Yearbook quotes prove that school and media remain retarded.
A horrible radio talk show this afternoon brought to my attention the horrendous acts of two highschool seniors who had the audacity to include quotes from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as their senior yearbook quotes. Even the Washington Post decided to carry the story, apparently suggesting that no real news was available to post instead. Since the youths are 18, the Post, and other media outlets, had no problem posting the names of the kids, as though they are irresponsible criminals.
The quotes, “Strength lies not in defense, but in attack,” and “The great masses of people… will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one” are not indicative of racism, which one would think would be the cause of uproar. In fact, it can easily be argued that the quotes are appropriate given how applicable they may be to the state of “war” in the Middle East, where the stance of the United States has been to show strength in attack under the guise of defense, using justification that many have purported to be nothing but a big lie. Yet none of this was reported by mainstream media, who doesn’t appear to care why the quotes were decided upon by the two students of North Point High School, but simply that the words were originally written in the journal of a lunatic.
Showing again that the media in the United States is nothing but sensationalistic and without responsibility, caring only to sell a story, the Post included a note about the school’s take, which is nothing but a reflection of the media’s poor taste in choices:
“It’s our responsibility and we failed miserably,” said Northport High School principal Irene McLaughlin. “The fact that the book went out in the form it did was a grave mistake on our part.”
You’re right, Irene McLaughlin, in that you failed as an educator when you decided to remove legitimate quotes from a publication that heralds the future of America. This is not an issue of preventing the perpetuation of racism, this is an act of outright censorship when you ought be more concerned with your students thinking for themselves, which in this case, was adequately done. The origin of the quotes are a negligible factor in their validity, and would be no more true had they come from Sun Tzu or Abraham Lincoln, who are known to have made similar statements in their lifetimes.
Unfortunately, your second failure is that you have a problem with your students expressing themselves in a manner that is not racist, anti-semitic, or otherwise inappropriate. Curiously, your ban of this freedom of speech, in what I presume is a public school and therefore funded by our government, is itself irresponsible; you do the Constitution a disservice by telling your students that their use of quotes is invalid because you believe the original author was a bad person. You fail to comprehend the simple fact that Hitler’s moral fiber is irrelevent to the quotes being used, since Hitler’s philosophies about leadership and government are no less valid than those of other leaders, were they villainized or made into heroes.
Even if these quotes did show sincere logical fallacies, which the two aforementioned quotes do not, they should still not be banned, since the quotes themselves can only be contrived as offensive to our current government leaders, who represent a government founded on political activism and critical thought. I wonder what our founding fathers would say to the censorship of quotes that comment on lies being told to the people, and military isolationism versus military policing of other countries.
Showing no aim of defending his own son, one of the student’s fathers excused the quotes:
…his son meant no harm in picking the quote. “I guess he didn’t seriously consider the source; he was more interested in the quote,” he said. “He’s a child.”
No, sir, you are the child, and your son is a free thinker who can form an opinion and capitalize on it. If your son’s intent was to refer to the irony of U.S. actions following aspects of Hitler’s philosophies of governing the people and expanding through military action, then he only failed because people are too stupid to focus on the quote’s meaning than its source. Sadly, as the senior’s parent, you’re no smarter than the people today’s sensationalistic media sells its trash to. What’s even more sad is that by punishing the two seniors for using the quotes, North Point High School stifles the future, rather than caterering to it.
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Yes, the schools and media are indeed retarded. I must agree with you there.
Before even getting into the quotes themselves, let’s take a look at what the “fix” was by the school district. First, they said they would issue a note of apology. The thing they should be apologizing for is not the appearance of the quotes, but for their own intense stupidity. If they are concerned about what appears in the yearbook, then perhaps they should proofread it. The school district missed an amazing opportunity to defend free thinking and open education, but instead, they cowered and, in turn, bring further shame upon our already failing education system.
Second, the school distict is considering reprinting the yearbooks or providing “special tape” for those who want to cover up the “offensive” quotes. What a complete waste of time and energy. Our youth are going to be exposed to all kinds of thinking. Why censor something not based upon the content of the quotation, but the source? Yes, he was a genocidal manic, but Hitler managed to sway an entire nation. I’m supposed to believe that nothing Hitler had to say was worth repeating? But I digress. The suggestion that tape is going to fix things is ridiculous. It’s akin to the FCC slapping a black bar on whatever they think is inappropirate for the rest of us. It’s insulting.
I agree with much of what Wyldkard said regarding the actual message of the quotations, so I will skip adding more of what you’ve already read. (You can thank me later. I accept praise, comments, and PayPal.)
As a former English teacher, I’m more impressed that the students actually did some outside reading or at least research. Instead of admonishing these students for the source they chose, why not ask them to explain their reasoning for chosing those particular messages? Encourage free and critical thought, rather than relegating it to the realm of something forbidden. Our country was founded on the idea of freedom of expression. This situation is an example of how we, as a nation, have lost sight of that crucial liberty. All we seem to be concerned about now is making our youth afraid of everything or convincing them everything is evil. Why not actually take the time to talk to our youth about issues rather than bursting into irrational panic attacks while simultaneously trying to find someone to blame?
Of course, having been in the high school environment for several years, I could be giving these students too much credit. I hope they chose the quotations for meaning, but it’s much more likely that they chose it based upon the source. I have a feeling this is more about chosing a quotation from Hitler to see if they could get it into the yearbook, rather than about expressing their opinions. I hope I’m wrong, but a teaching career filled with disappointment over just this kind of immaturity will probably prove me right. In which case, the students shouldn’t be disciplined because of the message, but because they’re being dumb asses.
I would be surprised if they didn’t include the origin after the quote itself. It’s far more likely that they included “Mein Kamp” after the quote, rather than receiving criticism based on word-of-mouth regarding the quote’s origin.