Let the defensiveness and spinning begin!
A teacher who took her students to see Occupy Denver said she brought her class to see what was happening.
“We came to observe,” said teacher Celia Bard when questioned by a blogger in a video posted on YouTube.
— And by “observe,” she means have students shout, along with the Occupy Denver group leader (himself very concerned about the precious bodily fluids of Indians and the evils of the Koch Brothers, whom he was told had no connection to the conference), “We! Are! The 99%!” — as well as inform the attendees of the conference that we, who are opponents of big government and controls on speech, are “fucking up their future,” a lesson these kids are being “taught in school”.
So I guess my take is a bit different from Ms Bard’s on what comes to count as “observing.”
Bard and another teacher from St. Mary’s Academy in Denver took 10 students on a field trip Friday, explained Academy President Deirdre Cryor.
“We have a class called 21st Century Challenges and Choices,” said Cryor. “They’re studying the current world. They went on a field trip to see Occupy Denver.”
The students walked to Civic Center Park and interviewed police officers, then walked to a nearby hotel to observe Occupy Denver members, said Cryor.
That hotel was hosting a conference called BlogCon 11. There some Occupy Denver members got into a confrontation with some members of the blogging conference.
— As did several students. Because they were clearly aligned with the Occupy Denver Group. Who, let’s remember, are tied to a TB outbreak.
It was during that confrontation that cameras got turned on the students and their teacher.
In a video posted on YouTube, a woman is seen yelling and one of the students yells, “Yeah.”
At that point, someone off camera starts yelling at the girls and arguing with them about bloggers and what they do.
[…]
“The students are in class today talking what happened on Friday,” Cryor said Monday.
In one of the YouTube videos, Bard is asked if she is concerned about the students’ physical safety.
“We’re aware that we need to be safe,” said Bard. “We want them to see the democratic process in action.”
And by “democratic process,” Ms Bard of course means rushing into a private function to shout down those whose being you’ve been taught to despise — without having the first clue about what their message actually is.
Note to St Mary’s: This is what a mob looks, not what democracy or the “democratic process” looks like. Unless we’re talking about pure democracy. In which case Ms Bard missed a golden opportunity to distinguish between a republic and the inevitability of mob rule that comes with unfettered democracy and “might makes right.”
“They were never in harm’s way,” said Cryor. “They did nothing wrong. They were on a field trip, observing not demonstrating. They were learning, inquiring and taking notes.”
Uh huh. “Observing not demonstrating.”
Well. You can believe the school or you can believe your own lying eyes:
Funny though: the school is able to say that the students were never in harm’s way. And yet, the students themselves are being taught — by their own admission — that they were going to confront dangerous, evil, racist people looking to “fuck up their future.”
Which makes it clear that what they pretend to believe about the Koch-funded Teabaggers and the danger they present, is mere expediency to justify taking to the streets and behaving like a mob.
This was street theater, and this teacher and her school should be both embarrassed and ashamed — not that they introduced their students to a political battle, but rather that they predetermined which side to place the kids on, assigned the roles of heroes and villains in advance, and are clearly guilty of indoctrination, having used their students as puppets so that the teacher could live out her lifelong dream of acting the useful idiot for the leftist causes she so clearly fetishizes.
It’s all rather tawdry. But in America today, schools will take you to court over wearing a flag on your shirt, even as they rationalize their right to turn students into little mindless revolutionaries to be directed by Marxist classroom generals.
So… how many times did this teacher take her students to Tea Party rallies in the last two years?
This. This whole thing.
I don’t have a problem with them being there to observe. I don’t have a problem with them being there to protest. You just can’t have both, really. It’s like being your own marriage counselor, kind of.
We asked. She said she would “consider it,” cirby.
In light of the class called “21st Century Challenges and Choices” I wonder whether these young trainees have ever been exposed to — let alone taken seriously — the question Alexander Hamilton formulated as the nation began consideration of the newly proposed Constitution, a question no less powerful in our time:
That’s fantastic, slart. “In order to resolve our issues, we first need to accept that you’re the problem. You want to make things better, don’t you?”
The only way there is any accountability is if enough of the parents complain. This was obvious indoctrination.
Sometimes it is overt and sometimes it is just poor role modeling (the “cool” hippie teacher who I shared a joint with at a high school graduation party comes to mind). In hindsight I relize he was just pathetically refusing to grow up.
A technique that has worked with many, many other couples is a solid month of nooners. I think you and your spouse should give that a try.
One might recommend to St. Mary’s Trustees that they could go a long way toward rehabilitating their image (not to mention educating their students) by inviting Jeff to address the school regarding what they’re being told versus what is actually happening.
…a solid month of nooners.
What, with each other?
That’s a good idea, Squid. But that would be introducing a poison into the school.
If i was one of their parents I would be totally ashamed.
But then, if I was sending them to that school I’d probably be too stupid to be ashamed.
Fucking bloggers. Fucking up the country.
Bloggers are fucking up your future. It’s required by law, actually.
You were thinking maybe tradesies?
Not to mention a Jooooooooo!!! ZOMG. He might start capitalisming all over the place. Can’t have that.
“Teacher” as an appellation gets to be a stretch after awhile, don’t it, though it isn’t easy to pin down exactly what to call them? Seal trainers, maybe? Or behavior modificationists?
“We have a class called 21st Century Challenges and Choices,” said Cryor. “They’re studying the current world. They went on a field trip to see Occupy Denver.”
Good lord. They missed math class for that? I had to cut school to see Reagan speak at the 200th Anniversary of the Constitution… wasn’t allowed to go on the “field trip” because I had math and chemistry that day.
Hopefully the students are reading the reports, attempting to square what they were initially told with what is now being said, and are getting a better understanding of who their instructors are.
My question are:
How did the students come to be at the blog-con incident? Did they tag along with the walk from the main protest site, or just happen to arrive there afterwards? If the latter then how did they know to be there at that time?
If they knew they were going to confront blog-con what were they told of the nature of the conference? Did anyone from the school reach out to the organizers of the conference like they surely did with the protesters? Why weren’t students given the opportunity to benefit from observing the goings on within the conference? Isn’t that an example of democracy in action?
My question: if they’ve concluded that bloggers are fucking up their future, how did they arrive at that conclusion? Or did they let someone else arrive there for them? If the latter, what’s that say about the quality of their tutelage in the area of critical thinking?
Limbaugh’s confusion right now is telling. “When did this happen?” he’s asking. I think there’s an answer, but damned if it isn’t extremely complicated, while at the same time, the critical problem. newrouter says otherwise.
it is what it is it’s a fucked up socialist school for neurotic pseudo-catholic bitches who think nuns are cool and all but they could never dress like that
There’s that word hf! It’s funny how it always seems to show up in these circumstances I think.
values are like little breadcrumbs that lead you through a dark and twisty forest of ethical confuzzlement
Clues, which I’d be delighted were Rick Perry to get one.
I’d think they’d benefit more from learning some history than “studying the current world.”
charlesaustin, Leo Strauss put that idea about the “current world” this way:
It’s fun going through all the video shot and finding glimpses of myself. My arms are sweet on camera!
Ummm…
Jeff, did you ask as you approached “Who pays for it?”
Speaking of Blogcon, not to delve too deeply into things that should remain private, but: did you come to any kind of satisfactory resolution with Scott and LibertyChick?
I realize this is completely none of my business; just being nosy.
Spoke to Liberty-Chick. She apologized for Twitter outburst. I told her I’d tidy up the comments thread to remove things pertaining to her legal concerns.
As for Scott? Well, let’s just say he didn’t call me Jeffy and leave it at that.
By the way, somewhere there exists video of me shouting “Freebird!” during one of the Occupy Denver chants. Also, Melissa Clouthier gave me a very nice and humbling shout out during a panel presentation she moderated. Malkin, Phil Klein, and Andrew Malcolm were the participants. There’s probably video somewhere.
“Strength through discipline, Strength through community, Strength through action.”
This panel maybe.
I usually try and keep my depraved NY existence separate from PW, but the comments to this post are pretty hilarious. I mean, try and imagine the average reader of a Brooklyn-based indie rock blog (you’d be right), and then try to reconcile that with all these comments about Occupy Wall Street. Winning!
(I’m only responsible for a few of the comments.)
Ok, thanks for the reply. Again: I am completely cognizant of how much of my business this whole thing isn’t. But I am possessed of a horrible, gnawing curiousity, and it just won’t let go.
That would be great to see, Jeff. I’ll look around for the video, later.
From “Where Are My Keys?” blog.
I’ve heard Romney does the same thing, only it’s about his hair.
Just sayin’ is all…
Is it fair to say that Mr. Cain is a hedgehog and Newt, despite being a Newt, is a fox? I think it may be fair. And that one big thing appears on the surface to be 9-9-9 but is in fact the meaning of the American sense of self-government. And Newt’s many things? I leave that to others.
I didn’t see two kids being manipulated, I saw two young seventeen year old females that are old enough to know better than to go around talking like street whores to strangers. Screw them, as far as I’m concerned they’re just two more bodies in the leftist herd.
The little darlings need to read some VDH, but I’m afraid they haven’t the learning to understand it.
[…] showing Obama propaganda videos, teachers forcing children to sing songs praising Barack Obama and using students as pawns at Occupy […]