“In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority”
Edmund Burke
Urban Dictionary's definition of a "concerned parent."
concerned parent 21 up, 3 down
Another word for an overprotective, meddling, immature, snot nosed piece of crap. Usually a soccer mom that drives an SUV with a jesus fish on it, who constantly bitches about violence on TV, video games, and drugs, while ignoring her own fucking problems. Can apply to fathers too.
"omg, I'm just a concerned parent"
"No you're not, you have no life and you ruin your kids' lives because of that"
Exhibit A is the letter cited below.
They accused us of being unpatriotic for disagreeing with Bush.
Let's just say that when Ronald Reagan delivered his speech to students, no one objected.
When Bush Sr. gave a speech to students and no one objected.
Dubya gave a speech and even if you couldn't make sense of it, no one objected!
I have no problem with parents who concern themselves with legitimate issues of which you can find plenty of in elementary and highschools, even up to and including college. There's the root problems of drugs, alcohol and sex, and all the ensuing complications those twin demons engender. Problems that include everything from DUI, teen suicide and sexting to pregnancy and rape. Parents of toddlers and pre-teens need to concern themselves with whom their children come into contact to avoid predators. There are real problems!
But that does not give the right for a majority mob to act out of paranoia!
The "concerned parent" of which I speak is an exclusively destructive phenomenon that has no redeeming value. They are like locusts that devour everything, and leave nothing. They are the ones that afflict libraries in order to remove books for the slightest imagined presumption of - something different!
These are the line-by-line reviewers of books like "Huckleberry Finn" who assume the right of editorship over an artists finished work! They are lucky Mark Twain isn't alive today to rake them over the coals of litigation as I have no doubt he would have! Even worse, he would have wrote editorials about them!
And now imagine, that the same respectable, loyal Americans who held these Presidents in great respect and (at the least) institutional loyalty, and just as swiftly barbecue those of whose opinions they do not approve, whose skin color is not theirs, are suddenly organized as ants in their full court press to sandbag a simple pep talk to students!
letter to public school superintendent
Here is a draft letter to my school district's superintendent about the speech Our Dear Leader intends to deliver to ALL public school students on September 8th, 2009. Feel free to use as a template:
Letter to Public School Superintendent
Est Quod Est ^ | 09/02/2009 | Kathleen
Posted on September 2, 2009 3:24:27 PM EDT by Pauli67
Here is a draft letter to my school district's superintendent about the speech Our Dear Leader intends to deliver to ALL public school students on September 8th, 2009. Feel free to use as a template:
Dear Mr. XXXXXX,
I am the parent of a XXXXX grader and deeply concerned that the school will be broadcasting an address from the President of the United States during my child's class time on September 8th. I have no idea what the content of this address will be, and am unable to vet it as a parent. The politicization of my child's education is not something I welcome. My child is not old enough to vote, and he is not old enough to formulate political opinions without my guidance. Therefore I urgently request that parents be able to read and view the exact same speech before it is given to students. If this is not possible, then I must insist that my son's normal school day take place on September 8th, without interruption from the President of the United States.
In addition, I have read Department of Education materials suggesting student assignments after the presidential address. There is one suggestion that my child can discuss what he, my child, can do for the President. I find these suggestions very offensive and believe they run counter to the United States Constitution, which expressly limits the role of the federal executive branch. My child is getting an education for himself and his community, and is not required to do anything for the President. The President is not a king. I must insist that any teacher at the school refrain from suggesting that my child owes any sort of "help" to the President.
Please inform the parents what the school district will do to preserve the relatively non-politicized atmosphere that has, apparently until today, existed in XXXXXXXXX classrooms.
My problem is that parents never took any notice before when a President spoke to students, and so when the Great Lion of the Conservatives Ronald Reagan got to play nobody raised an eyebrow over even his incidental remarks to students:
Q. [Inaudible]
The President. Do I support Federal aid for foreign countries? Yes, I think this is traditional with America. We've always tried to help our friends out and help developing countries. But I tell you, from the old days of just throwing money out there and not knowing where it went, we're trying to do it in a way now that will enable them to become self-sustaining and build their economy. And the biggest help we're being is buying from them the things that they have to sell that they make there.
Yeah. You.
Q. Are you going to put nuclear wastes -- --
The President. Am I going to what?
Q. Put nuclear wastes -- [inaudible]?
The President. Am I going to put nuclear wastes in Mississippi? Well, our director of energy has said that we just were not going to do anything against the State's will, and having been a Governor myself of a State, I'm a great believer in States rights.
Some people assume that that means he was trying to indoctrinate the kids. but the event was informal, and I know that the kids and the Prez were just chewing the fat!