Nazism is child abuse

You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!
--South Pacific

The libertarians and conservatives will be honking loudly about this one, mark my words: Manitoba Child and Family Services seized the children of a couple of neo-Nazi knuckledraggers the other day, rescuing them from an atmosphere of insanity and hatred. And already the usual suspects are slithering out from under their rocks.

"They seem like well-adjusted, normal people," says veteran neo-Nazi Paul Fromm.

The arguments will be framed thus: child-rearing is a private matter. Intervention is only justified if there is severe abuse of the child. Indeed, these arguments have already been made, and appear to have trumped any concerns about the toxic atmosphere to which the kids are now likely to be returned. Even though that very atmosphere constitutes serious emotional abuse, on a continuing basis.

The mother and father have now split up. "He's a bigot," says Mum. "I'm just a white nationalist." Oh, that's all right, then. How can one fail to see that obvious distinction? So Manitoba child services is now prepared to "re-integrate" the kids back into the mother's comfy little nest of hate. Ende gut, alles gut.

I disagree, and I hope MCFS reconsiders. As feminist and legal scholar Lorenne Clark once put it, "the last place we need privacy is in the home." (Just ask the children of Josef Fritzl.) She rejects, as do I, any absolute distinction between "public" and "private." It takes a village to raise a child, and that means we are all accountable for the children of our community.

Children's services in Canada are often criticized (and with good reason, sometimes) for being lax and careless. In this case, however, they acted quickly and correctly to rescue children from an emotional cesspool of hate. Now, however, they seem poised to return the kids to that cesspool.

That would be a grievous error. MCFS should stick to its guns. Neo-nazis are not fit parents. End of story.

Teach your children well,
Their father's hell did slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.
...
Teach your parents well,
Their children's hell will slowly go by,
And feed them on your dreams
The one they picked, the one you'll know by.
--CSNY, Teach Your Children