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Culture War Roundup for the week of October 10, 2022

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A mixed-color group of high school footballers was going to toilet-paper the house of a girl on the same cul-de-sac as the school athletic director. Seems the house had been TP'd at least once already, and cars may or may not have been egged, during the school's homecoming week shenanigans. When the group pulled into the circle, dad was already in the yard, with what I'm guessing was one of these but may have been one of these. Adults step out in front of the kids' jeep, wave them down, tell them to turn the car off and maybe get out, maybe get on the ground. Maybe the torch gets pointed at them, and they definitely get cussed out. The athletic director intervenes, speaks quietly to the kids (per the recording described in the police report, final section), and they are leave in less than three minutes.

Of course, it's suspected that this is racially motivated, despite it being (it seems) a white kid driving the Jeep. (EDIT: I was wrong about who was driving, as pointed out below by /u/Gdanning) I guess had the other four individuals also been white, Mr. Kolar would have put away his torch and enjoyed watching people toilet paper his house? Or perhaps that neighbors don't mind people hauling ass through the cul-de-sac as long as there aren't colored folks in the car? I really don't know. But the AD will probably lose his job behind the deal.

https://madison365.com/it-was-scary-athletes-parents-call-for-firing-of-baraboo-athletic-director-criminal-charges-for-others-in-vigilante-incident/

My wife and I watched this on the local news last night and had the same thought - "man, fuck these parents". Seriously. As far as the kids and the "flamethrower" go, I'm filing both under the Boys Will Be Boys category. The kids were engaged in low-level, mischievous pranks that have been common as long as humanity has existed, got caught and probably properly scared by the adults. This isn't a real problem! Maybe the kids shouldn't TP houses and maybe the adult overreacted, but whatever, no one's hurt and the whole thing is pretty funny.

But the parents? I barely even know what to say. I can't imagine, as a teen, having gone to my parents and informed them of my activities if this happened. I would have been in deep shit! I'm absolutely baffled every time I hear one of these stories with narcissism transferred onto the children reaching to new heights of "my baby didn't do nothing wrong".

“I want Jim Langkamp held accountable for not protecting (the students),” said Anne Burgess, the mother of Zach Burgess. “One of the things that we always teach our kids is guilt by association. We hold our kids and our athletes to the same code, and Jim, by associating with Mr. Kolar, and then not stopping and preventing this from happening, is critical to why he should not be allowed to be around these kids anymore.”

I really don't even know how to respond to Anne other than shaking my head and saying, "you stupid bitch". I was unsurprised that the news segment didn't include any of the boy's fathers.

One of the things that we always teach our kids is guilt by association.

Spongebob-jaw-drop.jpg

Lady, you're doing it wrong. Very, very wrong.