NIC's 'inclusion' policy excludes common sense
The Children’s Center at North Idaho College will no longer celebrate calendar holidays, including the recently canceled Halloween parade.
According to NIC Now: “The NIC Children’s Center addresses issues of cultural relevance, diversity and inclusion, and within the community we serve we discover great diversity. We believe approaches that validate and build upon culture and strengths of the enrolled children and their families enables them to achieve social competence, reach their full potential, and fully engage in an inclusive manner. Since not all families share the same cultural interest in calendar holidays, the center is no longer including these into our programming. We will continue to look for fun ways to engage with our campus community, such as a paper bag vest parade in the spring. Thank you for understanding.”
Actually no, I don’t understand.
I think the decision to cancel a Halloween parade and to “remove calendar holidays” is atrocious and misguided. Should we assume this means that they will also be erasing Thanksgiving, Christmas, Martin Luther King Day, Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, St. Patrick’s Day and Labor Day? Because of an implied possibility that some individual might, might be somehow “offended” by Halloween, nobody gets to celebrate this or any other holiday? This is dangerous thinking.
Not everyone agrees on their favorite sports team; should we then eliminate sports? Some of our neighbors may come from cultures that find dogs to be filthy and they would never think of allowing one in the home; should we all get rid of our pets in symbolic solidarity and to avoid any chance of offending someone? Where does this sacrificing of our American culture end, this erasing of our history end, this shameful effort to be all things to all people and to avoid the chance of offending anyone, anywhere, anytime, in any way?
In order to think deeply, in order to debate, in order to challenge and create, one must be willing to potentially offend. To think otherwise is to revere a world of bland timidity and mediocrity.
Are these the values of North Idaho? These appear to me to be the values of the far left “progressives” hell-bent on eradicating all that is good about American culture. This eradication of American tradition in the name of “inclusion” is a first step toward tearing down statues, rewriting history, banning gender pronouns and indoctrinating our grade school children in the ideologies of gender fluidity. It is one step removed from teaching our children that the source of all evil in the world is white males, and that our Constitutional rights are passé and irrelevant. One only need to look to other states, California in particular, to see that this is not hyperbole.
Surely those who made this decision must recognize the flip side of this coin, the fact that they are willing to offend the vast majority in disallowing long-standing, harmless traditions that are part of the very fabric of our culture.
“Paper bag vest day” is a pitiful substitute for established American traditions.
Speak up, Idahoans!
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David Mitchell is a Post Falls resident.