A 10 year old with balls.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/1 ... 55709.html

[FBM]

Cool kid...



except for the part about wanting to be a lawyer...

[charlou]

In the right circumstances, a person like that can take his ethics and courage to achieve great things for society. I hope the circumstances will be right for this person.

[angrychimp]

Most of these liberals who support gay rights have never seen gays in action. It's a rather disturbing, unsettling sight.

Now I don't support discrimination (freedom for all etc etc.), just saying most supporters (especially ten y/o kids) have no idea what they're actually talking about.

[maiforpeace]

Most of these liberals who support gay rights have never seen gays in action. It's a rather disturbing, unsettling sight.

Now I don't support discrimination (freedom for all etc etc.), just saying most supporters (especially ten y/o kids) have no idea what they're actually talking about.

I disagree, I do think they know what they are talking about at that age.

Children aware of racism by age nine, study finds

By Shannon Proudfoot, Canwest News Service
November 14, 2009

By their ninth birthday, most children are aware of racism and know the stereotypes other people hold about certain groups, according to a new study that belies the idea of innocent, colour-blind childhood.

"Around the second or third grade, you see a majority of kids understanding that people have stereotypes," says Clark McKown, associate executive director of the Rush NeuroBehavioral Center at Rush University in Chicago.

"I think that would be surprising to many people, that by second or third grade a lot of kids get it, they get that there's racism in the world and they understand what it is."

The study wasn't examining children's own prejudices, but rather their "stereotype-consciousness" or awareness of other people's views.

The researchers told 124 children ages five to 11 a story about a place called Kidland where Green and Blue people live and Greens think Blues aren't very smart. The children were asked who they thought a Green child would pick to be their study buddy or spelling team member and why, then asked how Kidland is like the real world, and their answers were examined to determine their awareness of prejudice.

The older the children were, the more likely they were to understand stereotypes, the researchers found. And by Grade 5, almost all of them understood racism and could explain how the bias against Blues in Kidland related to the real world.

"Kids are very savvy, they are wired to understand the social world," says McKown. "In fact, one of their main jobs when they're growing up is to understand what the social world is made of, their friendships, their relationships with teachers, their understanding of who belongs to what group. We are equipped from infancy to gather the data we need to get that stuff, and kids understand a lot more than we give them credit for."

What's more, the researchers found that once children understand racism, it affects their achievement. When black and Latino children were given a memory task and told it would measure their abilities, they did more poorly on it than others who were told it was simply a problem-solving exercise, which McKown says is the result of fear that they would live down to stereotypes about the lesser academic abilities of their race.

Although the demographic makeup of the two countries differs, McKown said the results would apply equally to Canadian children or those absorbing the cultural views of any country. Ayman Al-Yassini, executive director of Canadian Race Relations Foundation, says the findings mirror those of other studies in which students were divided up by arbitrary criteria, such as their height or eye colour, and then treated differently.

Those experiments showed that discrimination is not an intrinsic value but a learned behaviour, Al-Yassini says, and the only way to combat it is to talk about it.

"We need to understand where we're coming from as individuals, we need to understand our emotions and to realize our values as individuals and as a society," he says.

"The only way of doing it is not by glossing it over but by talking about it, talking about the impact of discrimination on us as individuals, on us as a community and, more importantly, on the individual who is being targeted as the subject of discrimination."
© Copyright (c) The Ottawa Citizen

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Child ... story.html

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I was very aware of racism by ten. The next town over still had a sign at the city limits that said "Nigger, don't let the sun shine on your head here." This was in Indiana.

[angrychimp]

Most of these liberals who support gay rights have never seen gays in action. It's a rather disturbing, unsettling sight.

Now I don't support discrimination (freedom for all etc etc.), just saying most supporters (especially ten y/o kids) have no idea what they're actually talking about.

I disagree, I do think they know what they are talking about at that age.

Maybe I worded it wrong. I can accept a ten year old recognises unfair rules but I don't think anyone has sat him down and explained what homosexuality actually is.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Most of these liberals who support gay rights have never seen gays in action. It's a rather disturbing, unsettling sight.

Now I don't support discrimination (freedom for all etc etc.), just saying most supporters (especially ten y/o kids) have no idea what they're actually talking about.

I disagree, I do think they know what they are talking about at that age.

Maybe I worded it wrong. I can accept a ten year old recognises unfair rules but I don't think anyone has sat him down and explained what homosexuality actually is.

May not be necessary. He may be catholic.

[charlou]

Most of these liberals who support gay rights have never seen gays in action. It's a rather disturbing, unsettling sight.

Now I don't support discrimination (freedom for all etc etc.), just saying most supporters (especially ten y/o kids) have no idea what they're actually talking about.

I disagree, I do think they know what they are talking about at that age.

Maybe I worded it wrong. I can accept a ten year old recognises unfair rules but I don't think anyone has sat him down and explained what homosexuality actually is.

Why do you think that? It seems his parents are quite into discussing things with him.

My children know because we talk about everything and don't shield them from learning about sexuality. The youngest is ten ... The Will and Grace series are currently among his favourite dvds. Queer as Folk, on the other hand, may be a tad too explicit for a couple years yet ...

It's disturbing and unsettling for people who are raised in a society who shun and lampoon and otherwise treat homosexuality in a morally judgemental and derogatory way, and for people who don't question the validity and wisdom of their irrational reactions.

[angrychimp]

Why do you think that? It seems his parents are quite into discussing things with him.

My children know because we talk about everything and don't shield them from learning about sexuality. The youngest is ten ... The Will and Grace series are currently among his favourite dvds. Queer as Folk, on the other hand, may be a tad too explicit for a couple years yet ...

Exactly, how can someone who's never been exposed to the 'naked truth' (so to speak) form a valid view of homosexuality?

It's disturbing and unsettling for people who are raised in a society who shun and lampoon and otherwise treat homosexuality in a morally judgemental and derogatory way, and for people who don't question the validity and wisdom of their irrational reactions.

The last time you saw two men 'together', was your reaction "Aww how sweet" ?
Because mine sure wasn't.
I wasn't raised by bias parents. My reaction was instinctive.

And don't ask me how I ended up walking in on 2 guys going at it. It's a long sordid tale.

[Rum]

Most of these liberals who support gay rights have never seen gays in action. It's a rather disturbing, unsettling sight.

Now I don't support discrimination (freedom for all etc etc.), just saying most supporters (especially ten y/o kids) have no idea what they're actually talking about.

I am a little shocked. What on earth to you mean by 'unsettling'? Any kid walking in on two adults having sex would find it 'unsettling'. I am sure I would! Just because they are gay doesn't mean it is any more or less settling - it isn't a spectator sport after all.

[angrychimp]

I am a little shocked. What on earth to you mean by 'unsettling'? Any kid walking in on two adults having sex would find it 'unsettling'. I am sure I would! Just because they are gay doesn't mean it is any more or less settling - it isn't a spectator sport after all.

Unsettling=uncomfortable. That's all.
Seeing a man and a woman? Embarrassing.
Two guys? Just didn't sit right with me.

Of course I could try and brainwash myself into believing it's perfectly ok but that would defeat the whole point of being an atheist.

[Rum]

I am a little shocked. What on earth to you mean by 'unsettling'? Any kid walking in on two adults having sex would find it 'unsettling'. I am sure I would! Just because they are gay doesn't mean it is any more or less settling - it isn't a spectator sport after all.

Unsettling=uncomfortable. That's all.
Seeing a man and a woman? Embarrassing.
Two guys? Just didn't sit right with me.

Of course I could try and brainwash myself into believing it's perfectly ok but that would defeat the whole point of being an atheist.

Come on now - you are being ingenuous. You were inferring that if the ten year old *really* knew what two homos get up to - sticking cocks in each others arseholes - he wouldn't be quite so supportive of their rights - because the reality is gross. Don't say you weren't cos it is transparent as hell!

And you are entitled to your views of course - I'm just a pinko commie liberal bastard after all.

[floppit]

Exactly, how can someone who's never been exposed to the 'naked truth' (so to speak) form a valid view of homosexuality?

My daughter's spare parents are gay and I can so no reason why she should need to see them having sex to understand they have equal rights than she would need to see us having sex to understand we have equal rights. The concept of equality doesn't need to be defended by intimate knowledge of each and every human variation, if it is to be challenged that a person should not have the same rights as me then it is the challenger that needs compelling evidence of why a difference should be compelling enough to withdraw or reduce the other person's freedom.

The last time you saw two men 'together', was your reaction "Aww how sweet" ?
Because mine sure wasn't.
I wasn't raised by bias parents. My reaction was instinctive.

but presumably you're not suggesting that we teach our children rights depend on our own emotions and aesthetic preferences? I mean DAMN that would be scary!

[charlou]

Why do you think that? It seems his parents are quite into discussing things with him.

My children know because we talk about everything and don't shield them from learning about sexuality. The youngest is ten ... The Will and Grace series are currently among his favourite dvds. Queer as Folk, on the other hand, may be a tad too explicit for a couple years yet ...

Exactly, how can someone who's never been exposed to the 'naked truth' (so to speak) form a valid view of homosexuality?

It's disturbing and unsettling for people who are raised in a society who shun and lampoon and otherwise treat homosexuality in a morally judgemental and derogatory way, and for people who don't question the validity and wisdom of their irrational reactions.

The last time you saw two men 'together', was your reaction "Aww how sweet" ?
Because mine sure wasn't.
I wasn't raised by bias parents. My reaction was instinctive.

And don't ask me how I ended up walking in on 2 guys going at it. It's a long sordid tale.

If I walked in on anyone 'going at it' my reaction would most likely be a simple smiling "oops, sorry guys" as I exit. *shrug*

Assertion: My reaction would be instinctive. /sarcasm

Shagging bodies don't phase me. Of course it's not socially acceptable for children to be exposed to shagging bodies, but I do discuss sex and sexuality openly with my children, and I do know they're capable of understanding and forming an opinion about homosexual people including an opinion that homosexual people ought to be treated no differently to anyone else.

People don't always have to be exposed to situations to learn and form an opinion about them. I know genocide is abhorrent without personally experiencing it, for example. Any thoughtful, well informed, empathic person can hold such an opinion, including children.