I first wrote about the intransigence of hate in our society back in 2009, and then again in 2010. And I’m sorry to see the topic is just as relevant today. Consider, for example, Iowa congressman Steve King’s comment on Sunday: “We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”
At some point, at someone’s knee, King must have been taught that America — “our civilization” — consists and should continue to consist primarily of white Christians. Probably middle or upper class, too, just to be on the safe side. But that’s just a recent example. We’re already familiar with Donald Trump’s determination to keep Mexicans out with a wall and Muslims out with a travel ban. Then there’s the animosity between political factions that has in some cases devolved into riots and hate crimes.
It all brings to mind the deceptively simple but profound little song “Carefully Taught” from the 1949 Broadway show South Pacific. The song, composed in the wake of WWII, is still appropriate because the world still hasn’t learned the lesson. Until we stop teaching our children to hate and mistrust, until we stop indoctrinating them with our own prejudices and beliefs and misconceptions, things aren’t going to change for the better. Until we stop teaching that violence is acceptable and that anyone not like us is inherently bad, we’ll never have peace. The cycle won’t end until the adults of the world are willing to re-examine their own beliefs, adjust their own thinking, and stop perpetuating the problem. And if Washington DC today is any example, it won’t be happening any time soon.
So consider carefully what others, especially children, are learning from you, from your words and actions.
Hate, distrust, and intolerance all begin at home. Someone’s home. Your home?
Each generation teaches the next. What are you teaching?
For those who’ve forgotten, here’s a video and the lyrics of “Carefully Taught”:
You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught
You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught
You’ve got to be taught
To be Afraid
Of people whose eyes
Are oddly made
And people whose skin
Is a different shade
You’ve got to be carefully taught
You’ve got to be taught
Before it’s too late
Before you are 6 or 7 or 8
To hate all the people
Your relatives hate
You’ve got to be carefully taught
You’ve got to be carefully taught
I was not aware, until now, of Mandy Patinkin’s performance of Carefully Taught.
Representative Steve King’s remarks are the embodiment of fear, ignorance and hate – fear of change, ignorance of the unknown and hate resulting from fear and ignorance.
I didn’t even know he could sing until I came across this video in 2009 while looking for a video of somebody singing this particular song.
It’s a shame people like King have a national forum for their hateful opinions. There’s way too much of that in DC these days.
Fundamentalist Christian religion is behind a lot of this. They preach hatred and intolerance and the notion that all other religions are evil and wrong and that all those millions are going to hell. No way to have a peaceful world with that kind of mindset.
I guess all their talk about Christian love and charity is just for other people. Personally I like John Lennon’s approach — no religion. “No hell below us, above us only sky … Nothing to kill or die for …”
More like just for themselves
Seems to me that the American Christians are anything but!
It does seem like a lot of them don’t practice what they preach.
There are too many supposedly christian sects there, seems anybody can go along and say they’ve seen god and start their own so called christian church and get all the benefits that the state allows, rubbing their greasy hands all the way to the bank
Freedom of religion.
Time to start taxing the people starting them up and running them as a business. There friend Jesus I believe threw the money grabbers out of the temple/house
I’ve long thought the tax exemption for churches should be eliminated. It strikes me as a form of government support of religion, and many churches violate the tax law by engaging in political activities.
Which only emphasizes the hypocrisy that goes by the name of religion
Churches are some of the wealthiest businesses on the planet and no taxes paid! It’s absurd, but it shows you the power and control they have
and the wealthiest is? Probably that one in Rome; I understand that they are the largest investors in Fiat & the armaments business in Italy amongst other things.
The Catholic Church was the first hypocrisy I noticed when I was a kid. All the vows of poverty, the preaching to help the poor, etc. Then look at life in the Vatican.
Apparently the Girl Guides of Canada agree with you: teaching hate starts at home, but so does acceptance, and tolerance. So they’re staying home. It’s a weird world when the Girl Guides feel it’s necessary to issue a travel advisory against travelling to the USofA.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/girl-guides-of-canada-cancelling-trips-to-the-u-s-citing-travel-concerns-1.4022985
From the article:
I am saddened to hear this and deeply embarrassed. But it’s prudent of them not to come as long as we have an erratic, impulsive man-child in the White House.
Yes, acceptance and tolerance are also learned at home. It’s up to the adults to decide what the lessons will be.
As a side note, my brother went to Ecuador for a couple of weeks last month and it actually occurred to me, briefly, to worry about whether he could get back into the country. (He did.) There are no guarantees these days.
I was proud to hear of the decision made by the Girl Scouts of Canada. Not that Canada is lily white either. But I do think religious bigots are lower profile here. Those values are taught by parents and the ‘parent’ church. I never understood how they can claim goodness and charity in one breath, and bigotry in the next!
That hypocrisy is what drove me away at a very young age. That and a few science classes.
Reminds me of these lyrics to this song.
Oh my name it ain’t nothin’
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I was taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side
Oh, the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh, the country was young
With God on its side
The Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War, too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I was made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side
The First World War, boys
It came and it went
The reason for fighting
I never did get
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don’t count the dead
When God’s on your side
The Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And then we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now, too
Have God on their side
I’ve learned to hate the Russians
All through my whole life
If another war comes
It’s them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side
But now we got weapons
Of chemical dust
If fire them, we’re forced to
Then fire, them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God’s on your side
Through many a dark hour
I’ve been thinkin’ about this
That Jesus Christ was
Betrayed by a kiss
But I can’t think for you
You’ll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side
So now as I’m leavin’
I’m weary as Hell
The confusion I’m feelin’
Ain’t no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
That if God’s on our side
He’ll stop the next war
Songwriters: Bob Dylan
I was quite a fan of folk music in the ’60s, but somehow missed this one. So much truth here, as in much of Dylan’s music. I miss the truthtelling of that era.
Hate is the enemy of love and love conquers all. Them who hate can love, them who love can be loved twice as much
I don’t know that love conquers all, but it certainly works better than hate.