What's with NEPA and racism/bigotry issues? (home, schools)

[Georgia to Northeast PA]

Originally Posted by CHS89

NO. THEY. DID. NOT. They might have, but it didn't matter to them if anyone else did. Religious affiliation in any form seriously had nothing at all to do with their basis for a democratic government.

How can you say that someone's expriences, culture and beliefs don't impact their decisions? Any decisions made to set up any government had to be impacted by religion.

[Slammin' Scrannin']

Originally Posted by greentown

If kids watch enough shows/videos and listen to enough music full of sexual depictions, they begin to think there is something wrong with them for not being cool and doing all the stuff they see on TV.

Yeah, that doesn't really make sense for me. I watched Tipper Gore and the "Parents Music Resource Center" say the same thing in the mid 1980's. She was wrong then as you are wrong today. One basic aspect of humanity is that we have sex and we like it. Most of us don't need the mass media to tell us this.

However, I'm not going to pretend the mass media has no effect on society. I'm aware of the small role the mass media plays in shaping cultural mores, gender roles, and things of that nature. For instance, if the mass media always portrays women in traditionally female-dominated occupations like housewife, teacher, social worker, or stripper (hey how'd that last one slip in here? ), then I think that does play a small role in shaping young women's career expectations. How much? Probably not a lot.

It comes down to what I said before about fellow parents feeling awkward and embarrassed about sex. And also, let's face it, sex on television is stimulating. Phoebe Cates getting out of the pool in Fast Times at Ridgemont High? Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct? Hell, Scarlett Johannson anytime/where/place? No sense denying that the feeling is pretty natural, and your teens are feeling it too. There is nothing wrong with that.

Originally Posted by greentown

There is nothing ridiculous about "things like abstinence". It's the only surefire way to prevent unwanted pregnancy, AIDS, and STD's. If some of the adults tried it, there wouldn't be millions of aborted babies and millions of dollars used to fight a disease that could be prevented.

Abstinence is no laughing matter; you're certainly right about that. But my point is that sex education that deals with abstinence only is proven harmful. We know this from study after study about rates of teen pregnancy, std transmission, frequency of sexual contact, etc. Sex education curriculum is primarily a matter of public policy that should help reduce each of those measures.

[CHS89]

Originally Posted by Georgia to Northeast PA

How can you say that someone's expriences, culture and beliefs don't impact their decisions? Any decisions made to set up any government had to be impacted by religion.

Because this country was founded on the principles of democracy, not the dogma of any organized religion. Do some of the basic tenets overlap? Absolutely. That doesn't mean that either one was the basis for the other. The decision to be self governed rather than ruled by an overseas monarchy quite simply was not a religious one.

[NYRangers 2008]

Originally Posted by Philly Stress

Anyone whose is a Lenny Kravitz fan can't be a realist.


Kravitz= Wannabe Hendrix

RIP Mike Jackson

You missed the point. I disliked Michael Jackson not because of race, because I don't like that genre of music. I think Lenny is way more talented than MJ, he just didn't sell as many records. I like Lenny's music, not the fact that he's black. People like Sharpton and Jesse Jackson want to twist everything around and call you a racist if you happen to dislike or disagree with a black person. Apparently MJ didn't want to be black either. Changing his whole face, bleaching his skin, marrying white woman and having white kids. And to say he broke the color barrier in music is false. There were artists way before him that were black like James Brown, Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder that appealed to many white people. MJ is an overrated freak in my opinion and is getting way to much media coverage just because he is dead now.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by Georgia to Northeast PA

How can you say that someone's expriences, culture and beliefs don't impact their decisions? Any decisions made to set up any government had to be impacted by religion.

No. Some people have the ability to seperate their personal religious convictions from making laws that affect everyone.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by Love2Golf09

honestly, i'm not sure what else to say. if people don't have any pride in NEPA anymore, what can I do? I see people saying how much the place sucks, how "backwards" everyone and everything is...and nobody says anything.

I was "saying something" for quite some time on this forum about the relatively good quality-of-life here but finally told myself for the sake of my own sanity I HAD to relocate out of NEPA away from the sour grapes/"my life sucks" mentality that is so pervasive in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with very little to counterbalance it. It's just downright terrible! People like NY Rangers 2008, weluvpa, Go Phillies, etc., etc. with their constant "the ship is sinking/the sky is falling" talk are the typical sorts of Scranton Metro residents I associated myself with, and moving to NoVA has been a breath of fresh air because while the quality-of-life here sucks on a national scale (over-inflated housing prices, traffic congestion, disgusting urban sprawl, elitism galore, etc.) people are always looking for a silver lining and trying to hope for a better tomorrow. That encourages me. In NEPA people had the mindset of "it's always sucked and always WILL suck!" How can NEPA EVER become a great place to live if nobody thinks it can?

[roxxy38]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I was "saying something" for quite some time on this forum about the relatively good quality-of-life here but finally told myself for the sake of my own sanity I HAD to relocate out of NEPA away from the sour grapes/"my life sucks" mentality that is so pervasive in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with very little to counterbalance it. It's just downright terrible! People like NY Rangers 2008, weluvpa, Go Phillies, etc., etc. with their constant "the ship is sinking/the sky is falling" talk are the typical sorts of Scranton Metro residents I associated myself with, and moving to NoVA has been a breath of fresh air because while the quality-of-life here sucks on a national scale (over-inflated housing prices, traffic congestion, disgusting urban sprawl, elitism galore, etc.) people are always looking for a silver lining and trying to hope for a better tomorrow. That encourages me. In NEPA people had the mindset of "it's always sucked and always WILL suck!" How can NEPA EVER become a great place to live if nobody thinks it can?

You changed your feelings about NEPA based on what a few people on this forum said??? Come on there are plenty of us that love Pa. Sorry Paul that you didnt use your first instincts. The people that hate it here will have something bad to say about anywhere they live. Its just human nature to complain! This part of Pa is beautiful and its clean and its a better quality of life than most places.

[NYRangers 2008]

Originally Posted by ScranBarre

I was "saying something" for quite some time on this forum about the relatively good quality-of-life here but finally told myself for the sake of my own sanity I HAD to relocate out of NEPA away from the sour grapes/"my life sucks" mentality that is so pervasive in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre with very little to counterbalance it. It's just downright terrible! People like NY Rangers 2008, weluvpa, Go Phillies, etc., etc. with their constant "the ship is sinking/the sky is falling" talk are the typical sorts of Scranton Metro residents I associated myself with, and moving to NoVA has been a breath of fresh air because while the quality-of-life here sucks on a national scale (over-inflated housing prices, traffic congestion, disgusting urban sprawl, elitism galore, etc.) people are always looking for a silver lining and trying to hope for a better tomorrow. That encourages me. In NEPA people had the mindset of "it's always sucked and always WILL suck!" How can NEPA EVER become a great place to live if nobody thinks it can?

I don't recall ever saying this area as a whole sucks and not speaking for Dan and gophillies, but I don't recall them saying that either. There are a lot of things wrong with Scranton and the surrounding areas, but that's due to short-sighted and corrupt government officials. I'm not originally from this city or this area, so when I say I don't like it here, I do have something to compare it with. It's just that I have heard so many people that have lived here their entire lives say that there is nothing great here or keeping them here and they would move away in a heartbeat. It's not a horrible area and at the same point it's not a great area. I only speak the truth. I'm not generally a miserable person, but sometimes I wonder to myself if my life would suck as much if I lived in a different part of the country.

[go phillies]

Originally Posted by Slammin' Scrannin'

Abstinence is no laughing matter; you're certainly right about that. But my point is that sex education that deals with abstinence only is proven harmful. We know this from study after study about rates of teen pregnancy, std transmission, frequency of sexual contact, etc. Sex education curriculum is primarily a matter of public policy that should help reduce each of those measures.

I don't think its the school's place to be discussing the issue of sex. I'm the parent, I will decide what morals to pass to my kids. The problem is that the only alternatives to liberal-leaning public schools are expensive private schools, which aren't financially feasible, especially if you want to save money for your kids' college. Personally, I support vouchers which would let parents choose where to send their kids to school. Otherwise, if you're on a limited budget, you don't have a choice of what kind of morals or lack thereof will be taught to your kids.

[Love2Golf09]

Originally Posted by CHS89

Because this country was founded on the principles of democracy, not the dogma of any organized religion. Do some of the basic tenets overlap? Absolutely. That doesn't mean that either one was the basis for the other. The decision to be self governed rather than ruled by an overseas monarchy quite simply was not a religious one.

Umm, the first people that came to this country...pilgrims, puritans, quakers...they were all religious and were far more hardcore in their beliefs than the normal people of England. Are you going to claim that they left England as atheists, then a few years later had witch trials and burned people alive? Those people lived and breathed religion every second of their day. Even the founding fathers were pretty religious. Read a good book called "1776" and see how many times they thank God or owe their good fortunes to a "divine providence." Everything that happened was centered around God. They blamed the loss at the Battle of Brooklyn on being immoral and cursed by God. You're believing what you want to believe, while evidence paints a far different picture. We have the freedom of religion, not the freedom FROM religion. We're not an atheist society, as hurtful a notion as that may be to some people.