Quote Originally Posted by Nameless View Post
Actually, I disagree with the kids being kicked out from school. Sure maybe it was provocation, which is not correct, however, it wasn't like if they did burn a Mexican flag or something, they were wearing the flag of their country in their country! In Canada for those who might not know it, we have 2 national holiday, June 24 and July 1st. July 24 is the national day for French part of Canada, la "St-Jean Baptiste", VERY popular here and I would even say by far far more than July first, you can't even compare it. How often do you think we've seen peoples in Montreal walking with Canadian flags when the whole rest of the province is walking with our blue and white on it only to provoke and ruin things? How many English native are doing so in the countryside where 95% of the kids speak french only to provoke things? It happens often. IT is not especially nice but it is the flag of our country as much as some might dislike it and till the opposite is proven, Quebec isn't independent yet from Canada. It is perhaps unnecessary provocation but you cannot throw a kid from school for that and I think that the same example is also valid for the Cinco de Mayo thing.
The principle's role isn't to stand up for freedom of speech or do what is politically correct. His job is simply to preserve order and good feeling amongst students at school.

A school is no test bed for legal matters. He just wanted to make sure some idiots didn't ruin the day for the rest of the students.

Why are people getting so worked up about this? Nobody was suspended, nobody had their liberties taken away.

When you consider how so many thousands of people have lain down their lives to provide basic human freedoms for others, and the struggles that some have endured, it's so pathetically trivial that people would moan about this.

'Oh no I'm having MY RIGHTS to adorn myself in my national flag apparel taken away from me for the hours whilst I'm at school on one day of the year!'

It's really not a big deal, and to protest it so strongly (I'm not saying you here Nameless) can't really be seen as anything other than an underlying hostility or racist sentiment.

There is a time and a place to express your freedom of speech and this wasn't it.

It's no different to someone cursing and using foul language on live tv before the watershed because it's their 'right' to use adult language.

Unless you're Chris Arreola you just don't do it because it's considered disrespectful to those watching, many of whom are young, and many of whom are whiny old pedants who might be offended.

Everyone has the right to curse, but most are happy to waive that right when it might be seen as appropriate to refrain from cursing.

If people want to say their reasons for objecting to the afternoon exclusion of these students are nothing to do with racism, then at least be honest enough to say it's also nothing to do with freedom of speech and human rights either.

I don't think Miles for example is a racist. But he is trying to argue a very petty point imo, arguing for the rights and freedoms to do something which is utterly meaningless in the big scheme of things. The right to drape the American flag around your body on Cinci de Mayo day is not really a fundamental human right imo. And clearly the reason he feels this way is becuase of some antagonism towards the way he believes ethnic minorites should behave in somebody else's country.

So there IS clearly a feeling of some hostility present towards minorites in general and that they should in his own words ' consider deportation' if they don't like being made to feel unwelcome.

And in the case of the school celebrations, the principle obviously felt that this was a day for the school to come together and celebrate unity and that such hostile, negative attitudes were not welcome so he gave them the choice of either changing into some other clothing or else taking the afternoon off.

It's really not a big deal, just like telling someone that if they don't stop swearing at the Town Hall meeting that they will be removed.