Den demokratiske fane skal holdes højt. Men det skal ske gennem lovgivning, ikke individuel heltedåd.
Socialization takes place in school. Without it, the next generation becomes ignorant and ignorant and democracy is diluted
The democratic flag must be held high. But it must be done through legislation, not individual heroic deeds.
When I went to school, I was exempt from what was then called Christian Studies. My family were Witnesses of Johova , and their faith was apparently so weak that we little pods at any cost had to be screened for alternative ways of relating to religion.
Right now, France in particular is under pressure. But across Europe, peoples and politicians are struggling to deal with the hatred and insanity that blind religious sectarianism can be a hotbed of.
Even many years after I left the sect, I had a hard time understanding what people outside (Jehovah’s Witnesses) thought about Christianity and religion, for I had never been exposed to what different thinking people thought. If at that time in the 1980s I had been allowed to sit in the classroom at Ulstrup School, it may be that I would have understood that there are many ways to be spiritual. Perhaps the same can be said of today’s youth if they are exposed to different ways of looking at the world, religiously, ideologically and culturally?
When we hear in the news about both with immigrants, about camps filled with mud after the slightest rainstorm, about children cutting themselves because they can not endure living, then I understand well, one dreams of a better life in a Europe flowing with milk and honey.
I’m divided. On one side is my notion of who it is that is seeking Europe. I myself have gone to the USA to get adventures and better opportunities than I had in Denmark. I can easily understand that you look for where you think the possibilities for a better life lie.
On the other hand, I struggle with an anger at the indifference and contempt for the values and societies that provide space and screens – obviously also those that will destroy our democracies from within.
When I hear about a high school teacher who wants to promote the debate and have his students think independently but ends up being beheaded in the open street when I read that a migrant who arrived in one of the aforementioned boats a month ago goes into a church and liquidate 3 innocent churchgoers, when I hear about a Belgian teacher being fired because he has shown a prophetic drawing, I am filled with resentment.
For how can one come and want the benefits without accepting the premises of the way of life that is precisely the basis for the continent to have the standard it has?
I am afraid that the rights that my generation enjoyed and the manners we did not even question are slowly being eroded. When I think back to my school days, I can not imagine at all that there were topics we were not allowed to discuss. Not so anymore.
The United States has a huge fear of being touched in terms of daring to talk about the problems the country has with race and religion. Many universities have banned topics and literature that until recently have been part of the general education and used in the education of critical thinking young people. Ignorance and ignorance, not to mention intolerance, are not conducive to anyone, either here in the United States or in Europe.
When we give in, we give both right-wing extremist Christians in the United States and Islamists a victory – the problem is that they never get enough. Once they have one victory, they move on to the next item on their agenda. A democracy is only as strong as its citizens, and it can be strong if we stand firm on fundamental principles and do not shy away from misunderstood considerations.
If there is one thing the last 4 years in the United States have taught me, it is that one cannot take democracy and civil rights for granted. If you do, the population can quickly lose ballroom rights. Perhaps Europe is realizing the same thing.
If the people of Europe are scared and politicians do not dare to show where they stand in terms of legislation, then the next generation of young people will not only become ignorant and ignorant , they will also accept living in a society that has degraded democracy.
Right now, it seems as if dark forces are succeeding in terrorizing the majority population to a cowed bend in the neck and a red pen on the newspaper editorials and in the teachers’ annual plans.
It should not be up to individual brave teachers to take it upon themselves to teach students freedom of speech and general human rights, no matter how brave and honorable it may be. Individually, we are not achieving anything, it is in unison, and with the support of legislation, that we must fight for the values we say we tax, which are the foundation of our secular democracies.
(Google translate)
Danish-American Eyes on Society 