Antisemitic incident at Blair

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids being kids. Blah Blah

I assume you’d say the same thing if someone scrawled an anti-Black or anti-LGBTQ slur on the wall of a school, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
My kids went/go to Bethesda-area MCPS schools. There have been swastikas drawn on walls and desks over the years.

Nazi symbols are co-opted by kids who want to rebel against "the establishment". I very much doubt that they are specifically antisemitic, or anti-Israel or anti-Jew. I do not believe that this wealthy area, full of opportunities for everyone, has a population that suffers economically such that they would need to level hate against a specific group. I would like to remind you that historically, that sort of backlash happens under intense stress - Covid lockdowns for anti-Asian crimes, severe economic and social trauma in pre-WWII Germany leading to the rise of the Nazi party.

Un-prepared or rebellious adolescents who are bored and looking to find themselves and belong to a tribe will lash out against LGBT+, Jews, Muslims, any group perceived to be "other" than the tribe they aspire to belong to.

Exercises in wellness and tolerance can be a double-edged sword, because you can certainly educate the majority of kids who respect authority, but you're pushing the rebels to act out just because they've been told not to.

So in that context, a swastika isn't a "I hate Jews" sort of thing, but a "I just had yet another stupid assembly and I'm going to spray a swastika on this school wall to let everyone know I won't be brainwashed." The symbol is guaranteed to provoke everybody. If there was an easy anti-LGBT symbol, or an easy anti-Muslim symbol, they'd use them too! This is why the "gay" slur is the verbal equivalent of the sprayed swastika. The kids are looking to trigger their communities into outrage. They're little trolls.

The response has to be consistent education on tolerance. But it shouldn't lead you to clutch your pearls and panic, because otherwise you're just giving them what they want: attention.

If this was anti LGBT, this would be dealt with. Any hate against Jews, Muslims and Asians gets ignored. I don't care what the reason is. MCPS is claiming to they don't tolerate hate when they just don't tolerate it for specific groups that they are impacted by or scream the loudest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids went/go to Bethesda-area MCPS schools. There have been swastikas drawn on walls and desks over the years.

Nazi symbols are co-opted by kids who want to rebel against "the establishment". I very much doubt that they are specifically antisemitic, or anti-Israel or anti-Jew. I do not believe that this wealthy area, full of opportunities for everyone, has a population that suffers economically such that they would need to level hate against a specific group. I would like to remind you that historically, that sort of backlash happens under intense stress - Covid lockdowns for anti-Asian crimes, severe economic and social trauma in pre-WWII Germany leading to the rise of the Nazi party.

Un-prepared or rebellious adolescents who are bored and looking to find themselves and belong to a tribe will lash out against LGBT+, Jews, Muslims, any group perceived to be "other" than the tribe they aspire to belong to.

Exercises in wellness and tolerance can be a double-edged sword, because you can certainly educate the majority of kids who respect authority, but you're pushing the rebels to act out just because they've been told not to.

So in that context, a swastika isn't a "I hate Jews" sort of thing, but a "I just had yet another stupid assembly and I'm going to spray a swastika on this school wall to let everyone know I won't be brainwashed." The symbol is guaranteed to provoke everybody. If there was an easy anti-LGBT symbol, or an easy anti-Muslim symbol, they'd use them too! This is why the "gay" slur is the verbal equivalent of the sprayed swastika. The kids are looking to trigger their communities into outrage. They're little trolls.

The response has to be consistent education on tolerance. But it shouldn't lead you to clutch your pearls and panic, because otherwise you're just giving them what they want: attention.

If this was anti LGBT, this would be dealt with. Any hate against Jews, Muslims and Asians gets ignored. I don't care what the reason is. MCPS is claiming to they don't tolerate hate when they just don't tolerate it for specific groups that they are impacted by or scream the loudest.

It gets ignored or you have people saying it’s just kids being kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids went/go to Bethesda-area MCPS schools. There have been swastikas drawn on walls and desks over the years.

Nazi symbols are co-opted by kids who want to rebel against "the establishment". I very much doubt that they are specifically antisemitic, or anti-Israel or anti-Jew. I do not believe that this wealthy area, full of opportunities for everyone, has a population that suffers economically such that they would need to level hate against a specific group. I would like to remind you that historically, that sort of backlash happens under intense stress - Covid lockdowns for anti-Asian crimes, severe economic and social trauma in pre-WWII Germany leading to the rise of the Nazi party.

Un-prepared or rebellious adolescents who are bored and looking to find themselves and belong to a tribe will lash out against LGBT+, Jews, Muslims, any group perceived to be "other" than the tribe they aspire to belong to.

Exercises in wellness and tolerance can be a double-edged sword, because you can certainly educate the majority of kids who respect authority, but you're pushing the rebels to act out just because they've been told not to.

So in that context, a swastika isn't a "I hate Jews" sort of thing, but a "I just had yet another stupid assembly and I'm going to spray a swastika on this school wall to let everyone know I won't be brainwashed." The symbol is guaranteed to provoke everybody. If there was an easy anti-LGBT symbol, or an easy anti-Muslim symbol, they'd use them too! This is why the "gay" slur is the verbal equivalent of the sprayed swastika. The kids are looking to trigger their communities into outrage. They're little trolls.

The response has to be consistent education on tolerance. But it shouldn't lead you to clutch your pearls and panic, because otherwise you're just giving them what they want: attention.

If this was anti LGBT, this would be dealt with. Any hate against Jews, Muslims and Asians gets ignored. I don't care what the reason is. MCPS is claiming to they don't tolerate hate when they just don't tolerate it for specific groups that they are impacted by or scream the loudest.

It gets ignored or you have people saying it’s just kids being kids.

It doesn't get ignored in real life. On DCUM, you get some anonymous randos minimizing or excusing it, which I don't understand, but DCUM is not real life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids went/go to Bethesda-area MCPS schools. There have been swastikas drawn on walls and desks over the years.

Nazi symbols are co-opted by kids who want to rebel against "the establishment". I very much doubt that they are specifically antisemitic, or anti-Israel or anti-Jew. I do not believe that this wealthy area, full of opportunities for everyone, has a population that suffers economically such that they would need to level hate against a specific group. I would like to remind you that historically, that sort of backlash happens under intense stress - Covid lockdowns for anti-Asian crimes, severe economic and social trauma in pre-WWII Germany leading to the rise of the Nazi party.

Un-prepared or rebellious adolescents who are bored and looking to find themselves and belong to a tribe will lash out against LGBT+, Jews, Muslims, any group perceived to be "other" than the tribe they aspire to belong to.

Exercises in wellness and tolerance can be a double-edged sword, because you can certainly educate the majority of kids who respect authority, but you're pushing the rebels to act out just because they've been told not to.

So in that context, a swastika isn't a "I hate Jews" sort of thing, but a "I just had yet another stupid assembly and I'm going to spray a swastika on this school wall to let everyone know I won't be brainwashed." The symbol is guaranteed to provoke everybody. If there was an easy anti-LGBT symbol, or an easy anti-Muslim symbol, they'd use them too! This is why the "gay" slur is the verbal equivalent of the sprayed swastika. The kids are looking to trigger their communities into outrage. They're little trolls.

The response has to be consistent education on tolerance. But it shouldn't lead you to clutch your pearls and panic, because otherwise you're just giving them what they want: attention.

If this was anti LGBT, this would be dealt with. Any hate against Jews, Muslims and Asians gets ignored. I don't care what the reason is. MCPS is claiming to they don't tolerate hate when they just don't tolerate it for specific groups that they are impacted by or scream the loudest.

It gets ignored or you have people saying it’s just kids being kids.

It doesn't get ignored in real life. On DCUM, you get some anonymous randos minimizing or excusing it, which I don't understand, but DCUM is not real life.

It absolutely gets minimized in real life. We get platitudes, but ultimately people don’t take it seriously as a threat because most people consider us:

- Privileged
- White
- Complicit in Israel’s crimes

[Anonymous]

I'm not minimizing an anti-semitic incident. I said it should be taken seriously and the kids should be disciplined EVEN if it was unintentional, because I think you have to take this that seriously. My sense is that the incident probably made Jewish students feel very uneasy and that alone is enough to justify disciplining these kids, even if their actions were the result of ignorance or stupidity rather than actual anti-semitism.

But I think it's worth it to stop and ask ourselves if we really think a group of Blair students got together in the middle of the school day, decided to do a Hitler salute, practiced it in front of other students, and then went outside to take a photo of themselves doing it. I just think it's worth noting that this sounds implausible in this community because this would be a level of overt Nazi sympathizing that does not make sense with what I know of the community. There is of course anti-semitic sentiment around here, but it is much more covert than that and the people who share those sentiments generally don't view themselves as Nazis and in fact would condemn Nazism.

I just think we should maybe consider that this was more of an unfortunate misunderstanding than evidence that Blair harbors a group of Nazi students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Horrible. There was a recent incident at Loiderman middle school where an antisemitic symbol was found drawn in a folder in the art room. From my understanding they do not know who drew it. The principal sent a message home. We need to do better as a society. It was a teachable moment for my middle and elementary school kids to recognize symbols of hate and to know why they are harmful

Hi , I’m the OP, I’m 48 and went to Mcps. There would be swastikas etched on desks when I was in schoo. Stuff like that never made the news

Kids were suspended over this kind of stuff when I went to MCPS.

It happens at the W's almost weekly and just gets swept under the rug.

The obvious solution is busing, amiright?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids went/go to Bethesda-area MCPS schools. There have been swastikas drawn on walls and desks over the years.

Nazi symbols are co-opted by kids who want to rebel against "the establishment". I very much doubt that they are specifically antisemitic, or anti-Israel or anti-Jew. I do not believe that this wealthy area, full of opportunities for everyone, has a population that suffers economically such that they would need to level hate against a specific group. I would like to remind you that historically, that sort of backlash happens under intense stress - Covid lockdowns for anti-Asian crimes, severe economic and social trauma in pre-WWII Germany leading to the rise of the Nazi party.

Un-prepared or rebellious adolescents who are bored and looking to find themselves and belong to a tribe will lash out against LGBT+, Jews, Muslims, any group perceived to be "other" than the tribe they aspire to belong to.

Exercises in wellness and tolerance can be a double-edged sword, because you can certainly educate the majority of kids who respect authority, but you're pushing the rebels to act out just because they've been told not to.

So in that context, a swastika isn't a "I hate Jews" sort of thing, but a "I just had yet another stupid assembly and I'm going to spray a swastika on this school wall to let everyone know I won't be brainwashed." The symbol is guaranteed to provoke everybody. If there was an easy anti-LGBT symbol, or an easy anti-Muslim symbol, they'd use them too! This is why the "gay" slur is the verbal equivalent of the sprayed swastika. The kids are looking to trigger their communities into outrage. They're little trolls.

The response has to be consistent education on tolerance. But it shouldn't lead you to clutch your pearls and panic, because otherwise you're just giving them what they want: attention.

If this was anti LGBT, this would be dealt with. Any hate against Jews, Muslims and Asians gets ignored. I don't care what the reason is. MCPS is claiming to they don't tolerate hate when they just don't tolerate it for specific groups that they are impacted by or scream the loudest.

The police were called, there is an investigation, a letter was sent to the Blair families, and now a news article. What more do you want?!?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids went/go to Bethesda-area MCPS schools. There have been swastikas drawn on walls and desks over the years.

Nazi symbols are co-opted by kids who want to rebel against "the establishment". I very much doubt that they are specifically antisemitic, or anti-Israel or anti-Jew. I do not believe that this wealthy area, full of opportunities for everyone, has a population that suffers economically such that they would need to level hate against a specific group. I would like to remind you that historically, that sort of backlash happens under intense stress - Covid lockdowns for anti-Asian crimes, severe economic and social trauma in pre-WWII Germany leading to the rise of the Nazi party.

Un-prepared or rebellious adolescents who are bored and looking to find themselves and belong to a tribe will lash out against LGBT+, Jews, Muslims, any group perceived to be "other" than the tribe they aspire to belong to.

Exercises in wellness and tolerance can be a double-edged sword, because you can certainly educate the majority of kids who respect authority, but you're pushing the rebels to act out just because they've been told not to.

So in that context, a swastika isn't a "I hate Jews" sort of thing, but a "I just had yet another stupid assembly and I'm going to spray a swastika on this school wall to let everyone know I won't be brainwashed." The symbol is guaranteed to provoke everybody. If there was an easy anti-LGBT symbol, or an easy anti-Muslim symbol, they'd use them too! This is why the "gay" slur is the verbal equivalent of the sprayed swastika. The kids are looking to trigger their communities into outrage. They're little trolls.

The response has to be consistent education on tolerance. But it shouldn't lead you to clutch your pearls and panic, because otherwise you're just giving them what they want: attention.

If this was anti LGBT, this would be dealt with. Any hate against Jews, Muslims and Asians gets ignored. I don't care what the reason is. MCPS is claiming to they don't tolerate hate when they just don't tolerate it for specific groups that they are impacted by or scream the loudest.

The police were called, there is an investigation, a letter was sent to the Blair families, and now a news article. What more do you want?!?

I’d like people to stop questioning whether this is actually antisemitism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not minimizing an anti-semitic incident. I said it should be taken seriously and the kids should be disciplined EVEN if it was unintentional, because I think you have to take this that seriously. My sense is that the incident probably made Jewish students feel very uneasy and that alone is enough to justify disciplining these kids, even if their actions were the result of ignorance or stupidity rather than actual anti-semitism.

But I think it's worth it to stop and ask ourselves if we really think a group of Blair students got together in the middle of the school day, decided to do a Hitler salute, practiced it in front of other students, and then went outside to take a photo of themselves doing it. I just think it's worth noting that this sounds implausible in this community because this would be a level of overt Nazi sympathizing that does not make sense with what I know of the community. There is of course anti-semitic sentiment around here, but it is much more covert than that and the people who share those sentiments generally don't view themselves as Nazis and in fact would condemn Nazism.

I just think we should maybe consider that this was more of an unfortunate misunderstanding than evidence that Blair harbors a group of Nazi students.

Just stop. You keep digging yourself into a deeper hole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids went/go to Bethesda-area MCPS schools. There have been swastikas drawn on walls and desks over the years.

Nazi symbols are co-opted by kids who want to rebel against "the establishment". I very much doubt that they are specifically antisemitic, or anti-Israel or anti-Jew. I do not believe that this wealthy area, full of opportunities for everyone, has a population that suffers economically such that they would need to level hate against a specific group. I would like to remind you that historically, that sort of backlash happens under intense stress - Covid lockdowns for anti-Asian crimes, severe economic and social trauma in pre-WWII Germany leading to the rise of the Nazi party.

Un-prepared or rebellious adolescents who are bored and looking to find themselves and belong to a tribe will lash out against LGBT+, Jews, Muslims, any group perceived to be "other" than the tribe they aspire to belong to.

Exercises in wellness and tolerance can be a double-edged sword, because you can certainly educate the majority of kids who respect authority, but you're pushing the rebels to act out just because they've been told not to.

So in that context, a swastika isn't a "I hate Jews" sort of thing, but a "I just had yet another stupid assembly and I'm going to spray a swastika on this school wall to let everyone know I won't be brainwashed." The symbol is guaranteed to provoke everybody. If there was an easy anti-LGBT symbol, or an easy anti-Muslim symbol, they'd use them too! This is why the "gay" slur is the verbal equivalent of the sprayed swastika. The kids are looking to trigger their communities into outrage. They're little trolls.

The response has to be consistent education on tolerance. But it shouldn't lead you to clutch your pearls and panic, because otherwise you're just giving them what they want: attention.

If this was anti LGBT, this would be dealt with. Any hate against Jews, Muslims and Asians gets ignored. I don't care what the reason is. MCPS is claiming to they don't tolerate hate when they just don't tolerate it for specific groups that they are impacted by or scream the loudest.

The police were called, there is an investigation, a letter was sent to the Blair families, and now a news article. What more do you want?!?

+1 At least one PP seems determined to feel personally victimized here despite having no apparent tie to Blair and despite the school taking this seriously and naming it as an antisemitic incident.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids went/go to Bethesda-area MCPS schools. There have been swastikas drawn on walls and desks over the years.

Nazi symbols are co-opted by kids who want to rebel against "the establishment". I very much doubt that they are specifically antisemitic, or anti-Israel or anti-Jew. I do not believe that this wealthy area, full of opportunities for everyone, has a population that suffers economically such that they would need to level hate against a specific group. I would like to remind you that historically, that sort of backlash happens under intense stress - Covid lockdowns for anti-Asian crimes, severe economic and social trauma in pre-WWII Germany leading to the rise of the Nazi party.

Un-prepared or rebellious adolescents who are bored and looking to find themselves and belong to a tribe will lash out against LGBT+, Jews, Muslims, any group perceived to be "other" than the tribe they aspire to belong to.

Exercises in wellness and tolerance can be a double-edged sword, because you can certainly educate the majority of kids who respect authority, but you're pushing the rebels to act out just because they've been told not to.

So in that context, a swastika isn't a "I hate Jews" sort of thing, but a "I just had yet another stupid assembly and I'm going to spray a swastika on this school wall to let everyone know I won't be brainwashed." The symbol is guaranteed to provoke everybody. If there was an easy anti-LGBT symbol, or an easy anti-Muslim symbol, they'd use them too! This is why the "gay" slur is the verbal equivalent of the sprayed swastika. The kids are looking to trigger their communities into outrage. They're little trolls.

The response has to be consistent education on tolerance. But it shouldn't lead you to clutch your pearls and panic, because otherwise you're just giving them what they want: attention.

If this was anti LGBT, this would be dealt with. Any hate against Jews, Muslims and Asians gets ignored. I don't care what the reason is. MCPS is claiming to they don't tolerate hate when they just don't tolerate it for specific groups that they are impacted by or scream the loudest.

The police were called, there is an investigation, a letter was sent to the Blair families, and now a news article. What more do you want?!?

I’d like people to stop questioning whether this is actually antisemitism.

You just said MCPS only responds if it’s LGBT. That’s completely untrue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids being kids. Blah Blah

I assume you’d say the same thing if someone scrawled an anti-Black or anti-LGBTQ slur on the wall of a school, right?

Who cares. It is racist to be upset. When I was a kid we call each other a dirty blank, Cheap, blank, dumb blank and write people we say Dago, Polock, Mick etc.

Then we all go play basketball together or pinball and hangout.

Now it is a race crime to be a kid. Do you guys ever watch Archie Bunker? His neighbor was black he lived in a neighborhood of all races and religions and as such said things big deal. He could say it as they were his friends. Archie Bunker was kissed by a Black Man on TV!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
My kids went/go to Bethesda-area MCPS schools. There have been swastikas drawn on walls and desks over the years.

Nazi symbols are co-opted by kids who want to rebel against "the establishment". I very much doubt that they are specifically antisemitic, or anti-Israel or anti-Jew. I do not believe that this wealthy area, full of opportunities for everyone, has a population that suffers economically such that they would need to level hate against a specific group. I would like to remind you that historically, that sort of backlash happens under intense stress - Covid lockdowns for anti-Asian crimes, severe economic and social trauma in pre-WWII Germany leading to the rise of the Nazi party.

Un-prepared or rebellious adolescents who are bored and looking to find themselves and belong to a tribe will lash out against LGBT+, Jews, Muslims, any group perceived to be "other" than the tribe they aspire to belong to.

Exercises in wellness and tolerance can be a double-edged sword, because you can certainly educate the majority of kids who respect authority, but you're pushing the rebels to act out just because they've been told not to.

So in that context, a swastika isn't a "I hate Jews" sort of thing, but a "I just had yet another stupid assembly and I'm going to spray a swastika on this school wall to let everyone know I won't be brainwashed." The symbol is guaranteed to provoke everybody. If there was an easy anti-LGBT symbol, or an easy anti-Muslim symbol, they'd use them too! This is why the "gay" slur is the verbal equivalent of the sprayed swastika. The kids are looking to trigger their communities into outrage. They're little trolls.

The response has to be consistent education on tolerance. But it shouldn't lead you to clutch your pearls and panic, because otherwise you're just giving them what they want: attention.

If this was anti LGBT, this would be dealt with. Any hate against Jews, Muslims and Asians gets ignored. I don't care what the reason is. MCPS is claiming to they don't tolerate hate when they just don't tolerate it for specific groups that they are impacted by or scream the loudest.

The police were called, there is an investigation, a letter was sent to the Blair families, and now a news article. What more do you want?!?

I’d like people to stop questioning whether this is actually antisemitism.

You just said MCPS only responds if it’s LGBT. That’s completely untrue.

That wasn’t me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids being kids. Blah Blah

I assume you’d say the same thing if someone scrawled an anti-Black or anti-LGBTQ slur on the wall of a school, right?

Who cares. It is racist to be upset. When I was a kid we call each other a dirty blank, Cheap, blank, dumb blank and write people we say Dago, Polock, Mick etc.

Then we all go play basketball together or pinball and hangout.

Now it is a race crime to be a kid. Do you guys ever watch Archie Bunker? His neighbor was black he lived in a neighborhood of all races and religions and as such said things big deal. He could say it as they were his friends. Archie Bunker was kissed by a Black Man on TV!!

WTH are you talking about?!