Brian "Krow" Aker's Idle Thoughts - Kids and their parents....

How many parents do not see their children as extensions of themselves and their beliefs?
How many parents do not think it is their right to deny their children information that they themselves do not agree with?

I think that's one of the hallmarks of wanting to be a parent.
Wanting to make a little clone of one's self.

When people see children as the means to a legacy, that is, immortality, they will always try to indoctrinate their children with their ways.

The people, whether parents or not, who see children as Selves in their own right, with the right to think and choose differently from those that raised them, are quite few, even in this culture that glorifies selfishness.

Did you forget your spare headphones again? :)

Seems like the kid is a bit young for that kind of conversation, at that.

I am eternally grateful that my mother indoctrinated me into her own beliefs. Fortunately for me, those beliefs were essentially "think for yourself and make your own decisions, even if those decisions conflict with mine".

I still think it was brainwashing, but of all the brainwashing I could get, I'm glad it was giving me tools to resist brainwashing in the future.

Then he wouldn't call anyone evil, because with relativism, there is no evil. (just teasing... sort of!) Bush derangement syndrome is a major problem with many americans, and it sounds like this poor father is suffering from a bad case of it and possibly spreading it to his son.

If he wishes to tell his kid that Bush is a bad leader, he should at least try to explain it logically, and teach the kid a lesson in how to use reason to get a point across instead of ad hominum or ranting. There's a huge wealth of examples of Bush's poor leadership that could be used for such a lesson without simply using the 'evil' label.

When it comes to extremists in either court, there's not much of a difference. There are many a religious person, myself included, who can't understand the insanity of fanaticism and extremism of the select few.

I don't want to "indoctrinate" my kids into ANY sort of thinking -- I want them to be free minded and think for themselves. At least that's the ideal I'd like to achieve -- whether or not I do it will yet to be seen.