Why the Romney T-shirt teacher doesn't need to apologize*
News blogs, sports blogs, entertainment blogs, and more from Philly.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News.
Why the Romney T-shirt teacher doesn't need to apologize*
“The President has stripped his events of anyone who might disagree with him, which is completely un-American. It is dangerous for a President to be the bubble boy of American politics. But it might explain why the President can’t admit the problems of people without jobs, without health care, without prescription drugs, or trying to put their kids through college. He doesn’t know about them because he refuses to even see them."
I couldn't agree with that comment more...today, or when it was uttered, about then-President George W. Bush and his campaign, by then-DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe. The incident that inspired that comment happened in Medford, Ore., eight years ago this month, when three women were barred from a Bush rally for wearing T-shirts that read "Protect Our Civil Liberties." And that was not an isolated event. Even after Bush was re-elected, in early 2005, the White House barred certain folksfrom a rally in Fargo, N.D., because they had the audacity to belong to a local chapter of (heh) Democracy for America. (The link is from Fox News, so it must be true.)
I remember this era well because it was in 2004 that I started blogging and in February 2005 -- the same month as the fiasco in Fargo -- that I launched Attytood. And frankly, these kind of clampdowns on free speech are exactly the thing that radicalized me after two decades of struggling, and often succeeding, to be a journalist with the opinion side of his brain castrated (is that a mixed metaphor?). I started feeling differently not long after 9/11 -- starting with Ari Fleischer telling me I had to watch what I said and with Congress passing the Patriot Act to find out what was in it, and amped up by a magnitude of 100 when the Iraq War lies started flowing. There were things happening in this country that "he said, she said" journalism was powerless to stop. And these restrictions on the ability of Americans to speak their mind freely sickened me more than just about anything.
The other day, I got that sickening feeling (no relation to this) all over again. This time, it was from reading news accounts right here in Philadelphia that a 17-year-old high school student had been mocked and riduculed by her geometry teacher for wearing a Romney-Ryan T-shirt, who told her to remove the shirt and who likened the GOP ticket to the KKK.
My first thought that this was every bit as bad as the Bush-era campaign rally incidents that I had written about seven or eight years ago. But then I realized that in some ways this is worse. Those earlier abuses happened at political events, where, unfortunately, we've learned to expect tomfoolery. This was coming from a teacher at a school -- where kids are supposed to learn how to formulate their own opinions on the world...and then express them. Where young people should learn (despite what they say deep in the heart of Texas) critical thinking. And where they also find out that the First Amendment can indeed make America exceptional...if we can keep it.
My initial reaction over the weekend also was that not only should the teacher -- who's tried very badly to explain this as a joke gone awry -- apologize but that Mayor Nutter should add this as a stop on what feels like a non-stop, city-wide apology tour. Those things happened more or less, but they did not send a strong enough message about free speech and public education. I headlined this blog post "Why the Romney T-shirt teacher doesn't need to apologize"...followed by an asterisk.
The asterisk stand for...because Lynette Gaymon should be fired, for turning a public classroom into a no-free-speech zone. End of story.
I was reminded of the incident 10 days ago at Philadelphia's Puerto Rican Day Parade where a cop who'd been squirted by water slapped and knocked down a woman who, to make matters even worse, seemed to have nothing to do with the incident. The police commissioner looked at the video, thought about it for a day or two...and moved to fire the offending lieutenant. Well, Lynette Gaymon slapped the First Amendment and knocked it to the ground. Short of physical violence or sexual abuse, it's hard to imagine worse behavior from a teacher.
Which is why an apology should be too little and too late to save her job.
she piled on with the KKK comments, she needs to go.— high water- This comment has been deleted. — Greatguy
- Temple. — tr88
- sophistry, that was a political rally where they can exclude people based on what they wear. I'm pretty sure the Big O would do the same if 3 guys dressed in Romney gear crashed the party. Where in this case, it's a school where there should be a free flow of ideas.— palmyra21
- Well done, Will. I'm generally not in agreement with your views, but you (impressively) took a non-partisan, American view of this travesty and spoke the truth. I hope your regular readers appreciate this as much as a I did.— matthew_maher
- It's amazing when it comes down to common sense and we take politics out of this issue that most of us would agree that the teacher should apologize or be fired. All the kid did was wear a shirt. The teacher was out of line.— Phillies2008WSChamps
Will, I am not defending Gaymon, but don't you think she has due process rights in her contact and should not be fired until a proper investigation has been conducted?- Didn't Lt Josey have the right to due process as well?? — bravehearted
- We were all teens in high school at one point.
I cant imagine having a teacher ridicule you for a t-shirt, liken your support to one of the most hateful groups on the planet (KKK), and manage to turn other students against you in one fell swoop. If what is reported really did happen (the teacher does not deny saying any of this). For all of the talk of bullying (and the tragic subsequent suicides in some cases) in schools nowadays, it is unconscionable that a teacher would end up being the bully. A teacher has a responsibility to oversee the children and she instead ENCOURAGES other students to mock this poor girl.
Add in the fact that this teacher has refused to apologize (there are reports the teacher became defensive in a meeting with the girls parents) to the girl face to face and ENOURAGES students to rally for her, and this becomes a disgusting mess.
Fire her. Remove her from a classroom in that district for good. I dont care, just get her away from kids immediately.— astroqueen0 - "But I really question this kids need to wear the shirt in the first place." Of course you do. Just like I'm sure you questioned all the Barry gear worn by kids four years ago. I'm sorry, what? You never questioned that? Shocking. Never mind.— bil,l atkins
- No kids should wear any political shirts regardless of political affiliation dummy. Stop being stupid. — chasing history
- About time the State stops subsidizing Philadelphia Schools.— DrBID
- Will, high school is hardly the place to showcase your political affiliation, whether you are a student or a teacher. Students aren't fully baked yet and teachers are supposed to adhere to their primary principal of education, not indoctrination. I'd say fire the Bi#$h!, she doesn't know the difference..........— RufusG
- Bunch, you are one of the reasons I refuse to buy your paper anymore.— dmn
- Andrew Sullivan
- Blinq
- Blogorrhea
- Blonde Sagacity
- Free Republic
- Instapundit
- James Taranto
- ScrappleFace
- The Corner
- Buzzmachine
- Eat the Press
- Editor and Publisher
- Media (Huffington Post)
- Media Bloodhound
- Mickey Kaus
- Pressthink
- Romenesko
- The Inksniffer
- A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago
- Above Average Jane
- BlankBaby
- Citizen Mom
- Keystone Blog
- Metroblogging Philadelphia
- Phawker
- Philadelphia - America's Hometown
- Philadelphia Will Do
- Philebrity
- Philly Future
- Phillyblog
- Phillyist
- The Clog
- The Next Mayor
- Welcome to Phillyville
- Young Philly Politics
- Afro-Netizen
- All-Spin Zone
- Atrios
- Bad Attitudes
- Billmon
- Booman Tribune
- CorrenteWire
- Fables of the Reconstruction
- iFlipFlop
- Kiko's House
- MyDD
- Philly (Dragonballyee)
- Rowhouse Logic
- Slacktivist
- Suburban Guerilla
- Tattered Coat
- upyernoz
- AmericaBlog
- Andy Borowitz
- BuzzFlash
- Crooks and Liars
- Cursor
- Daily Kos
- David Sirota
- Drudge Report
- Echidne of the Snakes
- Fire Dog Lake
- Glenn Greenwald
- Hullabaloo
- Jesus' General
- Jon Swift
- Josh Marshall
- Juan Cole
- Kevin Drum
- Mad Kane
- Majikthise
- Matthew Yglesias
- Oliver Willis
- Raw Story
- Swing State Project
- Talk Left
- Taylor Marsh
- TBogg
- The Carpetbagger Report
- Think Progress
- War and Piece
- Wonkette
- A Citizen's Blog
- Balls, Sticks and Stuff
- Beer Leaguer
- Dick Polman
- Phillies Nation
- Philling Station
- Shallow Center
- The 700 Level
- The Good Phight
