Hair Length

[Boozy]

The Bible Belt thing explains it, I suppose.

My confusion stems from my memories of America when I was a child. I grew up during the Cold War, and my dad was always telling me that the US was the last free superpower, and it was up to them to set an example for the rest of the world. My dad was also an American history buff (and a life-long Canadian - weird, I know). He'd always tell me about the revolutionary spirit of Americans (especially in Texas) and how they refused to accept authority as easily as Canadians, so their history has always been bloodier.

So this Christian dominionist, don't-question-the-President-or-you're-unpatriotic thing is disturbing for me. I'm an adult, and I know better now, but America was really worshipped in our household as I was growing up. So this kind of thing makes me sad, in a way.

My dad never had blinders on when it came to the US, but he had always held so much hope for what they could do. He's entirely depressed by the last decade, and has found it increasingly difficult to have conversation with some of his American friends.

I hope I haven't sidetracked this thread too much.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

You're father was right, Boozy, in the eighties we were the last superpower. What your father didn't realize was that the social conservatives were always there, but before the 90's, they weren't really visible. The previous strategy of these groups was to separate themselves from society---stay together in small towns, home school their children, only attend a small handful of colleges who catered to them. This had been their strategy since the sixties, when the culture changed and they didn't like it.

In the 90's the culture changed again, becoming much more tolerant of gays and more aware of immigrants, the invisible poor, and the growing power of multinational corporations on our lives. These religious groups then decided to change their strategy and entered the public and political arenas in force, determined to change things back to the way they were. This was the beginning of what we call 'The Culture Wars'. They began to fight to change public schooling to the way they wanted it so they could enroll their children(banning sex ed and reinstituting mandatory prayer); they would protest and threaten to boycott the armed forces when the American military recognized and allowed soldiers to practice other faiths, such as Islam and various forms of Paganism. (Evangelicals, as well as non-religious rural people, make up a large bulk of the military. They consider it a highly respectable profession to go into, unlike many urban liberals who view the military with distrust.) They began to attack abortion laws, trying to get them overturned, and boycotted companies like Disney, for allowing same sex couples to share in employee benefits.

You're father is right about us, though. Those traits we possess, refusing to submit to authority, etc? We still possess them. At least, those of us who are not part of those religious groups do. This is part of why we fight them so much; we refuse to submit to their authority. They do not have the right to tell this country how it should be, no matter how much they claim to have the upper moral hand. It's hard to see right now because they managed to get one of them elected as President, and he led us into a war that will be with us for years to come, affecting everything we do. But we are still here, and we are still willing to fight.

[Boozy]

These are all things that outsiders don't see about the US. Until those social conservatives started making a lot of noise in the 90's, they had been out of the media, and therefore out of the sight of us here in Canada. It's interesting to hear about the other side.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

US history is easily the most complicated in the world, because we are such an incredible melange of cultures.

The evangelicals are the spiritual descendants of the Puritans. Like the Puritans, they see the (nuclear) family as the fundamental unit of society, and a strict heirarchy, with Father at the Head, Mother obedient to him, children obedient to them, as an essential part of this foundation. This is why they are so aghast at the idea of the modern family, with its acceptance of alternative structuring (i.e. working Moms and Househusbands), and homosexual parents as ok; because to them it subverts this 'natural and Godly' order, and if this foundation of society is weakened all of society will collapse upon it.

I can tell you are interested in American history and you seem to have a mind for politics and facts. I would like to recommend some books to you, I think you will find them very enlightening.

The first is called Hellfire Nation: The Politics of Sin in American History . This book is about how moral conflicts have always been an integral part of American society and politics, and how the "us vs. them" mentality stems directly from that.

The second is The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America . This book was written by two Oxford-educated Brits who write for The Economist, and they specifically wrote this book to explain to Europeans why the Religious Right has so much power in the US.

The third is Culture Wars: The Struggle To Control The Family, Art, Education, Law, And Politics In America. This book was written from a conservative and religious point of view. In fact it is sometimes apparently used as a textbook in seminary classes. In understanding any debate, you must of course make sure to understand what both sides are saying. I myself lean left on social issues, but I specifically sought out a good book that explained the conservative side of things, and this is it. It is well-researched and has some extremely good points.

[Boozy]

US history is easily the most complicated in the world, because we are such an incredible melange of cultures.

Two words: The Balkans.

But you're right that US history is complex, especially given the relatively short period of time the country has existed.

Thanks for the book selections. I've actually already read the second one, and enjoyed it.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

All right, all right, I should have said that we have ONE of the most complicated histories of anywhere in the world.

Happy now?

[Sylvia727]

Update: the most recent article I could find.

Apparently, the school board avoided the issue entirely. Since he's not a student yet, the board has not yet made an official decision on his hair length. Once he's actually enrolled as a student, the Arochas will have to go through the entire process all over again. This seems unnecessarily vulgar to me. I wonder if it isn't a tactic by the school board to dissuade the Arochas from ever enrolling. I presume it will backfire; Adriel's parents seem full of vim and vinegar. They've already said that they're trying to teach their son to stand up for what's right.

As we head towards September and the new school year, I expect more articles on the subject.

[MadMike]

As a long-haired male myself, it pisses me off that some people think that it's OK to have long hair or a dick, but not both. Do they really think that the school is going to go under because a male had long hair?

We used to have a manager in my department who was of the same mindset, and he harrassed a few guys who had their hair long. Strangely enough, he never said anything to me, at least not to my face. Happily, he's gone now (some higher ups eventually noticed that he was driving good employees away and canned his ass), and I'm still there.

To quote a certain song by Suicidal Tendencies, it's the size of your heart, not the length of your hair.

[AdminAssistant]

Sheesh, even my incredibly up-tight, conservative high school allowed long hair on guys (as long as it was clean). Of course, when my Dad was in high school in the 60's, hair had to be off the neck and off the tops of the ears. Seeing as how most of his high school class went straight to Vietnam after graduation (the 'senior trip' he calls it), it was just early prep for a buzz cut.

He told me about one of his classmates who was frequently suspended for having long hair. He was later expelled after he stole the school's PA system for his band. Jim 'Dandy' Mangrum later had a hit single, "Jim Dandy to the Rescue" with his band Black Oak Arkansas.

[purplecat41877]

Personally, I think it should be the boy's decision about how he wants his hair. I've known a few guys that have or have had long hair and I think it looked great on them.

The school shouldn't prevent the boy from attending just because of his hair. They should give him a chance to prove himself.

[jedimaster91]

As long as the kid keeps his hair clean, who cares how long it is? Certainly he would need to keep it out of the way of the paint and Play-Doh, but sheesh. There are plenty of things from the 50s I'd like to see return (mostly the TV shows), but this is not one of them.

[Sylvia727]

Well, I found an article from the beginning of October. Apparently, the school board decided that while he did not have to cut his hair, he had to keep it in a tightly woven single braid stuffed down the back of his shirt, and that he had to reprove his religious sincerity to district officials every year. His parents refused to abide by the mandate and sent him to school as normal. Every day of the school year he has been placed in isolated in-school suspension, the harshest punishment the district is allowed to visit on a kindergartner.

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the Needville Independent School District in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Apparently, this mandate not only violates the Constitution, but also a Texan Act designed to afford additional religious freedoms. I couldn't find any further information on the case; knowing the speed of our court system, this poor kid won't get an official ruling in time for this school year.

I have to wonder about the isolated in-school suspension, though. Either this kid is being robbed of a proper education, or the school is paying someone to tutor him properly. It's more likely the former. At my high school, one's regular teachers sent worksheets to the students in ISS, and the supervisor couldn't help with any work outside of her own field. In an earlier article, the boy said he was looking forward to learning to read, so he can't even read the directions on a worksheet for himself. Do the authorities willing to punish and humiliate a five-year-old child for following his religion and his parents' instructions sound likely to shell out extra money for someone to properly tutor him during this suspension?

[Slytovhand]

Hey.. thanks for the update Sylvia! I was a bit interested in this one. Hope they win big time... and that Adriel doesn't suffer so much that it becomes a stigma for him.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

This article, from Oct 6, says that a judge granted a temporary order to remove the boy from in school suspension and let him attend class while the lawsuit proceeds. So at least he's not sitting in solitary confinement or whatever anymore.

[Sylvia727]

The article is great news, at least until the official ruling. But the comments over on that page disturbed me. "If you don't the rules, move to another country" and "CPS should take the child away"? Really? Leaving aside the fact that this is a Native American belief, and thus the kid has more family invested in this country, how on earth does a single school district's dress code translate to the law of the entire United States? That's like comparing a teaspoon of spring water to an ocean full of salt water. It just doesn't work. And to claim that the parents are abusing him in some way, by making him their puppet for a frivilous lawsuit... This is his religion they're trying to protect. And even if he renounces it a later date, it's still a part of his family and his history. They're doing this for him, not for themselves.