Watch your tongues, kids.
by John Hayward
05/21/2012
Things are a little tense in North Carolina these days. At North Rowan High School last week, classroom conversation turned to the Washington Post’s ridiculous hit piece on Mitt Romney’s alleged “high school bullying.”
See how that works, kids? A major liberal paper cooks up a ridiculously sloppy, overblown story that plugs into an Obama campaign narrative. Within 24 hours, people who dare to question the news value of this story are getting insulted and kicked off the air during television interviews. A few days later, the story is being discussed in classrooms, its themes downloaded directly into young minds. Liberals hate Fox News because they fantasize that it has a fraction of this power.
At any rate, some of the students in that North Carolina classroom proved to be much better informed on this topic than the political officer acting as their teacher, and a lively argument ensued. Fortunately, a student was able to record it, with what appears to be a cell phone lying on a desk, and angry parents uploaded it to YouTube:
Click here to listen.
The teacher, who sounds about as thoughtful and aware of current events as the average Daily Kos reader, goes absolutely berserk when the students dare to question the official political agenda of the classroom. Shrill screams pierce the air, combined with some incredible bits of pure stupidity. Here’s the political officer / teacher’s dismissal of the comparison between Romney and Obama’s bullying stories: “Stop! Stop! Because there’s no comparison. He’s running for president. Obama is the president… you got to realize, this man is wanting to be what Obama is. There’s no comparison.”
The teacher’s furious devotion to Saint Barack goes completely over the edge when the teacher informs her captive audience that “disrespect” of President Obama will not be tolerated in her classroom, and might just lead to the arrest of dissidents, as related by the Salisbury Post:
The teacher tells the class Obama is “due the respect that every other president is due.”
“Listen, let me tell you something, you will not disrespect the president of the United States in this classroom,” she says.
The student replies that he’ll say what he wants.
“Not about him you won’t,” the teacher says.
Later in the conversation, the teacher tells the class it’s criminal to slander a president.
“Do you realize that people were arrested for saying things bad about Bush?” she says of former President Bush. “Do you realize you are not supposed to slander the president?”
The student responds by saying being arrested for talking badly about the president would violate the right to free speech.
“You would have to say some pretty f’d up crap about him to be arrested,” he says. “They cannot take away your right to have your opinion. ... They can’t take that away unless you threaten the president.”
This caused the teacher’s Bush Derangement Syndrome to flare up, and she offered some rather salty language about Bush, which rather strongly contradicts her point about showing respect for all Presidents. Of course, treating her tirade as a logical argument is the stuff of satire.
A rational education system would post armed guards at every school in the country to keep this lunatic away from other people's children for the rest of her life, but of course that’s not what happened:
Rowan-Salisbury spokeswoman Rita Foil confirmed the teacher is still employed with the district and has not been suspended for disciplinary reasons. Foil emailed this statement to a Post reporter Friday on behalf of the school system:
“The Rowan-Salisbury School System expects all students and employees to be respectful in the school environment and for all teachers to maintain their professionalism in the classroom. This incident should serve as an education for all teachers to stop and reflect on their interaction with students.
“Due to personnel and student confidentiality, we cannot discuss the matter publicly.”
It looks as if the machinery of student political indoctrination will continue humming along smoothly. Thanks to the growing movement of guerilla student filmmakers packing cell phones, digital voice records, and finely tuned B.S. detectors, those who suspect the crusade against “bullying” is really a vehicle for delivery of a partisan political agenda have a new exhibit.
Update: It's very much worth your time to listen to the entire ten-minute video above. The teacher's behavior is the big story here, but the students deserve applause for the tough questions they ask. There is cause here for dismay about the school system... but also for optimism about the students, who have both the reasoning skills and intellectual courage to stand up to ideological bullying.
Update: The Salisbury Post is now reporting that the teacher involved in this incident has been suspended with pay, while an investigation into her conduct is carried out.
______________________________________________________
To read another article by John Hayward, click here.
No comments:
Post a Comment