I do not watch the Glenn Beck show. I’ve heard him speak, and find him to be inflammatory, self righteous, and just a little too evangelical for my taste.
However, last Friday he did a show entitled- The Indoctrination of Our Kids: An American Epidemic.

See what I mean with the being inflammatory? You’re scared already aren’t you?
I watched it.
I watched it because my mother in law called and asked me to watch it with an open mind- that it was very important.

So, what is this indoctrination of our children? Well, apparently, the public education system (among others) is launching a “progressive assault” on our youth. Now, I felt like perhaps I should’ve been shaking in my boots a little, but I wasn’t. Progressive isn’t really a dirty word to me. I wanted to be sure I wasn’t missing anything- you know, keeping an open mind and all. And his tone of voice seemed to be telling me that I should be very afraid. So, I looked it up.

progressive – a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of civil liberties

progressive – favoring or promoting progress

Ahhhh… yes, I see. Those nasty civil liberties- how dare people try to protect those. Freedom of religion is highly overrated, and the whole speech thing?- Half the time I don’t know what to say anyway, so if the government, or better yet, Glenn would just tell me what to think and say, I’d have a lot less stress. And of course I’m afraid of progress! I do not favor it in any way. Whenever I put a cake in the oven, I pray as hard as I can that it doesn’t rise.

Who am I kidding… I don’t bake.

My absolute not-so-favorite part is when he shows this video that is supposed to be absolute “progressive propaganda” and dedicated to the “twisting of youth”.

This video is of young people talking about their generation. They are describing themselves as:

• “more globally oriented”
• “ethnically diverse”
• “technologically adept”
• “better educated”
• “less politically partisan”

While these young people on the video are saying these things, Glenn Beck is standing next to the screen scoffing, guffawing, and rolling his eyes. He’s obviously telling us that these are ridiculous, and we should take offense.

I, however, find these statement to be true. And I am glad they are. I want my kid to be all of those things. Our children should be better educated than we are. They should be more open minded. They should be more tech savvy.

I wanted to stop watching his show. But I didn’t. I watched the whole, freakin’ thing. Alas, the things I do for family.

Most of it was what Hot Nerd calls “drive by journalism”. I sat through a series of sound bytes and clips taken out of context. I sat through ridiculous attempts to provoke fear and panic in parents.

He even held up a poster that was made by some students attempting to deliver a message about conservation. This poster (which I thought was creatively done) said “I pledge Allegiance To The Earth” across the top, and had a beautiful picture of the planet in the center. I thought the poster was nicely done and delivered an important message about how we should treat our planet. But, Mr. Glenn Beck used it to warn parents that in some schools, our kids are actually being taught “planet worship”! *music* dun dun DUN.

There was even a little snippet about how “in 2008, California lawmakers voted that children in schools be taught by communists”. I’m not kidding!

Perhaps it is true. Perhaps the ballot looked like this:

Please place an x next to whom you would like to teach the children of California:

__ teachers

__ pandas

__ communists

Then I sat through the claims of brainwashing our youth. Of turning them into “progressive zombies”. Of teaching them to not listen to their parents (this one was actually accompanied by a film clip of some random man, and the words DO NOT LISTEN TO YOUR PARENTS scrolled across the screen in bold, red letters).

Now, a lot of us still have respect for public teachers and educators. I just don’t see most of them as evil masterminds, brainwashing our kids, and twisting their long mustaches, as they talk about revolting against parents.

If you haven’t already seen this episode of his show, you can watch it on several sites on the internet, including here: one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever forced myself to watch.

He spoke of America’s children as if they have no wits about them. He, at one point even said, ” Maybe our kids are mad because the teacher won’t let them text their BFF in class”.

To that I say- STOP PUTTING DOWN OUR YOUTH! They are not being taught to disrespect their parents- they are being taught to think for themselves. Maybe they’re not mad because they can’t text- maybe they’re mad because they know how messed up everything is and that they are the ones who will have to try and fix it.

Age doesn’t always make you right. Sometimes it just makes you old.

Change has always rested on the shoulders of the young.

Each generation surpasses the other. That’s what evolution is about. Oh, dare I say- progress. And it is a weak, scared man that tries to hold them down. Or that tries to incite a population to do so.

I suppose I must be progressive.

I am also a good mother, with a strong moral compass.

I see no epidemic. I see evolution.

I also see… that you are a douche.

Douche