Posted on 04/26/2007 6:51:28 AM PDT by Irontank
A thoughtless adolescent joke is being investigated by local police as a hate crime.
If you need proof that hate crimes and state-run schools are two government projects that should never mix, look no further than Lewiston, Maine. According to the Maine Sun Journal, "On April 11, a white student placed a ham steak in a bag on a lunch table where Somali students were eating." The Somali students were Muslim and believe pork to be unclean. The offender, who is now being investigated as the perpetrator of a hate crime — albeit a calloused and thoughtless one — was a middle school student. In other words, the young "criminal" is in either Sixth, Seventh or Eighth Grade.
Sadly, this is not a parody. In what must be the greatest overreaction of all time, "Lewiston police are investigating, and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence is working with the school to create a response plan."
That's right, a "response plan" for a ham sandwich. Why doesn't the principal just mete out an appropriate punishment commensurate with the offense?
According to Stephen Wessler of the Center for Prevention of Hate Violence, having a ham sandwich in close proximity to Muslims is "an awful thing." "It's extraordinarily hurtful and degrading" to Muslims, Wessler added, according to the Sun Journal. "Incidents like this that involve degrading language or conduct are often said by the perpetrator as a joke. I know that conduct is never static," Wessler said according to the paper. "It's part of a process of escalation."
The Lewiston ham sandwich episode even has state officials in an uproar. During his April 24 broadcast CNN's Lou Dobbs reported that the Maine Attorney General is looking into the matter.
Clearly, administrators in the Lewiston school district, the Lewiston Police, the tolerance Gestapo at the Center for Prevention of Hate Violence and the Maine Attorney General's office have gone off the deep end. Lou Dobbs seems to concur. "Mr. Superintendent," the CNN anchor asked on his broadcast, "do you have any sense of proportion? These are children, you're supposed to be educating and one would hope imparting some wisdom and discipline. This is ridiculous." Ridiculous it may be, but the incident demonstrates the dangers of Orwellian hate crimes laws.
As far as that particular Maine school goes, the incident illustrates the difference between schooling for obedience and education. In their textbook Foundations of Education (Fifth Edition), a text that has been widely used in teacher training programs, Allan C. Ornstein of Loyola University and Daniel U. Levine of the University of Nebraska note: "The hidden curriculum is what students learn, other than academic content, from what they do or are expected to do in school. In addition to teaching children to conform passively in the classroom, the hidden curriculum may be preparing students ... to be docile workers later in life." "Thus, the prevailing socialization pattern in the culture of the school and classroom is one that places greatest emphasis on what [a study by scholar Gita] Kedar-Voivodas described as the obedient pupil role," Ornstein and Levine added.
"Hate crime" is a euphemism for thought crime and hate crime enforcement is little more than thought control. And that is the point of the "hidden curriculum" in at least that Maine middle school — to prepare its students "to be docile workers later in life."
Now you’re talking.
Many students might think the left hands of Muslims are rather unclean and offensive to have in close proximity... can we ban those from our schools, as well?
A previous story on this had the principle referring to “normal” and muslim students.
While hilarious - it was also quite accurate.
“This isn’t real. It’s a joke.”
No, it is real. The story YOU link to is the parody of a REAL story, dateline April 19.
http://www.sunjournal.com/story/208385-3/LewistonAuburn/Hate_incident_in_city/
That's quite correct. The parody is based on a real story. I'm beginning to think the confusion on this came about because the parody didn't have to stretch it much.
It would have been called anything but a hate crime and would have been described, if described at all as a muslim student giving a Christian student a free haircut that went bad.
“I’m beginning to think the confusion on this came about because the parody didn’t have to stretch it much.”
Not much at all.
“Things are really reaching the surreal when parody and reality merge and it is hard to tell the difference.”
You said it, my friend. Nutty times.
What would happen at that school if a muslim left a roast beef sandwich in front of a Catholic student on Good Friday?
Haven't posted so much lately. My keyboard is all banged up...:-)
“I will stand with them should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.”
Holy crap. For a politician to declare blind allegiance to any group is bad but one so prone to mass violence against Westerners? The man is a traitor and just admitted it.
bookmarked
having a ham sandwich in close proximity to Muslims is “an awful thing.” “”
Who is defining “close proximity”???
To a people who study astronomy, it is one thing.
To the guy who cuts diamonds, it is another.
See tagline.
Do you have a link for the Obama quote in your post? I would like to send it on.
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