They’ll say this and then various right wing personalities will say shit like ‘the left wants to make everyone the same so everyone is equal’ it’s infuriating
Exactly. Synonyms for “conformity” include submission, obedience, surrender.
Important to keep in mind that the objective of public education is to prepare a productive workforce while conditioning that workforce to stay on its knees.
According to the wording of the ad he took out, his argument is focused on length, not style. He explicitly states that the school allows braids, locs, and rows. Then he argues that the CROWN act is very specific about not applying to length.
This whole thing is really stupid. Length of styling of hair, along with clothing and other personal appearance issues, should be considered speech and protected outside of blatant attempts to disrupt an educational atmosphere. All that said, the school may not be acting in opposition to the letter of the law, even if they definitely are in spirit.
or maybe, just hear me out, the dude should join the rest of us in 2023 instead of 1923. It's a waste of time, resources and effort. Literally nobody is benefiting from him making an issue out of something that simply does not matter.
And for the record, he's singling the kid out for being black. I doubt he'd have an issue with a white boy wearing a man bun, or whatever the equivalent would be.
To give you an idea of just how fucking stupid this superintendent is -- hair discrimination is illegal by TEXAS law. Fucking Texan Republicans looked at this and said "okay this is way too far".
Having previously lived in Houston for a few years, let me tell you, Texas Republicans aren't terribly bright. Being worse than them takes effort.
What's the point of a law if it's not only not enforced, but literally ignored by, y'know law enforcement!? Fuck you, Texas. Boycott everything they produce!
Because when you pass the law, you have completed political theater and that's what gets reported in the news. The point of the law is to be able to say, "See, Republicans aren't so bad after all." Nobody is following up on it later until a story like this come around.
His hairstyle is "commonly or historically associated with race", so it's covered under the crown act. His hair was in a very common style with a long association with his race for centuries. The law doesn't allow for discrimination for typical hairstyles, it doesn't give any leeway to discriminate if the superintendent thinks it should be shorter.
Hey real quick though, because this dude has been defending his or this schools descicion since last September
Wheres the School Board this superintendant answers to? This school is having an ongoing issue of permitting a violation of federal law (discrimination of a protected class) and allowing violations of state law (CROWN act) to the degree it is in national news for the second time. This same school is why there's a CROWN act to be violated. Either the board is so massively incompetent to miss this and are not management material, or they are actively encouraging it. I wish I had such a level of job security jesus fucking christ. Fucking rich people get all the goddamn handouts.
The ad was paid for by the Barbers Hill Education Foundation, which has contact information on their website. I sure hope nobody decides to tell them how they feel about this.
I feel that hiring cops that actually defend kids when being fired upon is a conformity rather than a hairstyle. What if his grew only in that pattern. Get your shit together Texas. Your are quickly approaching Alabama or Florida style of embarrassment.
Aw come on, leave Florida out of it! At least our national embarrassment voluntarily stepped down from his presidential campaign, that's got to count for something, right?
I thought America was already past this in-your-face type of racism and was more into the less obvious types of racism.
Maybe I'm right and Texas is special. While the rest of the US is more subtle about it but still have it.
Not trying to shit specifically on America. Racism is a worldwide problem. I just thought America was beyond that type of super obvious discrimination.
Maybe I’m right and Texas is special. While the rest of the US is more subtle about it but still have it.
this isn't wrong; I've lived all over the US, but only in Texas did I see blatant outright racism time and time again explained as "well that's just the way we are sweetie it's not racist that's just Texas".
In short, Texas is crazy racist, even compared to the racism experienced throughout the US.
Texas has a unique history. Before it was part of the USA, it was it's own nation. And before that, it was a Mexican State. The first time Texas seceded, it was from Mexico, because Mexico had banned slavery, and Texas, being run by cattle barons before it was run by oil barons, did not like that. It became it's own independent State known as the Republic of Texas. However, the Mexican military was quick to attempt to stifle the rebellion. Texas did not really have the ability to stand on its own as a country, but the USA made them an offer to help defend Texas in exchange for being annexed into the United States. The US had not yet banned slavery, so Texas was quick to agree and join the US. Then the Mexican-American War happened.
Maybe I’m right and Texas is special. While the rest of the US is more subtle about it but still have it.
As a general example, Texas and California are almost like their own unique countries in many ways, and are very different from each other.
In California, especially Central and Southern California, so many different peoples and cultures live together next to each other, so those kind of concerns about looks/difference and "the other" doesn't even come into play, day to day.
Texas (with the exception of the City of Austin perhaps), are very much focused on a specific religious mindset and culture, and "the other"/different are seen through a magnifying lens.
Not trying to shit specifically on America. Racism is a worldwide problem.
It's actually a species problem, it's so deeply hardwired into our lizard brains, the " 'other' is dangerous" mindset, but it takes a lot of higher thinking to override it, not something that everyone bothers or wants to do.
I just thought America was beyond that type of super obvious discrimination.
No, we've always just been two countries in one geographical location. It's just these later years that the cultural norms, the unspoken rules, have all been broken, so the truth of things are coming to the surface.
When Greg Poole was arrested and put in jail this past weekend, he said he was acting as a father and not as superintendent of the Barbers Hill Independent School District in Chambers County.
A Texas Department of Public Safety trooper has charged the Chambers County school superintendent with obstructing the investigation of an accident involving Poole's 16-year-old son.
The teen flipped his father's pickup and knocked over a utility pole about 3 a.m. Saturday on FM 565 near Cove, about 30 minutes east of Houston, authorities said.
The trooper arrested Poole for refusing to make his son available for questioning about the accident, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.
"Trooper Dunn asked him twice to produce his son, and he would not," said Stephanie Davis, Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman in Beaumont. "He never informed the trooper where he could find his son."
EDIT 2: Just to be clear, it's not the trying to cover for his son that is the problem to look at. As a parent myself, I get trying to protect your children even if it's poor judgement, everyone is allowed to make mistakes, child and parent alike.
What I CANNOT FUCKING ABIDE is the insane hypocrisy this fuck demonstrates through allowing exceptions to the LAWS for his child that he will defend and go to jail over, while demanding someone else's child fall in line to school guidelines that are malleable and far less rigid in both application and enforcement than any legal criminality. RULES FOR THEE NOT FOR ME.
When you objectively consider all of the information, it looks a hell of a lot like run of the mill racial prejudice.
We're on the same page for the 'fuck this guy' sentiment but I don't specifically fault him for poor judgements made while trying to protect his kid. At the very least his son left the scene of an accident, but most likely his son was driving recklessly and/or drinking (drinking is the only remotely rational reasoning as to why a parent would go so far as to go to jail to keep the kid away from police in that scenario). Parents can be irrational when it comes to protecting their kids.
I fault him for being such a piece a shit that he will publicly in-a-goddamn-full-newspaper-ad demand conformity to malleable school rules of someone else's kids, while breaking the law himself to keep his own child from having to conform to society's legal rules.
Wow, a police officer in my town did this with his wife when she crashed into my mom while leaving a liquor store at noon. She did a blood alcohol test the next day, and that ruled she wasn’t drunk at the time of the accident.
Sort of the joke with these "PoCs need to learn to conform!" You never seen white kids held to the beauty and wardrobe standards of their minority peers.
Kids who show up to school in blue jeans aren't dinged for dressing informally. Kids who bleach their hair or have it curled aren't harassed. Nobody is losing their shit over some dipshit in a dented pickup blasting "Rich Men From Richmond" on his after-market speaker system.
It's like that dumbass has no concept of reality but what he imagines it should be like. Being American obviously doesn't require "conformity" if you think about it for 5-10 seconds. All it requires to be American is to be born here or go through the citizenship process, literally.
The reality that all Americans should see is that we have a nation of many cultures and ideals that we are free to conform or not conform to. Freedom to be yourself is inherent in the concept of America in general, I would assume for the majority of humans in the world too.
Right wing propagandists have been pushing the message that a mixed society can't function because we "aren't all on the same page culturally." This asshat is just following that line of reasoning, saying that "we all must be identical so we are all on the same page."
Also, bring up communism just for laughs and watch as they pontificate on the myriad ways communism forces equality and how that's bad... Fun stuff...
That ad is one of the dumbest attempts at damage control I think I've ever seen.
He spends more time on a soap box ranting about COVID-19 and masks then actually addressing what he's actually in hot water about. It's literally just "The student violated dress code standards and I'm totally not a racist, BUT LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE TYRANNICAL GOVERNMENT MAKING WEAR MASKS OVER THE COVID HOAX!!!!!!!!"
I still CANNOT believe he chose to phrase his justification like that.
One of the things we're supposed to have is freedom to express ourselves however we see fit so long as it doesn't hurt anyone else.
My parents have a huge "Fuck Joe Biden" banner on the front of their house, and the county hasn't stepped in to be like "You can't have a two foot tall 'Fuck' on public display", and yet this guy gets in trouble for wearing his hair in a manner that's comfy to him???
I shouldn't be shocked because I live in Texas, however, I am. Maybe I'm not cynical enough.
Compromise, conformity, assimilation, submission
Ignorance, hypocrisy, brutality, the elite
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
All of which are American dreams
I looked through the article for a link to the ad, but couldn't find it. It is also not linked in other publications. Here is a photo of the ad that I found on Twitter:
Holy shit. And how can someone think that mask wearing is still being questioned? Fucking masks make the most sense in the world. Doctors have trusted them for…fuck, who knows how long? A long time. And the technology has only gotten better.
Incorrect mask wearing, sure, the claims of protection can be dubious depending on the mask, but to even bring this up right now is such an insane move. What a dick.
I've thought about this a lot. I think there are three main elements.
People like this will judge the facts based on the conclusions they want, and they sure do prefer the conclusion where their selfishness wasn't that bad.
They're extremely bad at understanding anything that isn't black & white. So when you go into things like rates of effectiveness or levels of confidence, they shut down, and either say "it doesn't work" or "nobody knows for sure."
One of the major benefits of masks is to prevent yourself from spreading infection, and they just plain don't give a flying fuck about other people.
Also, the point that got to me was his defense of sending kids to school because covid wouldn't affect them too badly. Firstly, some kids will be badly affected, and secondly... where the fuck does he think the kids go after school? They go home, where they've got parents, guardians, maybe even grandparents and other elderly family members.
He's doing that usual nonsense of "It doesN't AffEct KidS lIkE It dOeS adultS" garbage, too, as if kids went to school in a fucking vacuum or something.
I HIGHLY recommend people actually click through and read the superintendent's full ad, because it's a gold mine of hypocrisy, idiocy, and not-so-subtle racism.
EDIT: To clarify, the article doesn't actually present the superintendent's screed. It embeds a tweet that has a photo of it. That said, it's been posted elsewhere in this thread, which has the added upside of avoiding Twitter.
the Education Foundation can provide grants directly to educators who have fresh, new ideas for programs that help students not only learn, but remember.
Programs that help students learn and remember to respect authority and conform. Otherwise, no education for you!
When I'm compelled to chant "freedom,freedom" in a crowd of proud American conformists, I instead shout "femdom,femdom".
It subtly disrupts the harmony of the chant and sows confusion and self-doubt.
Anti discrimination laws need to be updated nationally to forbid discrimination based on hair style. Civilization hasn't melted here in Minnesota, it's not going to melt in Texas either.
They did pass a law prohibiting race based hair discrimination in Texas. The school is arguing that the law does not apply to them because it does not specifically mention hair length, and they're suspending him on the basis that his hair would be too long if he didn't have it styled.
Using logic any practices including hairdsyles that are commonly used by members of a race are covered under racial discrimination, but then what seems obvious to me gets argued against by conservatives with word vomit.
This. Their goal isn't logical consistency. It's to confuse every individual issue to such a degree that there will be conflicting court cases, at which point the supreme Court can step in and rule in the least democratic judgement possible.
Such a strange thing to make a stand against, especially from the punk scene haircuts I remember back in the 80s, 90s. This isn't even super noticeable, comparatively.
The Olympic-tier mental gymnastics touting conformity in fucking Texas of all places is truly astonishing. I mean, is it personal freedumbs and rugged, short-haired individuality or is it the Stepford state? Make up your gd minds
Every image of this kid has had his dread locks clean and neat. This isn't some hippy dude that's not bathing. If he had a BO problem, the school would just cite him on that.
How many Black folks with locs have you been around? Because they still regularly wash and oil their hair. Locs are actually considered a protective style for Black hair.
That's unfortunately the problem with people you're hanging out with. If their locks smell like shit it will not be better without them, they are just unhygienic.
I would love to see if someone could convince this guy that his belief in God is indistinguishable from professed, but insincere, beliefs in a culture of conformity.
Obviously, not a productive avenue, but I really don't get how conformity mixes with theology. But theology isn't my thing anyway.
Edit: I'm distinguishing between personal theology and the spread of theology. Clearly, the spread is helped by conformity.
his full page advert starts with "I tried to get a letter to the editor printed on the Houston Chronicle during the pandemic to criticize their guidance, but they wouldn't publish me."
This guy cannot possibly be more of a dumbass, digging his own grave. When the fuck is this POS greg poole getting fired?
the country that spends the most money on healthcare yet has no public option. the country that still arrests people for weed (in the shitty states). the country that says homeless people just need to try harder. the country that lets you drive at 16, buy a gun at 18, sign up for the military in high school, yet harasses college students for drinking. the country that says you deserve to be burdened with debt for getting an education. the country that says you need to stand for the special song before every sporting event. the country that has far shittier rail infrastructure than 100 years ago. the country that thinks people should earn sick days or vacation at work. the country that thinks it's fine to drug test people as a barrier to employment. the country that thinks it gets to be the world's police. the country that has a famous statue that literally says 'give me your tired etc etc' but wants to be even crueler to immigrants.
I hate to see this kid go through all of this, but I love to see so many piss-baby snowflakes get their underwear bunched all the way up in their throats. I hope they fucking choke.
The American way is dynamism not conformity. The fabric of America is constantly changing and to survive the problems of the future we're going to need creative critical thinking and not just mindless automatons conforming to authority.
He thinks that's why the military academies value conformity. Which shows he knows shit all about the military. We value conformity for target identification and so units can link up and work together without high ranking officers needing to be there. (A pretty big tactical and strategic advantage actually)
Greg Poole just made one. It's in the article. I didn't read the whole thing, but the gist is "I'm a fascist dipshit bigot who hates America, and I'm so out of touch with reality that I don't know which end of the fork goes in my ear."
Imagine believing that you are in the right about this, while also believing that it's normal for your disciplinary decisions to require a full page editorial.
The whole problem with conservatives these days is that they can't just take an L, no matter how fucking stupid.
Conformity? So then ultimately because the kid is black, he'll never be able to "conform" since Texas has a majority white population. So the guy is pretty much saying that the kid's in the wrong for just existing.
Congress shall make no law respecting a deviance from an established religion, or allowing the free exercise thereof; or permitting the freedom of speech which deviates from the agreed norms, or of the press which dissents our ideals; or the right of the people we don't agree with peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government to exacerbate restrictions on my behalf.
(did the best I could for a quick bathroom satire)
“Ultimately, this is an issue of local control and deciding who should be setting the policies, goals and expectations of our school district,” Poole wrote.
Don't dude.. don't make this about "bEiNg An AmErIcAn"... Think of all the high school/college English students who have to write that stupid "wHaT iS aN aMeRiCaN??" essay every goddamn year. Now they all have to write another paragraph just to rebut your dumbass.
Yeah because every new generation of americans are defined by conformity. When it comes to politness, queueing in lines, or doing things in an exacting way you always think USA over any other country. and I feel this is not necessary but sic.
I don't think sic applies here, you're looking for "/s" to denote that the preceding is sarcastic. Sic generally denotes that the phrasing/spelling/words is not altered or is verbatim.
freaks like this just love seeing the hope in children's eyes die. my supernintendo was infamous for calling a snow day maybe 5% of the time when all the other districts doled them out happily
I am legitimately curious what kind of hair style this jackass wants from this kid? A big natural fro? Or does he want the kid to get weekly relaxer treatments?
The moment that you let them conform to being "inclusive, accepting, and a decent human being", because most Americans are immigrant (by will or not), and being accepting of other cultures is literally the ideology that built this country.
LOL, WTAF. I do think sometimes there is a certain portion of the terminally online leftists that have disappeared up their own derrieres, looking for offense in things like not being sufficiently intersectional, and generally playing silly oppression olympics, all aimed at their allies (meaning, only certain people are able to talk about certain topics and so on - it's all so useless and pointless and probably only really results in generating more Republicans), while fascism is organizing and on the march.
Then the right keep doing completely stupid stuff like this, and I really wish those terminally online leftists would wake up and realize they need to stop all the infighting and realize the right are saying the quiet part out loud. They want to make it safe to say and do completely outrageous things to liberals, women, POC, non-xtians, anyone not straight, and so on. I think the leftists that spend so much time on policing liberals/leftists for the most minor of infractions in language or political thought would be a lot better off trying to win the hearts and minds of middle America instead of trying to find reasons to kick out their allies. Because none of their pointless theorizing will mean zilch if the right gets their way. In the most extreme of outcomes, the right will work to murder citizens that don't meet their metrics for hegemony.
this whole thing is a shitshow. but the dresscode is just bullshit. why shouldn't male read people be allowed to wear hairstyles longer than to the neck?
Maybe to make sure we are part of the group that is conforming we can make some sort of outfit. And to make sure it's not fake outsiders, we can all have an armband. Something with a symbol on it. That was we can recognize who's in the cool conformity group.
She just understands America is in actual fact an authoritarian, racist shithole that requires beating its citizens' spirits into the ground so they can be enslaved and exploited for their masters, that's all. And she's being more honest about it than most.
He’s got a point. America is a nation built on strict conformity and following the rules. Without that stuff we could end up like some crazy third world country.