Monday, August 16, 2010

Happy Birthday Dora?

 So Dora the Explorer, Nickelodeon's teaching tots show, turns 10 years old this month. Why do we care?  Because Dora is a volly of weapons fire in what some would call the Mexican-American "culture war"
Now, I am drop dead jealous of anyone lucky enough to be brought up in a bilingual home. I'll go so far as to say parents who dont make some effort to expose their child to more than one language are stunting their child (possibly for life) in the brain development department. However - Dora, in my opinion is not designed to appeal to children learning a second language. Dora is designed specifically to be watched by Hispanic children, to strengthen ties to Hispanic people, language and culture. Its La Raza propaganda that role models talking with a heavy accent and speaking Spanish as your first language to your friends. And thats fine if you are Mexican but its going to hurt a kids chances assimilation at in a Anglo country, which, for good or ill this is.. Little grade school kids break up into social groups just like grown men in jail - appearance, dialect, and "ethnic" behavior are a factor. La Raza literally means "the Race" and if parents want their kids to mesh well with people from other cultures then they need to move as far away from any "racial" identity as possible. Based on my time spent in Jewish, black and Native American communities, the more people stick to a racial identity the worse off they have been and the less equipped they are to function outside their community.

Again, there is nothing wrong with having, celebrating or sharing your culture, as long as it doesnt become the entirety of who you are. If, in your every day life, you look, sound dress ect significantly different from everyone around you, your going to be treated different. Which is fine if you are a teacher at the Hispanic culture center or a famous player of that obnoxious horn from the world cup - but if you are a little child who is learning proper grammer or how to share your at a disadvantage if you are sporting someone else's flag (which by the way is another great argument in favor of school uniforms).

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Quotes

At a certain stage the realization strikes through that one must either live outside of society's bonds or die of absolute boredom. There is no future or freedom in the circumscribed life and the only other life is complete rejection of the rules. There is no longer room for the soldier of fortune or the gentleman adventurer who can live both within and outside of society. Today it is all or nothing. To save my own sanity I chose the nothing.

-James Bolivar DiGriz