Comments: 15 Score: [-] 413 [+].
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Posted: 2 years ago by dollyllama:
I was all ready to blast you 2many for not being as cynical about this as other things, but now that I read the article, if the facts are straight, this is just asinine.
Score: [-] 150 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by DerAlt1:
I'd like to see the costume before I rushed to judgement.
Score: [-] 132 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by larknet:
I would have liked to see it also. Every costume, no matter what it is, might be misconstrued as offensive by someone. Does that mean we just cancel Halloween? I'm just sayin'
Score: [-] 115 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by queenofhearts:
Score: [-] 155 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by tragluk:
His son wore the costume to school on Halloween, he said, but took it off when a teacher and other students suggested it looked similar to a Klan robe. The boy put the costume back on at lunch, at the urging of some friends, the father said.
School officials said the boy was immediately escorted to the office when an administrator saw him wearing the costume the second time. The father said the boy, who was suspended for two days, apologized to classmates.
Ok. So you go to school naive.. you don't THINK of it as a KKK robe. Nooo problem. No harm, no foul. The teacher asks you to remove it, you do. Nobody is crying foul here.
THEN a bunch of your friends pressure you into putting back on your outfit which you've been told looks like a KKK robe and which a teacher has already asked you to take off. And you're surprised when you get a two day suspension?
Sorry. No sympathy here. As to the group that wants sensitivity training, it's not an isolated incident. There was a noose hanging in the school, and now some stupid kid thinks it's a big joke to run around the school LOOKING like a KKK member.
It's not a joke. And this kid and his friends need to learn that sometimes just the appearance of impropriety is improper.
He would have gotten the same treatment had he come to school in a trenchcoat which teachers asked him to remove because it resembled the Columbine jerks. Same treatment would have been given if he had worn costumes which looked like it had guns, or (for some schools) slashed wrists.
The kid went too far on accident. Then went too far on purpose.
Score: [-] 110 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by tundramonkey:
I was a ghost for Hallowe'en two years ago. It was a last-minute costume; I cut eye holes into the sheet that had covered my den floor while I painted a few days earlier (and I hot-glued a few spiders over paint splotches!).
I can't even count how many people thought I was either a) KKK or b) a muslim bride. People were freaking out at me for being politically insensitive, and it amazed me! I just responded with 'Boooooo', and that shut up most of them.
Still, the kid disobeyed his teacher by putting the costume back on. I do think the uproar this is getting is outrageous, though.
Score: [-] 141 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by 2manyusernames:
« tragluk : Ok. So you go to school naive.. you don't THINK of it as a KKK robe. Nooo problem. No harm, no foul. The teacher asks you to remove it, you do. Nobody is crying foul here.
THEN a bunch of your friends pressure you into putting back on your outfit which you've been told looks like a KKK robe and which a teacher has already asked you to take off. And you're surprised when you get a two day suspension?
Sorry. No sympathy here. As to the group that wants sensitivity training, it's not an isolated incident. There was a noose hanging in the school, and now some stupid kid thinks it's a big joke to run around the school LOOKING like a KKK member.
It's not a joke. And this kid and his friends need to learn that sometimes just the appearance of impropriety is improper.
He would have gotten the same treatment had he come to school in a trenchcoat which teachers asked him to remove because it resembled the Columbine jerks. Same treatment would have been given if he had worn costumes which looked like it had guns, or (for some schools) slashed wrists.
The kid went too far on accident. Then went too far on purpose. You're missing the point. He shouldn't have been told to take it off in the first place (assuming it was your typical ghost outfit).
Just because a couple of people overreact, just because a few people thought that just possibly it might be insensitive is no reason to remove it.
The imagined appearance of impropriety as decided by a handful of people is never every improper.
Score: [-] 144 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by jameseum:
People wore sheets all the time in the 1970's and no one ever called them Klan outfits. We are looking for something to get upset about.
Every time I see a teen wearing baggy pants and goofy hair, I think he's a gang member. Should they be forced to change because they remind me of the 300 people killed every day by gun violence?
Oh, then it's my problem for being racist, right?
Maybe the teachers were prejudiced against the white kid, looking for racism and forcing him to conform to their stereotypes.
Muslim kids shouldn't be allowed to wear traditional dress because they remind Jewish kids of Hammas.
And on, and on, and on.......
The person with the hang up needs to deal with it, not force everyone else to.
As an aside, growing up in Texas, we used to make nooses all the time. It was never racist. Kids did it like flipping each other off. No one was ever hanged. It was just an Old West thing.
High schools used to do it to each other's football teams.
All of that was closer in time to actual KKK activity. Only now is everyone looking for something to get pissed about. It just shows that REAL RACIAL PROBLEMS ARE IN SHORT SUPPLY.
Score: [-] 152 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by eljay:
Oh what next? No. I do not want to know.
Score: [-] 43 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by grandmaba:
Oh for a simple life, one where neighbor loves neighbor and people help each other. What a wonderful world it would be.
Score: [-] 72 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by Ellz:
“Whether it was meant to be a ghost costume or not, it was not interpreted that way,” Phillips said. He said the district recognizes the need to create greater sensitivity among students.
NO! You do not "recognize the need". That is the exact opposite of what is needed, what's needed is LESSER sensitivity.
I've been requested to remove a folded silk scarf that I was using to tie my hair back because someone was reminded of a gangster's bandanna. I did not comply. And I certainly did not apologize.
Score: [-] 54 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by smarty1052:
At least read the whole thing if you're going to downvote this..
« jameseum:People wore sheets all the time in the 1970's and no one ever called them Klan outfits. We are looking for something to get upset about.
Every time I see a teen wearing baggy pants and goofy hair, I think he's a gang member. Should they be forced to change because they remind me of the 300 people killed every day by gun violence?
Oh, then it's my problem for being racist, right?
Maybe the teachers were prejudiced against the white kid, looking for racism and forcing him to conform to their stereotypes.
Muslim kids shouldn't be allowed to wear traditional dress because they remind Jewish kids of Hammas.
And on, and on, and on.......
The person with the hang up needs to deal with it, not force everyone else to.
As an aside, growing up in Texas, we used to make nooses all the time. It was never racist. Kids did it like flipping each other off. No one was ever hanged. It was just an Old West thing.
High schools used to do it to each other's football teams.
All of that was closer in time to actual KKK activity. Only now is everyone looking for something to get pissed about. It just shows that REAL RACIAL PROBLEMS ARE IN SHORT SUPPLY. Things change meaning over time.. nooses back then had a much different meaning than they do now, and no offense to Texas or Florida, but some states are just different than others. If a black kid went to school dressed like a black panther they would have asked him to remove his costume as well. and racial problems are never in short supply people are just getting more naive. I admit there are many instances that are blown out of proportion but there are way more legit times when it is actual hatred based on race. I'm not saying this kid was a racist, But he still did not follow orders. Another problem thats springing up most of this hatred is the fact that most parents these days with kids in school are between what 45-50-ish? just 40 years ago Martin luther king was assasinated- my point is most parents these days were alive and actualy have been through some things in the past.. Not just thinking oh I didn't get that job b/c i'm black or messing with affirmative action.. but actual real problems.. I'm only 22 my mom just turned 51. She has many many stories of having Dogs set on her and her friends while they were just trying to walk to school. A newly integrated high school. Police officers beating her parents when they called 911 for help. The civil Rights movement wasnt that long ago. People are always talking about it like it was 2 centries ago or when slavery ended thats when racism ended. Old black men are the most racist people of all in my opinion. and i think they have the right to be, they were the ones that had it the worst when they were younger. And even the white kids they're parents(not all of them of course) were the ones that were hanging people someones grandparent still living today could have been responsible for lynching, or have a family member that was lynched. just keep this in mind
Chris Rock: The most racist people are old black men! He went through real racism back them. He couldn't go through that "I-can't-get-a-cab" thing. Back then, he WAS the cab! A white man jump on his back, "Main Street!" Chris Rock- Bigger and Blacker
Score: [-] 76 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by ReBoot:
I think "diversity and sensitivity" training only promotes racism, rather than preventing it. It all seems very shallow and immature to me.
My wife and my mother-in-law are both acutely sensitive to criticism. Whether given in harmless jest or in well-founded and loving concern, criticism is taken as a serious offense. To me, this is extremely immature. Rather than confronting their problems head-on, they tip-toe around each other for fear of causing hurt. Family gatherings are often buzzing with unspoken tension as everyone takes on the strain of being "sensitive." Why not just get the chip off your shoulders and act like adults?
As long as distinction is made between races, racism will continue to exist.
Score: [-] 40 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by smarty1052:
« 2manyusernames : You're missing the point. He shouldn't have been told to take it off in the first place (assuming it was your typical ghost outfit).
Just because a couple of people overreact, just because a few people thought that just possibly it might be insensitive is no reason to remove it.
The imagined appearance of impropriety as decided by a handful of people is never every improper. I think you're missing the point.. The schools have a Job to do. They're #1 Job is to protect the students physically and emotionally. You never know what a student has been through or the way kids will interpret things. Everyone knew what it looked like and what the kids tagged it as- that made it a symbol-still a ghost costume but with a deeper meaning- and the administration couldn't let that symbol continue to walk around the school sparking controversy. or maybe they were doing it for his protection. didn't want him getting hurt for something he didn't understand, whether it was physically or mentally for having to deal with it for the rest of his school career.
Marian Wright Edelman:
"If you as parents cut corners, your children will too. If you lie, they will too. If you spend all your money on yourselves and tithe no portion of it for charities, colleges, churches, synagogues, and civic causes, your children won't either. And if parents snicker at racial and gender jokes, another generation will pass on the poison adults still have not had the courage to snuff out."
but-
In any case who the heck cares? Seriously one's life must be just incredible, filled with gumdrop trees and rivers of lemonaid if your biggest grief in life is the removal of a ghost costume from a student.
Score: [-] 28 [+].
Posted: 2 years ago by abandonedcouch:
The student didn't disobey the teacher by putting the costume back on. The article clearly states that he took it off of his own volition when a teacher suggested that it resembled a KKK uniform. He probably put it back on at the suggestion that most of us are making: that people who are offended by bedsheet with eyeholes are being hypersensitive and alarmist.
Also, the assertion that racist incidents at the school had occured before is also bogus:
The group, Concerned Parents Alliance, said the Westview High student wore a costume resembling a Ku Klux Klan outfit on Halloween. The group also was concerned about an incident last month in which a noose was found hanging in a boys bathroom at Poway High School in Poway.
Two different schools. The kid and his buddies weren't making light of a previous racist incident; as it happened at a different school there's probably a good chance they didn't even know about it. His friends were probably all, "Dude, it's just a bedsheet. That's stupid," not "OMGOZILLA RACISM IS SO KOOL PUT YER CLOAK OF WHITE POWER BACK ON!!!1"
Although I will say I'm very interested in seeing this ghost costume.
Score: [-] 25 [+].
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