In 1963, concern about the increase in homosexuality prompted the New York Academy of Medicine to address the subject of homosexuality. Noting that some homosexuals were arguing that sexual deviancy is a 'desirable, noble, preferable way of life', they issued the following statement: "Homosexuality is indeed an illness. The homosexual is an emotionally disturbed individual who has not acquired the normal capacity to develop satisfying heterosexual relations." 1.
Until 1994, when all references to 'sexual orientation related disorders' was removed from the official policies of the American Medical Association, this perspective was used to justify therapies for treating homosexuality. 2.
The American Psychiatric Association also viewed homosexuality as a mental disorder until 1973. Over the years cures for treating homosexuality included: castration or vasectomy(1890's), hypnosis (1890's to 1960's), lobotomy (early 1900's to 1950's), analysis, hospitalization or institution(1920's to 1970's), aversion therapy, including drug caused nausea or electroshock (to the 1970's), and abstinence (1890's to the present).3.
Demands for normalizing homosexual behaviors occurred in the early 1970's. A homosexual faction in the American Psychiatric Association(APA) planned to disrupt the annual meetings of the APA, challenging a paper presentation on homosexuality and transsexualism. The following year the APA agreed to sponsor a special panel led by homosexuals. The Gay Liberation Front planned a demonstration at the meetings. On May 3, 1971, gay activists broke into a meeting, grabbed a microphone, and declared, "Psychiatry has waged a relentless war of extermination against us. You may take this as a declaration of war against you."
"In 1973 the APA voted to strike homosexuality from the officially approved list of psychiatric illnesses." Only about one-third of the membership was involved in this decision. A follow-up survey reported that "69 percent of psychiatrists disagreed with the vote and still considered homosexuality a disorder." The American Psychological Association voted to follow the lead set by the APA. 4.
Psychiatrist Jeffrey Satinover lamented that although psychiatry is presumably a scientific discipline and makes its decisions based on scientific evidence, the changes in definition and classification were determined not by scientific evidence, but were corrupted by politics. 5.
Political pressure again affected decisions of the APA when in 1994 the chairman of the APA's Committee on the Abuse and Misuse of Psychiatry presented to the Board of Trustee's a change, making it a "violation of professional conduct for a psychiatrist to help a homosexual patient become heterosexual even at the patient's request." When the board sent the statement to its legislative body, a fierce battle ensured.
Therapists who help homosexuals change and ex-homosexuals threatened to file a lawsuit against the APA and reopen consideration of the 1973 decision, which removed homosexuality from the list of mental illnesses. However, the Gay and Lesbian Task Force continued to challenge not only psychiatrists who undertook reparative therapy, but also to challenge psychologists, social workers, pastoral counselors, and ministers. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), which accredits mental health practitioners, was also lobbied by gay activists to declare the use of reparative therapies a violation of the NASW Code of Ethics.6.
BACKLASH ON 'REPARATIVE THERAPY'
NARTH
The APA met challenges to its assertion that counselors should refrain from helping homosexuals change their sexual orientation. In the mid 1990's professionals concerned about the APA retreat from therapy formed the National Association for Research and Treatment of Homosexuality (NARTH) to serve as an alternative to APA and a referral service for homosexual clients. By 2000 the membership was over 1000. NARTH is a "professional, scientific organization that offers hope to those who struggle with unwanted homosexuality." It provides educational information, conducts and collects scientific research, and promotes therapeutic treatment to those seeking their help. NARTH contends that "The right to seek therapy to change one's sexual adaptation should be considered self-evident and inalienable." 7.
Dr. Spitzer's testimony
Psychiatrist Robert L. Spitzer had offered key testimony in 1973 stating homosexuality was not a clinical disorder, leading to the APA proposal that declassified homosexuality as mental disorder. Several decades later, however, Spitzer, a professor of Biometric Research at Columbia University and Co-Editor of Psychiatry's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual reversed his position, contending that mental health professionals had abandoned homosexuals who were attempting to change their sexual orientation. After former homosexuals picketed an APA meeting, Dr. Spitzer talked to numerous ex-gays and had a radical change of mind about the possibility of homosexuals changing their orientation. Spitzer conducted a study, interviewing 143 males and 57 females, to determine whether and how people change sexual orientation. Spitzer concluded that the research "Shows some people can change from gay to straight, and we ought to acknowledge that."
Initially many colleagues and members of the gay community felt outraged and betrayed at his change in perspective. Spitzer noted, "I think that has largely dissipated. But also, I'm at the point in my career that I don't worry about such things," He added, "the politically correct term now is reorientation therapy. Reparative already implies something's broken - of course the reparative therapists believe this, but it kind of infuriates the gays to even call it reparative therapy." 8.
Exodus International
Christian leaders stepped forward to protect the rights of homosexuals who sought to change their sexual orientation. In 1973, Frank Worthen ministered to homosexuals in the U.S. He organized a conference of ex-gay ministers who formed a coalition called Exodus International, North America. In 1978 a group formed in Australia, followed by an independent group, Exodus Europe, which formed in the Netherlands in 1982. Leaders from around the world joined in 2004 to form Exodus Global Alliance. "Exodus is a nonprofit, interdenominational Christian organization promoting the message of Freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ...Exodus is the largest Christian referral and information network dealing with homosexual issues in the world." Each year over 1000 members and interested persons come together for instruction and celebration in a five-day event in cities throughout North America. 9.
Love Won Out Conference
Love Won Out Conferences are organized by Focus on the Family to minister to those who struggle with unwanted same-sex attractions and to family and friends of those who are living homosexually. Since 1998, Love Won Out has traveled to more than 50 American cities to bring "the power of God's love and His desire to transform the life of a struggling homosexual to find freedom in Jesus Christ." Attendance is limited to adults, although participants ages 16-18 may attend if accompanied by a parent. Speakers include ex gays and lesbians,Christian counselors, ministers, and educators. Melissa Fryrear, an ex-lesbian and director of gender issues for Focus on the Family notes that many protestors often have attended the conferences carrying signs accusing Love Won Out with intolerance and bigotry. She says, "There is nothing intolerant about what we say,". An 18 year-old gay attendee commented, "While I strongly disagree with many points in your message, you presented them in a loving way. I think it's important that people look at all sides of this issue...This conference was informing." 10.
REFERENCES
1. Satinover, Jeffrey. Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth.Grand Rapids, MI:Baker Books. 1996:32.
2. The Gay Almanac.Compiled by the National Museum & Archive of Lesbian and Gay History. New York:Berkley Books. 1996:221.
3. Ibid.
4. Satinover:32-35.
5. Ibid:37.
6. Ibid: 35-36.
7. NARTH. http://www.narth.com/index.html. 1/24/2010.
8. Adamson, Victor J. "Homosexual change study supports reparative therapy."
Report from the American Association of Christian Counselors. June 13, 2001.
http://www.victorjadamson.com/articles2/article.php?id=4. 1/23/10.
Leblanc, Douglas. "Therapeutically Incorrect: Atheist psychiatrist argues that gays can change." Christianity Today. April 2005, Vol.49, No. 4:94.
Spitzer, Robert L. http://borngay.procon.org/viewsource.asp?ID=003506.1/24/10.
9. Exodus. "Who We Are". http://www.exodusinternational.org/about_exodus.shtml. 1/25/2010.
Exodus History. http://www,exodusglobalalliance.org/ourhistoryc87.php. 1/25/2010
10. Fryrear, Melissa. "Love Won Out is about ministry, not intolerance." Focus on the Family. Feb. 19, 2009.
Focus on the Family. Love Won Out Conference advertising brochure. 2004.
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
(2) Focus on Education: The Gay Battle for Social Reorganization of America
In 1974 the National Education Association added 'sexual orientation' to its resolution on nondiscriminatory personnel policies. Diversity training, which includes acceptance of the gay and lesbian lifestyles, became the requirement for educational administrators, teachers and students.
CLAGS
In the 1980's gay and lesbian studies developed in universities across the country. The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), was established by the Graduate School of the City University of New York in 1991 with a grant from the Paul Rapoport Foundation, a major supporter of gay/lesbian concerns. CLAGS operated as a clearinghouse for scholarly research, conferences and public programs on gay related issues. It also prepared syllabi and curriculum supporting gay and lesbian studies for all grade levels.
GLSEN
Seventy gay and lesbian educators formed the Gay and Lesbian Independent School Network (GLSTN) in 1990 to form Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA's) with the policy of protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students. Chapters were established across the country. Kevin Jennings, one of the founders, was hired as it's first full time staff person. In 1997, GLSTN changed it's name to Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). GLSEN has registered more than 4,000 GSA's on school campuses and grew to 40 full time staff. GLSEN sponsors the National Day of Silence at schools across the country to bring attention to the silence caused by anti-LGBT bullying.
The Rainbow Curriculum
The gay agenda sought to promote tolerance and understanding of the gay/lesbian lifestyles in the public schools and to normalize these lifestyles in the public perception. In the early 1990's, elementary curriculum entitled Children of the Rainbow encouraged diversity and inclusion of non-European, women and gay and lesbian history in every stage of education from kindergarten through high school. Books supporting gay and lesbian families and the gay lifestyles were included in school curriculum.
It's Elementary -
In 1999, a ninety-minute video, entitled It's Elementary: Talking About Gay and Lesbian Issues in School was shown on public broadcasting stations across the country. The video showed elementary grade-level classroom discussions about homosexuality. Young homosexuals informed the students of the five gender orientations: male, female, gay, lesbian, and bisexual.
BACKLASH
When the video, Elementary: Talking About Gay and Lesbian Issues in School aired across the country, groups opposing the use of the schools to promote homosexuality staged protests. In San Antonio, Texas, 200 protestors picketed Public Broadcasting station KLRN to protest the showing.
The normalization of homosexuality became 'politically correct' in academic and educational settings. Silence was no longer imposed upon those supporting gay rights, rather those seeking to challenge the gay lifestyle were violently attacked and intimidated.
Diversity training
Diversity training sometimes became sessions of intimidation. At the University of Delaware, student Countney Halligan was not opposed to attending the required training. She soon changed her mind. In one-on-one sessions students were encouraged to speak openly about their sexuality and gay students felt pressured to publicly out themselves. The program was suspended in response to student complaints and pressure from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education , a Philadelphia based civil liberties advocacy group. The school's vice president for student life said, "The university had good intentions...but the way the program was run was unacceptable."
Educational Materials Promote Homosexuality
When same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts in 2003, pro-homosexual picture books were placed in the classrooms in the name of tolerance and diversity. Robin Wirthlin was puzzled when her 2nd grade son came home and reported to her about a story at school of a prince who didn't like the princesses his mother brought home. He fell in love with a prince and married him. Wirthlin was concerned that books like this were read to grade-schoolers. She questioned the teacher who said it was the school district's mandate to read pro-gay lifestyle books to her students. Another couple, David and Tonia Parker, were also concerned when their kindergarten son brought home a "Diversity Book Bag" which included a picture book called Who's in a Family? . The text began "Laura and Kyle live with their two moms,... Robin's family is made up of her dad,Clifford, her dad's partner...".
When the Wirthlins and the Parkers filed suit against the town of Lexinton asking to exempt their children from teaching about homosexuality, The U.S. District Chief Judge Mark Wolf ruled against parental rights stating, "The (state)Constitution does not ...permeit the Parkers and the Wirthlins to exempt their children from teaching about homosexuality or same-sex marriage." He wrote, "After all, if a few parents could do it, others would follow, maybe in vast numbers."
Intimidation
In 1993, David Woodward, a political science professor at Clemson University, was asked to serve as an expert witness for the state of Colorado to testify about the political power of homosexual groups in America. When he testified in support of traditional values he discovered that to publicly oppose gay rights was "the equivalent to being sent to the university Gulag". He was labeled 'ideologically incompatible' with the values of the university, the press attacked him viciously, and he often found the word 'Homophobe' scribbled on his office door. In his book, Why We Whisper:Restoring Our Right to Say it's Wrong, Woodward and coauthor, Jim DeMint, point out, "freedom of speech is crucial in any democracy...The demise of good government comes when this conversation is abbreviated."
Concerned Groups Speak Out
Concerned Christians and groups supporting traditional family values worked tirelessly to challenge and oppose the gay takeover of educational institutions.
The Tradional Values Coalition networks with 43,000 churches to provide materials for pro-family lobbying activities. The director, Rev. Louis P. Sheldon writes, "Children have long been targets of homosexual activists...GLSEN has established Gay Straight Alliance clubs in hundreds of junior and senior high schools. The goal of GLSEN is to convince sexually confused children that they were 'born gay'...The Day of Silence is supposed to give students a chance to protest alleged discrimination against homosexual, bi-sexual, and transgender students...In reality, the effort is designed to intimidate and silence any opposition to the homosexual agenda..."
Concerned Women for American (CWA) holds community and state events and informs the public of issues affecting the family. In 2007 a notice was sent to parents and grandparents of school-aged children stating. "The term 'Radical Homosexual Agenda' refers to a movement begun approximately 25 years ago to 'normalize' homosexuality and other deviant behaviors within our culture...Their rally cry is 'Whoever controls the schools controls the future.' High on their agenda is to expose children to sex at earlier and earlier ages in our schools..."
When President Barack Obama nominated Kevin Jennings, the founder of GLSEN, to be Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education, in charge of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, CWA founder, Beverly LaHaye wrote, "Jennings and GLSEN have one goal: promote homosexuality and transexuality to children through schools - away from the protection of parents, churches, doctors and others who know homosexual acts are unsafe, immoral and damaging..."
Dr James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, also expressed deep concern about the appointment of Kevin Jennings as the head of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. Dobson states, "What hypocrisy!...He has written five books advocating homosexual teaching in the schools and elsewhere, as well as the foreward to a widely publicized book titled Queering Elementary Education."
The battle over control of education will continue as groups supporting and opposing the normalization of gay and lesbian lifestyles seek to influence the teaching of the next generation.
REFERENCES
Buss, Dale. "Homosexual rights go to school." Christianity Today. Vol. 37, No. 6(May 17) 1993:70-72.
Colson, Charles. "The Whisper Zone:Why We're Losing Our Right to Speak Out." Breakpoint. Prison Fellowship Ministries. May 1, 2008.
Curtis, Barbara. "in the beginning." Citizen. Vol.22, No.3. March, 2008:24-27. Focus on the Family. Colorado Springs, CO.
Dobson, James. Dr Dobson's Newsletter. Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO. Nov.2009:3.
Dorsett, Amy. "Protest in S.A. targets KLRM." San Antonio Express News. July 3, 1999:1B.
Elder, Gene. "Gay/lesbian studies:outof the closet, into college." San Antonio Express News/ Nov.3, 1991:4M
GLSEN. "Our Mission. Our History". http://www.glsen./org/chi-bin/iowa/all/about/history/index.html. 1/21/2010.
LaHaye, Beverly. Concerned Women for America newsletter. Fall, 2009.
Sheldon, Reverend Louis P. It's Not Really About Marriage: The Radical Homosexual Agenda to Undermine American Culture." Traditional Values Coalition. Washington DC. 2005:14-15.
The Gay Almanac. National Museum & Archive of Lesbian and Gay History. NY:Berkley Books. 1996:180-186.
Watson, Jamal. "When Diversity Training Goes Awry." http://diverseeducation.com/cache/print.php?articleId=10543. 1/22/2010.
CLAGS
In the 1980's gay and lesbian studies developed in universities across the country. The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies (CLAGS), was established by the Graduate School of the City University of New York in 1991 with a grant from the Paul Rapoport Foundation, a major supporter of gay/lesbian concerns. CLAGS operated as a clearinghouse for scholarly research, conferences and public programs on gay related issues. It also prepared syllabi and curriculum supporting gay and lesbian studies for all grade levels.
GLSEN
Seventy gay and lesbian educators formed the Gay and Lesbian Independent School Network (GLSTN) in 1990 to form Gay-Straight Alliances (GSA's) with the policy of protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students. Chapters were established across the country. Kevin Jennings, one of the founders, was hired as it's first full time staff person. In 1997, GLSTN changed it's name to Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). GLSEN has registered more than 4,000 GSA's on school campuses and grew to 40 full time staff. GLSEN sponsors the National Day of Silence at schools across the country to bring attention to the silence caused by anti-LGBT bullying.
The Rainbow Curriculum
The gay agenda sought to promote tolerance and understanding of the gay/lesbian lifestyles in the public schools and to normalize these lifestyles in the public perception. In the early 1990's, elementary curriculum entitled Children of the Rainbow encouraged diversity and inclusion of non-European, women and gay and lesbian history in every stage of education from kindergarten through high school. Books supporting gay and lesbian families and the gay lifestyles were included in school curriculum.
It's Elementary -
In 1999, a ninety-minute video, entitled It's Elementary: Talking About Gay and Lesbian Issues in School was shown on public broadcasting stations across the country. The video showed elementary grade-level classroom discussions about homosexuality. Young homosexuals informed the students of the five gender orientations: male, female, gay, lesbian, and bisexual.
BACKLASH
When the video, Elementary: Talking About Gay and Lesbian Issues in School aired across the country, groups opposing the use of the schools to promote homosexuality staged protests. In San Antonio, Texas, 200 protestors picketed Public Broadcasting station KLRN to protest the showing.
The normalization of homosexuality became 'politically correct' in academic and educational settings. Silence was no longer imposed upon those supporting gay rights, rather those seeking to challenge the gay lifestyle were violently attacked and intimidated.
Diversity training
Diversity training sometimes became sessions of intimidation. At the University of Delaware, student Countney Halligan was not opposed to attending the required training. She soon changed her mind. In one-on-one sessions students were encouraged to speak openly about their sexuality and gay students felt pressured to publicly out themselves. The program was suspended in response to student complaints and pressure from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education , a Philadelphia based civil liberties advocacy group. The school's vice president for student life said, "The university had good intentions...but the way the program was run was unacceptable."
Educational Materials Promote Homosexuality
When same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts in 2003, pro-homosexual picture books were placed in the classrooms in the name of tolerance and diversity. Robin Wirthlin was puzzled when her 2nd grade son came home and reported to her about a story at school of a prince who didn't like the princesses his mother brought home. He fell in love with a prince and married him. Wirthlin was concerned that books like this were read to grade-schoolers. She questioned the teacher who said it was the school district's mandate to read pro-gay lifestyle books to her students. Another couple, David and Tonia Parker, were also concerned when their kindergarten son brought home a "Diversity Book Bag" which included a picture book called Who's in a Family? . The text began "Laura and Kyle live with their two moms,... Robin's family is made up of her dad,Clifford, her dad's partner...".
When the Wirthlins and the Parkers filed suit against the town of Lexinton asking to exempt their children from teaching about homosexuality, The U.S. District Chief Judge Mark Wolf ruled against parental rights stating, "The (state)Constitution does not ...permeit the Parkers and the Wirthlins to exempt their children from teaching about homosexuality or same-sex marriage." He wrote, "After all, if a few parents could do it, others would follow, maybe in vast numbers."
Intimidation
In 1993, David Woodward, a political science professor at Clemson University, was asked to serve as an expert witness for the state of Colorado to testify about the political power of homosexual groups in America. When he testified in support of traditional values he discovered that to publicly oppose gay rights was "the equivalent to being sent to the university Gulag". He was labeled 'ideologically incompatible' with the values of the university, the press attacked him viciously, and he often found the word 'Homophobe' scribbled on his office door. In his book, Why We Whisper:Restoring Our Right to Say it's Wrong, Woodward and coauthor, Jim DeMint, point out, "freedom of speech is crucial in any democracy...The demise of good government comes when this conversation is abbreviated."
Concerned Groups Speak Out
Concerned Christians and groups supporting traditional family values worked tirelessly to challenge and oppose the gay takeover of educational institutions.
The Tradional Values Coalition networks with 43,000 churches to provide materials for pro-family lobbying activities. The director, Rev. Louis P. Sheldon writes, "Children have long been targets of homosexual activists...GLSEN has established Gay Straight Alliance clubs in hundreds of junior and senior high schools. The goal of GLSEN is to convince sexually confused children that they were 'born gay'...The Day of Silence is supposed to give students a chance to protest alleged discrimination against homosexual, bi-sexual, and transgender students...In reality, the effort is designed to intimidate and silence any opposition to the homosexual agenda..."
Concerned Women for American (CWA) holds community and state events and informs the public of issues affecting the family. In 2007 a notice was sent to parents and grandparents of school-aged children stating. "The term 'Radical Homosexual Agenda' refers to a movement begun approximately 25 years ago to 'normalize' homosexuality and other deviant behaviors within our culture...Their rally cry is 'Whoever controls the schools controls the future.' High on their agenda is to expose children to sex at earlier and earlier ages in our schools..."
When President Barack Obama nominated Kevin Jennings, the founder of GLSEN, to be Assistant Deputy Secretary of Education, in charge of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools, CWA founder, Beverly LaHaye wrote, "Jennings and GLSEN have one goal: promote homosexuality and transexuality to children through schools - away from the protection of parents, churches, doctors and others who know homosexual acts are unsafe, immoral and damaging..."
Dr James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family, also expressed deep concern about the appointment of Kevin Jennings as the head of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. Dobson states, "What hypocrisy!...He has written five books advocating homosexual teaching in the schools and elsewhere, as well as the foreward to a widely publicized book titled Queering Elementary Education."
The battle over control of education will continue as groups supporting and opposing the normalization of gay and lesbian lifestyles seek to influence the teaching of the next generation.
REFERENCES
Buss, Dale. "Homosexual rights go to school." Christianity Today. Vol. 37, No. 6(May 17) 1993:70-72.
Colson, Charles. "The Whisper Zone:Why We're Losing Our Right to Speak Out." Breakpoint. Prison Fellowship Ministries. May 1, 2008.
Curtis, Barbara. "in the beginning." Citizen. Vol.22, No.3. March, 2008:24-27. Focus on the Family. Colorado Springs, CO.
Dobson, James. Dr Dobson's Newsletter. Focus on the Family, Colorado Springs, CO. Nov.2009:3.
Dorsett, Amy. "Protest in S.A. targets KLRM." San Antonio Express News. July 3, 1999:1B.
Elder, Gene. "Gay/lesbian studies:outof the closet, into college." San Antonio Express News/ Nov.3, 1991:4M
GLSEN. "Our Mission. Our History". http://www.glsen./org/chi-bin/iowa/all/about/history/index.html. 1/21/2010.
LaHaye, Beverly. Concerned Women for America newsletter. Fall, 2009.
Sheldon, Reverend Louis P. It's Not Really About Marriage: The Radical Homosexual Agenda to Undermine American Culture." Traditional Values Coalition. Washington DC. 2005:14-15.
The Gay Almanac. National Museum & Archive of Lesbian and Gay History. NY:Berkley Books. 1996:180-186.
Watson, Jamal. "When Diversity Training Goes Awry." http://diverseeducation.com/cache/print.php?articleId=10543. 1/22/2010.
Friday, January 29, 2010
The Gay Battle for Social Reorganization of America
Over the last 50 years gay activist groups have organized to construct a social reorganization of America. Although a comprehensive survey of sexuality conducted in 1992 at the Unversity of Chicago documented that 2.8 percent of men identified themselves as homosexual or bisexual and 1.4 percent of women defined themselves as lesbian or bisexual,(1) the gay culture, influenced by the civil rights and women's movements, rapidly influenced the American culture with gay liberation.
The movement to bring homosexual behavior into social acceptance is challenging every social institution with fundamental change, including the government and legal systems, educational systems, the professional health industry, corporations, religious organizations, and the institution of marriage and family, the media, and the military.
As the gay movements gained momentum, particularly in the media, the schools and churches, powerful counter-movements and organizations developed to challenge the changing expectations of sexual behavior as being personally and socially destructive. Battles ensured as groups within education and health systems, religious organizations and the military claimed adverse impacts on societal outcomes.
The normalization of homosexuality within society will create profound changes in social organization, especially in the areas of social integration, social reproduction, social health and the intergenerational transfer of cultural values. The social discourse has been rampant with charges of bigotry, homophobia and hate mongering. However, neither intimidation, tolerance nor back slapping love fests are appropriate means to bring about change in social behavior that has wide reaching consequences. These foundational social issues deserve serious and thorough consideration.
"The concept of externalities helps define situations that justify government intervention and identify appropriate policy solutions to the problem. Externalities exist when an individual's actions impose costs on or provide benefits to others who are not parties to the decision... This approach provides criteria for when government should act and the type of policies it should use...Positive externalities provide gains for society, while negative externalities produce losses..." (2)
In 2003, Melik Kaylan called for caution in discussing the growing changes in society. "Libertarians, now both on the left and right, say that relations between consenting adults should not be regulated if no participant is hurt, which includes the freedom to marry anyone you please. Here, there's no concern for the aggregate effect on society of cumulative individual choices...Gay marriage...alarms many Americans precisely because it contends blurry unknowable enormities. We will be, after all, the first society ever to pursue the experiment fully... What will be the ultimate human cost, and who will have the courage then to identify the cause?"(3)
REFERENCES
1.Laumann, Edward O., John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels. The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL,1994.
2. Steinacker, Annette. "Externalities, Prospect Theory, and Social Construction: When Will Government Act, What Will Government Do?" Social Science Quarterly,Vol.87, No 3. September 2006:459-476.
3. Kaylan, Melik. "The Way We Live Now." The Wall Street Juornal. Fri. Aug. 8, 2003: Opinion Page.
The movement to bring homosexual behavior into social acceptance is challenging every social institution with fundamental change, including the government and legal systems, educational systems, the professional health industry, corporations, religious organizations, and the institution of marriage and family, the media, and the military.
As the gay movements gained momentum, particularly in the media, the schools and churches, powerful counter-movements and organizations developed to challenge the changing expectations of sexual behavior as being personally and socially destructive. Battles ensured as groups within education and health systems, religious organizations and the military claimed adverse impacts on societal outcomes.
The normalization of homosexuality within society will create profound changes in social organization, especially in the areas of social integration, social reproduction, social health and the intergenerational transfer of cultural values. The social discourse has been rampant with charges of bigotry, homophobia and hate mongering. However, neither intimidation, tolerance nor back slapping love fests are appropriate means to bring about change in social behavior that has wide reaching consequences. These foundational social issues deserve serious and thorough consideration.
"The concept of externalities helps define situations that justify government intervention and identify appropriate policy solutions to the problem. Externalities exist when an individual's actions impose costs on or provide benefits to others who are not parties to the decision... This approach provides criteria for when government should act and the type of policies it should use...Positive externalities provide gains for society, while negative externalities produce losses..." (2)
In 2003, Melik Kaylan called for caution in discussing the growing changes in society. "Libertarians, now both on the left and right, say that relations between consenting adults should not be regulated if no participant is hurt, which includes the freedom to marry anyone you please. Here, there's no concern for the aggregate effect on society of cumulative individual choices...Gay marriage...alarms many Americans precisely because it contends blurry unknowable enormities. We will be, after all, the first society ever to pursue the experiment fully... What will be the ultimate human cost, and who will have the courage then to identify the cause?"(3)
REFERENCES
1.Laumann, Edward O., John H. Gagnon, Robert T. Michael, and Stuart Michaels. The Social Organization of Sexuality: Sexual Practices in the United States. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL,1994.
2. Steinacker, Annette. "Externalities, Prospect Theory, and Social Construction: When Will Government Act, What Will Government Do?" Social Science Quarterly,Vol.87, No 3. September 2006:459-476.
3. Kaylan, Melik. "The Way We Live Now." The Wall Street Juornal. Fri. Aug. 8, 2003: Opinion Page.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Keys To Loving Family Relationships
Loving relationships within the family lay a foundation for personal health and wellness. Families are a special way that love and healing are made manifest. The family is the unique organization in which we become whole in our relationships. This wholeness requires that we grow in the graces of faithfulness, patience, forgiveness and self-control. From these graces flow the joy and peace of connectedness and loving assurance.
Our modern culture emphasizes self-interest, but it is within the family that we accept others into our definition of self. Families are under stress today because social pressures that once held families together are weakened. We want our family to be a place of joy and happiness. It is up to us to make it happen.
We'll focus on four keys that will help to unlock loving relationships in our families:
* Positive communication;
* Conflict resolution;
* Money management;
* and Attitudes of gratefulness.
POSITIVE COMMUNICATION
Families provide for us a sense of companionship and completeness. Communication is essential for the expression of these relationships. When communication breaks down, love is blocked. Resentment and hostility replace companionship. Communication takes time. We need to clear our schedules of activities that keep us from communicating with each other.
In many families the key to communication cannot be found. The doors to meaningful discussions are locked. Communication involves talking, listening and understanding. Unfortunately we often are more inclined to talk about our own wants than to listen to the concerns of others. All people have an immense need to be truly listened to. Communication also requires that you share yourself verbally and non verbally in such a way that the other person can understand and accept what you are sharing.
Thoughts to Ponder
1. Communication is to love what blood is to the body. When communication breaks down, love is blocked.
2. Words have power. Choose them carefully. Words can hurt, injure, and anger, or they can heal, help and comfort.
3. Research shows that tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures communicate even more effectively than words.
4. Do your words, facial expressions and body language encourage loving family relationship?
CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Conflict is natural when people live together. Our creator has made each of us differently, and family members seek to protect their uniqueness. When we are threatened, we feel an impulse to attack. Conflicts arise out of personal values, beliefs and needs. We truly love the members of our family when we understand and appreciate the ways in which they are unique. Conflict in families is an opportunity to recognize each other's needs and uniqueness and to celebrate differences. Conflicts are to be resolved, not avoided. Conflict resolution requires working together, listening, and caring. Make your family a place of safety through resolving conflict in a healthy way.
Ground rules for conflict
1. Realize that conflict is natural. People who live together will experience conflict.
2. Don't try to win. Make it a win-win solution where everyone feels OK.
3. Find a way to de-escalate. Look for the positive. Hurtful comments increase defensiveness.
4. Keep the big picture in mind. Don't let molehills become mountains.
MONEY MANAGEMENT
Money problems often cause anger and conflict in families. Money problems rank among the top four reasons leading to divorce. The problems increase as the number of people in the family increases. Problems develop when decisions about money create distance and resentment. Family members should feel that their needs and values are supported by the way in which family finances are spent.
The value of a family member should never be equated with the person's net worth. Family relationships can be destroyed if a love of things becomes a higher priority than a love of each other. Freedom from money problems more often results from spending less than earning more.
Questions to ponder
1. Is your money being spent to support your priorities?
2. Are behavior problems leading to money problems?
3. What holes need to be plugged where money disappears without knowing where it went?
4. Have you considered the feelings of other family members in regard to how the family money is spent?
ATTITUDES OF GRATEFULNESS
Appreciating the people who live in our family is foundational to loving relationshilps. The dynamic that keeps a family happy is a positive attitude. We are trained in our culture to focus on the problems that need to be solved. We too often develop a negative attitude and resent the people in our family who aren't living up to our expectations. When we cling too tightly to expectations, we lose a sense of appreciation for the goodness in those around us. Often the best way to eliminate negative behaviors is to accentuate the positive ones.
Growing in gratitude
1. To create joy in your relationships, focus on what is admirable about the people in your family.
2. When family members do something good, say so! "Thank you" and "I like that" are powerful tools for good relationships.
3. Negative impasses will break down when a positive attitude replaces anger.
4. You can choose what to pay attention to. Focus on what is wonderful about the other person.
Loving relationships don't just happen. They are the result of a decision and commitment to grow in understanding amidst all the problems and concerns that family life presents throughout the years. You can turn the keys to loving family relationships.
REFERENCES:
* Poduska, Bernard E. For Love and Money: A Guide to Finances & Relationships.Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Pub. 1993.
* Ryan, M.J. Attitudes of Gratitude in Love: Creating More Joy in Your Relationship. NY: MJF Books. 2002.
* Whiteman, Thomas A., Ph.D. and Thomas G. Bartlett, Ph.D. The Marriage Mender: A Couple's Guide for Staying Together. Colorado Springs, CO:NAVPress.1996
Our modern culture emphasizes self-interest, but it is within the family that we accept others into our definition of self. Families are under stress today because social pressures that once held families together are weakened. We want our family to be a place of joy and happiness. It is up to us to make it happen.
We'll focus on four keys that will help to unlock loving relationships in our families:
* Positive communication;
* Conflict resolution;
* Money management;
* and Attitudes of gratefulness.
POSITIVE COMMUNICATION
Families provide for us a sense of companionship and completeness. Communication is essential for the expression of these relationships. When communication breaks down, love is blocked. Resentment and hostility replace companionship. Communication takes time. We need to clear our schedules of activities that keep us from communicating with each other.
In many families the key to communication cannot be found. The doors to meaningful discussions are locked. Communication involves talking, listening and understanding. Unfortunately we often are more inclined to talk about our own wants than to listen to the concerns of others. All people have an immense need to be truly listened to. Communication also requires that you share yourself verbally and non verbally in such a way that the other person can understand and accept what you are sharing.
Thoughts to Ponder
1. Communication is to love what blood is to the body. When communication breaks down, love is blocked.
2. Words have power. Choose them carefully. Words can hurt, injure, and anger, or they can heal, help and comfort.
3. Research shows that tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures communicate even more effectively than words.
4. Do your words, facial expressions and body language encourage loving family relationship?
CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Conflict is natural when people live together. Our creator has made each of us differently, and family members seek to protect their uniqueness. When we are threatened, we feel an impulse to attack. Conflicts arise out of personal values, beliefs and needs. We truly love the members of our family when we understand and appreciate the ways in which they are unique. Conflict in families is an opportunity to recognize each other's needs and uniqueness and to celebrate differences. Conflicts are to be resolved, not avoided. Conflict resolution requires working together, listening, and caring. Make your family a place of safety through resolving conflict in a healthy way.
Ground rules for conflict
1. Realize that conflict is natural. People who live together will experience conflict.
2. Don't try to win. Make it a win-win solution where everyone feels OK.
3. Find a way to de-escalate. Look for the positive. Hurtful comments increase defensiveness.
4. Keep the big picture in mind. Don't let molehills become mountains.
MONEY MANAGEMENT
Money problems often cause anger and conflict in families. Money problems rank among the top four reasons leading to divorce. The problems increase as the number of people in the family increases. Problems develop when decisions about money create distance and resentment. Family members should feel that their needs and values are supported by the way in which family finances are spent.
The value of a family member should never be equated with the person's net worth. Family relationships can be destroyed if a love of things becomes a higher priority than a love of each other. Freedom from money problems more often results from spending less than earning more.
Questions to ponder
1. Is your money being spent to support your priorities?
2. Are behavior problems leading to money problems?
3. What holes need to be plugged where money disappears without knowing where it went?
4. Have you considered the feelings of other family members in regard to how the family money is spent?
ATTITUDES OF GRATEFULNESS
Appreciating the people who live in our family is foundational to loving relationshilps. The dynamic that keeps a family happy is a positive attitude. We are trained in our culture to focus on the problems that need to be solved. We too often develop a negative attitude and resent the people in our family who aren't living up to our expectations. When we cling too tightly to expectations, we lose a sense of appreciation for the goodness in those around us. Often the best way to eliminate negative behaviors is to accentuate the positive ones.
Growing in gratitude
1. To create joy in your relationships, focus on what is admirable about the people in your family.
2. When family members do something good, say so! "Thank you" and "I like that" are powerful tools for good relationships.
3. Negative impasses will break down when a positive attitude replaces anger.
4. You can choose what to pay attention to. Focus on what is wonderful about the other person.
Loving relationships don't just happen. They are the result of a decision and commitment to grow in understanding amidst all the problems and concerns that family life presents throughout the years. You can turn the keys to loving family relationships.
REFERENCES:
* Poduska, Bernard E. For Love and Money: A Guide to Finances & Relationships.Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole Pub. 1993.
* Ryan, M.J. Attitudes of Gratitude in Love: Creating More Joy in Your Relationship. NY: MJF Books. 2002.
* Whiteman, Thomas A., Ph.D. and Thomas G. Bartlett, Ph.D. The Marriage Mender: A Couple's Guide for Staying Together. Colorado Springs, CO:NAVPress.1996
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Health Care Reform Begins at Home
Each of us makes decisions about our own physical and psychological health and wellness. Much of our personal illness and injury is created by lifestyle choices related to destructive habits in eating, exercise, cleanliness, drinking, smoking, drug use, and reckless driving.
President Obama, in his discussion on health care reform policies, emphasized preventive health care, urging all of us to take more responsibility for our own health.
Chruches are also adding health and wellness dimensions to their ministry, a practice that is consistent with the concerns of Jesus for healing and wholeness.
Restoring the health of our family relationships and sexual behaviors should be a priority concern in our move toward health care reform. Both religious and secular education needs to include rigorous preparation for healthy sexual, marriage and family relationships, beginning with children and increasing for teens and older.
"The devastating impact of marital and family breakdown on individuals and on our society as a whole has been well documented, yet too often we stand by helplessly while families fall apart. We often fail to provide the relationship education and support needed to build strong families whose members enjoy each other and cope effectively with life's challenges...
We can learn the skills to build healthy relationships;
we can unravel the emotional tangles that sabotage our families;
we can build on family strengths to establish the deep friendship and mutual commitment that undergirds lasting marriages and healthy families." 1.
Many organizations and resources provide help in the development of family relationship growth. (marriagelovepower.net)
Classes on marriage enrichment and parenting skills should be offered on a continuing basis, with classes focusing on premarital counseling, different stages of marriage, and childhood development.
HEALTHY SEXUALITY
Modern social influences are bombarding us with enticement into dangerous and destructive sexual behaviors that too often result in debilitating disease, broken trust, broken relationships, and broken lives.
Healthy sexuality focuses on ultimate concern for the individual lives involved and ultimate concern for the lives of children who develop from sexual togetherness.
PORNOGRAPHY DISTORTS HEALTHY SEXUALITY
Speaking out against the dangers of pornography and educating people, especially young people, about lustful addictions and sexual distortions that grow from pornographic images is an essential and valuable concern for health and wellness.
PREMARITAL ABSTINENCE AND FAITHFUL MONOGAMY WITHIN MARRIAGE
Our contemporary society is presenting sex as a toy for personal pleasure, even to the young. Tragic consequences related to sexually transmitted diseases, loss of self esteem, broken trust, children born out-of-wedlock, and abortion become the reality for too many people. Young people need to be given the understanding and commitment to resist the temptations of careless sexuality.
An understanding of the importance of sexual abstinence before marriage and faithful monogamy after marriage is a foundation for healthy sexual behaviors.
THE DANGERS OF 'SAFE SEX'
The careless double talk of 'safe sex' and the handing out of condoms, even to middle school students, puts sexual health in jeopardy. Condoms are not safe. They have a 14% actual use failure rate, a failure rate of 1 out of 6 or 7 time. This amounts to Russian roulette sex. The common use of the phrase 'safe sex' in regard to condom use is cruel, dangerous and careless.
THE SANCTITY OF LIFE IS THREATENED
Healthy living is a call to respect the value of each life, and a call to order our lives in ways that we support and cherish our own life and the lives of others.
Since 1973, abortion has taken the lives of over 50 million infants. About 80%
of abortions are performed on unmarried women, as young women are told that a fetus is 'merely a mass of tissue' rather than a developing child.
The development of the ultrasound machine is allowing women to respect and watch the growth of their child. Pregnancy centers are protecting and educating women in the development of their child.
Women who feel that they are unable to raise a child can be supported in their pregnancy and encouraged to offer their children to loving couples seeking a child to adopt.
PROTECTING TRADITIONAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
Heterosexual marriage is primarily a social issue. It becomes a religious concern and a political concern because it is a foundation for social integration, freedom, reproduction and health.
The normalization of homosexuality in society would create profound changes in social organization that warrant caution and serious consideration rather than the heated arguments that are being generated.
Social Integration -
The traditional family is the building block for the integration of society as members grow in understanding of various perspectives within the family. In spite of immense variation within the sexes, there remain fundamental differences in biological and psychological make up. Heterosexual marriage seeks to integrate these elements into a caring unit.
As men relate intimately to men and women to women, social disintegration will occur.
Social Freedom -
The family preserves and passes down its unique cultural values to the next generation, providing checks and balances in society which guard against destructive extremism. Homosexuality will jeopardize the intergenerational transfer of cultural patterns within society.
Social Reproduction -
Homosexuality will jeopardize social reproduction and the intergenerational transfer of genetic patterns. Reproduction will necessitate contrivance and manipulation, buying and selling.
Social Health -
Personal health risks associated with homosexual behavior are deeply troubling. According to the American Medical Association, homosexual youth are 23 times more apt to contact a sexually transmitted disease than their heterosexual counterparts. In the U.S., men who have sex with men account for 60-70% of estimated HIV infections, although they represent only 5-7% of the population.
CAUTION IS WISDOM -
Countless research studies confirm that the greatest sources of nurture, support and meaning for the majority of Americans are found within the family unit. Legal constraints maintain a sense of appropriateness. Extending the range of permissible behavior will put in jeopardy social integration, freedom, social reproduction, and social health.
HEALTH AND WELLNESS BEGINS WITH US AND OUR PERSONAL CHOICES.
1.United Methodist Marriage Ministries (Overview). www.marriagelovepower.net.
President Obama, in his discussion on health care reform policies, emphasized preventive health care, urging all of us to take more responsibility for our own health.
Chruches are also adding health and wellness dimensions to their ministry, a practice that is consistent with the concerns of Jesus for healing and wholeness.
Restoring the health of our family relationships and sexual behaviors should be a priority concern in our move toward health care reform. Both religious and secular education needs to include rigorous preparation for healthy sexual, marriage and family relationships, beginning with children and increasing for teens and older.
"The devastating impact of marital and family breakdown on individuals and on our society as a whole has been well documented, yet too often we stand by helplessly while families fall apart. We often fail to provide the relationship education and support needed to build strong families whose members enjoy each other and cope effectively with life's challenges...
We can learn the skills to build healthy relationships;
we can unravel the emotional tangles that sabotage our families;
we can build on family strengths to establish the deep friendship and mutual commitment that undergirds lasting marriages and healthy families." 1.
Many organizations and resources provide help in the development of family relationship growth. (marriagelovepower.net)
Classes on marriage enrichment and parenting skills should be offered on a continuing basis, with classes focusing on premarital counseling, different stages of marriage, and childhood development.
HEALTHY SEXUALITY
Modern social influences are bombarding us with enticement into dangerous and destructive sexual behaviors that too often result in debilitating disease, broken trust, broken relationships, and broken lives.
Healthy sexuality focuses on ultimate concern for the individual lives involved and ultimate concern for the lives of children who develop from sexual togetherness.
PORNOGRAPHY DISTORTS HEALTHY SEXUALITY
Speaking out against the dangers of pornography and educating people, especially young people, about lustful addictions and sexual distortions that grow from pornographic images is an essential and valuable concern for health and wellness.
PREMARITAL ABSTINENCE AND FAITHFUL MONOGAMY WITHIN MARRIAGE
Our contemporary society is presenting sex as a toy for personal pleasure, even to the young. Tragic consequences related to sexually transmitted diseases, loss of self esteem, broken trust, children born out-of-wedlock, and abortion become the reality for too many people. Young people need to be given the understanding and commitment to resist the temptations of careless sexuality.
An understanding of the importance of sexual abstinence before marriage and faithful monogamy after marriage is a foundation for healthy sexual behaviors.
THE DANGERS OF 'SAFE SEX'
The careless double talk of 'safe sex' and the handing out of condoms, even to middle school students, puts sexual health in jeopardy. Condoms are not safe. They have a 14% actual use failure rate, a failure rate of 1 out of 6 or 7 time. This amounts to Russian roulette sex. The common use of the phrase 'safe sex' in regard to condom use is cruel, dangerous and careless.
THE SANCTITY OF LIFE IS THREATENED
Healthy living is a call to respect the value of each life, and a call to order our lives in ways that we support and cherish our own life and the lives of others.
Since 1973, abortion has taken the lives of over 50 million infants. About 80%
of abortions are performed on unmarried women, as young women are told that a fetus is 'merely a mass of tissue' rather than a developing child.
The development of the ultrasound machine is allowing women to respect and watch the growth of their child. Pregnancy centers are protecting and educating women in the development of their child.
Women who feel that they are unable to raise a child can be supported in their pregnancy and encouraged to offer their children to loving couples seeking a child to adopt.
PROTECTING TRADITIONAL FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
Heterosexual marriage is primarily a social issue. It becomes a religious concern and a political concern because it is a foundation for social integration, freedom, reproduction and health.
The normalization of homosexuality in society would create profound changes in social organization that warrant caution and serious consideration rather than the heated arguments that are being generated.
Social Integration -
The traditional family is the building block for the integration of society as members grow in understanding of various perspectives within the family. In spite of immense variation within the sexes, there remain fundamental differences in biological and psychological make up. Heterosexual marriage seeks to integrate these elements into a caring unit.
As men relate intimately to men and women to women, social disintegration will occur.
Social Freedom -
The family preserves and passes down its unique cultural values to the next generation, providing checks and balances in society which guard against destructive extremism. Homosexuality will jeopardize the intergenerational transfer of cultural patterns within society.
Social Reproduction -
Homosexuality will jeopardize social reproduction and the intergenerational transfer of genetic patterns. Reproduction will necessitate contrivance and manipulation, buying and selling.
Social Health -
Personal health risks associated with homosexual behavior are deeply troubling. According to the American Medical Association, homosexual youth are 23 times more apt to contact a sexually transmitted disease than their heterosexual counterparts. In the U.S., men who have sex with men account for 60-70% of estimated HIV infections, although they represent only 5-7% of the population.
CAUTION IS WISDOM -
Countless research studies confirm that the greatest sources of nurture, support and meaning for the majority of Americans are found within the family unit. Legal constraints maintain a sense of appropriateness. Extending the range of permissible behavior will put in jeopardy social integration, freedom, social reproduction, and social health.
HEALTH AND WELLNESS BEGINS WITH US AND OUR PERSONAL CHOICES.
1.United Methodist Marriage Ministries (Overview). www.marriagelovepower.net.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Obama, Socialism, and the Threatened Family
Words express our joys, they also express our fears and observed concerns.
Pastor Jeremiah Wright, when asked whether he had spoken to his former church member, President Obama, since moving into the White House, replied, "Them Jews ain't going to let him talk to me."
Ironically, the white supremacist, James von Brunn, who killed a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC made almost an identical statement, "Obama was created by Jews. Obama does what his Jew owners tell him to do."
San Antonio Express News Columnist, Jonathan Gurwitz, dismisses these concerns,finding it "almost too much to comprehend" that "nutjobs on the left and right have the same unhinged preoccupation with all things Zionist."(June 17,2009,
pg. 7B)
However, from my experience and observation it is very possible that President Obama's move toward socialism has been guided and influenced by Jewish professionals.
In 1976 I completed my master's thesis in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. A large portion of the professors, perhaps even 40%, were Jewish and socialism was accepted by most professionals as the direction in which our country was heading.
During this same time period, Dr. Urie Bronfenbrenner, a Jewish professor in the School of Human Ecology at Cornell, had returned from doing research in China. Bronfenbrenner was impressed by the child care patterns he observed in China, and concluded that this was the direction in which we need to move. He made a number of public speeches to this regard.
* * *
I wrote a letter to the local newspaper, the Ithaca Journal. The letter was printed verbatim as a guest opinion column on Tuesday, December 7, 1976.
The remaining portion of this entry will be a reprint of this article.
The Ithaca Journal titled the article:
THE NUCLEAR FAMILY: IS IT THREATENED BY SCIENCE?
by Marjorie Coppock
I am increasingly upset by the continued proliferation of Professor Urie Bronfenbrenner's interpretation of the American family. His basic concerns for family, caring relationships and concerned societies are certainly areas with which I identify; however, his conclusions and solutions indicate a bias in data collection that I have come to believe is not only misleading but deliberately so.
In a front page article in the Land Grant Gazette, Dr. Bronfenbrenner deplores the existence of problems such as "family disintegration, high divorce rates, children growing up in families with a single working parent, plunging achievement scores in basic communicaton skills among high school students, drug abuse, delinquency, high rates of child abuse." He contends that the American family is dis-integrating, becoming increasingly disconnected from the rest of society.
He states: "We've carried our individualism, the 'do your own thing' mania to ends that are not constructive. We have a paranoia about helping one another, excusing it with axioms about how you'll wreck the moral fiber of people by giving them a helping hand. This may be true when you are strong and know how to help yourself, but it's not so fine for the sick, the elderly, those who are small and alone, for children who can only be victims. We are not a caring society. We are unwilling to make irrational loving commitments to children, to families, grandparents, relatives, even our wives and husbands. And beyond to friends, neighbors, community, indeed even to our country."
He continues in the article to commend the socialist countries such as Sweden and China for their exemplary patterns of 'people caring'. His lecture on this topic follows the same pattern - Our families and communities have fallen apart: therefore, we need to adopt socialism because socialism 'serves the people'.
Dr. Bronfenbrenner decries the loss of the extended family: the grandparent, aunt-uncle, brother-sister support system which in the past has cared for the individual. He decries the breakup of the nuclear family; the high divorce rate and the large number of working mothers. He decries the mania of 'do your own thing'. However several situations have converged to cause me to believe that his concerns are more political than compassionate. (Although I am not questioning the depths of his compassion.)
Last summer, I was discussing Dr. Bronfenbrenner's concerns with a woman who now lives in Rochester. She commented, "I'm interested in what you're saying because I was a student in that department 20 years ago. The situations that he claims have now occurred are the very things we were taught to teach. We were to encourage students not to return to their home town and to their extended families but rather to move to a new town in order to be independent and 'do your own thing'. Perhaps he has helped to create the situation that he is now exploiting."
The second situation concerns the brand of feminism that is supported by the professional educators. If the extended family has been threatened in the past by professional counsel, the nuclear family is presently under intense attack by those women whom the professionals choose to support.
As a student at Cornell I actively tried to bring to consciousness the important contributions made to our society by homemakers believing that these contributions should be recognized by more than the Ladies Home Journal. Much to my dismay I discovered that many professional women also are unappreciative of these contributions. Women are being encouraged to remain single or accept divorce as a viable alternative. Women are being encouraged to leave their families and to leave their children in day care centers, to develop careers and enter paying jobs.
One woman professor stated, "We should not just stay at home and have children who only cry and vomit." Another woman in a lecture advised the men in the audience to "kick your wives out of the house. Make them become economically independent so they will not be a burden upon you."
I am not necessarily opposed to all of these trends; however, my concern is deepened by the realization that one of the main advisors for the women's studies program is a male professor who works closely with Dr. Bronfenbrenner. The question becomes, "Are these men working against each other or with each other?"
The third situation which causes me to question the statements of Dr. Bronfenbrenner is the treatment accorded by the professional community to data recently collected for my Master's thesis in another department at Cornell. These data contradict almost all of the statements he makes. The thesis was a survey of the woman volunteer. A 10 page questionnaire was mailed to 900 women volunteers in Tompkins County. Five hundred and thirteen women thoughtfully completed and returned these questionnaires.
The predominate impression from this overwhelming response was that of a deep concern for family, community, the sick, the elderly and the children. These women were not motivated by a mania to 'do their own thing' but rather a desire to 'serve the people' because of a love for their fellow man. They expressed no paranoia of helping one another. Their responses and comments (written along the edges, between questions and on the backs of the pages) indicate irrational loving commitments to family, neighbor and community.
Their deep concerns were perhaps developed by the altruistic and intrinsic rewards instilled by religion as 85 percent of the women identified with a religious affiliation. These 513 women gave 3,205 hours each week to community service organizations. Because the sample was randomly drawn these data can legitimately be extended to thousands of women. In observing the volunteers in our community I suspect the data could be equaled by the men who contribute generously of their time to run church activities, service organizations, scouts and sports activities.
* * *
I was not prepared for the treatment which I received from the professional community. Although data had been collected on background characteristics, volunteer job involvements, attitudes toward job satisfaction and attitudes toward six currently debated policy orientations it was dismissed as 'predictable and merely data'. After receiving the returned questionnaires I received essentially no more help from the professors in the analysis of the data.
The only assistance was the following advice: "Tell the women they are being exploited, they are taking paying jobs from other women, they should form a union so the National Labor Board can speak for them and then go on strike." I was stunned. Although the data does not support this advice it was repeated on two other occasions.
I cannot condone or condemn socialism. I would need more information to do so. Perhaps we could benefit by adopting some of the 'people caring' patterns of socialist countries. I do, however, deplore the manipulation, distortion and suppression of data for political reasons. I have both personal experience and observation to support the contention that this is occurring. We cannot deliver a caring society from the bowels of deception.
When Dr. Bronfenbrenner speaks with concern for the American family and in the same breath praises the Chinese and Swedish families he overlooks the government infringment and control which exists in socialist countries over the cultural training of the children. The beauty, freedom and strength of America and of existence itself lies in a multiplicity of ideas and in variations of cultural interpretations. The authority and autonomy of the family unit is the cornerstone upon which these variations are built.
Pastor Jeremiah Wright, when asked whether he had spoken to his former church member, President Obama, since moving into the White House, replied, "Them Jews ain't going to let him talk to me."
Ironically, the white supremacist, James von Brunn, who killed a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC made almost an identical statement, "Obama was created by Jews. Obama does what his Jew owners tell him to do."
San Antonio Express News Columnist, Jonathan Gurwitz, dismisses these concerns,finding it "almost too much to comprehend" that "nutjobs on the left and right have the same unhinged preoccupation with all things Zionist."(June 17,2009,
pg. 7B)
However, from my experience and observation it is very possible that President Obama's move toward socialism has been guided and influenced by Jewish professionals.
In 1976 I completed my master's thesis in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University. A large portion of the professors, perhaps even 40%, were Jewish and socialism was accepted by most professionals as the direction in which our country was heading.
During this same time period, Dr. Urie Bronfenbrenner, a Jewish professor in the School of Human Ecology at Cornell, had returned from doing research in China. Bronfenbrenner was impressed by the child care patterns he observed in China, and concluded that this was the direction in which we need to move. He made a number of public speeches to this regard.
* * *
I wrote a letter to the local newspaper, the Ithaca Journal. The letter was printed verbatim as a guest opinion column on Tuesday, December 7, 1976.
The remaining portion of this entry will be a reprint of this article.
The Ithaca Journal titled the article:
THE NUCLEAR FAMILY: IS IT THREATENED BY SCIENCE?
by Marjorie Coppock
I am increasingly upset by the continued proliferation of Professor Urie Bronfenbrenner's interpretation of the American family. His basic concerns for family, caring relationships and concerned societies are certainly areas with which I identify; however, his conclusions and solutions indicate a bias in data collection that I have come to believe is not only misleading but deliberately so.
In a front page article in the Land Grant Gazette, Dr. Bronfenbrenner deplores the existence of problems such as "family disintegration, high divorce rates, children growing up in families with a single working parent, plunging achievement scores in basic communicaton skills among high school students, drug abuse, delinquency, high rates of child abuse." He contends that the American family is dis-integrating, becoming increasingly disconnected from the rest of society.
He states: "We've carried our individualism, the 'do your own thing' mania to ends that are not constructive. We have a paranoia about helping one another, excusing it with axioms about how you'll wreck the moral fiber of people by giving them a helping hand. This may be true when you are strong and know how to help yourself, but it's not so fine for the sick, the elderly, those who are small and alone, for children who can only be victims. We are not a caring society. We are unwilling to make irrational loving commitments to children, to families, grandparents, relatives, even our wives and husbands. And beyond to friends, neighbors, community, indeed even to our country."
He continues in the article to commend the socialist countries such as Sweden and China for their exemplary patterns of 'people caring'. His lecture on this topic follows the same pattern - Our families and communities have fallen apart: therefore, we need to adopt socialism because socialism 'serves the people'.
Dr. Bronfenbrenner decries the loss of the extended family: the grandparent, aunt-uncle, brother-sister support system which in the past has cared for the individual. He decries the breakup of the nuclear family; the high divorce rate and the large number of working mothers. He decries the mania of 'do your own thing'. However several situations have converged to cause me to believe that his concerns are more political than compassionate. (Although I am not questioning the depths of his compassion.)
Last summer, I was discussing Dr. Bronfenbrenner's concerns with a woman who now lives in Rochester. She commented, "I'm interested in what you're saying because I was a student in that department 20 years ago. The situations that he claims have now occurred are the very things we were taught to teach. We were to encourage students not to return to their home town and to their extended families but rather to move to a new town in order to be independent and 'do your own thing'. Perhaps he has helped to create the situation that he is now exploiting."
The second situation concerns the brand of feminism that is supported by the professional educators. If the extended family has been threatened in the past by professional counsel, the nuclear family is presently under intense attack by those women whom the professionals choose to support.
As a student at Cornell I actively tried to bring to consciousness the important contributions made to our society by homemakers believing that these contributions should be recognized by more than the Ladies Home Journal. Much to my dismay I discovered that many professional women also are unappreciative of these contributions. Women are being encouraged to remain single or accept divorce as a viable alternative. Women are being encouraged to leave their families and to leave their children in day care centers, to develop careers and enter paying jobs.
One woman professor stated, "We should not just stay at home and have children who only cry and vomit." Another woman in a lecture advised the men in the audience to "kick your wives out of the house. Make them become economically independent so they will not be a burden upon you."
I am not necessarily opposed to all of these trends; however, my concern is deepened by the realization that one of the main advisors for the women's studies program is a male professor who works closely with Dr. Bronfenbrenner. The question becomes, "Are these men working against each other or with each other?"
The third situation which causes me to question the statements of Dr. Bronfenbrenner is the treatment accorded by the professional community to data recently collected for my Master's thesis in another department at Cornell. These data contradict almost all of the statements he makes. The thesis was a survey of the woman volunteer. A 10 page questionnaire was mailed to 900 women volunteers in Tompkins County. Five hundred and thirteen women thoughtfully completed and returned these questionnaires.
The predominate impression from this overwhelming response was that of a deep concern for family, community, the sick, the elderly and the children. These women were not motivated by a mania to 'do their own thing' but rather a desire to 'serve the people' because of a love for their fellow man. They expressed no paranoia of helping one another. Their responses and comments (written along the edges, between questions and on the backs of the pages) indicate irrational loving commitments to family, neighbor and community.
Their deep concerns were perhaps developed by the altruistic and intrinsic rewards instilled by religion as 85 percent of the women identified with a religious affiliation. These 513 women gave 3,205 hours each week to community service organizations. Because the sample was randomly drawn these data can legitimately be extended to thousands of women. In observing the volunteers in our community I suspect the data could be equaled by the men who contribute generously of their time to run church activities, service organizations, scouts and sports activities.
* * *
I was not prepared for the treatment which I received from the professional community. Although data had been collected on background characteristics, volunteer job involvements, attitudes toward job satisfaction and attitudes toward six currently debated policy orientations it was dismissed as 'predictable and merely data'. After receiving the returned questionnaires I received essentially no more help from the professors in the analysis of the data.
The only assistance was the following advice: "Tell the women they are being exploited, they are taking paying jobs from other women, they should form a union so the National Labor Board can speak for them and then go on strike." I was stunned. Although the data does not support this advice it was repeated on two other occasions.
I cannot condone or condemn socialism. I would need more information to do so. Perhaps we could benefit by adopting some of the 'people caring' patterns of socialist countries. I do, however, deplore the manipulation, distortion and suppression of data for political reasons. I have both personal experience and observation to support the contention that this is occurring. We cannot deliver a caring society from the bowels of deception.
When Dr. Bronfenbrenner speaks with concern for the American family and in the same breath praises the Chinese and Swedish families he overlooks the government infringment and control which exists in socialist countries over the cultural training of the children. The beauty, freedom and strength of America and of existence itself lies in a multiplicity of ideas and in variations of cultural interpretations. The authority and autonomy of the family unit is the cornerstone upon which these variations are built.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
A Mother's Day Tribute
This Sunday in America we'll pause in our hectic pace to remember our mothers and the importance of their love and guidance in shaping our lives.
It is with a grateful heart that I remember my mother, Elizabeth Hare, who passed on to her reward 10 years ago.
Although Mom was primarily a wife and a mother, she was a strong, wise and independent woman long before woman's lib became popular in the '70's.
She had been trained as a Baptist missionary, but after marriage her family and her local church became her mission field. She worked several years as the Director of Religious Education for our church and also several years as a social worker.
When we four children left home, Mom invited us back with our families every two years to gather for a reunion. We have rich memories from these gatherings.
Both Mom and Dad took time to write their observations and feelings about the importance of life and the beauty in their lives. They would have enjoyed blogging.
Last Father's Day (June 11, 2008) I shared some of Dad's insightful and humorous observations about nature on my blogsite.
This blog will pass on some of Mom's poetic reflections in which she shares her joy and love for living.
TIC-TAC-TOE
God opened up this day for me,
And said, Now make it good.
Explore your world and work with love
As every Christian should.
Let not the routine patterns,
Thwart pictures in the mind.
Play tic-tac-toe with problems.
Joy wins the game you'll find.
AT THE ORGAN
I never will be famous
For musical array,
But in my heart a melody
I sing and write today.
I talk to my Creator,
I play Him songs most dear,
I know that He will listen,
Without a critic's ear.
I pour my soul's vibrations
Into the ivory keys,
Not man, but God will hear them,
'Tis Him I seek to please.
The world is rushing madly
Trying to find life's way
While joy and peace engulf me,
As holy tunes I play.
I LIKE POPCORN
Each person has a weakness,
We must admit with shame,
I too confess I'm guilty
In this lack-of-will power game.
At evening when we're resting
Perhaps with friends who've come,
I argue that the children,
Would like some food for fun.
Popcorn - that will please them,
If they don't play too rough,
I'll pop a great big bowlful
But I won't touch the stuff.
The children call out to me,
Hurry up, we can't resist.
Their nostrils smell corn popping,
From play they all desist.
I tell myself, now this time,
Your will must not give way,
But when the bowl is empty,
I've eaten more than they.
Some day I know I'll conquer,
My figure will grow slim,
But as long as there is popcorn,
I'm afraid I'll never win.
MOTHER, MAKE HIM STOP IT!
Mother, make him stop it.
He's hitting me in the back.
Why must I have a brother
That I always want to smack?
Can you tell me why he trips me,
Every time that I must pass?
Make him go outside, Mom,
Weed the garden, mow the grass.
And so it goes - these children,
They bicker, fuss and fume.
They like it. I don't mind it.
I suppose it chases gloom.
THE CRICKET IS SINGING A SONG TO ME
The cricket is singing a song to me,
Ta-ree, ta-ree, ta-ree.
In the darkness of night when all is at rest,
I think he must be free.
Free from the worry of human noise,
Free to explore alone,
To walk around in the silent earth,
And then to mount his throne -
To sing the song that's inside of him,
And tell me to have no fear,
'Mid rush and work and family tasks,
There is always time to cheer.
Says he at night when all is asleep,
Relax and my song I'll sing.
It will quiet your mind and clear your thought,
As my message, ta-ree, I bring.
Yes, the cricket is singing a song to me,
Ta-ree, ta-ree, ta-ree.
In the darkness of night when all is at rest,
And the hour from care is free.
NIGHT
Listen, my soul,
To the silence of peace,
Enveloping night
In its lazy release.
Dream on, weary mind,
Of lofty new aims,
To fire the morn
At dawn's glowing change.
Arise, heart anew,
And gird thyself well,
Awake to new light,
Love's passion to tell.
Guard zealously yet
The hours of the day.
Fill each open moment
With laughter, still pray -
That the evening approaching
From labor is meant -
To offer reward
For each second well spent.
Listen, my soul,
To the silence of peace,
Enveloping night
In its lazy release.
Mom lived to be 89. She passed on a rich heritage of love to her children and grandchildren. Thank you, Mom.
It is with a grateful heart that I remember my mother, Elizabeth Hare, who passed on to her reward 10 years ago.
Although Mom was primarily a wife and a mother, she was a strong, wise and independent woman long before woman's lib became popular in the '70's.
She had been trained as a Baptist missionary, but after marriage her family and her local church became her mission field. She worked several years as the Director of Religious Education for our church and also several years as a social worker.
When we four children left home, Mom invited us back with our families every two years to gather for a reunion. We have rich memories from these gatherings.
Both Mom and Dad took time to write their observations and feelings about the importance of life and the beauty in their lives. They would have enjoyed blogging.
Last Father's Day (June 11, 2008) I shared some of Dad's insightful and humorous observations about nature on my blogsite.
This blog will pass on some of Mom's poetic reflections in which she shares her joy and love for living.
TIC-TAC-TOE
God opened up this day for me,
And said, Now make it good.
Explore your world and work with love
As every Christian should.
Let not the routine patterns,
Thwart pictures in the mind.
Play tic-tac-toe with problems.
Joy wins the game you'll find.
AT THE ORGAN
I never will be famous
For musical array,
But in my heart a melody
I sing and write today.
I talk to my Creator,
I play Him songs most dear,
I know that He will listen,
Without a critic's ear.
I pour my soul's vibrations
Into the ivory keys,
Not man, but God will hear them,
'Tis Him I seek to please.
The world is rushing madly
Trying to find life's way
While joy and peace engulf me,
As holy tunes I play.
I LIKE POPCORN
Each person has a weakness,
We must admit with shame,
I too confess I'm guilty
In this lack-of-will power game.
At evening when we're resting
Perhaps with friends who've come,
I argue that the children,
Would like some food for fun.
Popcorn - that will please them,
If they don't play too rough,
I'll pop a great big bowlful
But I won't touch the stuff.
The children call out to me,
Hurry up, we can't resist.
Their nostrils smell corn popping,
From play they all desist.
I tell myself, now this time,
Your will must not give way,
But when the bowl is empty,
I've eaten more than they.
Some day I know I'll conquer,
My figure will grow slim,
But as long as there is popcorn,
I'm afraid I'll never win.
MOTHER, MAKE HIM STOP IT!
Mother, make him stop it.
He's hitting me in the back.
Why must I have a brother
That I always want to smack?
Can you tell me why he trips me,
Every time that I must pass?
Make him go outside, Mom,
Weed the garden, mow the grass.
And so it goes - these children,
They bicker, fuss and fume.
They like it. I don't mind it.
I suppose it chases gloom.
THE CRICKET IS SINGING A SONG TO ME
The cricket is singing a song to me,
Ta-ree, ta-ree, ta-ree.
In the darkness of night when all is at rest,
I think he must be free.
Free from the worry of human noise,
Free to explore alone,
To walk around in the silent earth,
And then to mount his throne -
To sing the song that's inside of him,
And tell me to have no fear,
'Mid rush and work and family tasks,
There is always time to cheer.
Says he at night when all is asleep,
Relax and my song I'll sing.
It will quiet your mind and clear your thought,
As my message, ta-ree, I bring.
Yes, the cricket is singing a song to me,
Ta-ree, ta-ree, ta-ree.
In the darkness of night when all is at rest,
And the hour from care is free.
NIGHT
Listen, my soul,
To the silence of peace,
Enveloping night
In its lazy release.
Dream on, weary mind,
Of lofty new aims,
To fire the morn
At dawn's glowing change.
Arise, heart anew,
And gird thyself well,
Awake to new light,
Love's passion to tell.
Guard zealously yet
The hours of the day.
Fill each open moment
With laughter, still pray -
That the evening approaching
From labor is meant -
To offer reward
For each second well spent.
Listen, my soul,
To the silence of peace,
Enveloping night
In its lazy release.
Mom lived to be 89. She passed on a rich heritage of love to her children and grandchildren. Thank you, Mom.
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