Hey gang, I'm back after a very restful and much needed internet break. I had a very lovely Valentine's Weekend and after giving my brain cells a vacation from the fast-paced world of online communications, I'm back and ready to start talking!
While relaxing in the hotel on Valentine's morning, I glanced up at the local news on the television as I enjoyed tasty scrambled eggs with American cheese. Finally calming down from my amazement at how the room service cart turned into a full sized dining table right in our room, I was amused at the teaser given about a teacher that had been up to something scandalous with her blog. When they came back from commercial and got through all the bullshit weather crap, they gave us the story of Natalie Munroe.
She is an English teacher who decided to create a blog (http://natalieshandbasket.blogspot.com/) to do what most of us do all the time, get shit out of our head before it explodes. She kept her blog anonymous and never used any real names. She wrote about her life as a mother, a wife, a woman and a teacher. She gave no geographical information and never disclosed her place of employment. She spoke about how her students were disrespectful, crude, lazy and disobedient. She didn't specify what grade they were in, what they looked like, or anything that could be used to identify them. She wrote 84 blogs between August 2009 and November 2010. She had nine followers, including herself and her husband; the others were friends of hers. Of her 84 postings, 24 were about or mentioned work. So, why is she on the local news? She committed the act of being discovered by a few students and parents. Somehow, these diligent web crawlers found her blog and took offense at her language and description of the students she worked with. The school took the proactive approach of suspending her and marching her out of the building, flanked by the principal and a security guard. Never mind the fact that she's eight and half months pregnant and hardly in a condition to fight. The hard hitting news report featured interviews with offended students and parents demanding an apology and teachers shocked by their colleague's lack of remorse for her vulgar actions. Then came the response from Natalie, she's not sorry and she's not apologizing. Fucking right on, Natalie!
She wrote an anonymous blog about her life and because some students decided to become investigators, she has to apologize for how she feels about the little bastards she has to attempt to educate? Why? What did she do wrong? Did she post the GPA of a particular dipshit? Did she upload shots taken on her cell of a pimple faced asshole as she handed the principal a write up? Did she post a picture of herself outside of the school proudly flashing the middle finger?? No? Then why the fuck gives that school the right to suspend a qualified teacher who did nothing but exercise her first amendment right of freedom of speech? She never slandered anyone and didn't identify herself in the postings. She signed her blog as Natalie M. She took care to respect the privacy of others, so why is she being forced to answer for sins she didn't commit? Any student in that school has the right to create a blog of their own slamming any teacher or administrator that they see fit. Most have Facebook pages featuring updates about the pains of being a teenage high school student. These all use actual names and identifying information. So why aren't they being escorted out of the building along with her? According to the news report, it's because teachers are being held to a higher standard. To that I say, "Fuck you and the horse you rode in on!"
Becoming an educator, politician, television evangelist or parent in no way negates your right to be a human being. You have the right to bitch about your job and if you take care to remove any identifying information and protect your identity as well, you have the right to use the same outlets that the rest of the country uses. She didn't degrade any student in detail and after reading her posts, she didn't lie either! In fact, she nailed these little irritating, hormonal lumps! They are moody, disrespectful, disgusting, sexually promiscuous and a terrifying glimpse into our country's future. The nosy little fuckers that read her posts and recognized themselves shouldn't have been offended, they should have been ashamed! They brought national attention on themselves by opening up their mouths and reading stuff that wasn't meant for them. If they had kept their noses out of her blog, the news would never have shed light on this woman's harmless outlet for her personal thoughts. She took the chance to use a release that so many of us enjoy and by being self-righteous little tattlers, her life is being shoved into the media for all to scrutinize. And they want her to apologize?
They ought to write a personal apology to her and their parents for being such horrible creatures in the first place. The parents need to be smacked in the back of the head for even taking this outside of their home. What they should have done was turn around and slap the shit out of their little DNA disappointment for being terrible little creatures mentioned in her posting. Then they should march themselves over to this woman's house to apologize for not doing more to teach their children to be respectful and a better example of their generation. Hey parents, your little bundles of joy are actually pain in the ass teenagers that make everyone's life a living hell and you do nothing to discipline them. You spoil them and protect them from the results of their actions. You teach them that they have a right to be respected even though they do nothing to earn it. You teach them that as long as they are young, there are no real consequences for their actions and that you will never hold them accountable for their bad decisions. They make it difficult to teach them the basic things they need to know to survive life outside of your house and they are a disgrace of your name. The things they do outside of your presence would horrify you and if you saw what they are actually like, you'd be less inclined to defend it. Your children make blogs like Natalie's necessary. Your children are the reason this country is so quick to sue for shit that has no business even being brought to a court. You are a poor example of a responsible parent because you have the nerve to violate this woman's privacy and demand that she give your child an apology for doing something that you and your child do freely. She spoke her mind and did it with a damn sight more class then you all did. She didn't expose your rotten children for the losers that they are to the media. She didn't stand in front of a camera and demand that you apologize for you not taking responsibility for your actions or lack of in regards to teaching your child respect. She wrote a message to her friends letting off steam that could have been taken into the classroom and delivered to the students directly. Instead, she wrote them down in a way that respected their rights and protected their identity. Yes, occasionally she used a bad word or two. So what? It's her fucking right! And it was your kid's fucking right to mind their own damned business! If they didn't like what they read, then they should have closed the window and moved on. Every one of those parents and students owe her family a HUGE fucking apology for shoving them into the media.
And finally, the school needs to get on their knees and beg forgiveness for ever making this a big deal. Instead of trying to please Mommy and Daddy, they should have told them to pay more attention to the message that was written. They are so scared of bad publicity that they don't even bother to do their damn jobs! You would rather suspend an excellent teacher for using her talent for writing to express herself creatively than suspend the little bastard mouthing off regularly in class? I hope that this becomes the biggest embarrassment to the Central Bucks East High School and that they realize the error of their ways. Protect your teachers and stop bowing to pressure from offended parents and pampered delinquents. Otherwise, create a policy that forbids any teacher, administrator, staff, or student from using any social media site in any way. Prevent all people in your district from expressing themselves in any manner and create a taskforce that does nothing but scan the internet for any mention of your school in a derogatory manner. Make sure that they become full-time Facebook patrollers that monitor any mention of any student, teacher, staff member, administrator or parent. Unless you can do that, give Natalie back her job immediately and get back to work. And stay out of MY fucking blog!
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