...to go to hell.

is it gives idiots the rope to hang themselves.

There is the right to make a terribly stupid (or stupidly terrible) sign.

There is the right to post it on snapchat.

There is the right to say that the sign is awful, and that he is awful, and that his family and friends are awful, and that his school and city and state are awful.

But I've got a question....

Does he really think this is going to get him a date? Seriously?

What kind of young lady (or lad) wants to wade into this swampy mess? The REALLY interesting questions for reporters to ask are not for him, or his parents, or the school admins, but for whatever idiot accepts him as a prom date.



And yes, I'm sure some un-woke privileged garbage-person will think he's dreamy and brave and tells it like it is... but

regardless of what it is. Have the media display and the public ridicule it? Yes. Get fired from a job? Sure. Lose sponsors/advertisers? Sure. Experience boycotts and protests? Absolutely.

Have a public, government funded school restrict his speech and punish him for it? Not on board with that. A private school? They can discipline him how they see fit as a non-government funded entity. The government should not be in the business of deciding what speech is allowed or not.

want to one another is going to work out well? I'm all for free speech but I've spent a lot of years working with children and that is not a good idea. There's a reason a fraternity just got booted off campus for engaging in "free speech" that was racist and then some.

Kick the kid out of school? Punish him? Would that work out better than just letting him talk freely?

Fraternities are subject to university discipline in a different way than students would be, it's likely in their agreement with the school if nothing else.

"Kick the kid out of school? Punish him? Would that work out better than just letting him talk freely?"

Do you apply that sentiment consistently to all speech by all students in all public schools? Regardless of what is said or worn?

Or are there in fact, practical limitations necessary to consider to better ensure that a school remains objectively as a center of education?



If nothing else, indeed.

those limitations are based on "disruption" caused. Since this speech appears to have been spoken outside school grounds, I don't see how punishing the kid now will lessen "disruption" on the student body.

If he wore a racist shirt to school, it would of course be a different calculation in determining whether there is "disruption".

In this case, I bet if he apologized, there would be little disruption of prom (on his part, who knows how others might react seeing him there).

Like say prom.

what would barring him from prom actually accomplish?

There should be no official punishment for this type of off-campus speech. If it happened on-campus, then it could of course be limited since it would be likely to be disruptive. If the kid can behave himself at prom, I don't see why he would be barred. (and if he doesn't behave himself at prom, then they can of course kick him out at that time).

graduation as a result of the behavior.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/teens-racist-promposal-goes-viral-black-id-picking-cotton-213551339.html

Update: Noah Crawley’s parents released a statement to HuffPost on Tuesday saying that the teen will not be attending school activities for the rest of the year, including the prom and graduation.

While our son has apologized himself, on behalf of our family, we wish to also express our most sincere apologies for the terrible words used in his ‘promposal.’ We love our son dearly and know that he is a far better person than reflected in this reckless behavior. That said, as loving parents, we also feel compelled to share our own deep regret and serious concern about his actions. After numerous familial conversations and lengthy discussions with Riverview High School administrators, we have jointly agreed that our son will not be attending any further school activities or functions, including the Prom or graduation ceremony. As a family, we truly recognize this incident is a very difficult but important life lesson and pledge to do all we can to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. Certainly, we hope that all of the people and communities who were hurt and offended will forgive our son and family.”

other school activities including graduation.

Apparently this kid is known at the school for ugly racist behavior. This was not an isolated instance.

His name and photo are in the media.

Time to think about the words. He knew he was being racist

I mean, really.

And put it on social media. Everyone has occasional ugly thoughts (not necessarily racism like this), but most of us keep them silent because we understand the concept of consequences and that our worst thoughts don't define us.

have written all kinds of stuff and not understand the implications. Apparently that is not this persons excuse.

Hopefully they end up feeling the need to flee the city

You do realize that there's often a disconnect between kids and parents, especially in the teenage years? And that even though you can teach the right things they can still do incredibly stupid and offensive things?

there but for the grace of god go I.

Kids are out in the world and away from parents a lot once they hit the teenage years and there are a lot of influences. You can teach your kid right but they're not the only influence and as we've seen throughout the ages, kids are masterful at hiding things from parents. Even more so these days thanks to technology.

I just adhere to a kind of glass houses thing because as good as I've taught my kids and as much as I've talked with them about a range of things, you never know what stupid shit they'll do on their own without thinking or through peer pressure.

He can finally be free.

But this is absolutely protected free speech. Unpopular speech is the speech that needs to be protected.

It will take the right person using the right words to get through. Good can come from this.

And from what I read, he copied it from someone else that used it a year or two ago.

And in this day and age, one's stupidity can be enshrined forever on the internet. I am thankful that I was 40 years too early for that particular corner of Hell. The good news is that this is an opportunity for the young man to learn from his mistake and perhaps serve as an object lesson for others thinking about making a similar mistake.

It's mind-boggling to think that the fellow in this story is the same age as the Parkland High School shooting survivors, but that's a lesson for us all in the range of humanity; there are the brave and admirable living right alongside the appalling.