Lash the Kids?

So, what about the kids who chose the controversial name for the teddy bear? They chose the name, they voted on the name. Should they get lashes and time in jail? Obviously, I am being facetious. Of course children should not be lashed for naming a bear for a popular classmate, or even for a prophet.

Should the parents of the popular boy be lashed for naming their son after the prophet? After all, if they'd named their son Ishmael, then the civilized world would not be in an uproar over a teddy bear named Ishmael.

"Isam Abu Hasabu, chairman of Unity High School’s parent teacher association, said: “The whole thing boiled down to a cultural misunderstanding. In our culture we don’t know the bear as a cuddly symbol of mercy.”"

Ah, that explains it. These people riot in the streets because they grew up surrounded by hatred and religious blame and not with cuddly teddy bears. Have they never heard of Harlow's experiments in the Sudan? Apparently not.

Harlow's experiments would thankfully not get past an ethics committee nowadays, but they did demonstrate something tremendously important – given a choice between food and love, primates chose love most of the time.

Given a choice between religion and love, I'd choose love every time. Unfortunately, all too often that is the choice – religion or love, religion or tolerance, religion or humanism, religion or just plain getting along with our fellow man.

bigotry, religion, teacher, Gillian Gibbons, Islam, Mohammed, Sudan,