Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Carnival Woes

I have enjoyed the past Carnivals of Homeschooling. I have anticipated Tuesday, hoping I would be chosen and hoping someone would write something that I needed just at that moment. For the past few weeks I have danced around the Carnival because I was so busy enjoying Spring and all that encompasses on a farm. Today, because I woke up with the roosters, I was set to learn. After clicking the familiar links of friends and known sites, I ventured a few clicks on interesting topics. I knew I was in dangerous territory. As soon as a homeschool blogger address showed itself, I would click stop loading (I wonder if they got the click. Does anyone know when the click logs?). I missed a great deal of the Carnival. I think the remaining five or six homeschool bloggers bombarded the Carnival. I call for all Boycotters to submit something for next week!

Boycotts are precarious at this time. The first weeks you get attention and everyone feels empowered and self righteous. Later, you have a trickle down effect where more people are interested and participating. Then, melancholy arrives. At this point, you are faced with many decisions. Fewer people are paying attention, so some participants fall by the wayside and click or buy. The truth is that this is when the boycott is made or broken. The effects are only real if everyone is strong in his or her continued support for as long as it takes to put a stop to the behavior.

The little boy is still dead. The Pearls are still hawking their books. Homeschool blogger and The Old Schoolhouse are still supporting the Pearls. There are still parents who believe that wielding a rod is positive discipline.

Where is Joan Baez singing "Amazing Grace" when you need her. Keep the faith that child abuse can end. Keep the faith that the churches of America will stop supporting, providing cover, and nurturing abuse. I am determined that Sean Paddock's death will not be meaningless. Are you?

7 comments:

COD said...

First of all, thanks for using my logo. I love seeing it pop up on sites all over the web! I know of at least a couple of people that have rethought their positions on TTUAC because of the boycott. if just one kid is spared the rod, it's been a success in my book.

Becky said...

I haven't been very consistent with entries to the Carnival (14 weeks, sheesh...), but you make a very, very good point, and if life is fairly settled, I'd like to join your call for more typepadders, blogspotter/bloggers, etc. to submit more articles. Great idea!

I use Firefox and when I run my cursor over a link I can see the URL, so I know ahead of time not to click on it, which is helpful.

I think this time is particularly precarious because this is the season of homeschool conferences, conventions, and trade shows -- how many free copies of TOS will be handed out to, how many copies of TTUAC will be bought, over the next few months by people who don't know better...

Frankie said...

I would submit something but I honestly don't know what to submit!

Appletini said...

Great post! You made a lot of good points. I'm keeping the boycott links prominent on my blog and the subject seems to come up often enough that I can blog on it in a fresh way.

I'll definitely see about getting something submitted to the next carnival, too.

Anonymous said...

Hi Wisteria... I had the same feeling looking at the Carnival yesterday. I'm wondering if mayhap there is enough interest for a non-fundie Carnival. I would be happy to write/submit posts for same.

Wisteria said...

Frankie,
You should write about what you know. Perhaps you could turn your son's Pinewood Derby win into a piece on creating self esteem through hard work (your child's work not your own).

Wisteria said...

My opinion only . . .I don't think we can throw all the fundamentalist Christians in one heap. I live in a community with a strong fundamentalist population and only a minority would use any of the Pearl techniques. I think we can be more effective in changing the minds of others if we don't isolate and separate.