September 19, 2003
Who would you assassinate?
I just got this book last weekend called What If.... The book asks questions to ponder like, "If you could give anyone one gift, what would you give them and how would you give it to them?" and "If you could eliminate one thing you do in the bathroom for the rest of your life, what would it be?"
Anyhoo, I was reading some of the questions to my students. One of the ones we got was, "If you could assassinate anyone, who would it be?" I was thinking of the evil people in history. You know, the kind of people that say, tried to kill off entire races of people, or really mistreated human beings. My students all said (in a manner a little too resounding for my taste) George Bush.
This took me aback. George Bush? Okay, maybe he's not perfect (but who is?). But...of all the people in the world...GEORGE BUSH??? When I asked them why they said, "Because he kills people." Never mind that they answered in a sentence fragment.
I guess I'm just really distraught over the whole thing. One, that these kids are so misinformed/warped by others that they would wish assassination on our own president. Two, that they are middle schoolers and have no understanding of oh, say, actual fact. And three, that they all chose our president as their first choice, without thinking.
Are these kids getting these opinions from home? From school? From T.V? From a freaky person on the street? My guess is the home....
We had a long talk about George Bush and what he does and what I believe he is working towards. I believe that he does care about human rights...at least to the point that he doesn't like to see a small group of people reaping havoc on our nation and on those in their country who do not hold the same beliefs. I believe that he is fighting for justice and for human rights. You may not agree with how he is doing it.
My students think this is a war over oil. Holy crap.
Oh, and to top it off, one of them said, "Well, he just wasn't as good of a president as Clinton."
I think the world is ending soon. When Clinton is seen as a saint and Bush is seen as an evil monster worthy of death...yes...the end must be near.
Posted by stephlewis at September 19, 2003 9:06 PM