On Cinco De Mayo
http://www.morganhilltimes.com/news/265402-five-lohs-students-sent-home-for-wearing-american-flag-t-shirts

discuss.

Patriotism or getting a real hobby, whichever will I choose?

That's pretty stupid.

I can only imagine the outcry if they sent people wearing Mexican-patriotic t-shirts home on July 4th.......

Yeah in that case we'd be infringing on their rights. But in this case we're "not rocking the boat" I guess.

Unfortunately that's the way it goes. I don't think it's particularly cool of those kids to be all decked out in American stuff on Cinco de Mayo... especially if they don't do it regularly. I mean if some kid comes to school all the time dressed like Captain God Damned America... then yeah... you can't really ***** at him for doing it on May 5th. Honestly, though, it seems like these kids were trying to piss people off.

Does it matter, though? I've had plenty of people try to piss me off and I can't do anything about it even if they deserve it...

That's the way the world works now, though. Diffuse the situation before it becomes one.

Yeah but you're forgetting one thing....we're not in ****ing Mexico.

But that's total horse****. Might as well lock everyone up and not let them out of their houses because something bad could happen.

Oh, yes, of course. Your heritage doesn't count anymore once you live in the United States.

Heritage doesn't count full stop. What is it exactly we're proud of?

apparently they are proud of the ****hole they (or their parents or grandparents or even more generations back) left behind to come to america

Sometimes customers come up to me at work and say "spanish?"

I say "no" because... well I dont speak it. A couple of people that work with me do but they are not always working at the same time.

Anyway, when this happens, the person usually gives me an annoyed "WTF??" look.

Now I'm not the type of redneck hillbilly sayin "we speak english, learn it or gtfo" but when someone gives me that annoyed look it just pisses me off...

Also, I took 2 years of spanish in HS. Total waste of time apparently.

Pfft.

If you're that fragile that you'd snap because of a ****ing shirt you deserve to be locked up. Simple.

What??????? Maybe next Ramadan I'll come busting down your door for not fasting, after all you wouldn't want to offend anybody. :downswords::downswords::downswords::downswords:

You're free to come here, live here, even free to celebrate your own special occasion here. That doesn't make it EVERYBODY'S special occasion and it sure as hell doesn't mean that people who wouldn't otherwise give a damn about your occasion should go out of their way not to offend you about it. (Was anybody even offended???)

You don't have a right to not be offended. Why do i feel like I'm constantly trying to convince people of this?

It's wrong to be patriotic, unless it's about another country.

Didn't these kids get the memo?

Because there's a huge part of the population who thinks they DO have a right to not be offended... and all we can do to fix their problem is offend them.

Also, go cry in a corner about it. I wanted to say something more offensive but I don't know anything personal to attack.

This is pathetic. And at the risk of stereotyping, consider the principals name and why he might be pissed about it.

It is to my understanding that if one is a citizen and lives in the said country, they are patriotic to that country. For example, no one is going to care about the fourth of July in Russia. Nor should they. Why is America any different? Sure we are a melting pot of many cultures but we are also our own nation just as well as Mexico, Canada, or what have you. Why must we always cater to things that don't involve us.

Just my two cents.

The boys that wore the flag t-shirts were obviously the retarded sons of teabaggers w/ no fashion sense & an unhealthy obsession w/ stirring up controversy so that they could get in the news but I must admit that I don't like how the 1st amendment flies out the window once you enter a school or the workplace. Teabaggers & even the sons of these retards should have the right to wear stupid ****ing flag t-shirts wherever they want. If you deny them this, they're just going to try their hardest to get it on local & maybe even national news, which is their goal in the first place. I say let them look like retarded little nationalists & don't play their little game.

I hope we can all at least agree that flag shirts are tacky as **** and should not be worn under any circumstances.

vice principal gets sand in his vagoo over something that doesn't matter. students and parents complain, try to get him fired. will get a verbal warning at the absolute most. has friends on the school board, and will make these kids' lives a living hell just because he's a useless goddamn M.Ed.

my generation and my parents really are just the dumbest mother ****ers in the world, think they have to be anti-patriotic and anti-authorative at all times

jesus H christ

Given the follow-up stories about the mexican students freaking out it sounds like the school people were just trying (albeit incompetently) to avoid a ****storm.

The staff at my school harassed Mexican kids constantly over the clothes they were wearing, so I suppose it's only fair

Well at least you guys wear shirts

I think Antony kind of said what I was thinking. Anyway:



They were expressing their individuality by all wearing a shirt with an American flag...

It should have been a non-issue. Wearing a t-shirt with an American flag on it is guaranteed to generate news-worthy controversy nowadays? You're saying this was premeditated to create some ruckus that would go on national news?

Obviously they wore the clothing to stir up trouble. But I think you're extrapolating way too much outta this, and try to paint them as some group that wore white hoods and gowns to school, and burning crosses in their path. I don't understand the massive hostility you have toward these guys.

Also, you're being unfair. The guys celebrating "Cinco de Mayo" aren't "retarded little nationalists?" Doesn't that make you a hypocrite?



They are. You are saying they aren't? What you said is sort of a non-statement, because you're saying that "what they wore says nothing about them". For better or worse, it did.

What's your point, anyway?

Screw you guys, my patriotism is better than your patriotism

Expressing yourself and expressing your individuality are not the same thing.

It's no coincidence that these students, who were all friends, decided to wear clothing w/ American flags stamped all over them. I think it's reasonable to assume that they were attempting to make some sort of statement by doing this. In other words, they chose to make it an issue & the school was happy to oblige (contributing to making it an issue). This isn't much different than when kids at my high school wore their confederate flag t-shirts to school the week of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. I think that they should have the right to wear what they want in both cases but I won't pretend that they weren't trying to stir up controversy.

No one is making the claim that wearing an American flag is guaranteed to generate news-worthy controversy except for on days when it obviously would (e.g: a day where people from other countries celebrate their heritage). I obviously can't say for sure whether or not they did this w/ the intent to make headlines (locally &/or nationally) but they certainly did it knowing that it would draw attention & I find the entire thing to be suspect (especially during the tea-bagger "revolution" & the immigration issues that are occurring only 1 state over from this incident).


I think it likely they're victims of tea-bagger parents & too much Fox News. I don't pretend that I have some sort of evidence that proves this. I have hostility towards anyone that purposely goes out of their way to offend people & then hides behind the mask of nationalism/patriotism, I have hostility towards the tea-bagger parents who brainwash their children w/ anti-immigration propaganda & I have hostility towards the U.S. government for denying students their 1st amendment rights in educational establishments.


I never made any statement toward Mexicans, Cinco de Mayo or the celebrating of said holiday by said people so I don't think that I'm being hypocritical. I never said that I was a big fan of Cinco de Mayo or that Mexicans should be so proud of their country that they should all go around wearing Mexican flags.

These kids should have the right to wear what they want in school as long as it's w/in reason (at least some underwear). However, I'm not going to pretend that their motives were innocent, that they were acting in the spirit of goodwill or that they weren't just trying to draw as much attention as possible to whatever statement that they were trying to make. If their goal was somehow a statement in response to the denial of their 1st amendment rights then I applaud them. However, I'm going to assume by the Timothy McVeigh haircuts & their "patriotic" Tap-Out gear that they're just trying to stir up some ****. That's just my opinion & I offer no evidence in support of it.

P.S. I ****ing hate teenagers & their rap music.

Not arguing that they were trying to start trouble. However, it's a great deal more benign than the confederate shirt.

The confederacy, without splitting hairs, was about preserving slavery. Wearing those shirts implies that you are sympathetic to that cause and associated messages. At best, you are saying that you advocate the idea of disunity among the states. Obviously there will be people uncomfortable with that.

To you, Mentat, what are you saying that wearing the American flag conveys? Apart from your blanket drivel on "teabaggers", you've addressed nothing. TEABAGGERS FOXNEWS RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE. Wearing an American flag during St. Patrick's day would not generate this. Wearing an American flag all throughout Black History Month would not generate this. I could go on. Why is it that during Cinco de Mayo the flag gains some extra meaning? What's the message here?



I'm going to say I'm continuing this discussion for sake of argument.

These kids are obvious hicks and have whatever stance they do to just not liking them darkies. I'd like to not defend them, but instead attack the "sensetivity" to the American flag. They knew the flag would generate controversy, but that shouldn't be; the American flag should not be offensive to anyone who lives here, and if it is there is a problem.



You're going to say what they did didn't speak volumes about their character?

The current status of American/Mexican (immigrant) relations isn't comparable to that of American/irish relations. All of the groups that you've mentioned have pretty much been assimilated in to our society at this point.


...& for a lot of Mexican-Americans, whether realistic or not, wearing the American flag on Cinco de Mayo is a lot like being sympathetic to the cause & associated messages of the anti-immigration movement.

I think that speaking as though there is a significant "anti-immigration movement" is pretty disingenuous. There is significant concern over ILLEGAL immigration, and it's a legitimate concern in those border states. It is a very big problem, for a lot of reasons. This is not exactly a Gangs of New York style conflict.

I'm confused. I don't get upset when someone wears an American flag on Tartan Day, St. George's Day, or St. Andrew's Day.

Also, what does this have to do with "teabaggers"?

Nothing at all.

My opinion was basically "and?". So what if it was deliberate insult or not. It most likely was. Since when did it become a right to "be offended". They should've never been sent home.

Ebert was saying it would be the equivalent of wearing a Soviet flag t-shirt on July 4th. If I saw that I would "hah, what an *******" and go about my business. Seriously, if people are this disturbed by someone wearing a t-shirt, that really saddens me.

I just can't believe this is such a huge issue. People need to just learn to not give a ****.

And Mentat, you really need to stop bringing up teabaggers. 1. It's incredibly annoying, almost as much as teabaggers are 2. there is no reason in this case to bring it up in the first place. There is nothing in these articles that even remotely would allow you to make a factual claim that they are "obviously sons of retarded teabaggers"

I'm curious as to what "anti-immigration movement" means to you. You keep saying it, but I'm not sure what you mean by that.

Or to give a **** in a civil manner. If someone offends you by wearing something supporting communism on the 4th of July, by all means, confront them. It doesn't have to be a gang war, and it doesn't have to be personal.

In a nation of 300 million people, I wouldn't be surprised if someone's worn a Che Guevara shirt or other communist shirt on July 4th.