In response to the Virginia Tech shootings, Michelle Malkin has an interesting article arguing for the renewal of the culture of self-defense.
Instead of teaching students to defend their beliefs, American educators shield them from vigorous intellectual debate. Instead of encouraging autonomy, our higher institutions of learning stoke passivity and conflict-avoidance.And as the erosion of intellectual self-defense goes, so goes the erosion of physical self-defense.
It is an interesting thought. We are told that all belief systems are equally true. We are told there are two topics of conversation not to be breached in polite company: politics and religion. The more deeply held a conviction is, the less acceptable it is to hold it, much less express it. Those who defend their convictions and who are audacious enough to claim that truth is absolute, both for themselves and those who disagree with them, are chastised. Our thoughts and beliefs should not be important enough to us to cause another to become uncomfortable.
And as our educational accountability measurements increasingly measure discrete skills which are most conducive to measuring via standardized testing, higher order thinking is being neglected in the classroom. Students are no longer taught to research, reason and defend a position. Without these skills, we have been intellectually disarmed.
Fairly early, we are taught to share. Personal property is not given a high priority. The Lego example in Seattle is an extreme, but when I taught, we confiscated all the children’s school supplies. Scissors, pencils, glue, etc., was redistributed when needed without regard to the owner of the property.
We are taught not to defend property. It is only a toy, only a notebook, only money. The fact that it is mine, not the person’s who is taking it, is downplayed. It isn’t worth fighting over. And defending it could get you more jail time than the thief in Sacramento.
“What we try to stress to people is that deadly force, the use of a firearm, is never justified under any circumstances to protect property,” said Sgt. Matt Young of the Sacramento Police Department.
We are trained from little up not to defend ourselves. That task is the responsibility of others in authority over us. We should try to understand the aggressor. We are supposed to be friends with everybody. If you have a conflict in school, you are to tell the teacher. The student who defends himself is likely to receive the same punishment as the aggressor.
We are trained to fear weapons of any kind. While there certainly is no excuse for school students to be carrying weapons, school administrators have taken zero tolerance policies to a bizarre extreme. Not only can you not take your weapons to school, but you must be wary of anything which might be construed as a weapon. The fear of guns is so pervasive that even eight-year olds with guns made out of paper end up at the police station.
We do not defend our thoughts. We do not defend our property. And when our very person is threatened, we are taught to submit to the judgment and power of another. Malkin quotes Virginia Tech Associate Vice President Larry Hincker’s response to an op-ed piece in the campus paper favoring concealed carry on campus,
Wiles tells us that he didn’t feel safe with the hundreds of highly trained officers armed with high powered rifles encircling the building and protecting him. He even implies that he needed his sidearm to protect himself.
How dare anyone think their personal safety is their personal responsibility.
It is far better to sit in the classroom like frightened sheep, waiting for someone to tell you what to do. Otherwise, some insane student might take control of the situation, like what happened in the Appalachian School of Law Shootings, also in Virginia.
Update: Some thoughts from other blogs. (Thanks for the links!)
Have we created a nation of wimps? asks the Liberty Papers.
Combs Spouts Off about feeling safe vs. being safe.
Right to bear arms a God-given right? from T.F. Stern (this was written prior to this incident)
Also, I thought this might be an interesting discussion topic given my personal views on mental health issues and mandatory screening.
What I don’t understand is this: December 13, 2005, he was temporarily detained for psychiatric evaluation.
Virginia Special Justice Paul Barnett certified an order that Heung-Sui “[p]resents an imminent danger to himself as a result of mental illness,” and directed that as a “Court-ordered O[ut]-P[atient he] follow all recommended treatments.”
I’m not up on VA gun control laws, but shouldn’t this have come up on the background check (it didn’t) and wouldn’t it have barred him from legally obtaining a weapon even under current law?
Hat Tip: La Shawn Barber’s Corner
credits:
girl: Clip art licensed from the Clip Art Gallery on DiscoverySchool.com
Related Tags: Virginia tech, school shootings, gun control, education
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Sramana Mitra looks at the big picture behind the Virginia Tech Massacre: the US Mental Health Legal System
You should read the Liberty papers blog .. they claim we have created a nation of wimps.. basically you have said something similar..
http://www.thelibertypapers.org/2007/04/19/have-we-created-a-nation-of-wimps/
My goodness.. back to blogging so soon.. you amaze me.. you must be pioneer stock.. LOL
At our recent homeschool convention I picked up a CD by Richard “Little Bear” Wheeler, called “So Little Johnny Wants to Play With Guns–What’s a Mother to Do?” It’s NOT about kids playing with guns as much as it is about Biblical principles of defending one’s self. It’s very well presented.
BTW…how can you even think after giving birth?!!! :))heehee
This calls to mind 9/11…when people began to realize how ridiculous it was for three or four guys with box cutters to be able to control and terrorize an entire planeload of adults. Ever since Todd Beamer said, “Let’s roll,” we began to wake up. A few schools in Texas have started a controversial counter-terrorism training program
(http://www.thinkpositivethoughts.com/teaching_kids.htm)
in which children are taught how to attack en masse and physically take down a gunman or intruder, rather than hiding under their desks(as students have been fatally instructed to do in the past.)
I guess it demonstrates yet again the extreme specialization of our culture…stay out of the way and leave it to the experts.
Rebecca
First off, hats off to you and your beautiful new addition. Those pictures of your new baby daughter are priceless.
Secondly;
I wrote my feelings on this subject not too long ago and posted it on my blog:
http://tfsternsrantings.blogspot.com/2007/03/right-to-bear-arms-god-given-right.html
Here’s an excerpt from that article:
It would seem a little childish to boast about the right to kill; and that would be so if boasting and killing were the reasons for defending the right to bear arms. The Lord expects each of us to live the highest order possible while at the same time He has not tied our hands behind us leaving us helpless in front of our enemies. We do not boast, we only acknowledge the need for preserving righteousness in the face of evil.
“Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Matt 5:9
Peacemakers are not those who apologize to the enemy; but those who have sufficient power to force their enemies to withdraw their threat. I’m sure that those who lie down and die before their enemies enjoy the promises of eternity as found in Alma 24; however, I am just as certain that those who provide a safe environment for the righteous by holding onto their weapons and standing up to those who would do the works of evil are also the children of God.
{…}
History has proven that governments are power hungry with limitless appetites and that an unarmed public becomes slaves to government if that government is not held in check by an armed citizenry. Our founding fathers knew this and built in the limited protection afforded by the 2nd Amendment.
The evil around us also comes in the form of individual with no sense of right and wrong, no consideration for the lives and property of others. It is not logical to presume or depend on specialized military or local police officers to stand between righteous individuals, their families or neighbors when armed criminals are at the door.
Thanks for your comments, everyone!
I actually hadn’t intended on blogging for the rest of the week, but three days of flipping channels and seeing nothing but VA Tech left me with a bit to process.
Writing is always how I’ve processed events. So y’all get to read about it if you’re so inclined to come over and do so!
Thanks for the link, Judy. I’ll add it to the entry. The Liberty Papers is one of the blogs I read regularly, although I’m not really reading all my normal blogs at the moment.
Laws relating to those with mental illness in the US are dreadfully inadequate. My sister’s husband and his family watched hopelessly as he lost his sister to her mental illness. She refused medication. She checked herself out of the psychiatric hospitals.
A little over two years ago she purchased a gun with the intent of killing herself and her son. She did not follow through only because the bullets she purchased were not the right size for the gun. The state knew of this incidence. She lost custody of her children. Still last year she was able to purchase a gun and committed suicide.
This young woman was in Virginia too, but I don’t think that they are any better where I live.