Posted on 03/05/2002 4:37:51 AM PST by gumbo
Edited on 07/06/2004 6:37:18 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Redneck Yacht
1. Used as a disparaging term for a member of the white rural laboring class, especially in the southern United States.
2. A white person regarded as having a provincial, conservative, often bigoted attitude.
Looks like the PC crowd is the ones writing the dictionary also.
I say I'm a redneck because I like to hunt and fish, mend fences, bail hay, and listen to country music.
I like your definition better anyways.
It seems clear from the article that Sypniewski had worn this shirt for two years (washed or not) without attracting attention from the administrators:
Walpin argued that the Sypniewski boys wore the shirts in school without any problems from administrators for two years. He also said there was no connection between the "redneck" T-shirt and disruptions among the student body.
The t-shirt attracted attention from the educrats only after a new anti "racial stereotyping" rule was imposed in 2001 (and note that the lower court struck down this aspect of the school's dress code):
The high school implemented its racial harassment policy on March 13, 2001, following a series of incidents in which minority students said they were being harassed and intimidated.
So to answer your question, it would appear no one warned Mr. Sypniewski NOT to wear his shirt again -- he was hauled into the vice principal's office and ordered to take it off on the spot:
It all started back in March [2001] when I wore a T-shirt to school that listed Jeff Foxworthy's Top 10 Reasons You Might be a Redneck Sports Fan. The reasons were things like "you wear a baseball cap to bed." The shirt was meant to be funny. None of the 10 reasons or anything on the shirt was offensive. But Vice Principal Griffith told me that it was offensive. He said "redneck" means a violent, bigoted person. Mr. Griffith told me that, therefore, my shirt violated the dress code and I should change it. But I knew he was wrong about the shirt and I knew it was my right to wear it, so I said I wouldn't change it. So he suspended me for 3 days.
Maybe I don't get it, but Redneck seems pretty far from offensive to me. . .
Around here, we call duct tape "Alabama Chrome".
Yeah me too bud, maybe 'cause I get called it so much... ;)
He has free speech. He can wear the shirt on his private property all he wants. He can shout it all he wants. But when he wants to shout it or wear it in a facility that is owned and operated by tax payers or their elected officials, that is another issue. To suggest that he is free to do obey only the rules that he likes while in a publicly owned facility is really kinda silly.
Add some baling wire and ViseGrips and you can fix darn near anything.
There it is, thanks. He was asked/told to change shirts, he refused. I'm siding with the school's prerogative to reprimand him.
The courts disagree with you. They have decided that free (political) speech extends to public schools. A student can wear a "Gay Pride" or "Black is Beautiful" t-shirt. If we're going to be even-handed, we must also permit "Straight Pride" and "You might be a redneck if..." t-shirts.
The courts do not agree with you, starting (at least) with the Tinker case in the 1960's, where a girl was told not to wear a black armband, signifying her opposition to the war in Vietnam. The girl won the case.
That is thought-crime. These terms are officially sanctioned as derogatory and may only be used for that purpose.
There is a culture war going on, maybe it doesnt have bullets and napalm like Vietnam, but it is just as real.
Would a black student get in trouble for wearing a t-shirt with the word 'homey' on it?
Stupid question huh.
Speech is speech, we've lowered the bar as to what constitutes 'disruption' so far that PC speech ducks under it while PI speech goes over it.
And THAT is what the wearing of the t-shirt means: "If I proudly claim to be all the things it is politically correct to hate, I will be punished... punished for other peoples hate, watch."
for a FREE dixie republic,sw
for a FREE dixie,sw
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