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 diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!"
Oscar Hammerstein, "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught", South Pacific

Our president may be leaving more than a few of our children behind, but the rednecks are right up with him. The French didn't buy the WMD story or see a reason to commit their young men to battle and so we denounced them as cowards and infidels. Freedom fries are funny, hating people who offer legitmate challenge to your thought is sick.
Hating all people for the choices of their government, however informed, is contrary to everything this country was founded upon.
Yes, this is a sore subject with me. Four people we love: two beautiful children, a gifted artist and their incredible mother and wife, came here from France. It is a delight to share with them the wonderful things our country offers, but I never imagined the shame possible in the ignorance and hatred of my fellow Americans.
They are living the opposite of every Civics and Sunday School lesson I've ever known.
Our president has staked out the high moral ground solely for those who think as he does. He may not read the newspaper, but he talks to God... the white God, the American God, the one that knows Jesus (and voracious capitalism) are the only way(s). There is no room at that pinnacle for others. If they should be injured in this big boy game of King-of-the-Hill, so be it.
Each time I hear or see the ignorance that assaults our friends, I am ashamed for myself and my country.
I was thus startled to get an email from one of my favorite conservatives (what can I say, I knew him before he converted) complaining of the prejudice he now sees experienced by a long-term neighbor of his who is an Arab.
How could our educated populace be willing to dump a myraid of cultures into one basket of hate? How could we possibly judge an individual on our perception of actions thousands of miles away?
As I read his email, I hear my parents' "South Pacific" soundtrack on their old hi-fi.
"You've got to be taught to hate and fear
You've got to be taught from year to year"
And so we have it, the education president.
Copyright 2004 Judi Griggs