A fourteen year-old girl was arrested in England for racism when she objected to being put in a discussion group with non-English speakers by her teacher at school. The full story in the UK’s Daily Mail suggests to me that this is a case of politically correct intolerance gone wild. As you read the excerpt below, ask yourself how this might translate into religious issues over here one day.
The teenager had not been in school the day before due to a hospital appointment and had missed the start of a project, so the teacher allocated her a group to sit with.
“She said I had to sit there with five Asian pupils,” said Codie yesterday.
“Only one could speak English, so she had to tell that one what to do so she could explain in their language. Then she sat me with them and said ‘Discuss’.”
According to Codie, the five – four boys and a girl – then began talking in a language she didn’t understand, thought to be Urdu, so she went to speak to the teacher.
“I said ‘I’m not being funny, but can I change groups because I can’t understand them?’ But she started shouting and screaming, saying ‘It’s racist, you’re going to get done by the police’.”
Codie said she went outside to calm down where another teacher found her and, after speaking to her class teacher, put her in isolation for the rest of the day.
A complaint was made to a police officer based full-time at the school, and more than a week after the incident on September 26 she was taken to Swinton police station and placed under arrest.
Could the day come when holding moral values based on Christian religious beliefs could get a person labeled as an intolerant bigot in need of punishment, or a victim of mental illness in need of a cure? Sure – that day is already here, especially for those who object to homosexual behavior. Could we get to the day when expressing those beliefs or resisting attacks on those beliefs could get a child thrown in jail? We’re not there yet, but beware the insane intolerance of the ones who see themselves as the guardians of the highest virtue in their book, tolerance.
And could we see the day when Christians who oppose a social program or PC teachings teachings on moral grounds could be more than just called mentally ill, but also be accused of a hate crime? Or even be accused of being an “enemy combatant” and locked up without a trial? (BTW, why are we all sitting back so silently as our Constitutional rights are stripped away?) Indeed, the Book of Mormon may offer another prophetic insight into where we are going. Recall that in the years before the great visit of Jesus Christ to Nephite society, the government had become so corrupt that prophets and those who preached of the Messiah were secretly put to death in violation of the requirements of the written law (3 Nephi 6:22-30). The intolerance of the elite toward the pre-Christian “Christians” was truly insane. I hope we don’t get too far down that track, but we’ll see ever growing religious intolerance from the elite dwellers of our modern “great and spacious buildings,” as Lehi saw in his amazing vision. Watch out.
MAN this kind of stuff makes me want to hide under my bed. It wouldn’t do anything to prevent it, but still… Yeesh.
Perhaps the point might be made here that it is not the godless ACLU or the ‘liberals’ that are advocating the above but good old fashioned conservatives in the UK and the US?
My husband, who is in teacher’s college, points out that teachers are advised by the union not to talk to the press in matters like these until the situtation has been resolved. In that article we get only the student’s side of things; we heard nothing from the teacher or the police involved. Maybe we should wait to pass judgement on how hysterical this reaction is until we’ve heard more? Personally, I think it’s significant that the second teacher that the student encountered also disciplined her. It could be a liberal over-reaction (I don’t know about England but here in Canada, some insanely high percentage of my husband’s fellow teachers-to-be are very libral, to the point where I found a recent party to be rather oppressive) or it could be the student fudging details to make herself appear innocent.
(And again, I don’t know about England but here I’d say the police are not exactly a bastion of liberals. That they got involved says something more I think.)
The police in the UK have routinely become involved in what would be considered fairly straightforward exercises of free speech in the US.
http://www.samizdata.net/blog/archives/2006/08/there_is_no_rig.html
Artur Boruc, a Polish goalkeeper playing for with Celtic, has received a police caution for “a breach of the peace” after he made the sign of the cross during a game.
Note: it was a good deal more complicated, as the man in question also made other, obviously rude, hand gestures — but the fact that the police got involved at all is evidence against the notion that just because the police are involved, it automatically means that the student was doing anything worthy of police intervention by US standards. Consider the fact that you can be for the criminal offense of racist speech at all in Britain — and remember that in the US, pretty much any form of racist behavior shy of employment discrimination is considered protected speech, at least by the courts. This kid wasn’t charged with assault or anything like that — she was arrested for racism.
Also note that children in Britain can be and are routinely hit with ASBOs (they’re a bit like restraining orders, but easier to get) that threaten years of imprisonment for, in specific cases, saying the word “grass” in public, going through their own front door (due to the neighbors feeling severely harassed by the child in question,) climbing trees, etc. Anyone can apply to have an ASBO placed on anyone else, and last time I checked, fewer than 5% were turned down. There are essentially no limits as to the terms of an ASBO.
All of which is, incidentally, a sign that we’re just a teensy bit further from the path that Britain appears to be on than it might seem at first glance.
The Deseret News (in Utah) just did an article on all of the state legislators and whether they lean Republican or Democrat. They did this by taking the scores given to them by 3 conservative and 3 liberal groups to get an average. The 3 liberal groups used were the Sierra Club, Equality Utah (an advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people), and the UEA (the largest teacher labor union in Utah).