Idiot of the Day

[NotMiki]

old news, but worth repeating.  he lost his case, by the way.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/us/14pants.html?scp=1&sq=dry+cleaner+sue+judge%27&st=nyt

“Without regard to the law, as a human being, as a person, don’t you think it makes sense to interpret merchant signage in a reasonable way?” Mr. Manning said.

Mr. Pearson, who is representing himself, eventually responded, “No.”

[Grefter]

http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=22627

"Why don't people use calculators to determine random chance instead of Dice in Pen and Paper?  It is far more evenly distributed over the ranges" "Because game systems are designed with the normal curve taken into account, the tactile human response of dice, the simplicity of dice rolls and the fact that you know IT IS A GAME THAT IS FOR FUN NOT A FUCKING JOB."
"You guys suck "

[Meeplelard]

Eh, using a calculator instead of dice works, really.  Not saying its BETTER, but its a fine enough substitute should you lack the necessary objects there.

Granted, haven't read the article, so it could be something else entirely that makes him IotD worthy (like how he presents it and responds to counter points or something)

[AAA]

http://www.dsfanboy.com/2008/01/30/girl-gamer-magazine-thinks-its-still-the-1950s/

Hey there gamer gurrrrrrls, now you get a magazine that caters to your interests, which of course includes pink DS's and learning how to cook.

[AAA]

http://blog.peta.org/archives/2008/02/suggestion_for.php

Turns out Britney Spears is just crazy because she likes ice cream guys veganism is the cure problem solved

http://www.tampabays10.com/video/16x9/?aid=55786&sid=73747

Quadraplegic gets arrested, cop thinks he's lying and dumps him out of the chair, breaking some ribs. Note the deputy laughing away at the guy.

[BaconForTheSoul]

Cop deserves to get fired and then get hit by a car, thus being confined to a wheelchair.
Cop B deserves to laugh at someones misfortune while eating a meal, thus choking to death on his food.

[VySaika]

http://www.ktvu.com/news/15310750/detail.html

Serial 911 caller makes over 27000 prank calls. Why? "Because it's free."

[Luther Lansfeld]

Augh Trips' link that is........ awful.

Gate's is just really ridiculous as well, but nothing really beats DUMPING A QUADRAPLEGIC OUT OF THEIR WHEELCHAIR.

[Meeplelard]

Damn, should have linked the video Tal linked to in chat when I had the chance!

to sum it up: Kid burns down Church and School, tells GFAQs he did it, and provides pictures to prove it...and gets arrested as a result.

And...geez, what the hell is wrong with some of these people? Gate's link is just -_-

[Talaysen]

Damn, should have linked the video Tal linked to in chat when I had the chance!

to sum it up: Kid burns down Church and School, tells GFAQs he did it, and provides pictures to prove it...and gets arrested as a result.

Like my grandma always used to say, if you want a box hurled into the Sun, you have to do it yourself.

http://www.maxconsole.net/?mode=news&newsid=25044

Also, mass quantities of ellipses to both Gate's and AAA's second link.

[Captain K.]

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/genmessage.php?board=932312&topic=41535520

Sadly, the topic creator is not trolling.  He's really that stupid.

[SageAcrin]

Nah, his OMG J00 ARE ALL FANBOYS!!1 constant calling makes it sound like he hated the game to start with.

I suspect it's a mix of both. That happens.

[Grefter]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23279510-1248,00.html

This whole thing is fucking stupid and only highlights more of the flaws in a flawed system.  A kid going to Ormiston College (a private school here in Brisbane) was not allowed to wear his turban to school.  Well yeah because it is a fucking Catholic school.  This is what happens when you let religious bodies run your education systems.  There is cries of all children should be allowed to have access to the same kind of education.  Well guess what?  He fucking does, if he went to a public school it wouldn't be a goddamned issue.  OH WAIT BUT THEN THERE WOULD BE CRIES OF HIM NOT BEING ALLOWED TO GO TO A PRIVATE SCHOOL WITH THEIR INHERINTLY BETTAR EDUCATION!!!!!

OH WAIT THAT WOULD JUST BE HIGHLIGHTING THE FACT THAT THE LOWER CLASSES DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO EQUAL LEVELS OF EDUCATION OH GODS THE HYPOCRISY PARADOX IS TWIRLING AROUND AND ROUND SUCKING IN ALL INTELLECTUAL HONESTY NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[BaconForTheSoul]

Grefter you forget... you can talk about inequality in race and religion, but not in money.

Not letting someone go to a school due to skin color is bad
Not letting someone go to a school due to religion is bad
Not letting someone go to a school due to lack of money is perfectly okay!!!

That said, is there no private school that isn't Catholic in the area?  If there is, he needs to go there.  If there isn't, then tough shit he has to make sacrafices.  Choose either to not wear a turban for a few hours a day, or to not go to the school he wants.  Shit, I like to study naked, but you don't see me bitching at my school for not letting me. 

[NotMiki]

I'm confused, Gref.  You say it's Catholic, the article says it's Non-denominational.  In any case it's ignorant to the brink of racism for the principal to say "We're certainly not asking the family or the boy to turn their back on their religion," when any idiot knows forcing him to cut his hair is exactly that.  Does the school take public funding at all?  Dunno if it's the same in Australia, but in the US, an institution that banned religious observance like that wouldn't be eligible for government grants, though the Bush administration has been trying very hard to change that.

It's worth noting that in other countries there are public institutions that have similar restrictions, notably elementary schools in France.  Turkey just lifted a ban on wearing head scarves in colleges that for a long time has ensured that religious Muslim women couldn't get higher education (this was done by the newly elected religious liberal Muslim party.  Yeah, Turkey's weird.)  So this is an issue of global importance, and I can't say the parents were wrong for calling attention to it in this way (assuming this isn't, as you say, an explicitly Catholic school).  I mean, if Christians dominate the institutions in an area that folks can actually get a good education at, and they're not letting in Sikhs, that's a problem for them, and they should deal with it in some way, whether that be setting up their own institutions, or embarrassing the existing ones into changing their rules.  Again, I dunno if this all fits with the situation as it actually stands, but it's worth thinking about.

[Grefter]

Private schools do get government funding here (which is a parallel to the problem).

Mmmm yes apparently it is non-denominational, but you know, non-denominational still is a Christian College by very definition of the term.  You cough up the money to go to these institutions and you abide by a certain set of rules, they have strict uniform policies (which involves special -hats- even), you don't have to be of the religion to go, but it is still a Christian College, if they say to take off your non-Christian attire and stick with the dress code.  Sorry you don't get any fucking sympathy from me.  You could wear it at a public school, if you want that kind of freedom, go to a free school, you will still have to wear a uniform, but policy won't be nearly as strict and you are free to express any religion you want.

Private schools are just that, private institutions and how they govern themselves is going to be according to their private rules, which so long as they do not break the law (which having a dress code is not doing) then they can do whatever the shit they want.  The schools are open to any religious background, don't make you convert or anything and will take anyone that can pay.  If the rules and restrictions violate your degree of faith, sorry out of luck.

Asking everyone at the institution to abide by those rules is not racism of any kind.  It is just rules and they are there to create the whole mystique of the private school environment, to reinforce certain constructs about power (both towards authority figures and for the students attending).  This is part of what private schools are and how they work.  They are not rules without a purpose.  They are not rules to prevent people from attending (the bill is what that is for).

I agree anyone should be able to express their religious beliefs at a school.  I also believe strongly in public education.  This is not the former and so the latter part does not matter, privately owned land, privately owned standards, privately owned business.

Half the problem there is the bullshit surrounding the "better" and "Decent" education.  Public school systems here in Australia aren't that bad, you get a thorough education through them, they get boned for funding (because a larger percentage of the funding goes to private schools), but they function and are just like any other school, you only get so much out of them as the student takes from it.  The biggest funding difference gets diverted to extra curricular fields, sports, music and whatnot.  The biggest benefit you take out of a private education is the ability to say you were privately educated and the networking that comes with that.

[Cmdr_King]

Private schools are just that, private institutions and how they govern themselves is going to be according to their private rules, which so long as they do not break the law (which having a dress code is not doing) then they can do whatever the shit they want.

Just to nitpick, if Australian law is anything akin to US law in the matter, the dress code requiring the kid to violate his religious beliefs would be breaking the law.
Though obviously the idea of "private school, they can enforce their own beliefs, live by the rules or go somewhere else" is sound and forcing the issue is missing the point.

Of course, I tend to find the idea of dress codes amounting to anything more restrictive than "be actually dressed, don't have anything overtly profane" retarded anyway, but that's me.

[Grefter]

A) See what I said about the reason behind a uniform policy.  There IS a reason private schools use them (there is a reason public schools use them as well, they are a safety mechanism) and it is a very obvious one.

B)  Private school, private rules.  You have the option to go to another school.  The law has no place there unless you can prove it is discriminatory, which it is not.

[NotMiki]

It really feels to me like the parents who enrolled their kid were doing so for the explicit purpose of making a statement: that  this private Christian institution in practice bans Sikhs from entry even though they don't in theory.  I think that's a statement worth making.  Australia is a much happier and PC and foreigner-loving place than I think it is if they seriously thought going in that their religion wouldn't be an issue.

[Grefter]

Wait what?  What part of allowing any religious background in did you fail to comprehend?  They will absolutely let ANYONE in so long as they are prepared to follow the rules.  You think they are going to specifically pinpoint Sikhs to exclude when they will let Buddhists, Taoists, Shinto and any other handfuls of people enroll, with 50 year old rules which is to say well before the big bad Islam gomez threat tm?

No, it fucking isn't that.

What it is, is about power.  Exactly in the ways that Foucault would point it out.  It is the classic school institute.  It is a way of reducing individuality of students, enforcing respect for power figures giving them a way to assert the power over the students and in turn make the students feel empowered and special by being a part of the institution, especially as they raise in the year levels.

This is a basic function of the classical education system which private schools still very closely model themselves after.  You could say it is exclusionist because of that, but this comes with all aspects of a western European dominated culture. 

What it is a case of someone going "I want to wear this" "No you can't it breaks uniform policy" "You hate me because I am *Blank* you are *Blank*ist."

Sometimes it actually is not the man and the system out to screw someone over and tie them down and fuck them to death.  Sometimes if you sit back and actually apply the good old Functionalist or Structuralist perspective these things are capable of being seen.

This is coming from someone who HATES this education system and everything within it.  In this case, it is not the system to blame, it is the consumer to blame for burning themselves on hot coffee and suing the coffee company for selling hot coffe.

[NotMiki]

Oh, don't get me wrong.  I believe the institution barred him for the reasons you say (even with the principal's religiously tone-deaf response), not because they're explicitly racist. and I'm not saying they're wrong for doing so, it being a private institution.  That said, practicing Sikhs still can't get in, period.  So if you're a Sikh, you do what you can to change their status quo.  You pressure them to make an exception.  You put it out in the public sphere and hope the public sides with you.

This reminds me of PGA v. Casey Martin, in which the PGA was sued by a handicapped guy for the right to use a golf cart between holes since he couldn't walk the distance.  The PGA's rule, which they fought strenuously to uphold: no golf carts, period.  You could be a fuckin' double amputee, but no golf cart for you.  Martin won the case, incidentally.  I'm sure you can guess what the public thought about it, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PGA_Tour%2C_Inc._v._Martin

[Grefter]

Being a golf pro is a job.  Private education systems are a consumer product.  The difference is miles apart.

And yeah the rules will exclude practicing Sikhs, that bites, it is a large social problem there.  You fix that kind of thing by supporting places that give you the option and ability to practice religious freedom however you want.  IE, go to public schools, support the public education system and campaign for the fair dispensation of government money for them.  What you don't do is send you kid of a private school then piss and moan because society is broken and stupid and the institutions are built upon these facets of society.  It is akin to purchasing piping hot toxic sludge, spilling it and getting pissy cause you burnt yourself on the boiling sludge.  Case in point, you are not Matter Eater Lad and shouldn't have fucking bought toxic sludge to eat anyway and should have supported your local human food chains.

Edit - Also requisite, last time I looked public approval counted for dick.

[NotMiki]

Oh, public approval counts for a lot.  Not directly, mind you, but if the voters raise a stink about something, that has a tendency of putting money in the pockets of politicians to shut them up, one way or the other.  Now, public approval ain't gonna do a damn thing for, say, rules concerning how politicians' yearly raises are determined, but in a area like education funding, which I'm assuming is a battleground in Australia 'cause god knows it is everywhere else, making your issue heard is like throwing down another ammo pack to a Quake map (requisite video game reference: check).

[Grefter]

It is all kinds of wrong when I am the one making comics references and you are the one making game references.

Education actually oddly hasn't come up big on the Federal elections in the last few ones.  There has been some in the lead ups to it and there was a bit of policy surrounding it and the government that recently got in, but I don't think they pulled a large body of voters with those policies (they were also far more universal rules than public/private stuff).  It has mostly been taxation and unemployment, taxation again, GOM ILLEGAL IMMAGRANTS and then "Not being the other guy and hey check me out I am pretty freaking slick" over the last decade and a half that I can think of.  I bit of gun law thrown around 12 years ago as well, but that wasn't such a huge factor compared to the taxation debate.

The education debate is mostly people within the public school system going "WHAT THE FUCK WHY DO WE NOT GET ALL THE MONEY?" and the middle classes and upwards ignoring them and wasting public resources by sending their retarded brain dead fucks for children to private schools to get a "good" education which they come out of just as ignorant and stupid as they were before.

[NotMiki]

The education debate is mostly people within the public school system going "WHAT THE FUCK WHY DO WE NOT GET ALL THE MONEY?" and the middle classes and upwards ignoring them and wasting public resources by sending their retarded brain dead fucks for children to private schools to get a "good" education which they come out of just as ignorant and stupid as they were before.

You ok, Gref?  I'm sure what you meant to say was stupider and more ignorant.