I learned that a few months ago and I’ve been using it ever since. It is the simplest way most effective method of describing what culture actually is. The language, the recipes, the stories and the beliefs.
We… we have a lot to talk about in this regard.
Back in the old days, when were objectively and measurably awful in so many ways, we had a much more direct way of doing this. We just taught them kids what we knew and hit them if they did it badly. It worked. Sort of. We got better.
The problem is we don’t directly teach them our selves any more and, just like not hitting them, that’s probably not a bad thing.
Look, I talk about this a lot when I talk about my beliefs but, it’s really important to remember that most of what we know is, in some way shape or form wrong. So just perpetuating that isn’t always the best thing.
So, let’s talk about what we know.
Specifically, what do we know about the morality of teaching homosexuality in a public education sphere of influence?
First things first, the stigmatization of homosexuality is largely a cultural relic of a reasonably successful branch of beliefs known as Abrahamic Religions. The ban is associated with stories in regards to why the pastoral god of the Hebrew people refuted the practice.
This is a Thing We Teach Our Children. It was a culture that was actively writing down the things that separate them-selves from other Things We Tech Our Children. The cultures that were being separated and refuted were, at the time dominant Greek and Phoenician. The Greeks were very much OK with homosexuality and were a very powerful and dominant culture. The Phoenicians were OK with temple priestess sexuality, and the occasional human sacrifice wouldn’t ruffle their feathers too much either. From the whore of Babylon to the Golden Calf, the tale of Sodom and Gamora are all tales of what the Israelites weren’t. This is good cultural identity stuff… for a culture that’s THREE THOUSAND YEARS OLD.
We are not the Hebrew people living as pastoral herders in the hills of the Levant. We are a global race that has evolved global communications. We have ways of talking about our emotions and our spiritual needs that no longer require human sacrifice. We don’t need harsh tales to define our identities. If you want to hold onto your Abrahamic religion for a sense of purpose, please, by my guest. But the stigmatization of homosexuality, at this point, is bigoted. It just is.
It’s not amoral to love someone. It is amoral to hit them or to hurt them, but it’s not amoral to love them. In the same token, it’s actually not amoral to hate someone, providing you’re not hurting them in any way. You are allowed your emotions and your opinions. You’re not allowed to hurt people with them, even their feelings or esteem. With that said, I don’t recommend hate, it’s not a helpful emotion, but I will not tell anyone what to feel, as it’s not possible for anyone’s dictation to make a difference regardless. Heed this in both directions of love and hate and indeed in any emotion of someone else’s.
In the modern world, the problem is so many other people teach our children things. From beliefs to facts, to misinformation. So many others get the chance to influence those who are the very distilled essence of what many feel their purpose to be; their children. So pushback and wrestling for control of the narrative becomes a literal life and death proposition. It is after all, of cultural significance.
I’m not going to tell people what they should and shouldn’t teach their children. I don’t have any and I probably won’t, but they do make up the culture that I live in, so I will put forth that maybe we should be teaching them acceptance and tolerance if nothing else. After all, culture changes constantly and it has to. The lessons that today’s children learn are much different than the ones of the children of archaic Judea. They will be much, much different tomorrow too, of that I assure you.
It’s worth understanding the concept of a third culture kid, the children of immigrants and of expats. Those who identify with multiple cultures or none at all. It’s worth considering how to raise your own children out of your own culture. I say this as a child of an expat who’s married to the first generation of an immigrant. Two third culture kids from two different backgrounds, but are ideologically identical despite having drastically different beliefs.
Don’t hit your kids. And don’t assume the all things you’re teaching them are all one hundred percent correct, from your beliefs to your facts because those things change.
These are the things we should be teaching our kids.