Originally Posted By melekalikimaka cinderella143also wrote: "This kid is a punk teen. I work with teens every day and the way they dress says a lot about their attitude. The baggy pants, the chain, the gloves, the cutoff tee."
Originally Posted By minnie_fan_61 Okay I heard about what was said on this board and I had to step in. Cinderella_143 is my neigbor as well as the teacher of my children. (She is also the one that introduced me to these boards a year ago--and I have been hooked ever since!) She has had my son and currently she has my daughter. She is the best teacher we have ever had. She has won multiple awards including teacher of the year. She is able to reach students that no one else can. So in response to those who think she is judging, you really do not know what you are speaking about. She is amazing and never in all the years that I have known her, have I ever seen her judge a book by its cover. As for this kid, his actions spoke louder than his words, or clothes, or anything else. His was being a punk kid. The evidence is there, it is in plain veiw for all to see. In Cinderella's post, she made a point: he was a punk. Then she brought up a totally different point about the "clothing" and "the switch." I knew that as soon as I read it.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka I'm glad that cinderella (sort of) got my point. I exaggerated my comments to her a LOT so that maybe she and other people might see how over the top they are being about this family.
Originally Posted By dlkozy How nice of you to take the time to inform others on how they are acting, mele, after all you certainly seem to know this family well enough to speak for them!
Originally Posted By dlkozy People dress as they want people to view them. Dress like a punk and people will think you are one-dress like a nerd and people will think you are one. The kid was obviously looking to cause trouble and he did as he demonstrated on the video. Mommy and Daddy and the lawyer cleaned him up for TV so that he could portray something he wasn't in the original footage. Looks to me like Daddy might have been in on it to begin with. I certainly don't hear Daddy saying "Stop messing around", or "Junior-what are you doing?". Everyone else is posing for the shot except him.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka Why thank you, dl. I'm glad you appreciate my effort. LP IS a discussion board, after all. I haven't really said anything that shows that I know this family so well. But if you're looking for comments from people who know this family so well, there are plenty of other people who have posted their opinions. Like I said, I *overstated* my comment to prove the point that these topics a feeding frenzy with the comments about this family getting worse and worse. It's a 1-2 minute video. I've looked at the video quite a few times and seen it from different points of view. I don't know what happened. I've also stated that the family seems to be overreacting. I considered posting another comment after my inital comment saying how over the top I knew my comments were but I decided not to since no one else is ready to say that their comments were over the top also. I'm happy to distract people for a moment even if it means that they decide to turn their negative comments on me. It's a 1-2 minute video.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka I could have stayed out of the fray but I try to stand up for people if I think that people are treating them unfairly. I've stood up for lots of LPers (even ones I don't agree with like Beau).
Originally Posted By dlkozy >>>"I am NOT defending them but none of you ever go back to the hotel and change your clothes?"<<< I have teenage boys and NO-I can't think of a single time any of them asked to leave DL and go back to change their clothes.
Originally Posted By dlkozy >>>"LP IS a discussion board, after all"<<< Nice to see that you remembered that. When others were discussing, and stating their views, you seemed to go out of your way to "overstate" your comments just to get a rise out of people.
Originally Posted By cinderella143also What effort? Your effort to judge others even though you have no idea what you are talking about? Your effort to defend this family you do not know. Your effort to defend the situation? Your effort to put others down to make a point? Your effort to discuss and not point fingers??????
Originally Posted By Tiggirl <<People dress as they want people to view them. Dress like a punk and people will think you are one-dress like a nerd and people will think you are one.>> This is not always true. As a teenager I had my hair dyed just about every color of the rainbow and certainly had my own sense of style that wasn't share with many (if any) at my school. I didn't dress that way so people thought I was a "punk" or to put off an image. I honestly liked how I looked like that and enjoyed my own unique style. Now... did people judge me because of how I dressed? I don't doubt that many did. But did I dress that way with the intention of having people view me as a certain way? No. Alas, with jobs and whatnot the style had to be toned down and the hair had to go to a natural state but thank goodness for the tongue piercings, navel piercings and tattoo. I still have a little unique in me. ) I bet I just killed jonvn, right there. LOL! ;o) ~Beth
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka Your defensiveness just proves my point. This only shows that people really don't like it when someone treats them the way they are treating someone else. Has it ever occured to anyone here that this kid might be going along with his dad because his dad is the one who is freaking out? The kid looks miserable in the interviews. He's a KID. He could be mortified by what his dad is doing. Maybe the wife is too. I haven't seen her on the news. Maybe the boy was being silly with Tigger (he is smiling in the video) but he didn't mean it to go as far as it did AND then his dad started freaking out and making a scene and he's stuck having to answer his dad's questions. What would you do in a situation like that? Would you be able to stop your dad from making a scene? I couldn't stop my mom from doing stuff like that. My point is that are too many questions here. I'm not defending anyone in the family other than to say that we don't know what happened and there are multiple theories but it would be nice if the theories weren't that the KID is a piece of trash.
Originally Posted By Tiggirl Well put, Mele. You put my feeling on this matter into words better than I could have. ~Beth
Originally Posted By cinderella143also There is no defensiveness. I was just curious as to what you felt your effort was. I do agree though that it could be that dad is the one freaking out.... he did something wrong and now he has to talk about it, listen to it, answer questions about it,etc. And your right about him not looking too thrilled to be in that interview!
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka It's also interesting to note how dlkozy, cinderella's mother is here defending her. Most of us would defend our children if we thought someone hurt them. (Again, I highly doubt this kid has neck injuries but if we truly believed a CM had been inappropriate with our kids, we'd be mad too. There are plenty of threads on LP about CM's behavior. And most of us wouldn't alert the media.)
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka Thanks, tiggirl. And cindrella, I apologize for implying you are not a good teacher. It's awesome that you've been voted teacher of the year. That is no small feat. Like I said, I wanted to make some sort of post about being over the top but decided not to even though I knew I'd have to explain later. Part of me figured that I should just let it stand as is and part of me didn't really know how to word it and figured I'd wait to see what the replies were first.
Originally Posted By MPierce >> Wouldn't "civilized" people dress nicer to be on tv? We know that coal mining hicks don't. << It would seem to me you are the one being judgmental. What a crude uncalled for statement!
Originally Posted By trekkeruss <<Has it ever occured to anyone here that this kid might be going along with his dad because his dad is the one who is freaking out? The kid looks miserable in the interviews. He's a KID. He could be mortified by what his dad is doing.>> That kid must be getting some serious ribbing from friends and other kids at school. Can you imagine the teasing? If he didn't hate his Dad before, he surely does now.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka Other people were calling them coal-miners and hicks... I agree it is uncalled for.
