Monday, October 29, 2007

Matters of Inversion

My grandmother sent me something very interesting today, asking me to "snope out the details." What I found was more disturbing that I bargained for.











"This should bother everyone. No matter the politics!! You will not see this heart-stopping photo on the front page of the NY Times or on the lead story of the major news networks. The protestors put up the Mexican flag over the American flag flying upside down at Montebello High School in California .

"I predict this stunt will be the nail in the coffin of any guest-worker/amnesty plan on the table in Washington . The image of the American flag subsumed to another and turned upside down on American soil, is already spreading on Internet forums and via E-mail. ; Pass this along to every American citizen in your address books and to every representative in the state and federal government. If you choose to remain uninvolved, do not be amazed when you no longer have a nation to call your own nor anything you have worked for left since it will be 'redistributed' to the activists while you are so peacefully staying out of the 'fray'. Check history, it is full of nations/empires that disappeared when its citizens no longer held their core beliefs and values. One person CAN make a difference. One plus one plus one plus one plus one plus one......... The battle for our secure borders and immigration laws that actually mean something, however, hasn't even begun. PASS IT ON"

I looked into this and found out that this email is "true," but it "lies by omission." There are several facts that are not in included that should clarify what happened.

In March 2006, about 1,000 students from neighboring school districts El Rancho (Pico Rivera, CA) and Whittier Union (Whittier, CA) walked out and protested in front of Montebello High School in Montebello, CA, unfairly attaching the innocent high school's name to this incident. Montebello students were on lockdown during this time because it was quite a rowdy crowd. The Montebello High School website offers the explanation here, near the end of the page. This memo MUSD school employees received describes the incident in further detail.

Snopes offered this article and clarification here.

Unfortunately, I also found a website that incorrectly reports the details, saying that Montebello students marched out in protest. This is not true, and I was horrified that there are seemingly "dependable" news sources publishing this thing, where others can take and reproduce on web forums, further perpetuating the mess.

However, these pictures are 100% authentic, as are the students who so foolishly tied their mugs to this abomination. Apparently, one single student from the El Rancho district was punished, but there are no details as to who it was or what their punishment was.

I would feel comfortable sharing these pictures, but there needs to be a better explanation with it. It lacks details, such as saying "the protestors," who could be anyone, but unfairly ties Montebello students with this label. Montebello students were known to march out in protest of immigration legislature, but they were only a handful, and they did not cause a commotion or doing something illegal. Yet another reason why I worry about some of those in the generation behind me representing "civil discourse" in all the wrong ways - it brings to mind Andrew "Don't Tase me, Bro!" Meyers and the like.

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