Can anybody understand parody anymore?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061223/ap_on_fe_st/teddy_bear_attack
The gist of the story, a judge reinstated two teenagers because of a parody put on the internet. While she may have reinstated them, she felt compelled to give a morals lesson to the two teenagers.
From the article:
"School officials need to know you've learned a lesson," Barker said.
You have it slightly wrong and backwards, your honor. The school officials don't need to know that the kids learned a lesson; they need to have a lesson in the First Amendment given to them.
Parody and satire are important parts of our country. Without them, people in positions of power have no fear that they will be called to account for misdeeds. Without the tools of parody and satire to take someone down a rung or two, we are in danger of falling over a cliff with our leaders because somebody didn't speak out and say, "No disrespect sir, but you're an asshole on this issue."
The kids may not have liked that particular math teacher, but they didn't go the length to which civil sanctions were appropriate. Your job, your honor, is to decide whether the kids were in line with the law, not to go about giving morality lessons simply because somebody's feelings were hurt.
If you wanted to address somebody, you should have started with the school board members, principle and staff, by explaining to them that the little document they teach in civics class called the Constitution does have power, and it cannot be put aside just because of the speaker's age.
If the boys had wanted to apologize on their own, then so be it, but that is far from the school officials "needing to know (the students) had learned a lesson." The only thing they need to know is that they cannot do this, and the next time it comes about there will be financial penalties for flouting the right to Free Speech.
The gist of the story, a judge reinstated two teenagers because of a parody put on the internet. While she may have reinstated them, she felt compelled to give a morals lesson to the two teenagers.
From the article:
"School officials need to know you've learned a lesson," Barker said.
You have it slightly wrong and backwards, your honor. The school officials don't need to know that the kids learned a lesson; they need to have a lesson in the First Amendment given to them.
Parody and satire are important parts of our country. Without them, people in positions of power have no fear that they will be called to account for misdeeds. Without the tools of parody and satire to take someone down a rung or two, we are in danger of falling over a cliff with our leaders because somebody didn't speak out and say, "No disrespect sir, but you're an asshole on this issue."
The kids may not have liked that particular math teacher, but they didn't go the length to which civil sanctions were appropriate. Your job, your honor, is to decide whether the kids were in line with the law, not to go about giving morality lessons simply because somebody's feelings were hurt.
If you wanted to address somebody, you should have started with the school board members, principle and staff, by explaining to them that the little document they teach in civics class called the Constitution does have power, and it cannot be put aside just because of the speaker's age.
If the boys had wanted to apologize on their own, then so be it, but that is far from the school officials "needing to know (the students) had learned a lesson." The only thing they need to know is that they cannot do this, and the next time it comes about there will be financial penalties for flouting the right to Free Speech.
powered by performancing firefox
posted by Pueblo Native @ 8:10 PM
0 comments
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home