Obama-style Indoctrination Identical to the European Communist System

Source: http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/01/spirit_day_rankles_a_conservat.php

16 Jan 2009 06:00 pm

Historian/Reagan aide Craig Shirley
e-mails:

Students at Washington Mill Elementary School in Alexandria, Virginia received this flyer yesterday and were "encouraged" to wear red ribbons today to support Obama which were distributed at the school.

Needless to say, the school did nothing like this four or eight years ago.

My research assistant, Borko Komnenovic who grew up under communism in Yugoslavia, said this indoctrination was identical to the communist system there, only they had to wear red scarves to show their love for Marshal Tito. If they did not wear the scarf, their parents might get a call from the police.

Suffice to say, my son Mitchell---with his refined sense of freedom and privacy---told the school they had to "respect" his "diversity" in refusing to wear the ribbon.

Shirley's e-mail points to an event that's probably common in public schools next week; as a rock-ribbed Republican conservative, he doesn't want children to be forced to support Barack Obama as a liberal and a Democrat.  (Of course, would he have the same problem with students celebrating his beloved Ronald Reagan?)

This smacks of introduction to Good ol' Borko.  Aside from the turn of phrase -- schools school -- it is a bit of indoctrination but in a light and forgivable sense.

Martin Luther King Jr.,has been historicized as a trans-partisan figure in our civil rights narrative; the bloodless transition from president to president is one of the hallmarks of our democracy. Linking the two men in history isn't a stretch, even without the racial angle. 

But ok, let's talk about race:  for public schools with a large number of black students, celebrating the ascension of the first president with black skin is easily justifiable for reasons of progress and of pride and confidence, and as illiberal, in the sense that Obama's election is said to have ushered in an era when we hope students pay less attention to racial difference. Can public schools  properly celebrate this momentous occasion without sanctioning the Democratic Party and Obama's policies?  Yes.  The gray areas are unavoidable. 

If you're uncomfortable wearing a ribbon to honor Barack Obama, for whatever reason, then don't wear the ribbon.