied gone.
To most people, it would have sounded like overreaction to innocuous forms of teenage rebellion. But Lauren, whoād cut ties with her family the previous year, knew it was more. The sisters grew up, with two brothers, in a family that was almost completely isolated, they say, held captive by their motherās extreme anxiety and explosive anger. āI was basically raised by someone with a mental disorder and told you have to obey her or Godās going to send you to hell,ā Lauren says. āHer anxiety disorder meant that she had to control every little thing, and homeschooling and her religious beliefs gave her the justification for it.ā
Liberal talk show host Chris Hayes asked conservative pundit Ben Domenech on when he decided that he would stop being lied to by conservative leadership. His response? It’s not just grassroots conservative organizations that GOP big wigs intentionally mislead–it’s each other. But isn’t this the nature of politics in general?
The Article: Europe’s Most Racist Christmas Tradition by Sophie McBain in The New Republic.
The Text: y mother is from Holland and so, like every Dutch child, I celebratedSinterklaas every year. According to Dutch tradition, Sinterklaas, or Saint Nicholas, arrives in the Netherlands from Spain each November for a visit that culminates in him delivering sweets and presents to well-behaved children on the night of 5 December. This year, Sinterklaas has sparked a debate so fierce that even the UN has become involved.
At the root of the controversy are Sinterklaasās helpers, called the Zwarte Pieten, or Black Petes. āAnd do you know why Zwarte Piet is black?ā I remember my grandma asking me. āItās because he comes down the chimney to bring you your presents.ā This is the story told to most children in Holland, but Zwarte Piet isnāt smeared with soot like Dick Van Dyke after a long day on set. His whole face is painted black and he has thick, painted-on lips, a black curly wig and thick gold hoop earrings.