shainhouse Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 http://www.activedayton.com/partners/whiotv/news/1209_tshirt.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Low Roller Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 Wow. Homeland Security apparently has decided to start bullying little kids. Good for them. Finally they are picking on someone their own size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurisuta Posted December 12, 2002 Report Share Posted December 12, 2002 I guess they have to take perceived threats on the president made by high school students seriously, as any threats, real or imagined, should be at least investigated. Remember the shootings in high schools in the states a couple years ago; Those students weren't taken seriously and look what happened. Such stringent security measures may seem extreme to some Canadians, as our prime minister has to chase prowlers out of his house himself, and gets pied in public. RCMP security? What RCMP security? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asparagus Posted December 13, 2002 Report Share Posted December 13, 2002 I don't believe for a second that the t-shirt in question even remotely constitutes a threat to the 'president'. There is a big difference between saying "I think the 'president' should be dead" and saying "I am going to kill the 'president'". The symbol that was drawn on Bush's head is also widely used by white supremacists, it doesn't necessarily describe cross-hairs. He could have added it to the shirt as a reference to the Bush families' historical ties to anti-semitic ideologies. Who knows? If this were the case, it may not even come out , how many high school students do you know that would stand up to the threat of the FBI and secret service, and say that "The 'president' is a greedy, self-serving bigot" instead of saying "Yes sir, I'll stop wearing the shirt." Again, who knows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asparagus Posted December 13, 2002 Report Share Posted December 13, 2002 Instead of calling in the FBI and secret service, it might have served the student well if the principle(s) talked to him first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shainhouse Posted December 13, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2002 definitly an interesting issue. I feel that free speech rights are being violated in this issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurisuta Posted December 13, 2002 Report Share Posted December 13, 2002 I revised my earlier post, Asparagus. And I do agree with you in that calling in the FBI was an extreme reaction, and that the principal could have spoken to the student first. I was simply trying to point out the difference in the treatment of such issues by Americans vs. Canadians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vermontdave Posted December 13, 2002 Report Share Posted December 13, 2002 In the states you can't legally make a verbal death threat against the president or any federally elected official without running the risk of bringing the secret service into it. I believe ( maybe incorrectly) that an image is not the same thing. However you can say such things as, " I believe the president is an idiot" or "the president sucks the high hard one" or , well, I could probably go on forever so I'll stop here. And in case the S.S. is monitoring this web-site, let me just say that I think this treasonous commie should have a big-assed bomb dropped on him. Thank You. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shainhouse Posted December 13, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2002 Wait a minute, the Secret Service isn't that new funk band from Sudbury? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vermontdave Posted December 13, 2002 Report Share Posted December 13, 2002 Naw, you're thinking of the Secretion Sircus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shainhouse Posted December 13, 2002 Author Report Share Posted December 13, 2002 oh yeah. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hamilton Posted December 13, 2002 Report Share Posted December 13, 2002 quote:Originally posted by shainhouse: definitly an interesting issue. I feel that free speech rights are being violated in this issue.You are right - they are. *However*, there is an interesting side-note here (the same issue came up in a high school where I was teaching once): the right to freedom of expression does not always apply to high school students. Since the right to an education applies to *all* of the students in the building, if someone's manner of freely expressing themselves prevents others from achieving their right to an education (the general brou-ha-ha created by wearing the shirt), the right of the many generally supersedes the right of the individual. At least, that's how it plays out in Canada, anyway, and (despite my pro-free speech views) I can understand that view. Brian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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