Sunday, April 21, 2013

West Virginia 8th Grader Arrested for Gun T-Shirt

WOWK 13 Charleston, Huntington WV News, Weather, Sports

That kid's in the 8th grade? I wonder how many grades he's repeated in his young academic career.

He and his gun-nut daddy didn't think it would go this far.  I guess they didn't get the Ghandi memo about non-violent resistance.  You have to be prepared to take your lumps.  That is, after all, what you were asking for.

I do think having the kid arrested was a bit over the top.

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

40 comments:

  1. Mikeb, your ignorance and prejudice know no bounds. Eighth graders typically are thirteen or so years old. Given that puberty is coming younger and younger, I see nothing here to be snide about.

    Secondly, since I have no respect for the Indian man who yammered on about non-violence, and since no one mentioned him in the video, I see no reason why you should.

    But mostly, where's your outrage that the school violated this child's rights? Would you be as snide and offensive if he had sufferend this injustice for wearing a shirt advocating for gay marriage? Is it only because he expressed an opinion about guns that you don't like, or do you oppose children having opinions altogether?

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    1. I did say having him arrested is a bit much.

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    2. "I wonder how many grades he's repeated in his young academic career."

      So you dont think making comments about his intelligence isnt over the top? Calling an adult names, while not furthering a reasoned debate, is one thing. Picking on a middle school kid is another.

      There are many philosophies in this world, Gandhi's being one of them. Many choose to read and follow the Gandhi memo. Others mark it as spam. The same goes for the teachings of Christ and Allah.

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    3. Yes, I noted your pathetically weak response. I asked about your outrage. I have no interest in whimpers when rights are violated.

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    4. Which implies you would have had no problem with a suspension or detention.

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    5. It is a preposterous notion to assert that the minds of children under twenty-one are capable of holding or forming opinions of their own. Even if you cling to the belief that the mere subject of the State has any right to hold any political viewpoint that is not expressly assigned to them by an actor of the State, one cannot assert that children have a right to express opinions that do not belong to them (as persons of such youthful ignorance have no opinions, and hold no interests in pursuing matters of public importance).

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    6. Poor E.N. doesn't get to sit with the smart children, it seems.

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    7. That's right, a suspension or something like that would be about right. And, of course, an amendment to the official school rules.

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    8. Suspension for what? He expressed an opinion in a passive manner. He violated no rules--especially no rules that comply with the First Amendment.

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    9. That's right, a suspension or something like that would be about right. And, of course, an amendment to the official school rules.

      Even for you, herbivore, this is absolutely unbelievable. You admit this young gentleman broke no rules, and you want him severely punished. Do you know what authorities who punish people for breaking non-existent rules are called? Tyrants. Do you know the best thing to be done with tyrants? If hanging is too much work, shooting will do.

      But it gets even worse. Not only does the herbivore want the young gentleman severely punished for not breaking any rules, but after strongly implying that he is a particularly stupid eighth-grader, also expects him to know about the non-existent clothing rules:

      He and his daddy are gun guys. They've read, just like we have, about all the hysterical (and wrong) incidents in which kids were kicked out of school for a water pistol or a piece of pizza in the shape of a gun. He wore the t-shirt to buck the authority and say fuck-you to those who don't like it.

      And Mikeb has the audacity to wonder why his continued ability to not only live, but to reproduce, is an unforgivable affront to decent, honorable people.

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    10. So punish him, even though he wasn't breaking a rule, and change the rule to make it illegal in the future.

      Thank you for your honesty in admitting you would have suspended him, even though you wouldn't have arrested him. Now we have more proof that you are a nice, petty tyrant. You won't jail children for exercising free speech, just suspend them. You wouldn't execute us for bitterly clinging to our guns, just fine or jail us. But you're still insisting that the kid get rid of the shirt and we get rid of our "assault weapons."

      NO.

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  2. Non-violent? It's an image on a t-shirt. How is that violent? And how was he asking for that over-reaction by a teacher? It was stated quite clearly in the news report that the school policy on attire did not prohibit images of firearms on shirts.

    And the crack about how many grades he repeated is a bit over the top as well. You whine about people calling you names, but you have no problem insulting others with no evidence whatsoever.

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    1. He and his daddy are gun guys. They've read, just like we have, about all the hysterical (and wrong) incidents in which kids were kicked out of school for a water pistol or a piece of pizza in the shape of a gun. He wore the t-shirt to buck the authority and say fuck-you to those who don't like it.

      For that a suspension would have been more than sufficient along with an amendment of the school rules.

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    2. How about recognizing that the Constitution means what it says? How about you gun-fearing wussies stop being paranoid any time someone disagrees with the way you want life to be lived? How about seeing that since the kid's shirt harmed no one, the best answer is just to ignore it?

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    3. Because the answer to incidents you deem hysterical and wrong is to let them continue, not to stand up against them.

      And if someone decides to troll these hysterical and wrong administrators, suddenly it's not hysterical and wrong for them to suspend the student, it's the right thing to do!

      Your thought process mystifies me.

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  3. Ghandi said people should "take [their] lumps" for not violating any rules or laws? You will now present your evidence of hims saying that, Mikeb. That is the obligation you have now taken upon yourself.

    Do not make me wait.

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    1. It was a very loose association with the Ghandi thing. You caught me, Kurt. Bravo.

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  4. So I guess a supermodel wearing a dress covered with gun pics would really make these shrieking, bed-wetting, petty tyrant herbivores choke on their cud.

    Every once in a while, I miss Paul Helmke. Given his history of public weeping and wailing about pop culture's acceptance of guns, we would have been assured some entertainment with regard to Kurkova's fashion choices.

    On another note, the Kurkova story drew my attention to gun laws in the Czech Republic. I gotta say I'm pleasantly surprised--that, after all, is not just Europe, but Eastern Europe. When they got rid of the commies, they were pretty thorough.

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    1. I was in Estonia a couple years back. The antique stores would have the typical antiques that you would expect (fancy old Russian tea sets, glassware, art, and knicknacks). They also had WW2 trophies, and racks of old guns. Saw an RPK and a couple of PPSh's that I'd have liked to get a chance to test fire just for the experience and history of them.

      With the obvious exception of Belarus, the Eastern European countries have been expanding various liberties (different ones in different countries). It's encouraging to see exceptions to the norm.

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    1. What the hell are you going on about. I said NON-VIOLENT RESISTANCE.

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    2. And you said you guess they didn't get the memo about non-violent resistance.

      Mike: "I guess they didn't get the Ghandi memo about non-violent resistance."

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  6. Wow! Be on the down-slope of puberty sooner than a gun controller thinks you should be, and have your intelligence insulted! After all, you're pro-gun--you Must be mentally defective, no wonder you failed a few grades.

    As for your comments about non-violence and taking your lumps--where does it say that the kid didn't do this? He's just complaining about the injustice of it. Were MLK and my great uncle who got arrested with him supposed to go to jail, and then not talk about how they were arrested? Not talk about how unjust the system was that led to their arrest?

    Also, regarding the kid asking for it--the dress code did not say anything about pictures of guns on shirts. It said no depictions of violence. A picture of a stationary gun is not violent--especially given it's context on the shirt. This is a case of the school and the police acting beyond the scope of the rules in place.

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    1. But see, the Constitution is the ultimate rule in place, and Mikeb sees no reason to follow what it says, so why should local police and school administrators feel constrained?

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    2. C'mon, T., states like your own don't have the best educational systems in the country. When you put a few generations of that in a row, you've got some real losers. These kids don't stand a chance.

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    3. Mikeb, your prejudices are showing again. You might be excused for not having heard of the many excellent primary and secondary schools in Tennessee, but you surely have heard of Vanderbilt University.

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    4. Bull Shit.

      Public schools suck all over. You get out what you put in to your education. I worked at it and did well during the years I was at public school. I did better in private and home school because we used better curriculum, but the common denominator in all three was that you got out what you put in.

      I've known people who went to the best schools and were dumber than a sack of rocks. I also know hillbillies that live so far out that you'd be making banjo jokes 10 minutes before we got to their place, but I've had conversations with them on everything from farming, to law, to Byzantine history.

      So please, stop patronizing me that I may be be an exception, but other people from where I'm from are a bunch of poorly educated, racist rubes. Do we have some of those? Sure. So does the North East. So does Italy, and every country in the glorious and enlightened continent of Europe.

      Either go ahead an lump me in with your generalizations, or stop throwing insults of whole regions or groups of people as red herrings.

      Also, if you're going to continue with these types of comments, stop being thin skinned and complaining when people say unkind things to you--sauce for the goose and all that.

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    5. Mikeb is typical of all his breed--namely elitist prigs that want to apply rules to the rest of us, but can't stand being limited by the same.

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    6. Public schools may suck all over but they suck more in Alabama and Mississippi than other states.

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    7. I'm from Tennessee, and this kid's from West Virginia--Alabama and Mississippi mean nothing to any discussion of me or this kid.

      But with regard to those two states--maybe they're at the bottom of the heap. However, what I said still holds: you get out what you put in. I've known people from those states who applied themselves to their work, and they did just fine. One of them was from inner city Jackson MS, and he still did fine, in spite of the poor school.

      So, no. Poor schools don't lock you into a certain caste. And even if they did, you're a disgusting animal for thinking that would justify you making fun of them. You're also a puerile sloth for making baseless accusations of such deficiencies as a lazy way of avoiding making a real argument against a person's position.

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  7. Well lookie here. Not only is he back in school, wearing the "scary" shirt, with charges likely to be dropped, but many other students at the school (and around 100 students across the county) are wearing the same kind of shirt.

    This "controversy" probably sold some shirts, and made the NRA some money--isn't that cool?

    Oh, by the way, Mikeb, young Mr. Marcum is 14--a not at all unusual age for an eighth grader (especially considering that this is late in the school year)--so you fail there, too (no surprise).

    Please respond, Mikeb, I want some new material to laugh about.

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  8. I decided to delete your last comment after all.

    My response was that I haven't run away from anything. You flatter yourself to think I found your argument so overwhelming that I had to run away from it. I guess you think, like Greg, that it's some kind of victory to accuse me of that. That's how weak your arguments are. You need to grasp at something like that.

    About the young gun nut, I haven't heard the school's side of it, but I don't imagine he was hauled off to jail just for showing up with that t-shirt on. I figure he was told to remove it, or not to come to school with it on, of some other warning like that. Then, being a young protege of the gun-nut dad, who knows his god damned rights, he refused. It was then that they overreacted and had him arrested in addition to what would have been the appropriate punishment.

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    1. I figure he was told to remove it, or not to come to school with it on, of some other warning like that. Then, being a young protege of the gun-nut dad, who knows his god damned rights, he refused.

      Ah--"fleshing things out a bit" (i.e, making shit up) again, are you? And this time, your "fleshing out" appears to have been done without even bothering to avail yourself of real, documented information:

      Video evidence in the case, Mr. White said, indicates that the situation in the cafeteria deteriorated when a teacher raised his voice while confronting Jared. Other students jumped up on benches and began chanting Jared’s name.

      “I think the disruption came from the teacher,” Mr. White said.


      Apparently, the "disturbance" was the hysterics of the petty fascist of a teacher, and the students inspired by young Mr. Marcum's Rosa Parks-like courage.

      Isn't it cool that he has inspired the youth of his county, many of whom had probably cared very little either way about gun rights/"gun control," to take a pro-liberty stance?

      And all the shirt sales are probably quite a boon to the Sons of the Second Amendment gun rights group.

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    2. If you read up more on the case you would learn that a teacher confronted him during lunch and told him to turn the shirt inside out. He refused and they called the cops. Pretty much like one of the scenarios you suggested.


      And now we have you doubling down on the rightfulness of the school suspending a student for wearing a political shirt that did not violate the school rules. Isn't that just precious of the sweet little tyrant.

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    3. Mikeb, I have seen strong arguments from the people on my side for a long time here. Remember Cap'n Crunch and Texas Colt Carry and Fat White Man? Tennessean has come back after an absence, and Retired Mustang weighs in from time to time. Lately, Kurt Hoffman has added his voice. I'm sure I'm leaving out some regulars and many occasional visitors. All of us daily show you the errors in your thinking. You call an individual argument weak, but that's because you refuse to see each one in the total context.

      I could respect you while disagreeing with you if you would address our points and stop being dismissive or insulting. But you skip over the heart of our arguments and focus on minor details or cast aspersions on us, fighting straw men and appealing to emotion without intellect. Why you think that does your cause any justice is beyond me.

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    4. I don't think that's an accurate description of what's gone on around here, but you keep repeating it and I'm sure you'll convince yourself.

      Is that too dismissive?

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    5. Tell me this: What do you hope to accomplish by insulting people who disagree with you? Do you imagine that this will achieve anything for your side?

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  9. And now these lunatics might send him to jail for a year.

    And Mikeb, if you're tempted, even for a nanosecond, to accuse me of hysterical exaggeration, whining, or being a crybaby, because you're certain that the judge would never sentence the victim to the maximum penalty, please consider yourself cordially invited to shove it up your ass.

    The fact is that he's been charged with a "crime" ("obstructing an officer"--by talking) that if convicted, will leave him depending on the judge's reasonableness (the same judge who ruled that this atrocity may proceed) to keep him out of jail.

    That's twisted. That's evil. That's unforgivable.

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    1. I agree with you completely.

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    2. I agree with you completely.

      Are you just doing that because you know I hate it? ;-)

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