6/29/2005 02:03:00 PM|||Nathan Moore|||

So, there is a movement afoot to create a ridicule-free world. How boring would that be!

Operation Respect: Don’t Laugh at Me

How about Operation Respect: Earn It? Or would that be too practical? Here's the genesis of it

“Don’t Laugh at Me” (or dlam) was born when Yarrow—a veteran of the civil-rights, gender-equality, nucleardisarmament, peace, and Amtrak-subsidization movements—heard a country ballad of that name at the Kerrville Folk Festival, in the summer of 1999. Moved to tears by its swelling harmonies and first-person testaments to the effects of ridicule—“I’m a little boy with glasses, the one they call a geek / A little girl who never smiles ’cause I’ve got braces on my teeth”—he decided to incorporate the tune into Peter, Paul & Mary’s repertoire.

What a dlam shame. Here's how it's going to go

She (the dlam instructor) asked each group to draw an outline of a human figure, inscribing negative behaviors (“put-downs”) on the outside and positive behaviors (“put-ups”) on the inside, close to the heart. Each group then presented its finished product, a Caring Being, which, according to the dlam teacher’s guide, would help the participants to “explore creating agreements around behaviors.”

It's entirely possible that this dlam program will generate more ridicule. Then there's the section on caring commies

Weiss unfurled a poster of a human outline embellished with Chinese characters and said, “This is Caring Being in Cantonese.”

As if modern education was already insufficiently wrought with dumb ideas, this comes along, leading the parade of the new and stupid. Ridicule is not nice. But it's a part of growing up, and it is a valuable part of maturation. It teaches us to have thick skins, to learn what matters, and to be prepared for real challenges later in life. Dlam it all, I say.

(Hat tip to Ben Cunningham)

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