I try debunking Pat Boone's latest liberal-bashing rant

[alp227]

Late tonight, I just stumbled upon Pat Boone's latest syndicated column, yet another one of his regular right-wing rants. It's titled "The pain – and penalty – of tolerance". Oh the horror! We liberals are conspiring to brainwash Americans into following us mindlessly like Nazi Germany!

Really, this is a pretty lame rehashing of the tired old conservative talking points of victimhood and intolerance. Some random responses:

Look at television today. Because of the steady, unrelenting pressure from writers, producers, network executives and ad agencies that are competing for the mighty dollars TV can produce, inviolate standards of decency we all lived by have all but vanished. Where even in movies, not long ago, a man and woman were not to be seen in the same bed, the soap operas on daytime TV apparently have been given the green light to portray just about any sexual or aberrant activity humans are capable of. The FCC has all but thrown up its hands and said "we give up; you people do whatever you want. Nobody seems to care."

Boone put in the italics. Wow, does he not understand that TV shows people having sex...because people have sex! If he doesn't wanna see people acting out the F-word, he should move to Iran, where they still can't show kissing in movies. He follows,

When organizations like the Parents Television Council, Focus on the Family and others mount protests about the effect of exposure to frequent sex and violence on children and families, they're accused of prudish "intolerance," of out of date morality, of "trying to force their views on others." And most tellingly, "of restricting free speech." With these critics, including the ever-active ACLU, if you agree with their mindset you're tolerant; if you don't, you're intolerant.

I think he is sort of telling the truth here, isn't he? "Prudish 'intolerance', out of date morality"...yes that's what those orgs prefer...women should stay home and submit to the husband, sex is only after marriage and so that you can have a child, not for pleasure, you know, that kind of religiously brainwashed BS. And dear Patriot Pat, didn't our great nation become independent by violently expelling the British, in addition to signing a Declaration of Independence and constructing a Constitution (peacefully, heh heh)?

Look at our schools. Not so long ago, America's schools and education system were the best in the world. Violence was unheard of, rebellious activity impermissible, and it was not uncommon for a school day to begin with a voluntary prayer and a patriotic song. The atmosphere was calm, positive and conducive to learning.

Then an atheist named Madalyn Murray O'Hare somehow convinced the Supreme Court that a harmless voluntary prayer – in which a nonreligious kid didn't have to participate – was somehow a violation of her rights, and the rights of a miniscule minority that might agree with her. So prayer vanished from the school day – and has been replaced, in increasing incidence, with drugs, sex, violence and a growing intolerance of any mention of God, creation, the Bible or individual expressions of Judeo-Christian faith.

Most Americans, when asked, not only see nothing wrong with prayer and Bible verses in school, they would prefer the kids have the benefit of moral restraint and guidance those things provide. But they're accused of intolerance. And when they complain about the NEA and GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network) mandating instruction in sexual practices and preferences, even "how to" courses, they're shouted down as "bigots" and "homophobes."

Way too many of us have been cowed into silence, not wanting to seem "out of touch" or intolerant, and so the relentless deterioration of time-honored standards continues. And the quality of education, and the love of the school experience, diminishes apace.

But earlier, Boone said:

We're all aware that we're an ethnic mix, that most all our forbears emigrated to these shores from other countries, and that this is truly "the land of the free."

Well, I'm sorry Mr. Boone, teacher-advocated prayer in the classroom won't really work in a public school system these days. It'd be draconian to force everyone...even the Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists...into Christian prayer...and given all the different religious styles/traditions out there, attempting to accommodate all of them would make things...WORSE.

And I've heard that "persecuted Christians" thing a lot. Turns out the "victims" would rather really much shove Jesus down everyone's throats evangelically.

If you're so pro-freedom, why are you against "rebellious activity"? You think that children should just be robots submitting to any authority? And...if you think that "liberal values" have deteriorated public schools so much, I wonder if you'll defend the conservative efforts to defund the public schools by all sorts of unethical means like vouchers and unregulated charters?

And then he ends the column by expressing apologetics toward Tea Party Patriots, and then:

You know, the God who is referenced in our Declaration can be intolerant, too. Thomas Jefferson, who wrote that document, also wrote this – which, despite the fury of the ACLU, remains engraved on his monument:

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God? That they are not to be violated But with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever."

Yes, I know it's the weekend, and I know most of you aren't in the mood to be pissed off by a conservative. But I'd just like to share someone's and my opinion with y'all. And I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled in 10 hours, and my college grades are being released in less than 48 hours, so this is just exercising some non-waterboarding torture personally.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Linked to World Nut Daily

that's all the debunking you need..

[SutaUvaca]

3. Always wondered why

some people think sex, drugs and violence entered the schools after prayer was "banned" a la the Murray decision. I suppose it never occurred to them that sex, drugs and violence would take place every day in school anyway, right after the morning prayer.

[alp227]

8. Second thoughts...

1. Didn't Elvis sorta kill traditional morality when he went on TV with his gyrating hips performing "Hound Dog"? That was ~5 years before Engel v. Vitale.
2. I wonder if Boone has even seen that movie Rebel Without a Cause, starring the late great James Dean. That movie took place a good while before school prayer ended. Surely the actions of Dean's character don't quite meet Boone's definition of moral values; heck Rebel was quite controversial when it originally came out because parents were worried that it promoted juvenile delinquency.

[santamargarita]

4. I didn't know that right-wing asshole was even alive...

UGH!

[BlueMTexpat]

9. My theory is that he's been embalmed and equipped with

robotic movements and speech patterns. He spouts RW TPs with remarkable consistency.

[Bitwit1234]

5. Doesn't it seem that the more republicans that come out of the woodwork

the absolute mind numbing crazy their rants are. Where in the world are the intelligent, honest and caring republicans. I haven't seen one in the last ten years.

[Enthusiast]

6. Those Republicans you speak of

are an endangered species.

[amb123]

7. SEIG HEIL PAT!!!

:nuke: that self-righteous jackass!

[JohnWxy]

10. he needs to stick to "love letters in the sand." That's more his 'speed'.

[COLGATE4]

11. Boone has a mediocre singer

and an asshole critic. 'Nuff said.

[bulloney]

12. I contend that the decline in schools comes from the decline in families due to economic decline.

It was more common for people living in the cities to have sustainable jobs (i.e. manufacturing) that enabled parents to provide a living wage and to interact with their children and communities. For the past 30 years or so, real wages have declined, leading to less interaction between residents and their communities, more divorce, drug and alcohol abuse, out-of-wedlock births and other antisocial behavior. Children from these families are higher-maintenance than their predecessors of 30-40 years ago. Teachers and administrators are expected to perform duties that had been expected from the family, taking time away from what they're hired to do--educate. It's been spiraling out of control in many cities for decades.

I don't think prayers and patriotism in schools are going to address the results of decades of the economic decaying of the middle class.

[Sherman A1]

15. Precisely

You have hit the nail on the head. In order to maintain the 1950"s Leave it to Beaver family model that the Pat Boone's of the world so love , it has to be done on one income and the working class have been screwed over through the decades that just to keep our heads above water we do not have the luxury of getting by without 2 incomes, 2nd mortgages and such.

[santamargarita]

13. Another failed Republican actor speaks...

:puke:

[QC]

14. He's still alive?

I had no idea!

[Mopar151]

16. That's an impressive bit of hypocrisy

From a man whose career was built on "covering" the songs of, among others, Little Richard.

[snake in the grass]

17. Looks like another wingnut quote mine to me.

The quote continues so, "Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than that these people are to be free. Establish a law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state and on a general plan."

I infer another meaning here, but that's just me.

One other point to keep in mind; the Jefferson Memorial was built in 1938, a completely different time, and reflects more on the beliefs of the people who built it than it does on the actual person, Thomas Jefferson. Some on the other side like to get caught up in the debate on whether Jefferson believed in a superior being as the source of all life or not. However, this is immaterial as Jefferson was very clear about his thoughts on mixing politics with religion and this is a road they will not want to travel.