[quote=flu][quote=briansd1][quote=Veritas] Those kids were wearing old navy t-shirts, probably had no intention to stir a ruckas. Any kid that took offence to those kids wearing an old navy t-shirt, needs to learn to grow a thicker skin and stop hiding under the free-pass of being a minority. Enough is enough.[/quote]
Flu, I’ve seen this mentioned a few times, so I wanted to comment. There was one kid wearing an Old Navy shirt, but in addition to shirts, there were headbands (apparently always against school policy, no matter the design), shoes, and even swimming trunks. It was fairly obvious that these kids had dug deep into their closets to find stuff that would be in direct violation of the code.
But you’re correct: if anyone was offended by the American flagwear, they need to get over themselves. And this should be across the board: no one should get upset by anyone wearing or waving signs of national pride. It’s just not that big of a deal. If students claim to be traumatized by the sight of another country’s flag or symbol on another student, I say they’re full of shit.
I hear a lot these days from people saying “This isn’t the America I grew up in”. I’ve been around a long time, and I agree. There wasn’t a widely- subcribed-to culture of victimhood when I was a kid. If the words “It isn’t fair” managed to escape our lips in an intact sentence, our parents and teachers quickly disabused us of that notion, and essentially told us to “man up” (boys AND girls).
But over the past forty years, things have changed completely. Now people’s reaction to adversity is to play the victim card: “I’m not educated – take care of me.” “I’ve been discriminated against – take care of me.” “I have a bad back – take care of me.” “Affirmative action stole jobs that should have been mine – take care of me.” Our nation is firmly entrenched in a culture of victimhood, and our political and social discourse has degenerated into a running competition to prove who’s been hurt worse.
While I believe that the school administrators made a bad decision in the first place re: the dress code, there were far better ways for the students and parents to have handled it. Instead, thanks to all involved, the myth of victimhood has once again been reinforced.
How? School officials set up ill-advised policy. (1) Non-Hispanic kids (and parents) feel victimized, and respond with in-your-face flag fervor. (2) The school reacts, causing the Hispanic kids to feel like victims. (3) The news media then sticks their nose in it. The non-Hispanic kids become a cause celebre, reinforcing the view that they are, indeed, victims, and confirming their delusion that they are persecuted patriots. (4) All of the media coverage fires up the Hispanic kids, and, in an effort to prove that THEY are the victims, they abandon the classroom and march on City Hall. MORE media coverage, in all shades of bias.
It’s time for the madness and polarization to stop, and EVERYBODY needs to man-up! For people coming into this country, it is essential that you assimilate. This means that your top priority should be to become fluent in the English language and become self-supporting, and that you comply with all local, state, and Federal laws and regulations. You do not have to give up the traditions of your culture, but they are to be practiced within the limits of your home life, and you do not have a right to expect those of other nations and cultures to support or respect them.
At the same time, people who are fortunate enough to have been born in this country need to stop whining, also. Stop bitching about legal immigration: chances are that your family qualified as immigrants not so many generations ago. Stop labeling entire cultures with the negative attributes of a relative few. Stop blaming personal problems and issues of your own making on people of other races and cultures. And stop using the flag of the United States to wrap yourself in the mantle of victimhood. It’s a desecration of the flag for which my ancestors bled and died. Patriotism is not demonstrated by how vigorously you can wave a flag, or by how well you can put a red, white and blue outfit together. In fact, a genuine patriot is color-blind.
