Re: Revenge Of The Snot Nose Brats
Date: February 16, 2008 12:50AM
Okay this issue has been long dead so none of you probably care anymore but I'd like to clear up some misconceptions.
Listen to her original message, Mrs. Tistadt doesn't mention any other phonecalls, when I discussed the issue with Mr. Tistadt via phone, he didn't mention any calls prior to my phone call, her message is obviously a reaction to my message and only mine. It is highly likely that any other calls she received were a reaction from other students to being called "snotty-nosed little brats", but if it did result in harassment (which I had a specific disclaimer against in the original posting), then I apologize for any indirect role I may have played in causing that.
I obviously understand boundaries, calling an administrator to receive information is a far cry from calling one's CO, i know the difference as does anyone who's not a complete moron, I made what I considered to be a reasonable action legally short of harassment, I think that shows a decent understanding of boundaries there. Rest assured, I would never call a boss at home if that broke protocol, but obviously the potential consequences and the situation as a whole are different in that scenario, so try not to make that connection it really doesn't work. Keep saying I won't get far in the real world, I just view it as a challenge (though i'm sure my definition of success is very different from many of yours).
I didn't complain about this, my reaction when I first heard the message was to laugh, and to inform others of what I considered to be an egregious error that people deserved to know about. I could have pushed this further, fought my saturday school etc, but I didn't care enough, so all of you bitching about me being spoiled or calling my lawyer or whatever other bullshit you can come up with don't know anything. Guess what, every single teenager in America doesn't match your stereotyped perception, the majority of you formed opinions about me prior to even hearing a word I've said, that's the very close-mindedness that seems to characterize the elder generations (another stereotype I know, and one that's obviously not universally true, considering the outpour of support i've gotten from other adults). I never complained and don't believe i'm "entitled" to anything, I made a call because I thought something was a poor decision and wanted more information.
I should clarify that Saturday school was not harsh at all, probably not worth complaining about. I broke a school rule, and I suffered the punishment, and I more just found it amusing that they danced around the fact that they had blatantly caught me on a technicality, and tried to paint it as a character issue. Also, to be fair I should point out that that punishment included that I used a school computer to look up the phone numbers (office and home, called the listed office number first), which was not homework related. Everything the school pinned me with were things that I had admitted to, not things I had been caught doing, after the school had assured me I wasn't in any trouble, as I'm a minor had I decided to change my story I would have probably gotten away with it, but it wouldn't have been honest.
anyways, the latest (and final) development is that I apologized for the phone call, I had said to the washington post reporter that the reason i wanted the issue to end was that the whole situation was moving away from the issue of student expression, at that time I felt sympathy for the fact that Candy Tistadt was nationally humiliated. After I found that no apology would be issued from the Tistadts, that sympathy was severely lessened. (None of you try to construe it as believing I'm entitled to an apology, I don't care, being called a snotty-nosed little brat didn't hurt me, but it's just kind of the generally expected thing to do to apologize, and the lack of apology indicates she believes her initial action was correct).
To sum up my 2 cents on my own story, don't believe everything you hear in the media, if you haven't noticed every single network told a different story. Also, try not to form opinions of people based on limited knowledge, and try to look at an issue from different peoples perspective (the idea that privacy could be approached differently by different generations seemed completely absurd to some people). If you already have opinions about people of a certain generation, don't let those influence your views on one person, certainly i've been born into privilege in the sense that I've never had to worry about food being on the table, but I think the awareness of that fact alone shows that I'm not spoiled, atleast not to the degree many of you seem to believe. Every generation thinks the following one is spoiled, the baby boomers seem a little bit better at convincing themselves.
Also I apologize for the profanity, but atleast it wasn't directed at anyone specifically, and considering the medium through which we're communicating, I don't think its out of place at all, nonetheless if anyone finds it offensive I'm sorry. I'm obviously emotional about this, and I think that carries through here.
Final note (sorry for the long post) - Paul Regnier the county spokesmen claimed in the email that any call made to the private residence of a government official is harassment. Unless we're to assume that government officials are given special privileges which others aren't entitled to, by that logic I was severely harassed by the media. As I quickly discovered the wonders of technology allow me to turn off the ringer on our phone and let the machine get it, I was not bothered, and therefore do not believe in any way that I was harassed. I'd say this adds credence to the fact that different generations approach issues differently, a fact that Paul Regnier blatantly ignores and one which I believe alone is grounds for his dismissal from FCPS. That's all.