Via ABC News WJLA: Fairfax Co. parents rally before school board meeting over ‘malicious misgendering’ policy
Ok, twisted headline from their site. The Fairfax County School Board is voting on a policy that will label “misgendering” “malicious” which will allow a child to be suspended for bullying.
Thus if Jimmy puts on a skirt, walks into the girls bathroom to take a dump and somebody says “Dude! What do you think you are doing?”
The person doing the questioning is a bully and can be suspended.
If Jimmy, in his dress in class, over hears Jill say to Sally, “He’s a freak” She can get suspended as a bully for the “He’s” but not “a freak”
In this case a number of Fairfax County Parents organized a rally to fight for first amendment rights for their kids and to stop this stupidity.
“This is a violation of our children’s first amendment rights,” said one protesting parent. “We should not be for compelled speech, no one should.”
After a late night debate over the adoption of the district’s latest Student Rights and Responsibilities Handbook which largely focused on the future of cellphones in FCPS classrooms, the board decided to pass the amendments with a number of follow-on options.
Comments
3 responses to “Words Have Meaning: “Malicious Misgendering” edition”
Just sitting here, shaking my head.. I feel like I’m watching America doing the last and fastest circuit in the toilet, just waiting to see it disappear to that familiar gurgling sound.
Okay, thought about it a bit as my pulse started getting back to normal.
məˈliSHəs]
ADJECTIVE
characterized by malice; intending or intended to do harm:
“the transmission of malicious software such as computer viruses” · [more]
synonyms:
spiteful · malevolent · hostile · bitter · venomous · poisonous · evil-intentioned · ill-natured · evil · baleful · vindictive · vengeful · vitriolic · rancorous · malign · malignant · pernicious · mean · [more]
How can they just attribute Motive? Some people have ethics. They don’t want to participate in someone else’s delusion. Wasn’t long ago when supporting someone’s mental illness was called an Enabler. Not being an enabler is not malicious.
Malicious implies intent. It means there was an intent to do harm, as pointed out be Nolan.
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Saying “Dude! WTF are you doing?” is not intended to cause harm. It is intended to express surprise or disbelief. Solely because the person hearing it is offended does not pass any test of reasonableness. It should not be used as justification for suspension.
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I hold no responsibility whatsoever to ensure you are never offended by my casual use of words. However, if it can be demonstrated that I knowingly and deliberately chose to misgender you, and I did so because I wanted to cause offense, then I am bullying. So, go on and demonstrate that I reasonably knew that my words were said to harm you.
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Now, the parents should be outraged at this policy because it assumes malicious intent without any test, or consideration of the context.