[TheForge] Shortcut Sword?

Wed Nov 5 07:10:01 2003

ol' Demon Buddha writ; I will not allow a television in my house.

Seems to me that TV is simply another tool.  Reminds me of a fellow I knew
that refused to use socket tools because they were for sissies, hu?  Better
to teach critical thinking and judicious use of the tool.  As I recall, the
kids at college away from home for the first time that got the most puking
drunk were from the prohibition homes, without any background, exposure or
experience in responsible alcohol use.  Forbidden fruit and all that.

Kevin

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected]
[mailto:[email protected]]On Behalf Of Demon Buddha
Sent: Tuesday, 04 November, 2003 7:30 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [TheForge] Shortcut Sword?

On Tue, 4 Nov 2003 19:03:30 EST, <[email protected]> wrote:

> I'm just a lurker on the list, hoping to get started in blacksmithing
> some day soon.  But this comment is so right on the mark that I had to
> add my two cents.  Yes, our society in general encourages young and old
> alike to become helpless and rely on someone else...anyone else!  We've
> set aside important skills and have turned our collective back on the
> value of becoming well-rounded individuals.

	True.  And what I have found most interesting is the fact that
	for the past thirty years that I have been watching, the various
	"experts" and authorities have been most actively encouraging
	people NOT to develop physical skills that hold strong
	applicability.  What is encouraged are physical skills that hold
	virtually no potential for significant change to the status quo.
	Skills in break dancing will almost certainly never exert a
	significant influence over large bodies of people for the better.
	Nor will those for playing football.  I think perhaps my point
	is clear, no?

	Knowing how to raise and slaughter your own animals, grow your
	own food, build your own house from soup to nuts, how to run a
	business effectively, etc and so on, are not openly encouraged.
	THey are not repressed, mind you, but definitely not encouraged
	in the larger media culture.  People with such skills either
	are ignored or regarded as eccentrics that are not to be taken
	seriously (the tacit snickering is applied to them, as if to 	say "look at
Nature Boy... how unhip, how unsophisticated").

	I look at kids and see, by and large, young beings that are so
	utterly lost that it is amazing they can find their way from the
	living room to the toilet without assistance.  They want everything
	but don't have the patience or the drive to do what it takes to
	develop the necessary capabilities to get what they want.  They
	try something new and when after an hour they find they are not
	yet mastering it, they toss it aside and go on to the next twenty
	minute fantasy.  It's horrible to observe and what's worse is the
	thought that when they become adults they will be so easily lead
	by their noses, this way or that.  It's truly sad.

> I refuse to let this happen to my two sons.

	Suggestion: send family away to some fun thing.  Go into living
	room with 12 ga, loaded with 000 buckshot and put an end to your
	televisions.  I think TV is one of the single most damaging
	influences on kids today.  It's absolutely horrible.  If I ever
	have children of my own, I will not allow a television in my house.

> I don't want them to grow up to be helpless, incapable, and pliable.  I
> want them to be strong, decisive, and self-reliant.

	Just know that you are dooming them to a life of utter hardship
	because they will not fit in.  I admire your ideal, and in fact
	would almost certainly do the same with any children of mine,
	but I recognize just how awful their lives stand to be unless they
	are able to cloister themselves away from the mainstream.  It is
	still possible, but it gets harder and harder with every passing
	year.  I do not envy the generations now coming up.  In my opinion
	their lives will be very close to not worth living.  I liken their
	prospects for free and good living to those of a Purdue oven stuffer
	roaster.  From hatch to butcher's knife, they live miserable,
	narrow, squalidly guided and corralled lives with no purpose other
	than to serve some larger entity the existence of which they have
	not so much as a dim awareness of.

> I make every effort to teach them to be responsible for themselves and
> their actions, to be able to care for themselves and to understand that
> they should care for others, and to see the value and accomplishment in
> doing things with their own hands and minds.  We engage in lots of
> interesting hobbies (hoping to add blacksmithing and casting soon!) and
> they've become reasonably capable in many areas from cooking and basic
> auto care to woodworking and playing a variety of musical instruments.
> They're both A/B students, Cub Scouts, play on sports teams (soccer
> season just ended...basketball's next), and are respectful young men.
> I'm very proud of them, and I'm certainly not interested in relieving
> myself of accountability for their upbringing.  If our society's in
> trouble, then the solutions start at home.  We're trying to do our part
> here...and so far it's working out very well.

	You have my best wishes for success to you and your boys.  You
	are in a very distinct minority.
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