The Last Bass Outpost
Main Forums => The Outpost Cafe => Topic started by: uwe on October 07, 2023, 12:54:53 PM
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… only one fearless Principal stands between the corrosive-corrupting, frankly diabolical influence of negro 'dancing' (twerking!) and the virtue of our Southern daughters!
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12604349/amp/Kaylee-Timonet-homecoming-video-scholarship-president-Walker-High-School-Louisiana.html
https://youtu.be/l3fZuW-aJsg?
I hope she sues the school administration to hell and back.
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This guy needs a good punishment also:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNYWl13IWhY
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The redneck Louisiana principal lives pretty far away from New Orleans, Louisiana, a place i lived for four years that has things going on every day far more scandalous than twerking. This is especially true during Mardi Gras. Also, he seems to be totally unfamiliar with the concept do not judge, or you too will be judged. I hope the country will react to her plight and contribute money to her that will go way beyond what would be needed for her college scholarship.
One school board member had this to say:“I think there comes a time and a place for reprimanding our kids, but she’s an exemplary student,” Dickerson said. “I do not think her dancing after school at her home with her parents there is a problem. I have a problem with that. We’re not talking about causing harm to anyone. The child was dancing.
“I’m a Christian, I believe in morals, respect, and integrity, but we also cannot cross a line,” she added. “Kids have to be kids. Who am I to judge someone?"
This quote came from a Baton Rouge site, but now I can't find it.
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I had frankly thought that in the Year of our Lord 2023, that type of culture battle should be behind us - unless you are unfortunate enough to be forced to live in Afghanistan that is. Forbidding certain types of dance or specific dance moves is probably as old as dance itself, at one point the Waltz, the Can-Can, the Tango, the Charleston, Rock'n'Roll or the Disco Bump to name but a few should have all been prohibited according to the views of some people. It's ironic that twerking/twitching your butt/pulsating your hips is one of the oldest forms of dance, a look at many tribal dance patterns in Black Africa (lest we forget: where mankind originated) will tell you that.
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Out of those dances mentioned, it's the Charleston which has always fascinated me the most. I think even as a child, I sometimes wished I had lived in the 1920s.
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This is in Walker, in Livingston Parish. It's definitely not Baton Rouge, even though it's in its metro statistical area. Strong Southern Baptist/anti-dancing sentiment. Of course what the school administration did is inexcusable in a public school.
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Well, at least Walker High School is now world-famous and if they wanted to turn a former goody-goody student into a future activist, they have done everything right.
Some of the readers’ opinions in the comments section to that Daily Mail article are stomach-churning, there is actually people out there who agree with the school decision and write inane and misogynist crap like "she looks like a slut" when she’s the archetypical naturally pretty neighborhood girl.
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This is in Walker, in Livingston Parish. It's definitely not Baton Rouge, even though it's in its metro statistical area. Strong Southern Baptist/anti-dancing sentiment. Of course what the school administration did is inexcusable in a public school.
I'm not very familiar with Baton Rouge or any of those cities around it like the one Walker High School is in. But I agree that what the school administration did should be inexcusable anywhere. This reminds me of the plot to the movie Footloose, except this is even worse. Judgmentalism has to be one of my main pet peeves. I find it unbearable.
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There was a VERY interesting story on the CBS Sunday Morning program today. It covered part of the Nazi party buildup in the US in the late 30s and start of WWII. It was a significant movement; more than I had understood before. That has me in an unusually reflective mood.
Facism has always led to anti-Semitic actions, and today's right wing verges on facism (and sometimes crosses over into it overtly.)
One of the strange places it's showing up is in schools, where some people are determined that no one should read, see or hear anything they don't like. They're welcome to make that judgement for their children (let's just call it private, rather than public, child abuse) but they dam sure aren't entitled to tell anyone else's kids what they can read. Propaganda of omission starts young.
We also have problems with school districts telling teachers that they can't mention black oppression, parts of history that don't cast the US in a negative light, and even content that might lead children to question their parents.
Facism is very much alive and active in the US, and it have become increasingly visible since 2016.
Dave, let me know if I'm out of line. This concerns me, and I assume it concerns all of us.
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Some new info on the matter has now come out. For starters, the principal is trying to apologize, but the family is refusing his apology. So it looks like the principal now realizes he f***ed up, but it's too late.
https://unfilteredwithkiran.com/walker-highs-principal-apologizes-scholarship-family-refuses-to-accept-apology/
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There was a VERY interesting story on the CBS Sunday Morning program today. It covered part of the Nazi party buildup in the US in the late 30s and start of WWII. It was a significant movement; more than I had understood before. That has me in an unusually reflective mood.
Facism has always led to anti-Semitic actions, and today's right wing verges on facism (and sometimes crosses over into it overtly.)
One of the strange places it's showing up is in schools, where some people are determined that no one should read, see or hear anything they don't like. They're welcome to make that judgement for their children (let's just call it private, rather than public, child abuse) but they dam sure aren't entitled to tell anyone else's kids what they can read. Propaganda of omission starts young.
We also have problems with school districts telling teachers that they can't mention black oppression, parts of history that don't cast the US in a negative light, and even content that might lead children to question their parents.
Facism is very much alive and active in the US, and it have become increasingly visible since 2016.
Dave, let me know if I'm out of line. This concerns me, and I assume it concerns all of us.
If you're talking about that documentary with Rachel Maddow about fascism, that's pretty good. But I thought it was too short. However, this situation in Louisiana has nothing to do with political ideologies. I think Dave has analyzed the core problem accurately.
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Fascism and antisemitism is also prevalent on the political left Pilgrim. The folks cheering on the atrocities in times Square are known as socialist democrats. The word nazi itself refers to national socialism.
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Fascism and antisemitism is also prevalent on the political left Pilgrim. The folks cheering on the atrocities in times Square are known as socialist democrats. The word nazi itself refers to national socialism.
Agreed, there are facists across the political spectrum. But let's be clear: the vast majority of them are on the far right.
That Rachel Maddow piece was very well structured, and a great reminder that the nuts are always with us, looking for a way to exclude and dominate people they think are inferior. It's a scary part of the human equation.
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Essentialy any state apparatus derives it's power from force. If you want to experience fascism, simply stop paying your taxes.
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Some new info on the matter has now come out. For starters, the principal is trying to apologize, but the family is refusing his apology. So it looks like the principal now realizes he f***ed up, but it's too late.
https://unfilteredwithkiran.com/walker-highs-principal-apologizes-scholarship-family-refuses-to-accept-apology/
Ok, the principal (whether due to media and/or school authorities pressure or genuine remorse/second thoughts) has recanted in full, you can't ask for more, we all err sometimes. The Timonets should be able to get over it. They (rightly) rallied public support and it worked, Mama Bear can settle down.
Good afternoon WHS Family,
I believe it is necessary to respond to the public attention that has resulted from my actions regarding Kaylee Timonet’sparticipation in a dance party that was sponsored at an off-site location following WHS Homecoming.
I have had time to consider my actions, have conversations with the Timonets, and meet with district staff.
First, let me say that I have apologized to the Timonets and I am hopeful that my scheduled meeting with Kaylee’s mom will rectify this situation and allow Kaylee to enjoy the remainder of her senior year at Walker High School.
I will be reinstating Kaylee’s position on the Student Government Association. The SGA was created to give students a voice in their school and their community, to promote leadership qualities, and to represent their school with pride, enthusiasm, and respect. Our student government members are held to a high standard of student behavior. While I stand by that premise, I do believe that standard deserves the input of not just myself and top administrators, but also those student leaders. I hope to create a path moving forward where we can work together to create clear expectations for all.
I will be reinstating my scholarship endorsement for Kaylee. At Walker High, we strive to place our students first in every decision so they may be prepared for whatever career path they may aspire to take, and I believe my action will assist in doing that.
Finally, during my conversation with Kaylee regarding the dance party, the subject of religious beliefs was broached by Kaylee and myself. While that conversation was meant with the best intentions, I do understand it is not my responsibility to determine what students’ or others’ religious beliefs may be – that should be the responsibility of the individual
As principal of Walker High School, I am faced daily with many difficult decisions for the interest of our students and employees that are never taken lightly. Please know that I always strive to place our students first in every decision. It is for that reason that I have taken this corrective action.
As we move forward, I ask for your continued support of Walker High School, our amazing teachers, and outstanding students.
Thank you,
Jason St. Pierre, Principal
Walker High School
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Different subject, I share Pilgrim's/Al's concerns, but I think the use of historic labels doesn't really help. Fascism was a popular movement merging nationalism and an authoritarian approach with some collectivist goodies and it gained traction especially in Europe about a hundred years ago. It originated with Mussolini (to his movement, being referred to as fascists wasn't an insult, they invented that name) and inspired people like Hitler and Franco. It was a populist movement and hence you will always find partial parallels to populist movements today, but branding these as Fascism or National Socialism (which despite its name contained very little socialism; the Nazi Party's actual rule of Germany was happy to use the old economic order for its own purposes and radically curbed worker rights, a classless society was never the goal, supposed "natural" hierarchy was everything) attempts to alert perhaps justified attention, but mostly ends up as an empty insult to the other side. Let's put it this way: Principal Jason St. Pierre might be the most bigoted person on earth re two elated teenage girls mock-bumping their respective pubic mounds and butts, but that doesn't mean he couldn't have risked his life wearing a GI inform liberating a concentration camp in Germany in 1945 and being aghast at what he found there. (Don't rule out any humanity with your opponents.)
What I am most concerned about in the last 20 years or so is the mounting inability of people to accept confrontation with views other than their own. We've become warring baboon hordes yelling and screaming and throwing shit at each other. I find the amount of political segregation in social media unbearable - I sometimes post a comment in places that are diametrically opposed to my own views, the reaction is neither discussion, not even insults lobbed at me, it's complete intellectual apathy, the caravan moves on acting like nothing has been said, I'm the liberal troll that is best ignored. There is no willingness for a political discourse whatsoever - what are people afraid of? That they might learn or think twice about something or - shudder the thought - gain an understanding to where the other side is coming from? People stay in their silos and echo chambers to an extent that they actually delude themselves into thinking that everyone (they know) is holding all their views too and that by necessity any democratic outcome not to their liking can only be the product of a "rigged" system. Democracy is based on the principle that you may not be right all the time (and your antagonists not always wrong) and that having a certain view you consider to be the only right one does not automatically entail ensuring majority support for it.
Cancellation is another scourge that stems from the above. It's not an invention of the populist right, but by golly they sure picked up quickly on it! One (wo)man's tearing down of a statue (where perhaps an explanatory plaque about the issues might have served a more educational purpose and make people think about history rather than wiping it from collective memory) of a historical individual is another (wo)man's banning of a graphic novel about Anne Frank and her not always so chaste - shock, horror! - thoughts during her puberty.
It's kind of surreal that I'm writing this while in Israel and Gaza all hell has broken loose and unreflected hate reigns supreme and the Russia-Ukraine conflict not too far away from where I live has come to a festering standstill with apparently no one knowing what to do about it. And yesterday, Alternative für Deutschland, a populist party mostly against things (and very little agreement on what they want in the alternative) + disturbingly unconcerned about flirting with the darkest aspects of Germany's past, won a so far unheard of 18% of the state election vote in Hesse where I live. Worrisome times indeed.
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Well said, Uwe. It's true that there is an alarming tendency to demonize those with whom we disagree. It is important to remember that those with whom we disagree are people with lives and emotions. Somehow we observe what's happening in the world and reach very different conclusions about what those events mean.
This sentence sounds familiar, given the rise of the right wing in the US: "And yesterday, Alternative für Deutschland, a populist party mostly against things (and very little agreement on what they want in the alternative) + disturbingly unconcerned about flirting with the darkest aspects of Germany's past, won a so far unheard of 18% of the state election vote in Hesse where I live." That sounds similar to things I observe happening in the US.
I and others here are old enough to look back on the events of the 60's and 70's, and then listen to reports of control oriented teachers, principals and school boards and ask "Hey, didn't we already work through that in the 60's?" But if it's not control squabbles over hair length or reading the wrong book, it's re-writing the curriculum to hide the events of the past or forbid people from discussing anything but binary genders.
It seems the urge to control others never goes away, it just hides for a while until it finds a few friends, then re-emerges as a small movement that goes to the school board or the library with the goal of forbidding others from doing things that group doesn't like. At present, Texas and Florida are giving us plenty of examples.
Both sides use these movements, but I'm a lot more alarmed by those who want to control reading and behaviors than I am about those who want to expand options and recognize "non-traditional" aspects of society.
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The thing about polar opposites is that...
The truth is always in the middle somewhere. Not on the polar fringes. If you find yourself on the fringes, you're ideas are probably wrong.
I think the Buddha called it the middle path (or something like that)...
My opinion. I could be wrong.
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The thing about polar opposites is that...
The truth is always in the middle somewhere. Not on the polar fringes. If you find yourself on the fringes, you're ideas are probably wrong.
I think the Buddha called it the middle path (or something like that)...
My opinion. I could be wrong.
I agree with the importance of moderation. In the U.S. at least, it is almost unknown. Instead, we have polarization in which the two extremes have gone berserk. It reminds me of the 1850s preceding the Civil War. Although in that case at least the North was right about slavery being wrong. But both sides were hellbent on confrontation. It was actually much like things today. Each side's mantra is "I'm right, you're wrong; the hell with you." I'm glad the Founding Fathers agreed on compromise. Otherwise, we would have never ended up with a country in the first place.
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"I and others here are old enough to look back on the events of the 60's and 70's, and then listen to reports of control oriented teachers, principals and school boards and ask "Hey, didn't we already work through that in the 60's?" But if it's not control squabbles over hair length or reading the wrong book, it's re-writing the curriculum to hide the events of the past or forbid people from discussing anything but binary genders."
Yup, I understand, it's like the Catholic Church persecuting teachings about the Earth turning around the sun and not vice versa. I always ask myself how shaky or indefensible your own set of beliefs and rules must be that you fear anything that questions them? Children at school should be confronted with a diversity of views and philosophies: look around you, watch, learn, understand, digest, make up your own mind. We don't need more people raised in silos cordoned off from each other, we need less. Willful ignorance is not an educational concept. And history teaches us that it never works in the long run in any case.
Since the gender stuff seems too rile everyone:
I'm no gender studies specialist, but our knowledge of the statistical spread between a "complete woman" and a "complete man" is today more in depth and sophisticated than is was 50 years ago. Not that there weren't always people who were somewhat and somewhere in between - if you were born in the 50ies or 60ies as an infant with less than clear primary and secondary sex organs (it happens), they would simply operate you into a woman because it was surgical easier than the other way around and in your then assumed best interest - you weren't asked (nor told in the aftermath) and more often than not your parents weren't really either on an informed basis. Maybe, just maybe there is an alternative to that.
And I'm not ruling out that gender fluidity might be a passing trend and overplayed currently; if that is the case then like any mistaken biological or psychological theory it will be invalidated over time. We didn't need to forbid teaching that mice evolved from wet straw (--> spontaneous generation) or that there is a "serial killer chromosome" (there can be a genetic disposition towards violence and lack of emotional control, but thankfully the vast majority of people who have that do not turn into serial murderers), we just eventually realized that these things didn't exist and dropped them from any sane curriculum.
Things always play out in the long run. In the meantime, you can take an inquisitive look at them and discuss. It's one thing that differentiates us from animals.
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When did compromise and moderation become four letter words? They're achievements of a modern, inclusive society. Banish them and it gaetz you right back into the Neanderthal cave clubbing your fellow man to death because he doesn't smell like your own tribe.
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Okay, guys, I've gotten a couple of emails and a PM unhappy with the political posts in this thread. Let's get back to the Louisiana situation and leave the rest out. Thanks.
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(https://64.media.tumblr.com/7ba55389fa27ba8f694dabba6c1eb0ba/tumblr_mviotisxrg1qfr6udo5_400.gif)
It was an excess of abandoned
immorality there, the vulgar face
of Beelzebub himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIy7BsWnPrY&t=19s
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Let's work together!!!
https://youtu.be/YavThhrC1ik
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Or stick!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9EbR0ckb40
Guest appearance of the girl from Gonzales, Texas, Mick Jagger didn't really marry, supposedly! I still preferred him to her next husband.
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There is also a Status Quo version.
https://youtu.be/rayV-rgXuzY
This Bryan Ferry version might be considered too lascivious for some school boards, though. It should be viewed with caution.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WhQk19VcX9I
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Even as a Quo fan I have to say that the Quo version is pretty anodyne and awful. It's from an album of covers they try to disown these days - rightfully so. Blame it on the record company, yeah right, lazy bums just didn't feel like writing themselves!
Canned Heat did it best, but Ferry's version has some merit due to his lounge lizard shtick. Though I never thought that the card-carrying Conservative-voting son of a Northern England coal mine employee/farmer (that Bryan was) transported the solidarity message of the song in an especially credible manner. I forever thought that he was singing to/imploring some bird wishing to dump him to give him another chance! :mrgreen: But to be fair, Ferry loves Americana and is also a passionate Dylan fan.
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Let's not forget the original.
https://youtu.be/wnOQpTSMy-M?
And the earlier original of the original.
https://youtu.be/-NSQI51dppg
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How could we, Dave, you played
it on your gramophone all day in
the Great Depression!
(https://media0.giphy.com/media/OjtRa0lp8deuwdhA7J/200w.gif?cid=6c09b952wbega8kyvsg6cvu4r9lby3cvr6k3k3lm96hcirnr&ep=v1_gifs_search&rid=200w.gif&ct=g)
"Mom, I have the new
Harrison shellac!"
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I do have a few shellac 78s.
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Yes, you kept them, Dust Bowl Dixieland and such.
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The idiot principal has now reinstated the girl to her student government position, reinstated her scholarship endorsement, and asked to take leave for the rest of the school year.
Unfortunately, the scholarship deadline has passed.
I hope they sue.
Too little, too late (https://www.wafb.com/2023/10/09/walker-high-principal-reinstates-privileges-senior-after-dancing-video-makes-headlines-mom-says-too-little-too-late/)
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https://youtu.be/M47BCTETw6s
A failure compared to "Game of Love" which came before it and had reached number 1 on Billboard. "It's Just a Little Bit Too Late" only got up to 45.
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The idiot principal has now reinstated the girl to her student government position, reinstated her scholarship endorsement, and asked to take leave for the rest of the school year.
Unfortunately, the scholarship deadline has passed.
I hope they sue.
Too little, too late (https://www.wafb.com/2023/10/09/walker-high-principal-reinstates-privileges-senior-after-dancing-video-makes-headlines-mom-says-too-little-too-late/)
Given the extraordinary circumstances and the Principal's about-face, don't you think there could be a restitutio in integrum/retroacctive grace period applied? It would seem to me to be the pragmatic thing to do. The older I get, the more I love pragmatic solutions.
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Given the extraordinary circumstances and the Principal's about-face, don't you think there could be a restitutio in integrum/retroacctive grace period applied? It would seem to me to be the pragmatic thing to do. The older I get, the more I love pragmatic solutions.
Principals are in a position where they can cause a lot of good or a lot of problems. That one is a jerk.
If an exception is made, unfortunately there's always a rule follower who points to the rules and refuses to do what's reasonable and logical.
Of course, if there is someone sane who permits the process to go through after the deadline, then there will be a pecksniffian who decides to become offended at breaking the rules and raises a ruckus.
One of my friends (a former boss) once made an excellent observation: Some people are dedicated rule followers. They will follow rules fanatically, and if there isn't a rule, they will invent one and enforce it.
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I do have a few shellac 78s.
I didn't know Shellac put out any 78s. ;D
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC7Pkwmllow
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To which my friend Dave will no doubt counter swiftly that he didn’t know either that you even comprehended the historic term ’78 rpm’.
Now get back to your computer game, Tom. :mrgreen:
(https://gifdb.com/images/high/twerking-on-all-fours-zgjrs9qmee7brwn6.gif)
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Twerking is so amusing. It's almost hard to imagine that in some cases it's actually supposed to be considered sexy.
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I find it more life-affirming than sexually alluring too. Let young people move how they want to. Of course they have all grown up watching a million music vids in which painstakingly choreographed overtly sexualized dance moves were and are de rigueur. So what. (I consider the once popular habitual burning of witches as a sociological pastime to have been overall more problematic.)
When I first noticed twerking in RnB/rap music vids more often around the early 90ies - cue in Prince cooing “sexy motherf***er shaking that ass, shaking that ass, shaking that ass” in his song of the same name -, I was reminded of my years in Kinshasa, Zaïre, in the mid-70ies and thought "Oh wow, now they are doing it over here!". It’s how people danced there already back then - tribal cultural heritage. Watching it today, I always see the paleontological aspect of it - hey, at the end of the day we’re all primates, no reason to go ape over a little butt-twitchin'!
(https://media4.giphy.com/media/kaaxdtllCJgQg/giphy.gif)
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https://youtu.be/a8Rwz6zBJSE
This isn't twerking, but when Shakira came out with this video years ago, a number of people raved about how sexy it was the way she was shaking her hips. Somehow, none of that registered with me. It just didn't seem all that sexy to me. But Shakira isn't the only one. There are plenty of artists who try to be sexy by shaking their hips. A lot of the time I just laugh. Now if someone starts stripping, I suppose that's another matter. But even that can only go so far. Like someone once said when the discussion was about usiing sex to sell music, "We want hits, not tits."
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I saw her in concert! As a guardian for my little daughter (and her schoolmate) of course though it turned out that wasn't really necessary, all girls under 13 or so had a kiddie golden circle before stage (no extra charge). You weren't allowed to join them as an adult, but they had women there watching out for them. Teresa and her girlfriend of course went - "Bye Dad, see you after the gig!" (children can be cruel you know) - so I stood there by myself (with other likewise deserted moms and dads).
What can I say? I was entertained. Not just by Ms Isabel Mebarak Ripoll's Mideast-flavored (her dad was born in NYC, but has a Lebanese migratory background) hip movements, but by the fact that her performance followed the dramatics of a hard rock show: a backing band obviously schooled in hard rock, covers of Led Zep and Aerosmith songs, an unaccompanied guitar solo on stage, a drum battle with her (wo)manning a second drum set and playing well.
(https://cdn.justjared.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/shakira-kicks/shakira-kicks-off-el-dorado-tour-05.jpg)
A huge Cobra prop appearing from behind the stage with laser eyes - Eric Bloom of BÖC would have given his left nut for it, Co-Co-Co-Cobra rather than Go-Go-Go-Godzilla! Her drum set elevated along the snake's body all the way to the fangs - Tommy Lee would have perhaps donated a (of course pineapple-scented***) right nut for that I think. The gig really rocked. To an extent that I think it went a little over the heads of all the kids there who only knew her MTV hits.
Of course, after the gig Teresa - then 10 or 11 years old - would stage dress rehearsals in her room with her friends to get those hip movements right! :mrgreen: She'll marry next year, where did the time go?
***Herr Lee holds the - empirically backed, he says - view that a strict pineapple diet for men enhances the taste of male semen for recreational oral consumption by others, thus triggering a motivational thrust. (My wife has never really asked me about those pineapple juice packs I keep stashed at home.)
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Then there's the twerking girl who caught on fire in this viral video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4D7OtW8km4
Which turned out to be a Jimmy Kimmel production.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfO7DFY7Idk
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The twerking fire girl is a good actress, not just a stunt woman, IMO.
As for Shakira, I once knew a guitarist who was obsessed with her. I've never been an obsessed fan of anyone. So it's a little hard for me to identify with that. But I can imagine it. Another thing about Shakira is she sings way better in Spanish than English. Way better.
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"Another thing about Shakira is she sings way better in Spanish than English. Way better."
Sí, es cierto! She sang a lot of her stuff at the gig in Spanish too.
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What still tickles me about the video is the other girl. When she first starts, her legs move like a Hanna-Barbera cartoon character -- they move fast but she's not, then she takes off. All that's missing is a cartoon cloud of dust.
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(https://media.tenor.com/iRdSpSPcd1UAAAAM/road-runner-eggwars.gif)
I can't believe people didn't realize that was staged right from the start. The dramatic fast-moving legs of the other girl and the deus-ex-machina fire extinguisher were dead giveaways.