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Tuesday April 15, 2014
COMMENTARY DSVIEW Culture
— Spring Jam offers an exciting experience for all students, not just those who are already fans. By Larry Philbin The Dakota Student
Illustration by William Rerick/The Dakota Student.
Choosing own beliefs necessary The harder you push something, the more likely someone won’t want to be a part of it ... If you honestly believed something to be true, you wouldn’t need to force that belief on anyone else. Michael Rauser staff writer
Michael Rauser The Dakota Student Indoctrination is always a bad concept. Indoctrination is defined as teaching someone to fully accept the beliefs of a group without considering any others. Parents want their children to be like them, and religion often intensifies that feeling, especially since many religions prescribe horrific punishments in the afterlife for failing to believe in them. Understandably, this raises a protective instinct, which causes parents to do everything in their power to save their child from this perceived threat by trying to get them to convert as early as possible. There are many parents that don’t give their child an opportunity to choose their beliefs. This is often the cause behind the horror stories Christianity has produced involving enraged parents disowning their children for the crime of having different religious beliefs. It’s no secret there’s a greater number of youth leaving religion now more than ever. Some have credited this to the Internet and ease of access to information that easily disproves some of the more ludicrous religions like Mormonism. However, some religious parents blame themselves for their children abandoning the religion and not push-
ing doctrine enough. These people seem to be blind in seeing that it was pushing these things as hard as they did that caused these kids to abandon the faith in the first place. Many people that attend this college likely came from a Christian background. Some do keep their original beliefs 100 percent as taught to them by their parents. Others start to comprise them based on convenience. For example, the Catholic church might teach contraceptives are bad, but it’s just not safe to have sex without protection. Some abandon the religion entirely once they start to honestly question what they believe. You might be familiar with the stereotype of the sexually repressed youth that will be more sexually courageous than anyone because she’s been repressed her whole life and finally has a chance to do what she wants. While it is a stereotype, the underlying principle behind it applies to religion in general. The harder you push something, the more likely someone won’t want to be a part of it. These types of religious people, the ones that demand everyone be exactly like them, are the most insecure in their beliefs of anyone. If you honestly believed something to be true, you wouldn’t need to force that belief on anyone else. The other problem with indoctrination is that it negates faith. The main defense behind beliefs that can’t be proven is usually faith. Faith is often treated as a virtue among religious groups. Yet, if a child doesn’t choose his or her belief, then there is no faith, and it’s simply compliance.
There’s also a lot of parents that insist they don’t indoctrinate their children, while their actions prove the opposite. I’m talking about families that hide in their own corner of society watching only Christian movies, listening to only Christian music, reading only Christian books, while sending their children to Christian schools. They create an environment that’s exclusively Christian, thus causing any who disagree with religious claims to become outcasts, rejects and ostracized from any and all social groups. Even though there is no demand to believe this religion, it’s still indoctrination because it doesn’t allow any opposing viewpoints to ever be heard. For those of you who are religious and plan on having children, this is something to keep in mind. It’s fine to take your child to church and explain to them the religion that’s important to you. But it’s a terrible idea to try to convert a child early on. Young children will believe all kinds of things like Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. If you try to convert your children to your religion while at the same time telling them about these other mythical figures, they might just add your religion to the pile of other myths they were told about as children. Parents shouldn’t do everything in their power to silence any and all voices that might disagree with them, especially if those voices are coming from the children themselves. Michael Rauser is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at michael.rauser@my.und.edu
As I’m sure everyone already knows by now, Student Government recently announced that rapper Wiz Khalifa will be coming to Grand Forks and that students had the opportunity to get free tickets to the event. I’m excited this will be a great experience for students of UND. While not everyone is equally excited that the performer is Wiz Khalifa, at the very least, you have to acknowledge how cool it is for an artist as big as Wiz to come to Grand Forks. Not to say we don’t get some good shows here in Grand Forks, but not very many big artists pass through here while on tour. Usually, if we’re lucky, we have the opportunity to drive an hour south to Fargo to see performers on tour, two and a half hours north to Winnipeg or 5 hours east to the Twin Cities. Furthermore, everyone has a different taste in music, so there isn’t going to be one performer that pleases everyone. But with free tickets, there’s really nothing to lose by going to the show. Personally, I’m excited to see Wiz Khalifa perform. Although I haven’t listened to much of his music recently, I experimented with Wiz a little more back in high school and went to one of his concerts in 2010, right before he became really famous in 2011 with the release of “Black and Yellow.” I can say he’s a great performer and puts a lot of energy into his shows. Even if you aren’t the biggest fan of his music, you might still enjoy the experience of being at one of his concerts. I think this concert will be a great way of bringing the whole campus together for something to get excited about. Immediately after the announcement he was coming, you could already feel the energy and excitement on campus. I was surprised how many people were lined up outside the Student Government office so early in the morning to get their tickets, and I heard people talking about it in class all day long. With all the dramatic talk recently about issues with the library, rising tuition, allegations of racism and everything else, it’s nice we all have something common — and something good — to rally around for a change. This will be a nice way to end the year and enjoy ourselves right before the stress of finals week, so lets all get together and end this year on a high note.
Editorial Board Will Beaton
Editor-in-Chief
Larry Philbin
News Editor
Sam WIgness
Features Editor
Editorial Policy The Dakota Student is dedicated to the free exchange of ideas. Opinion columns and letters to the editor will not be edited for content reasons, except in cases of criminal or civil liability. The Dakota Student reserves the right to edit or reject columns or letters for various reasons. The ideas expressed in columns and letters reflect the views of the writer and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the staff of the Dakota Student.
Letter Policy The Dakota Student encourages readers to express their opinions on the editorial pages. Letters to the editor are published based on merit, general interest, timeliness and content. All letters must be limited to 250 words. > Letters may be mailed to 2901 University Ave. Stop 8385, Grand Forks, N.D. 58202-8385 or dropped off at room 8, Memorial Union. > Letters must be typed and must include the author’s name, major or profession and telephone number. > All letters will be edited to fit the allocated space. Writer may be limited to one letter per month.