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What is the world coming to!

rocketeer

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,605
Location
England
I had a red plaid lunch box. There's nothing violent about that unless you're Scottish.
Ban it!
Brings back memories of the Battle of the Boyne !

And whats more Spinach will always remind us of Popeye so not only ban Popeye but spinach as well.

Guess you will never have a superhero's day at this school.
 
Messages
17,195
Location
New York City
The optimist in me always hopes that these insane over-reaches by our betters - by those who think they have all the answers and will force them on the rest of us - will engender a backlash from the very people (like me) they want to control, but normally, the winds rustle a bit, die down and the smart set tries it again.
 

Bushman

I'll Lock Up
Messages
4,138
Location
Joliet
Wow, and right now superhero movies are at an all time high. You'd think this school was fighting an uphill battle, especially the way these movies are marketed towards children (the Disney channel has at least 5 different Marvel cartoons that I'm aware of alone). Superheroes like Batman, Superman, and Captain America are American Icons. You can't just "get rid of them" because they "promote violence" (the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard), especially now of all times.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,722
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The real issue is that we live in a global culture that firmly believes, and has always believed, that "Violence IS the answer." From the gun-show fanatic raving about fighting off the black helicopters with his hidden stash of ammo to the nation-states wagging their missles in each other's faces, to the prancing glandular freaks of the NFL, we fetishize violence every day of our lives. Some kid's dinner pail isn't going to change that one way or another.

Wonder Woman was actually created as the antithesis of the violent superheroes of the early forties -- her creator intended her to dominate her enemies "with love," not fists. Didn't quite work out that way in the long run...
 

GHT

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,775
Location
New Forest
In the comments section, this struck a nerve with me.
It should be remembered that some schools in the 'Bible Belt' have banned the teaching of Darwin on the grounds it goes against the teaching of God, so why should we be surprised with this?
Reason being, in the UK this week, there's a news story of a cinema banning a Church of England advert because it recites: The Lord's Prayer. You need to read the link to get the gist of it, but our press have had a field day over it.
 

rocketeer

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,605
Location
England
When I originally saw this online news story I thought it was probably about Wonder Woman and her swimsuitesqe costume showing a little cleavage.
 

Inkstainedwretch

One Too Many
Messages
1,037
Location
United States
Cleavage was the least of it. Wonder Woman was loaded with kink. Somehow, WW always ended up being bound with rope or put in chains or doing the same, usually to other women. Also, there was a lot of spanking. First Liberated Woman, I guess.
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,722
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
Her creator, psychologist William Moulton Marston, as has been well documented, was a lifelong bondage fetishist who lived most of his adult life in a menage a trois. Good old wholesome Golden Era values.

And if that isn't enough, her adventures were drawn for the first sixteen years of her existence by a man named "Harry Peter."
 

Blackjack

One Too Many
Messages
1,198
Location
Crystal Lake, Il
Besides the obvious lesbian overtones of the Wonder Woman mythos, this is the most ridiculous thing I've heard all week. We are on PC overload, I feel so sorry for the kids today. They're all going to grow up with anxiety issues from not knowing what is right to say, do, watch, laugh at, to listen to, on and on and on.
 

Blackjack

One Too Many
Messages
1,198
Location
Crystal Lake, Il
I guess my Rat Patrol lunchbox better stay home from now on... :-(
dc8d58192dba8816ff88607b08bea14b.jpg
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,722
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
In all seriousness, though, I'm always wary when I see viral stories like this -- they nearly always turn out to be either totally fabricated by someone with an axe to grind, or the result of one person either misinterpreting a rule or overzealously applying it, with the story blown up into something more than it is by the yahoo media just to get people all inflamed. I don't think anybody would expect a school to teach that "Yes, violence *is* the solution to all our problems, let's all go out on the playground now and throw rocks at each other," so it basically just becomes a question of degrees.

As far as violence and superhero imagery are concerned, that whole issue, from a child-development point of view, was handled extremely well by Mister Rogers in a series of programs back in the '80s. Rather than get all in a swivet over lunch boxes or t-shirts, better the school should sit the kids down and show them those programs.

As a side thought, if the story is true, I wonder if the school would have reacted the same way to a little boy with a Batman lunch box?

And as another side thought I'm astonished that this story's gotten picked up and promulgated by supposedly respectable news organizations without any documentation whatsoever. Exactly what school did this? Where is the school? Who is the principal? Who posted the original photos? Who is the child? Who is her family? What kid even carries a metal lunch box nowadays? When I was a news director, I would've been fired on the spot if I had let something like this on the air without solid documentation.

I'm tempted to sit down here with Microsoft Word, make up a letter from a non-existent school board advising a non-existent parent that a non-existent child can no longer bring bananas to school because they could be pointed like weapons, and post it on Reddit. And I'm willing to bet folding money that within ten days Bill O'Reilly will have commented on it.
 

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