BAN BURKAS AS A TEACHING FAILURE

Someone reposted another “ban the burka” poster on Facebook. For some reason as a teacher, I took this as a personal failure. I have been teaching against this kind of hate inspiring nonsense for a long time but what I say does not seem to register in the minds of at least one of my Facebook friends. The greatest pleasure a teacher can have is to see the look of comprehension in the eyes of a student. The antithesis of this is that the greatest disappointment is to face with the realization that a student failed to understand, which leads me to question why I am such a failure. Am I wrong in what I have been teaching? Have I not been teaching it effective? The other alternative is the possibility that the people (person) are just not receptive to any other idea but the one they have. The first question to ask concerns the objective of the “Ban the burka” campaign in the United States and Canada. I think I have explained that burkas do no harm; therefore, it is not something like “ban drunk driving”, which obviously is intended to prevent damaging even fatal accidents. Some of the detractors claim covering the face hides personal identity. If that were valid then we should ban all of the social media; people can write or do what they please with impunity because we cannot easily identify them. The truth is that wearing burkas does no harm. Some will say wearing burkas is a religious symbol, implying we should not be displayed religious symbols in public, which too, is not only ridiculous but it is against the “freedom to worship” clause in the Constitution. I don’t know if Canada has the same clause in their founding documents. We all recognize that the “freedom to worship” clause separates religious laws from secular or civil law, which is so divisive in other parts of the world but especially in the Middle East. Others point out it is only women who must wear burkas; therefore, it is against their rights, which also is ridiculous but more importantly, it is something within their religion and has to do with religious freedom; it is not the business of others to interfere. The conclusion is that there is no reason to object to wearing burkas. I have repeated this explanation several different ways and in excruciating detail, still there is this post, “Ban Burkas”. Why? I found it hard to believe anyone would have the promotion of hate as a simple, unadorned objective. There is absolutely no reason to believe a mental disease is involved. In fact, the opposite is probably true. The person or persons involve probably have higher IQ than most, which tells me there is an objective to what they do. What can be the objective of “ban the burka” is it does no one harm or is the product of mental disease. The one area I have not mentioned is that what I am teaching is counter to innate or genetic belief. Not matter how when or why, we cannot teach what is counter to our genetic makeup, which is a subject we currently find in the news under an assortment of headings, especially gender or racial identity. It is almost impossible to teach a black person he or she is white, or white person he or she is black. Equally, it is impossible to teach a genetically endowed woman that she is a man or a man he is a woman. The Caitlin Jenner case and the Rachel Dolezal are headlines now. How can it be that we have something like “ban the burkas” genetically endowed? That makes no sense until you put it in the context of religion. Understanding religion is something I have been struggling with for years. I have concluded that humankind taught spirituality and religion since the inception of the mind; Abrahamic religions have been with us for 2000 years. The result is that Religion is innate. Classic geneticists treat this line of reasoning as nonsense. Regardless, the point is that no teacher can alter some people's thinking about their religion. For example, by banning burkas, you cannot teach Muslims that wearing a burka is no different from wearing a kippah (skullcap). The result is posting on Facebook a “ban the Burka” sign even when you know it is nonsense. Religious leaders have taught sectarianism for almost as long as there has been a religion. Once a Muslim you are always a Muslim, Once a Christian you are always a Christian. If you are a Jew or a Catholic, or a Baptist, Sunni, or Shia or whatever your religion taught you to believe something else will jeopardize your chances to live in heaven. In the present context, I have failed to teach some people something different from what religious teachers have buried in their genetics. It is as impossible for them to learn not to hate members of another religion as it is for Caitlin Jenner to learn how to be a man. “Ban the burkas” is a way of expressing what is in their genes. URL: firetreepub.blogspot.com Comments Invited and not moderated