Ironworks Gaming Forum - The double standard returns !!

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Yearbook photo flap erupts in Stratford

STRATFORD — A photograph on the cover of the 2002 Stratford High School yearbook that shows two recent graduates in what some see as a stiff-armed Nazi-like salute is causing a stir in town and has led to an investigation by school officials.

The photo includes more than 200 graduating seniors with their hands raised in the air or waving at a pep rally in the school gymnasium.

But among the crowd of students are two males standing side-by-side with their right arms stretched forward in a straight-ahead, stiff manner.
Superintendent of Schools Raymond O'Connell and Stratford High School Principal Daniel Hatch said Wednesday they are planning to interview the two unidentified youths, who graduated this week.

Hatch said the graduates will be asked what their intention was in the photo. O'Connell said school officials will then take "whatever action we believe is appropriate." "What is clear is that the students are making some kind of gesture that is offensive to many individuals and groups, but what is not clear is what their intention was in making those gestures," said Hatch. "We are taking this very seriously and trying to determine what the students were doing and how the photo got past the yearbook editors and onto the cover."

Hatch said the issue was brought to his attention by a student after the yearbooks were distributed late last week.

"It's very difficult to tell what kind of gesture the students are making and what it means," said O'Connell. "It can certainly be interpreted in different ways." But long-time political activist Sylvia Guberman, who is Jewish, said it is "very clear" to her that the students in the photo are giving the infamous Nazi salute.

Guberman, coordinator of the United Democrats of Stratford, said she lost 84 relatives in the Holocaust.

She looked at the yearbook photo with disgust Wednesday in her home as she held another photo of seven relatives, including her grandparents, who were killed by the Nazis in Poland.

"Not only is it an outrage that we have students attending Stratford High School who would make such a gesture, it is unbelievable and unacceptable to me that this photograph could make it onto the cover of the yearbook," said Guberman. "I can't believe someone didn't catch it." Guberman said she was advised by O'Connell that the school administration has been monitoring alleged neo-Nazi activities among some students at Stratford High School.

O'Connell couldn't be reached later Wednesday for comment on that claim.

No matter what the results of his investigation are, there are efforts under way to make changes to the yearbook cover, and make available the revised version for anyone offended by the photograph, Hatch said.

"We don't want any of our students' lasting memory of their high school experience to be scarred by something on the cover of their yearbook they find so offensive," said Hatch.

David Waren, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in New Haven, said the group takes seriously any alleged form of anti-Semitism, bigotry or racism. He said that while he had not yet seen the Stratford High School photo, he would as soon as possible and then continue to monitor the investigation.

"But we have to be careful not to pre-judge this matter before we know all the facts and what the school investigation determines," said Waren. "However, if it can be determined that these were deliberate (Nazi) gestures, we would expect that some kind of corrective action would be taken."

I'm not supporting the Nazis , but it seems like the first amendment in the U.S. only applies as long as you dont upset certain groups. One of the people in the article was quoted as saying that "Not only is it an outrage that we have students attending Stratford High School who would make such a gesture, it is unbelievable and unacceptable to me that this photograph could make it onto the cover of the yearbook," said Guberman. "

Why is it outrageous for people to express a belief, even if it is based on hate?? Just because it offends certain people? If you changed "gesture" to "religeon" she would sound exactly like the neo-nazis she is attacking. Talk about the pot calling the kettle!!

I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the kids in question actualy DID throw up a heil hitler salute. They probably did it as a joke for being forced to go to some dumb pep rally and throw their hands in the air. Now it is going to get blown WAY out of proportion. I also have to ask , would the "anti-defamation league" be all bent if an african american student was seen throwing up a black panthers clenched fist gesture in the picture?? If you claim to be against defamation , then you should either apply it universaly or quanify it with what particular defamation you are against.

Uh, I'm all for freedom of speech and such, but I believe that any and all nazi's should be killed. It is a filthy and hate-filled belief which only reinforces my faith that the Earth would be much better without humans..... One of the few people that I think I might be able to kill without feeling bad about it would probably be a nazi. Or a member of the Ku Klux Klan, to me they're equally disgusting examples of what humans should NOT be like.

Woah.I know that I would'nt do that in my yearbook photos!But I think that kids should'nt even do that,EVEN if it was a joke.

Thankfully Neb people like that are in the extreme minority. I wouldnt want you killing some red neck and getting carted off to jail

Hunter, what can i say, you're absolutely right.

Probably this was just a joke intended at the school that "formed" them... a lot of noise for nothing. Perhaps i'm wrong and these students are really endoctrinated.

Anyway, i find this a lot more freaking:
(from www.fair.org)

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Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting 112 W. 27th Street New York, NY 10001

A Changed President--or a New Repression?

June 17, 2002

President Bush's June 14 commencement address at Ohio State University was a sign of a "revived" presidency, according to Washington Post reporter Dana Milbank. "Bush basked in the adulation of 55,000 people who treated him to waves of standing ovations in Ohio Stadium as he received an honorary doctorate," according to the paper (6/15/02). "If there was a protest in the stadium, it was not visible to reporters."

In contrast, wrote Milbank, when Bush received an honorary degree last year from Yale University, "he was booed, heckled and greeted with a sea of protest signs." While pointing out that Yale and Ohio State are different places, the Post reporter asserted that "the real cause of the difference in reception is the transformation of Bush and his presidency since the September 11 terrorist attacks."

There may have been no protests visible to the Post reporter, but, as other media reported, there may have been other reasons for this in addition to "adulation" for Bush. According to the Columbus Dispatch (6/15/02), students were warned ahead of time they faced arrest if they showed any signs of dissent: "Graduates had been warned during rehearsal on Thursday that they faced arrest if-- as was rumored-- some stood up and turned their backs on Bush during his speech." The warning continued on the day of the event as well, according to the Associated Press (6/14/02): "Immediately before class members filed into the giant football stadium, an announcer instructed the crowd that all the university's speakers deserve to be treated with respect and that anyone demonstrating or heckling would be subject to expulsion and arrest." **

And some observers did, in fact, notice protests during the ceremony. As reported in The Lantern (6/14/02), Ohio State University's campus paper, "Three graduates and six audience members-- one draped in a Palestinian flag-- actually did turn their backs but were hardly noticed by the crowd of about 60,000." A demonstration held outside the stadium attracted a small group of protesters as well (Columbus Dispatch, 6/15/02).

None of this information made it into Milbank's report.

Expulsion and arrest! ...need i say more?

It could also have easily been a mistake as well.
If the shot had been taken .7 seconds later would their arms have been higher, i.e. did the photo get taken as their hands were going up as opposed to when they stopped?

I had a guy wave at me once, just throwing his arm up, outward and straight...it was convienient for him to wave that way from where and how he was sitting...I answered his wave in the same manner and the guy that was with us (me and one of my sisters) got all paranoid that he was in the company of Nazis. That particular incident was funny but to think people are taking this kind of paranoia to the extremes in the article posted is ridiculous.

IMO the person who chose the photo for the cover should be interviewed and asked why they thought it was appropriate to use it in such a closed-minded society as the one in which they live. They might learn something from the answer. [img]smile.gif[/img]

You're right, any group or point of view can be considered offensive to another group. Where do we draw the line. If you are going to give freedom to all it must be to all no matter how assinine the group.

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Expulsion and arrest! ...need i say more?

well,when you consider it comes from fair it's most likely a lie.because those are the tactics that the clintons used.

and all this bull about the school photo is probably just that,bull.

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Originally posted by Moni:
It could also have easily been a mistake as well.
If the shot had been taken .7 seconds later would their arms have been higher, i.e. did the photo get taken as their hands were going up as opposed to when they stopped?

That's what I like to think as well... But alas, I haven't seen the photograph in question. ;)