NH Paper: Celebrating 'Open Tent' Day -- Kids Dress Like Arabs

May 31st, 2008 4:46 PM

Only in the west can one see a school that hosts a day when school children are encouraged to dress like, act like, and "learn about" those trying to kill them and all in a day that the country is in the midst of war. And only in the west would the media help celebrate such an outrageous example of support for what, in truth, are our enemies.

On May 9, the kids of the Amherst Middle School in Amherst, New Hampshire, were forced to parade about their school dressed as "Saudi Arabians" so that they could "learn from people around the world" in a happy day of multiculturalism. But, what they ended up being taught was the wholly sanitized version of how wonderful Saudi society is instead of the truth.

Sadly, the Milford (NH) Cabinet, a small newspaper group in the Granite State, is full of uncritical praise and wonder at the multicultural extravaganza forced upon these children unawares. Worse, they didn't do any reporting on how this day of appeasement came to be held.

For one night, on May 9, the quaint colonial town of Amherst, New Hampshire, was transformed into a Saudi Arabian Bedouin tent community, with the help of 80 seventh-graders at the Amherst Middle School. The weather cooperated, providing 85 degree temperatures to give an authentic Saudi feel to the evening.

And what was this exercise in sympathy for our enemies supposed to do for the community?

The “open tent” was created to encourage participants to reach out and learn from people around the world, and to promote curiosity and cultural understanding.

One wonders if Amherst Middle School dressed up their kids like Imperial Japanese soldiers and had them learn about Shintoism during WWII? Somehow, I'd bet not.

So, what did everyone learn? They learned that being a Saudi was fun and that it is cool to act like one. But, they didn't really learn much of any use and they certainly didn't learn anything in context.

Still, even what they did learn is disturbing. Here are a few of the things the paper outlined.

  • During the check-in, guests selected a traditional Arabic name for their name badge and completed an actual Saudi customs form, which warned in bold letters “Death for Drug Trafficking ” at the top.
  • ...as the traditions of Saudi Arabia at this time prevent women from participating in these public roles.
  • Seventh-grade girls hosted the hijab and veil stations, where other female guests learned how to wear the required head covering and veils. An antique trunk full of black abayas worn by women, and white thobes worn by the men, were available for guests to try on.
  • An Islamic religion station included a Muslim prayer rug with a compass imbedded in it to locate Mecca, readings on the Islamic faith, call to prayer items and prayer beads.

So, this school taught these children to be accepting and tolerant of excluding women, forcing them to hide behind a veil, and were told that the Muslim religion was something they should try on for fun?

Wonderful.

I can't help wondering if these middle school kids learned of the honor killings and the female genital mutilation called "female circumcision" that women are forced to go through in Saudi Arabia? Were these innocent American kids told that the Saudis have thuggish, pseudo "police" that roam the streets that beat people up who seem to be breaking their strict religious dress codes that religious zealots in government force upon the people? Did they learn of the oppressive laws that prevent people of other religious faiths from practicing their religions? Also, did they learn that the Saudis export bin Laden's style of terror all across the world? Did they learn that most of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudis?

I wonder, did these impressionable American kids lean any of these facts? Not according to the Milford Cabinet they didn't.

I also wonder where the idea for this obscene multicultural event came from? Were any local Muslim groups responsible for this? Why didn't the paper do any reporting on that? If it was just a wayward teacher's idea, why didn't the paper report that? Why are we left in the dark about who is responsible for this outrageous event? Of course, we do know why. It's because the paper thought the event was a great idea and didn't want to report any info that might cause someone to be exposed to public questioning.

Like I said, only in the weak willed west can we mollycoddle an enemy directly engaged in killing Americans, only in the west can we encourage "understanding" of a people out to see us harmed. Only in the west can we see oppressive cultural ideas that are antithetical to freedom and liberty promulgated as a fun thing for our children to learn about. Only in the west can we sit back and allow our schools and media abuse our children like this. Only in the west can we think nothing of undermining our own basic principles of freedom, equality, and liberty for all and supplant that with the ideas of one of the most oppressive regimes of the world.

So, thanks for helping destroy our culture and country and thanks for helping Americans lower their guard goes out to Amherst Middle School and the Milford Cabinet newspaper. It's so wonderful to "understand" and celebrate people who want us dead.