Planet America

[arthwollipot]

The idea that kids are engaging in full antho roleplay at school is utterly ludicrous.

You would think.

I would think, yes.

But I've seen some more pictures. Of course, it's the internet, so there's no guarantee they weren't photoshopped, or they might not even be from that school.

I'll give odds that a good percentage of those photos are just cribbed off the internet.

I listened to a bit more of that hour long video. Names were named. Faces were shown without blurring. In the pictures I referred to above, although they wore masks (yeah...they did....animal masks)....the kids w uld be very easily recognizable to people who knew them.

And is it very surprising after all that's gone on that they might want to wear a mask in order to try and be anonymous? Were they wearing masks when the kerfuffle all started up? Or are they wearing them now in response?

Yesterday, I believed basically what you described, but based on what I've learned since, it doesn't fit. Lying about the "furries" would still fit, but it wouldn't be the typical childish lying. It would have to be witch-hunt level lying.

Somethng very weird is going on here. I'm just not sure what.

It's a case of bullying getting out of hand, and sunk-cost thinking. Once the school gets involved, what kid is going to admit to spreading vicious lies in order to make the weird kids cry? That, populist propaganda (they're corrupting our children!), and sensationalist media can explain it all.

Some fairly big names have weighed in. Local news channels have all covered it. I've seen videos by Matt Walsh and Megyn Kelly. I'm not sure if it's sufficiently viral to break into mainstream consciousness, but it might be. Will we see Riley Gaines or J.K. Rowling say, "See I told you so?" Will Ron DeSantis pass an anti-furry law? Will any Democrats touch the story with a ten foot pole? Still too early to say.

Like most of the right-wing populist propaganda stories, this will be set aside once the next manufactured outrage comes along. Because that's what populism does.

[Meadmaker]

It's a case of bullying getting out of hand,

Maybe. But if so, it got way, way, out of hand.

That can happen, so I'm not saying you're wrong. I just don't have a high degree of confidence in any explanation at the moment.


ETA: One possibility I've considered is that this was, or turned into, basically an elaborate troll operation. Wear furry stuff because it really pisses off the right wing, and watch them go bonkers. Hilarity ensues.

[arthwollipot]

ETA: One possibility I've considered is that this was, or turned into, basically an elaborate troll operation. Wear furry stuff because it really pisses off the right wing, and watch them go bonkers. Hilarity ensues.

If it weren't high school kids, I could see it. But IMO teenagers don't generally possess that level of political sophistication. I know I didn't.

[Meadmaker]

ETA: One possibility I've considered is that this was, or turned into, basically an elaborate troll operation. Wear furry stuff because it really pisses off the right wing, and watch them go bonkers. Hilarity ensues.

If it weren't high school kids, I could see it. But IMO teenagers don't generally possess that level of political sophistication. I know I didn't.

It's actually pre high school, so they have even less political sophistication. However, there's more meanness and stupidity. It wouldn't be so much about advancing ideology as being able to identify a group that is getting pissed off, and it's fun to see them pissed off. 11 year olds very much have that capacity. The ideological aspect mostly comes from kids echoing parents or teachers. So you end up with 11 year olds carrying signs that say "Compelled speech is not free speech." I'm thinking that's not an original thought from an 11 year old.

Anyway, we'll see what the new news week brings. Maybe silence. Maybe escalation.

ETA: US "middle school" is usually grades 6, 7, and 8. Kids that are 11-13 years old at the start of the school year, so the oldest kids would be 14. More rarely, middle school can mean grades 7, 8, and 9, so up to 15 years. In this case, it looks like 6, 7, and 8. Looking at the protest video, it seemed there were some very small kids in the group, so I think 11 years old, or even a few 10 year olds among the youngest kids.

[President Bush]

Now that you guys mention it I couldn't tell if that was a school yard brawl or a raccoon fight by the dumpster I heard.

[sparks]

When some 10 year old says to Mommy and Daddy that he's really a Honey Badger, look the fuck out!

Otherwise, make these feral little shitheads stick to a dress code or kick them out of school. There now, stupid fucking problem solved.

[arthwollipot]

Oh look everybody! Sparks has solved the problem of school discipline. Well done.

[Meadmaker]

When some 10 year old says to Mommy and Daddy that he's really a Honey Badger, look the fuck out!

Otherwise, make these feral little shitheads stick to a dress code or kick them out of school. There now, stupid fucking problem solved.

As best I can tell, that's basically what they did. It just took them too long to do it.

Not a lot of news about it today, so it's probably blowing over, as it should. I did see a couple of bits, though. The school did mislead about some things. In the denials, they said there were no full body animal costumes. No, there weren't. There were animal themed accessories. When it came to the food throwing incident, the school initially said that some kids (I think plural) threw food at "people who were dressed differently." Yeah....dressed as furries. Subsequent communications did not reference people who dressed differently.

Their statements were basically of the form, "There are no furries, and the furries are being bullied."

I definitely get the feeling there may have been bullying done by people with and without cats' ears.

Eventually, the school sent out a letter that the dress code would be enforced.

[sparks]

Oh look everybody! Sparks has solved the problem of school discipline. Well done.

Boy howdy, you really showed me didn't ya!

[stanky]

When some 10 year old says to Mommy and Daddy that he's really a Honey Badger, look the fuck out!

Otherwise, make these feral little shitheads stick to a dress code or kick them out of school. There now, stupid fucking problem solved.

I vote for dumping school. It's obsolete. And sucks.
We could come up with something better in 20 minutes.
Freedom!