Boulder (CO) High School has moved beyond focusing on reading, writing, and 'rithmatic; its students have time to assemble talent acts that call for presidential assassinations:
Colorado high school talent show turned into a political hot potato after some parents said a trio of students planned to use a Bob Dylan song to say they wished for the death of President Bush (news - web sites), officials said on Friday.
Calls were made to the school, students were interviewed, local talk radio jumped into the fray and the U.S. Secret Service even sent two agents to interview the principal at Boulder High School.
Even if there was a misunderstanding over whether the students -- some of whom called themselves the "Talibanned" -- meant to wish harm to the president, they learned how offended people can get.
Why, isn't that sweet. Aren't we glad to know that these high-school students are just now figuring out that it might be a tad ugly to - as was alleged - alter anti-war lyrics to call for the assassination of President Bush - and to chant those lyrics while flashing a photo of the president on a big screen?
Of course, the whole thing could be overblown, since it appears to have started from rumors spread by those who were not directly involved. Then again, this is the same school where students recently staged a sleep-in to protest the presidential election. You mean, teenagers can use sleeping as a form of protest? What genius!
Via Ace of Spades and his comment section, I found an additional article on the topic:
The students told ABC News affiliate KMGH-TV in Denver they are performing Bob Dylan's song "Masters of War" during the Boulder High School Talent Exposé because they are Dylan fans. They said they want to express their views and show off their musical abilities. But some students and adults who heard the band rehearse called a radio talk show Thursday morning, saying the song the band sang ended with a call for President Bush to die...
The 1963 song ends with the lyrics: "You might say that I'm young. You might say I'm unlearned, but there's one thing I know, though I'm younger than you, even Jesus would never forgive what you do ... And I hope that you die and your death'll come soon. I will follow your casket in the pale afternoon. And I'll watch while you're lowered down to your deathbed. And I'll stand o'er your grave 'til I'm sure that you're dead."
Let me guess - they had to make sure to take out the line about Jesus before they chanted it. Can't have that reference to Christianity in there when wishing someone dead.
The students insist they just planned to use the song as is, and not make any direct references to President Bush. On the other hand, they also had planned to call themselves the TaliBand. And one teacher who had originally planned to play backup for the group had this to say:
Vacca praised a group of 70 students after they camped out overnight in the school library last week to protest the results of the presidential election and to announce their worries about the direction of the country. The students wanted to meet with Colorado's political leaders to get assurances that they were being heard. The students said they worried about war, a return of the draft and the future of the environment after the election in which they could not participate.
"In an age where narcissistic college students riot in an inarticulate drunken stupor, you have students here at Boulder High School, principled, thoughtful and yet scared of four more years of pre-emptive war, the Patriot Act and an increase in militarism at school through the No Child Left Behind Act," Vacca had said.
NCLB increases militarism in schools? The worries about the draft are thoughtful and principled, as opposed to influenced by rumor and wholly uninformed about the reality of such a process? Rooting out the enablers of those who attacked us three years ago is considered "pre-emptive"? And students who live in an area where the median income for a family is over $70K are somehow powerless and dispossessed?
Who knew?
Posted by kswygert at November 17, 2004 09:13 AM