[quote]A Windsor high school student has been suspended after accusing schools of abandoning Christmas and the national anthem and then making disparaging comments about minority students on her Facebook page.
Natasha Burge, 19, reposted a comment Nov. 3 saying those who feel offended by Christmas celebrations and the singing of the national anthem at school should "please feel free to go back to your own (expletive) country,"
Burge goes on to suggest walking through Kennedy Collegiate dressed up as Santa and "screaming merry christmas to the arabs, pakis, towel heads and whatever other race that doesnt like it."
Burge said she was called in to meet the vice-principal Wednesday, shown a printout of the original comment and told she was under suspension until Monday.
Burge claims she was given no more explanation and, when she returned Thursday to try to discuss the matter, was told to leave or face further discipline.
"It's ridiculous I get suspended over something I believe in - we should be allowed to say, 'Merry Christmas,'" said Burge, who is enrolled in fifthyear Grade 12 courses.
"If you don't like it, delete it off your wall or unfriend me," she said of the options available to the Facebook friend who alerted school authorities.
Those authorities said Thursday they were not permitted to comment publicly in respect to disciplinary action involving specific individuals.
Kennedy principal Al Timmins said the issue was being dealt with internally and that suspensions can be meted out "for a variety of reasons."
Public school board spokesman Scott Scantlebury said any actions by pupils, including "inappropriate" Facebook posts, that are deemed to negatively affect "the moral tone of a school" can, under Ontario's Safe Schools Act, be dealt with by a suspension.
When it comes to a school's code of conduct, Scantlebury said that, "as with the law, ignorance is not an excuse."
Kennedy is "an extremely multicultural" school, with students of 52 national and cultural backgrounds, he said.
The publicly funded school board says it must take all represented cultures into consideration, but making a big deal of O Canada and Christmas appears to still be OK.
"Given that so many of our students are of Christian faith, we can't negate the fact (that Christmas) is a major religious occasion," said Rachel Olivero, diversity officer with the Greater Essex County District School Board.
When it comes to free speech, people are entitled to their opinions - until it reaches a point of intolerance, she said.
"When somebody says, 'Go back to your own country' ... that incites hatred," said Olivero.
Tolerance is the important thing, she said.
"In 2011, can we celebrate Christmas in our schools? Absolutely - say Merry Christmas!" she said. "At the same time, don't be offended if someone comes up to you at another time of year and says, 'Eid Mubarak' or 'Happy Diwali,'" she added.
Burge said she doesn't agree with the suggestion to send people who think differently back to other countries, but she concurs with the sentiment of the original posting that new Canadians should accept that Christmas and the national anthem are important traditions in the local school system.
"It's something I strongly believe in ... people should adapt to the way Canada is," Burge told The Star.
And the student, who plans on moving on to college next, with dreams of one day becoming a firefighter, said her comments were not intended to be hurtful to others.
"Everybody knows I'm not racist. I have a lot of friends who are Arabic, Pakistani, blacks," said Burge. But she agreed others might not see it that way based on her Facebook musings and postings.
Read more: [url]http://www.windsorstar.com/life/Teen+suspended+facebook+flap/5834438/story.html#ixzz1gD6y0wmp[/url][/quote]
Personally, I believe that schools, let alone people have no right to dictate who can say what about religion. If a christian says merry Christmas, suck it up and walk the fuck off. If a Jew says happy Hanukkah, suck it up and deal with it. You come to a christian country, smarten the fuck up and accept Christian beliefs, holidays and ideals. We would do the same for your country. Going on to call them ragheads and such is harsh and discriminatory, saying "Merry Christmas" is a kind gesture and if you don't like it, then get the fuck out of my country or deal with it. Your rights do not give you the ability to dictate what is said and who says it. Jehovah's can go door to door, Muslims can play that loud ass horn, I will say Merry Christmas and you can take that right away over my dead body.
I agree with her, but not like as harshly, I think they should harden up and accept other peoples beliefs.
What annoys me more is the fact that schools can discipline students for posting facebook statuses that don't agree with their code of conduct.
Natasha Burge seems like kind of an idiot. "Everyone knows I'm not racist" and yet she said the word "towelhead." So what's racist in her book?
Personally, I would love being wished a happy holiday, even if I didn't celebrate it necessarily.
19 and still in High school? Is that normal in Canada?
Happy holidays :downs:
In a way i agree with her; but she's being an ignorant little bitch about it, just like the people who are offended by christmas.
Here in philadelphia we have a small tradition of a small market being set up around the downtown area called "The Christmas Village". Last year someone wrote the city taking offense to it, so they removed "Christmas" and instead it was just a small market, built to look like small cabins that sold christmas ornaments and baked goods, called "The Village".
People need to just shut the fuck up and deal with things.
I fail to understand where this attitude comes from. You can say Merry Christmas or whatever and not get in trouble in school. As far as I know the national anthem is still sung. So what the fuck?
[QUOTE=Penultimate;33668567]Natasha Burge seems like kind of an idiot. "Everyone knows I'm not racist" and yet she said the word "towelhead." So what's racist in her book?[/QUOTE]
She probably used "towelhead" as just a derisive word towards them, but she doesn't really have hate towards them like racists do.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;33668583]Happy holidays :downs:[/QUOTE]
The funny thing is, a lot of people actually take offense to even THAT. They often relate it to saying "african americans" other than blacks to avoid sounding racist, insisting that saying "happy holidays" only implies avoidance to saying "merry christmas" because it's religious.
[QUOTE=Ninja Duck;33668631]She probably used "towelhead" as just a derisive word towards them, but she doesn't really have hate towards them like racists do.[/QUOTE]
I really doubt that based on the context.
Yeah, I'm not sure I've ever heard somebody called a "towelhead" affectionately.
I know on chinese new year, I love to go around my school dressed like a dragon yelling "HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR CRACKERS"
[QUOTE=Gundevil;33668517] You come to a christian country, smarten the fuck up and accept Christian beliefs, holidays and ideals.[/QUOTE]
This ain't a christian country, buddy.
[QUOTE=Gundevil;33668517]You come to a christian country, smarten the fuck up and accept Christian beliefs, holidays and ideals. We would do the same for your country. Going on to call them ragheads and such is harsh and discriminatory, saying "Merry Christmas" is a kind gesture and if you don't like it, then get the fuck out of my country or deal with it. Your rights do not give you the ability to dictate what is said and who says it. Jehovah's can go door to door, Muslims can play that loud ass horn, I will say Merry Christmas and you can take that right away over my dead body.[/QUOTE]
who on earth are you shouting at?
[QUOTE=Gundevil;33668517]You come to a christian country[/QUOTE]
Canada? A country that takes pride in being multicultural?
ugh, while i agree with the notion of freedom of speech that should never be taken away, this insipid little runt of a high schooler is a good example of its abuse.
i, begrudgingly, think she shouldn't have been suspended.
[QUOTE=Gundevil;33668517]You come to a christian country, smarten the fuck up and accept Christian beliefs, holidays and ideals. We would do the same for your country. Going on to call them ragheads and such is harsh and discriminatory, saying "Merry Christmas" is a kind gesture and if you don't like it, then get the fuck out of my country or deal with it. Your rights do not give you the ability to dictate what is said and who says it. Jehovah's can go door to door, Muslims can play that loud ass horn, I will say Merry Christmas and you can take that right away over my dead body.[/QUOTE]
You act like everyone had a choice of moving/being born in their situation or location.
[QUOTE=Gundevil;33668517]Personally, I believe that schools, let alone people have no right to dictate who can say what about religion. If a christian says merry Christmas, suck it up and walk the fuck off. If a Jew says happy Hanukkah, suck it up and deal with it. [B]You come to a christian country, smarten the fuck up and accept Christian beliefs,[/B] holidays and ideals. We would do the same for your country. Going on to call them ragheads and such is harsh and discriminatory, saying "Merry Christmas" is a kind gesture and if you don't like it, then get the fuck out of my country or deal with it. Your rights do not give you the ability to dictate what is said and who says it. Jehovah's can go door to door, Muslims can play that loud ass horn, I will say Merry Christmas and you can take that right away over my dead body.[/QUOTE]
canada is a roman-catholic country :downs:
[QUOTE=thisispain;33668847]ugh, while i agree with the notion of freedom of speech that should never be taken away, this insipid little runt of a high schooler is a good example of its abuse.
i, begrudgingly, think she shouldn't have been suspended.[/QUOTE]Why not? She was obviously acting discriminatory against other beliefs and races. She handled it like a bitch too.
[editline]11th December 2011[/editline]
[QUOTE=JimmyA;33668863]canada is a roman-catholic country :downs:[/QUOTE]
Catholics are not christians?
[QUOTE=darkzero226;33668757]This ain't a christian country, buddy.[/QUOTE]
It is in the sense most people in the country practice christianity. It isn't an officially christian country, but it is filled with christians. So his point still stands. If you are going to get butthurt over people celebrating and talking about christmas, you are probably in the wrong country.
It would be like me going to Saudi Arabia and getting pissed when people talk about Ramadan and Islam.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;33668878]Why not? She was obviously acting discriminatory against other beliefs and races. She handled it like a bitch too.[/QUOTE]
principle.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;33668884]It is in the sense most people in the country practice christianity. It isn't an officially christian country, but it is filled with christians. So his point still stands. If you are going to get butthurt over people celebrating and talking about christmas, you are probably in the wrong country.
It would be like me going to Saudi Arabia and getting pissed when people talk about Ramadan and Islam.[/QUOTE]
everyone i knew from canada was a catholic, usually roman-catholics, 33.3% percent of people i knew were christian.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;33668878]Why not? She was obviously acting discriminatory against other beliefs and races. She handled it like a bitch too.
[/QUOTE]
Don't Canadians have free speech rights? She didn't say anything at school, so the school shouldn't punish her.
I'm all for respecting everyone's religion but I don't get these people offended by a "Christmas celebration"
I mean for one thing, it's barely even a Christian thing in the first place. Second, it's not like they're condemning other religions or anything.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;33668884]
It would be like me going to Saudi Arabia and getting pissed when people talk about Ramadan and Islam.[/QUOTE]
woah you're totally misunderstanding what the story is.
she said paki's and towel heads and thus was suspended for saying weird shit.
how that turned into "people got butthurt over her saying christmas i have no idea"
[QUOTE=JimmyA;33668898]everyone i knew from canada was a catholic, usually roman-catholics, 33.3% percent of people i knew were christian.[/QUOTE]
Um Roman-Catholic is a sect of Christianity, in fact most other sects of Christianity trace back to Catholicism in some way.
[QUOTE=yawmwen;33668899]Don't Canadians have free speech rights? She didn't say anything at school, so the school shouldn't punish her.[/QUOTE]
Schools punishing students for what they do outside of school happens all the time unfortunately. Doesn't make much sense to me.
[QUOTE=AceOfDivine;33668878]
Catholics are not christians?[/QUOTE]
well very religious non-catholic christians would consider catholicism a perversion of christianity. maybe that's his angle
[quote] We would do the same for your country. [/quote]
Saldy most from the USA probably wouldn't
[QUOTE=yawmwen;33668899]Don't Canadians have free speech rights? She didn't say anything at school, so the school shouldn't punish her.[/QUOTE]
[quote]Burge goes on to suggest walking through Kennedy Collegiate dressed up as Santa and "screaming merry christmas to the arabs, pakis, towel heads and whatever other race that doesnt like it."[/quote]
Sure she hasn't done that yet but suggesting it should be a good reason to suspend her for some time imo.
Free speech != hate speech.
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