Say Anything Blog

As long as he didn’t actually bring the sword to school, I really don’t see where the problem is.

"No Sane man will dance.”—Cicero

This is nothing but liberal PC foolishness.  We (or some--not Torres or chickens) fought a Revolutionary War to rid ourselves of being subjects to King George III.

Communism is evil

I imagine a school yearbook is a school publication, in which case the school can set the rules.

Though anarchy in the halls sounds pretty enticing…

The kid can get his own website and show as many pictures of himself with his sword as he wants. 

I actually agree with Dave and think this has nothing to do with PC run amok.  The school sets the rules here, either change the rules or don’t participate.  Simple as that. 

If this outrages you, I think you may be reading a little too much into it.

This principal is making a wrong decision.

“One of Patrick’s extracurricular activities has been participation with his family in the SCA, the Society for Creative Anachronism.” That international society, with many thousands of members, “promotes research and reenactment of the medieval period, the years 400-1600 in the then known world,” Ms. Farrington said.
[...]
“I tried to talk to Mr. Littlefield about it, to show him that it wasn’t about weapons or school safety but about something i enjoy and that I have learned a lot from,” Mr. Agin said. “And I pointed out that the the school mascot (Patriot) has a gun and a sword” — to no avail.

Every yearbook that I have has multiple pictures of the schools’ mascots.  Is the principal going to photoshop pictures of the mascot?  Doubtful, and if so, why not make the mascot something wuss-like… like a “Port[smouth] Whooping Crane.”

On weapons… I would imagine that more people are assulted each year with baseball bats than swords here in America.  I doubt the principal will ban pictures of the baseball team that have bats in them.

If the school administration is going to set rules about pictures of weapons, they need to be consistent.  Not pick on a kid who has a legitimate activity that involves swords.

Actually school yearbooks are produced by outside contractors, and they are the ones who have final say over what they print. This kid can send the picture he wants direct to the printer, and they can decide. School has very little say over what is done outside of their buildings/grounds.

Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem

2hotel9: Then I guess this kid should hold his sword for the picture. According to you, the principal and other school officials won’t be able to do anything to stop it.

2hotel9:
you’re just wrong about your assertion.  Most of the work for the High School yearbook is done at the high school itself, it is sanctioned by the high school.  You know, the whole yearbook committee thing.  To think that this the schoolboard has no say in what goes in it is ridiculous.

And come on, this is a yearbook for crying out loud.  Where are we supposed to draw the line?  Kids with hunting knives acting like they are slashing their throats? handguns pointed at the photographer?  This shouldn’t be such a big deal and it is not infringing on anyone’s rights.  You don’t have to have a yearbook photo in your yearbook.  There are bigger issues out there.

J.R.:
The kid isn’t even wielding the broadsword, let alone making any threatening gestures with it.  To put that in the same category as throat slashing and holding someone at gunpoint (albeit in a not-actually-threatening manner) is ridiculous.  Since he’s a member of the SCA, it’s not even so much a weapon as a part of who he is.

I do have to agree with the first part of your comment though.  In my experience at least, even though the printing of the yearbook is done by an outside contractor, all the work of putting it together was done by the highschool students themselves, usually with some sort of faculty advisor.

"No Sane man will dance.”—Cicero

Our crazy world has become so politically correct. Hmm...I am thinking we all need to relax.

Daniel,

I know my examples were completely on the extreme side.  I was just trying to make a point.  There is no need for him to have a photo in the yearbook with his sword, threatening or not.  The school board has to draw the line somewhere and unfortunately his picture didn’t make the cut.