Posted on 05/10/2015 5:20:29 AM PDT by SJackson
From time to time, a news story will pop up somewhere that perfectly illustrates the demonstrable damage that political correctness (and the liberal definition of equality) has caused to conventional wisdom and society as a whole. Such a story presented itself this week when a man named Adam Swift, a British academic and described philosopher, offered his thoughts on the societal unfairness created when parents read bedtime stories to their children.
Yes, bedtime stories.
Swift believes that being raised in a healthy family dynamic (one in which parents read to their kids) gives the children who benefit from it an unfair advantage over children who aren’t fortunate enough to be raised that way.
Swift has apparently done a lot of research on this topic, stating, “Evidence shows that the difference between those who get bedtime stories and those who don’t — the difference in their life chances — is bigger than the difference between those who get elite private schooling and those that don’t.”
He goes on to say, “I had done some work on social mobility and the evidence is overwhelmingly that the reason why children born to different families have very different chances in life is because of what happens in those families.”
I’m not sure it takes an academic philosopher to understand why children who grow up in happy, stable families end up doing better in life than others. It might take that very type of person, however, to believe that the success of those children is harmful to society.
Swift fears that this gap in social mobility and equality will continue on for generations, and that it must be stopped. Luckily, he has a solution. Does is have something to do with encouraging a stronger family dynamic? Not quite.
“One way philosophers might think about solving the social justice problem would be by simply abolishing the family,” says Swift. “If the family is this source of unfairness in society then it looks plausible to think that if we abolished the family there would be a more level playing field.”
Brilliant. Let’s destroy functioning, healthy families for the sake of creating a “level playing field.”
Swift does realize that his solution couldn’t be implemented effectively, due to how messy it would get. Thus he and a colleague put their minds together to come up with a backup plan, and boy is it a good one.
Swift qualifies his idea this way: “What we realized we needed was a way of thinking about what it was we wanted to allow parents to do for their children, and what it was that we didn’t need to allow parents to do for their children, if allowing those activities would create unfairness for other people’s children.”
I don’t know about you, but as a parent, I definitely want these two brainiacs in charge of telling me what I’m allowed and not allowed to do with my children…you know, because they sound really, really smart. Anyway, back to his idea…
After deep consideration, Swift and his colleague begrudgingly decided that communities have to “allow parents to engage in bedtime stories activities” because even though it’s not good for society, it’s good for families. Private schooling, on the other hand, should be banned because its removal will level that all important playing field “without any real hit to healthy family relationships.” In other words, fewer smart people in the world will lead to greater equality.
God bless academia.
While it’s tempting to write off over-educated buffoons like Adam Swift as fringe, eccentric thinkers who shouldn’t be taken seriously, I would argue that his line of thinking is depressingly representative of the modern day liberal movement, even here in the United States.
Learn about John Daly's upcoming novel BLOOD TRADE. Learn about John Daly’s upcoming novel BLOOD TRADE.
Swift’s broader argument, after all, is that uneven outcomes are a social injustice. This was the very backbone of President Obama’s successful re-election campaign against Mitt Romney in 2012, and has been at the forefront of much of the rhetoric related to social issues that have come out of the White House and liberal activists over the past six and a half years.
Our political culture has co-opted terms like “fairness” and “equality” away from their traditional definitions, and have applied them to practically any circumstance in which one person is better off than another. This has allowed the American Left (just like Adam Swift) to totally ignore the root causes of the very real problems that keep people from becoming successful in life.
Emulating what works isn’t even considered. Instead, society’s achievers are identified as the real problem. Their successes and wealth are unjust, thus they must be vilified and diminished for the sake of equality. The logic makes no sense, yet it’s quickly becoming conventional wisdom.
What has happened to the American psyche in recent years is downright scary. People like Adam Swift merely compel us to open our eyes a little wider and realize where we’re headed.
The Left has been openly hostile towards social mobility. Thus you have limousine liberals who send their children to places like Sidwell Friends while the rest of us “ideally” should be sending our children to schools worse than the most dis functional public schools.
I was a Boy Scout leader when my son was in scouts. The other leader and I organized a camping trip for the boys and started the planning and organizing process early enough so everyone knew when it was, what was involved and the skills and equipment that would be needed.
We worked hard on the skills in our weekly meetings for weeks preceding the trip. We made sure every boy had a pack and knew what he needed to take and how to pack it. The hike to the camp site from the cars was short so the packs were pretty light. The trip was to leave Saturday morning and return Sunday afternoon, so just one night. All of the boys were enthusiastic. For most, it was their first ever camping outing.
Well, the day arrived and myself and the other leader met in the parking lot of the church. My son and only two other boys of the 18 in the troop showed up. After some hand wring, the other leader said, "Well, I guess we'll have to cancel, because of the low turnout."
To which, I responded, "We're going on this camping trip. These three boys want to go. We should not allow the other 15 boys who are not here this morning to dictate what a good experience these three boys will get from this trip. We're here for the boys who want to participate, not for the boys who want to sleep-in and watch Saturday morning cartoons instead."
Well, we went on the trip, had a great time and the boys talked about it for months afterwards. The boys who didn't go were envious and wanted to plan another trip. So we did plan a second weekend camping trip. 16 boys showed up bright and early on Saturday morning ready to expand their experiences in their small world. It was a great time had by all. The participation rate for other activities rose as well. The other boys were much more involved in the scouting program than ever before. All because three brave boys decided they were going to go camping when others did not.
So I say, don't go through life not doing new things, discouraged because some people don't want to participate. Go through life like it's your only one. Lead by example. Others will follow, if for no other reason, than to emulate your enthusiasm for learning and experiencing. Don't let those who are unwilling to participate, dictate how successful you are. It is their loss, not yours. Parents, read that book to your child. Don't abdicate your parental responsibility to your kids because other kids might not have that advantage. Do your part to make things better in your child's life and others will benefit in the long run.
That is a GREAT story! Good for you, stand up for what is right!
Soylent Green for all!!!
Except the leaders who may dine on anything they desire, even pork.
Great! Let us get the courts and someone like Obama or Hillary to implement this. The law school educated elitists can ignore centuries of civilization and implement this utopian plan. They know better than we the people. Oh, yes, and lets exempt islam from this destruction. What could go wrong?
Part of the liberal quest for equality is that everyone is entitled to their opinions even if they are ignorant. In other words, all ideas are equal. Even stupid, socially destructive ideas are equivalent to good ideas.
Education has failed this guy. More education will not help.
I experienced something similar when I helped organized five of my high school reunions. I missed my first 10 year reunion because I was in the military but got involved to initiate the 20th. Initially, I was disappointed that I, and several others helping, were only able to locate less than half the class of 610 people. And of that group, only 150 or so responded wanting to attend. But I finally decided that the reunion was to be planned for those who were attending and not to be concerned about those we couldn't locate or didn't respond to the invitation. That reunion, and over the next four reunions I was involved in, taught me that there was a consistent number of people who were interested and the others
Put the party on for those who are at the party and not to worry about those who are not there. Success in life is for those who participate, not for those who chose not to.
Well, you never know. There are rare cases of libs being influenced by events..like 9/11 turned a number of libs around.
Now I will grant you liberal college professors are a special leftist species almost immune to logic and reason. But I hold out hope.
But it's not because they're "overeducated" that they say these things. There's an obvious failure/lack in their education history of being able to distinguish right from wrong.
But if most of what they “know” is crap, then they really haven’t been educated, have they?
The point seems to be to stop reading bedtime stories to kids or kids will grow up to be Republicans.
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