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[Descan]

...

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Are you currently stoned? That kind of reads like something someone stoned would say.

[inteuniso]

Sober but have previously ingested all drug families.

[Bauglir]

I'm not sure I'm all on board with everything up there, but the notion that the foundational assumptions of government are hideously outdated is spot on. I trace it back to Westphalia as the last time we had a bout of philosophical updating, but eh. Details. That war was a perfectly ordinary state of being was one of those assumptions back then, too.

[ChairmanPoo]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Truean]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/18/mike-huckabee-military-obama_n_7092448.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

Excuse you Mr. Huckabee, but did you just take a direct action against the United States Armed Forces Recruitment Initiative? Wow, we have stoploss in effect where we won't LET people leave the military due to overstretched resources even when their contract is up and they should be allowed to leave.... This statement, if listened to, directly and demonstrably harms active duty deployed US armed forces soldiers and sailors the world over.... What happened to all that talk about "national security?" What about all that danger that "justified" taking away several civilian civil rights?

All of this stuff about "Support our Troops," doesn't seem to amount to much unless it is politically convenient at the time. It's just astonishing the politicization here. Just like when they shut down the government and endangered service personnel's pay just for political BS while claiming the support the troops, this is yet another harmful power grab filled with flag waiving to cover up the harm.

[Truean]

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/school-censors-girls-shirt-for-yearbook-photo-116918108702.html

"The student said that the administrator declared, ‘It was mine and the photographer’s decision to photoshop your shirt because some people might find it offensive.’”

The word censored and digitally removed from the shirt?

"Feminist"

[aenri]

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/school-censors-girls-shirt-for-yearbook-photo-116918108702.html

"The student said that the administrator declared, ‘It was mine and the photographer’s decision to photoshop your shirt because some people might find it offensive.’”

The word censored and digitally removed from the shirt?

"Feminist"

School should be apolitical. People who are in uproar about this are fuckin' hypocrites, they would be the first to demand it removed if the shirt said ku klux klan.

[Frumple]

... are you really putting the various feminist movements on par with a hate group that has a history of literally killing people? Yes, people are going to have a different reaction to ideologies that promote civil rights vs. ones that promote terror and murder. Hypocrisy, that is not.

[Moghjubar]

I wonder if they would have shopped out short skirt years ago...

[Bauglir]

I'd actually be vaguely pissed if a Klan slogan got shopped off a student's shirt, too. Granted, I'd be less likely to hear about it, no doubt. But it's the kid's mode of expression, not the middle school's. Whether schools ought to be political or not is a red herring of the most dishonest kind.

[i2amroy]

Actually schools are well within their rights to do something like that. By registering at a given school you automatically place yourself under the confines of their dress code while on campus or at school sponsored events. Most school dress codes include some very broadly written rules and almost always include some version of this as the first one:

The school administration may determine that certain types of student clothing and grooming are prohibited
which:
Draws undue attention, distracts, disrupts, and/or interferes with the educational environment at school or at a
school activity or event.

While blotting out something like "feminism" would (in my opinion at least) be a rather large overreach of what the spirit of the rule is intended to do, it's not actually beyond their rights as the school.

Klan slogans, on the other hand, are hit hard by this other common school rule, specifically part b in the example below.

Clothing and personal items, such as jewelry, backpacks, fanny packs, gym bags, water bottles, etc., shall be
free of writing, pictures, or any other insignias, which: (a) are crude, vulgar, or profane; (b) are violent or advocate
hate; (c) signify gang affiliation; (d) concerns or represents tobacco, alcohol, drugs, or illegal substances; (e)
concerns or represents criminal or illegal activities; (f) infringes upon the rights of others; or (g) are sexually
suggestive.

While yes, it may be a students personal decision at what they get to wear to express themselves; the US as a whole has decided that when you are on school related grounds or activities the right of everyone to have a safe place that is also conducive to learning outweighs your personal right to express yourself in ways that threaten that.

[Bauglir]

That's a fair point, I suppose. I hadn't really considered the consequences of the argument; didn't occur to me that it falls under the same category as "the concept of dress codes", for some reason.

[Vector]

I wonder if they would have shopped out short skirt years ago...

They still shop out low necklines (regardless of whether cleavage is actually visible) and short sleeves.

While yes, it may be a students personal decision at what they get to wear to express themselves; the US as a whole has decided that when you are on school related grounds or activities the right of everyone to have a safe place that is also conducive to learning outweighs your personal right to express yourself in ways that threaten that.

Unfortunately, schools frequently still decide that Black girls' natural hair constitutes an "educational distraction."


EDIT: Honestly, this kind of thing still really hurts.

[Bauglir]

Yeah... There's a lot of abuse of what counts an "educational distraction". It's a bit more complicated than I made it out to be replying to aenri, but I'm still not okay with this nonsense. If the administration can make the case that feminism is as threatening as the Klan, then maybe. That'd have to be a hell of an argument. But otherwise it's no different from "national security" as one of those vague threats to which autonomy must be ceded.

As for that thing that still really hurts... Some pretty huge dickwaffles. If they'd just thought an appropriate response was to write on their hands and wear flannel, I suppose I'd have to defend their right to do that, not that I think you're really arguing that they shouldn't have it, (while still calling them dickwaffles for it, because that would still be accurate), but apparently they thought it was appropriate to escalate to targeted bullying in response to expression. Which, of course, just says to me that they're looking for an excuse to get offended and feel validated by taking it out on other people.

Dicks.

[Truean]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/20/michele-bachmann-obama-rapture_n_7104136.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

I think this all sadly ties together. If I'm not mistaken, Ms. Bachmann is calling Mr. Obama the Antichrist or at least saying he's ushering in the end times, due in part to gay marriage. Wasn't she a congresswoman until January of this year?

Wow. Just wow. The sheer amount of ... I don't even know what to call it ... hatred? It is incredible. I mean, you're saying your opponents are purposefully ushering in the end of the world and calling forth divine wrath just for having a different view? I'm sorry, but this is a good example of the prejudice I've been against forever. I've gotten upset before, a couple times, and I like to think I've matured since then, but really...? She's saying it's perfectly ok to pretty much literally demonize gays (bringing about the rapture/summoning demons and the end times). Is she just oblivious to the real harm she's doing here and the actual people whose lives she's effecting?

I don't want to call anybody any names, because that just gets done too often, but wow. This is the kind of thing that used to get me really sad and defensive, the notion that just because I'm gay or whatever, I'm destroying the world and offending ... I guess literally everything? I have no idea how to reason with or against this type of thing and that's sad. A part of me used to reflexively think hateful thoughts back at people like this out of pain, but I'm trying not to do that. It's hard.

Edit: @Vector: Yeah, I saw that article and it really quite made me sad. People seem to forget that there is a significant portion of this country that really, truly does not like gays one bit. Yes, it's diminishing, but they are out there, and it seems they are quite angry. That's one of the many reasons why it is so hard to try and negotiate/reason out something without using laws essentially fighting their beliefs (as opposed to trying to be inclusive).