The disrespect is becoming commonplace
US President Barack Obama delivers his third annual Back-to-School Speech at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, DC, on September 28, 2011. President Obama encouraged students to study hard and take responsibility for their education, urging students to set goals, to believe in themselves. UPI/Shawn Thew/POOL
I was just perusing the wall of a a couple groups to which I belong on Facebook. One friend posted the following about yesterday’s back-to-school-address, which Obama delivered at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington D.C. [video after the jump]:
The TV is currently on an Atlanta station showing the late evening news. It was mostly just background noise until I heard a story that stunned me. Some elementary schools in suburban Atlanta are only allowing children to watch Obama’s news conferences in class with a letter of consent from the parents. A school administrator said this policy is because many parents do not want their children to see or hear Obama’s speeches. WTF !! Has this EVER happened under any other president?? I intend to do some research online to find out what Atlanta area school this happening in.
My response?
this happened last year as well, i think. it’s insanity.
That’s it. That was my response. Entire schools and school districts across the country decided to black out President Obama’s back-to-school speech (because of parent complaints, apparently), and that fact — along with the blatant disrespect attendant to that fact — barely registered.
This is what I mean when I say that I’m numb to the dumb.
After a quick google search, it seems only FoxNation is carrying the story (to which I will not link, but an image of which is here):
Public schools in Broward County will show President Barack Obama live. Schools in Palm Beach County are showing today’s back-to-school speech live, too. Students in Lee County public schools will also hear what the President has to say live.
Other Florida school districts like Hendry and Miami-Dade are leaving the live showing up to the discretion of individual school principals.
But Collier County Public Schools decided that none of the district’s schools will show the President’s education pep-talk live.
The back-to-school speech has been a politically charged controversy in Collier County ever since Obama first addressed students in 2009. He will give his third back-to-school address today at 1:30 p.m.
Collier schools didn’t show it then; nor will they show it now.
“In the past, this event was somewhat controversial,” said Beth Thompson, chief instructional officer with the district. “Parents called-in and said they did not want children to watch the speech.”
Even upon reading the above, my reaction is “meh.” It’s typical. Expected. Predictable.
On a day when Blogistan is atwitter about a “leftie” drawing an analogy between a well-known black female professor to the KKK, the fact that some parents don’t want their kids to listen to the president’s speech barely registers on my radar.
Accordingly, I will repost what I wrote in 2009, when I was less jaded about the pathetic state of race relations in this country:
He wants to turn your children black (and once they go black, they’ll never ever go back)
Holy shit, y’all. Did you hear about what Obama did last week? He gave a back-to-school speech to our nation’s childrenses! And you know what else? He like, totally tried to turn your child into a black person. BEHIND YOUR BACK. (He also pulled the plug on your grandma, but we can talk about that later.)
This aggression will not STAND, man. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw the news. Obama addressed a nation of young impressionable children and filled their heads with balderdash and poppycock. (That’s British for BULLSHIT.) He told kids that they should stay in school! And that they should do their homework! And that they should pass on grass!
I mean, what kind of crap is he trying to pull? How dare he tell your children to put down that X Box Virtual 3000 2.0, stop sniffing glue, and open a book? How dare he tell your children that they need to study hard and not give up on their dreams and life in general?
I mean, what’s next? I know I don’t want my kids to go to college.*** Or get a job. Or learn shit. I want my kids to become one of the next generation of idiotic fuckwits, like the ones at the townhall meetings, talkin’ ’bout “Hello, Hitler!”
I’ll tell you what, people: I can’t decide if this shit is hilarious or really really sad. I mean, exactly how stupid are people? I really want to know. On a scale of 1 to fucking idiotic, HOW STUPID ARE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY?
Better yet, how stupid do people think we are? The Hannitys, and Limbaughs, and the Becks. The members of the Washington Asshat Brigade who PRAISED Reagan and Bush when they gave their speeches to students nationwide? Do they really think we’re so stupid? Do they think that we don’t know that the only reason they’re protesting Obama’s speech is because he’s ::gasp:: BLACK!!??
Render unto me a fucking break.
(***I don’t have any kids that I know of. It’s called “creative license.”)
That was me in 2009. Me in 2011? Meh.
Here is the video of Obama’s back to school speech which he delivered to Benjamin Banneker Academic High School, and in which he urged students to study hard. I know — can you believe that guy? [You can read a transcript by clicking "Page 2" down below "Other Posts You Might Like"]:
And here is a word cloud of his speech because word clouds are pretty:
And he didn't even use the world "socialist" once.
And here are some photos:
U.S. President Barack Obama waves while departing after delivering a back-to-school speech at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, DC, on September 28, 2011. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg
U.S. President Barack Obama arrives with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to deliver a back-to-school speech at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, DC, on September 28, 2011. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg
U.S. President Barack Obama greets guests after delivering a back-to-school speech at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, DC, on September 28, 2011. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg
U.S. President Barack Obama delivers a back-to-school speech at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, DC, on September 28, 2011. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg
U.S. President Barack Obama waves while departing after delivering a back-to-school speech at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, DC, on September 28, 2011. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg
U.S. President Barack Obama greets guests after delivering a back-to-school speech at Benjamin Banneker Academic High School in Washington, DC, on September 28, 2011. UPI/Roger L. Wollenberg Read more:
Sigh.
You’re welcome.
[image via UPI]
The level of open and blatant disrespect directed to President Obama surprised me in 2009. I’m not sure ANY level of disrespect could surprise me in Sept. 2011. That doesn’t keep the situation from making me very angry and feeling protective about the man I believe is the best President in my lifetime for certain and among the two or three best in our history. That Salon post still has me foaming at the mouth and pretty much incapable of writing a coherent reply. Anyone that would write that HAS GOT to part of a deliberate agenda. The agenda may just be a naked attempt to prop up a failing web-zine but it is nefarious none-the-less.
I do my best to pay no mind to these freaks. At this point, they’re just disrespecting themselves. I’ll co-sign the “meh” feeling: they were like that before and, barring any mass extinction, will be like that after…X_x
The Fox New image headline – “Obama’s Back-to-School Speech ‘Blacked’ Out After Parent Complained” Do I sense a Freudian slip….or could it have been intentional, you decide!
Wow. I usually don’t comment on the racial topics, but this level of unwarranted disrespect toward our president is disgraceful. There is no excuse for this.