Right or wrong? School district removes religious holidays from its calenders

One of the largest school districts in Maryland voted unanimously (7-1)  to remove ALL holiday names from their calenders after the Muslim community sought a form of recognition of a holy day (see. Eid al-Adha). Of course, the students will still receive their time off from school for the christian and Jewish holiday. This is not a new move as several districts throughout the country have already removed religious words associated with breaks(e.g. winter break). 

It would be naive to say that there is not a percentage of the American population that holds a prejudice against Muslims given the misinformation and over-generalization by the media and government.  With that being said there has been a major uproar in the Maryland community, specifically the christian sector, concerning how the religion of Islam is being forced down their throats and their own beliefs being squandered.

It is important to realize that the Muslims who were looking for recognition of their holiday did not have the overthrow of other religions on their agenda. It was the districts decision to remove the Christian and Jewish nomenclature as opposed to just granting the Muslims the same rights that the other two religious sectors already had. It would seem that this is not a case of religious rights,but more so the fear and intolerance from a small group of people. 

Given that America was founded on the idea of having religious freedom it is logical that there should be an innate provision that all religions get some form of recognition.  There is just one monkey wrench of course- the separation of church and state.  Right of the bat it can be argued that there should NEVER have been any mention of a religious group within a schools jurisdiction. 

It is safe to say that this argument and clash between the religions will not be settled easily or quickly. Everyone has their own set of paradigms when it comes to these issues which will generate a lot of debate and conflicting views. Whats yours?

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Kids are pawns: ethics fall by waist side

          Kids are immensely powerful beings. They seem to have the unequivocal ability to bypass our fortified cognitive dissonance and b-line right to our emotional housing. Unfortunately, it is because of that fact that a lot of advertising agencies and brand companies have utilized their appeal as a means to attract attention and in some ways influence their target audience. No one is saying children involved in social issues or messages are an inherently unethical idea, but when is it crossing the line?

Was it unethical for the Democratic Party in 1964 to show the Daisy TV ad? How about using kids in the old cigarette commercials? These are the questions that have been raised especially with today’s surplus of media outlets.  A video created by the group FCKH8T in which little girls pay a 2 minute homage to vulgarity and profanity to spread the message of gender equality has started to go viral. Some things they say include “What the fuck?”, “I’m not some pretty fucking helpless princess in distress”, and “Women are paid 25% less than men, for the exact same fucking work.” Finally another girl adds, “I shouldn’t need a penis to get paid...Here’s a hot tip! Stop telling girls how to dress, and start teaching boys not to fucking rape.”

 At the end of the video two adult women condone the language and the use of these young ladies’ image. Next they blast society telling it to essentially get its moralities straight. Now kids say the darndest things, but I doubt these young ladies (ages 6-12) would ever be on the fabled show that was hosted by Bill Cosby. No one is going to argue that equal rights should be a staple point of our society but in this scenario do the ends justify the means?

 One of the needs of humankind is critical significance. The fastest way people or groups satisfy this need is through violence or fear. You see this all the time (whether physical or emotional) with dictatorships, abusive spouses, and fanatical groups due to their lack of “resourcefulness” (Robbins, A. 2009) This is not what we need- the significance generated crumbles overtime anyways. A better way people reach critical significance status is through connection and love. Some of the most profound social revolutionary changes occurred from public figures preaching not hate, not violence, not intimidation, but rather peaceful resistance, love, and kindness.  These people include MLK Jr, Gandhi, and Rosa Parks just to name a few.

 This strategy is typically the hardest to carry out, but the reward is much sweeter and the change that is generated sticks. Human progress is then raised to another level with compounding resilience against hate and intolerance. When there is a violent ambiance to a message, the meaning gets lost. People are not focused on the idea of improvement, but rather their own moral conundrum to the tactics used in the delivery of the message. This dissects the audience generating irrelevant debate. 

With the profanity video, not only does it further harm the already fanatical image of the feminist movement and by extension gender equality, but the young girls involved as well. It robs them of their innate innocence. Kids at their age cannot fully comprehend the words they say nor  the ramifications sometimes. By creating a condition in which this behavior is tolerated and empowering it can affect their ability to solve problems and voice opinions in a way that truly creates everlasting change.

          If you stand a certain way on a particular issue, know that it is not always the loudest that is heard. It is Compassion and integrity that resonates exponentially in both mind and spirit.

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