If you show up in Reeboks, I will kill you on the spot.

December 6, 2002 1:10 PM

If you show up in Reeboks, I will kill you on the spot. Twenty-two University of Cincinnati students dressed for success for their final exam Wednesday night in "Global Civility." "I told them, 'If you show up in Reeboks, I will kill you on the spot,"' said Linda Ginter Brown, head of the Media and Cultural Studies department. "Trust me, they do not look like this on campus." Ignoring the unintentional irony of a professor teaching a class on civility threatening to kill her students -- if only jokingly -- is there not a double standard at play here regarding what kind of violence-laced language is acceptable in academic settings? Spoken by a student, whether to a fellow student or to a teacher, such a comment might have different consequences than a puff piece on CNN.
posted by damn yankee (21 comments total)

OMGHOWVIOLENTICAN'TBELIVESHESAIDTHATOHMEOMY!!!!!

Oh wait, who cares?
posted by delmoi at 1:14 PM on December 6, 2002

It's all about what is said, who said it, and it what context. People with brains can figure it out and problems are avoided. People without brains freak out over stuff like this and CAUSE problems.

This "puff piece" isn't even about the question you're raising. It's a good question, but a bad example.
posted by Witty at 1:16 PM on December 6, 2002

I swear to God they all need to die for this horrible travesty, and indeed it may very well constitute grounds for the ritual disembowelment of the entire wretched human race.

*ahem*
posted by Ryvar at 1:18 PM on December 6, 2002

"people with brains can figure it out, and problems can be avoided"

Except in the real world, things don't really work like that. My friend John was expelled from high school and charged with a felony of threatening a school teacher for saying he wanted to meet him in the parking lot. He didn't even make this remark to the teacher. A student passed it along. John was poor, and couldn't afford a lawyer, and was already disliked by said teacher. He is currently in his 3rd year in north korea, as joining the army was his plea bargain to avoid jail time.

This is an issue that needs to be addressed. Post-Columbine and related school shootings, people are becoming more and more oversensitive to comments made by students, whereas teachers get away with (non-literally, please don't arrest me) murder. It's messed up. And to assume that all of the parties involved are going to care about things like context and motive and intent....well, that's just naive.
posted by lazaruslong at 1:20 PM on December 6, 2002 [1 favorite]

And I can't make bomb jokes at the airport, but my friends know I won't really murder them when I say I will kill them if they're late to a movie.

What's the story here again?
posted by mathowie at 1:27 PM on December 6, 2002

I find myself perpetually unable to contradict mathowie.

I live in a bucket.
posted by lazaruslong at 1:31 PM on December 6, 2002

everybody shut the fuck up or i'll tear your collective pancreas out with a hog bunger.
posted by quonsar at 1:34 PM on December 6, 2002

And to assume that all of the parties involved are going to care about things like context and motive and intent...

But you have to. That's what being a fuckin' sensible person is all about. I'm sorry about your friend. I think what happened is a darned shame. But I'm not giving up on smart people to save the world.

on preview: Thanks mathowie... exactly. Next thread please.

on second preview: Where the fuck do you come from quonsar? {still laughing}
posted by Witty at 1:36 PM on December 6, 2002

I'm going to kill mathowie.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 1:41 PM on December 6, 2002

Fast - a single operator can bung up to 1200 hogs / hour

"to bung" I didn't even know that was a verb.
posted by lazaruslong at 1:44 PM on December 6, 2002

Best. Unit of measurement. Ever.
posted by Pretty_Generic at 1:47 PM on December 6, 2002

Wow. This was worthless.
posted by Hall at 1:50 PM on December 6, 2002

Didn't they use the hog bunger in Men In Black?
posted by me3dia at 1:59 PM on December 6, 2002

Even if the prof did in fact kill a student, she is protected by tenure...
posted by Postroad at 2:22 PM on December 6, 2002

Even if the prof did in fact kill a student, she is protected by tenure...

and if she doesn't actally kill anybody, but threatens to kill a student in obvious jest, she is protected by the First Amendment.
posted by TBoneMcCool at 2:47 PM on December 6, 2002

Even if the prof did in fact kill a student, she is protected by tenure...

I saw that episode of Law and Order, too!
posted by Pancake Overlord at 2:58 PM on December 6, 2002

This is an issue that needs to be addressed. Post-Columbine and related school shootings, people are becoming more and more oversensitive to comments made by students, whereas teachers get away with (non-literally, please don't arrest me) murder.

Here's an ACLU report that does a good job of dealing with the issue of post-Columbine hysteria and the subsequent suppression of student freedom.
posted by jonp72 at 3:16 PM on December 6, 2002

And I can't make bomb jokes at the airport, but my friends know I won't really murder them when I say I will kill them if they're late to a movie.

What's the story here again?

Seems to me it's the large middle ground between those two extremes.
posted by rushmc at 4:53 PM on December 6, 2002

It's, I say, it's a joke, son. Lighten up.
posted by websavvy at 8:31 PM on December 6, 2002

Yes, there's a double standard. What did you expect? Teachers have power. Students don't. Nothing will change as longs as people are dumb enough to pay good money to be treated like heads of cattle.
posted by IshmaelGraves at 8:10 AM on December 9, 2002

thanks for the link, jonp. that's great.
posted by lazaruslong at 10:53 PM on December 11, 2002