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GUEST COLUMN
5/21/2006
Hitler's Youth by Any Other Name
By Carrie K. Hutchens Some years ago, it became the rage to encourage children to turn their parents in for drug use and whatever else might come to mind. My first thought was -- "Hitler's Youth". They, too, were encouraged to turn their parents in for real, or not so real, infractions and rewarded for doing just that. This is something that we -- in the USA -- would want to duplicate in any fashion? And we would want to do that because why? Let me first explain that I am totally against drug use and am very protective of the vulnerable. However, it should be pointed out that vulnerable is not defined solely by age. Parents can be (and most often are) the ones most vulnerable in this mad world we have developed into. Knowing that children and teens don't always understand the full consequences of their actions and often act on impulse -- I saw the ratting the parents out trend as an invitation to disaster. It was only the beginning. Children were being given a license to disrespect their parents and their parents' rules. A license that Hitler and his pals gave to the youth within their jurisdiction so many years ago. I know of teenagers that dared their parents to make attempt to enforce the rules. Dared their parents to attempt to discipline. Teenagers that actually threatened to call in false reports and had no hesitation about doing so. They felt it was their right. And they felt this because why? Who taught them this was their right? I know of one teenager that claimed she had been beaten. (She thought she could pick her foster home. She planned on picking a set of rich foster parents. Even had some already picked out.) Though it was determined the allegations were totally bogus -- the caseworker actually made the parents sign a "no spank" agreement under threat of taking the other kids away. Not only did the caseworker do this -- she did it in the presence of the kids. I kid you not! The caseworker inappropriately told children (by action) that they did not have to follow the rules. She told the kids that they did not have to face consequences. That if the parents tried to discipline them by spankings or standing in the corner too long or even a fleeting look of disapproval -- she would be back to save them from these horrid people that were trying to teach them right from wrong. How dare parents do that? Skipping to the present... we now have California involved in an attempt to remove "sex-specific terms such as *mom* and *dad* from textbooks"? And when do we place our children in little state-run colonies that deny (and attempt to wipe out) the existence of parents as a concept and reality? Who are these people that think they are so much brighter than any other parent that "they" should be among the select to governor "the village" it supposedly takes to raise children? Might they be the people that take away the right of parents to discipline their children, while then holding the parents accountable for the results of a child not disciplined? It doesn't matter what one terms it. The concept remains the same. So, the question becomes... when do we take our youth back and away from the Hitler's Youth mentality? After all, Hitler's Youth by Any Other Name remains Hitler's Youth. It still is what it is.
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