You know, I'm not one to be all blowhard-y, least of all on people who exercise their right to freedom of speech. I think its one of the most important amendments, the First, because its the one most commonly threatened. And I think we should stand up for ourselves when our rights are fucked with. But...

I've been reading a lot lately (lately=in the past few years) about kids in high school standing up for their rights WAY too much. Some kid wore this, some kid wants to wear make up, some guy wants to dress as a girl, some girl wants to wear a lip ring, and each and every one of them are horribly offended and GOD KNOWS what will happen if they aren't allowed to wear/do whatever they want. And all of the stories contain the words "The community has rallied against the school board" or "The community is in an uproar" or "the child's parents have showed unconditional support.

I can honestly remember in high school several times when I wanted to wear something that was against the rules. You know what I did? I DIDN'T WEAR IT. And if I really really wanted to, guess what else? THE COMMUNITY DIDN'T RALLY BEHIND ME. Now, I don't mean to say that this is a personal, me-type issue. I just mean that school KIDS might want to stick to school WORK. Maybe then they pass their goddamn school TESTS and be able to GRADUATE without being 24.

The other issue, in my mind, is the fact that, guess what, you aren't allowed to wear whatever you want in a job-type environment. If I came in tomorrow in a corona shirt, wearing makeup, with vaginas hanging from my ears, I would get a talking to, and probably a firing. And HR and the community and Jesse-Fuckin-Jackson would be fine with it.

I guess my real point here is that I'm sick of so many of our rights and problems being overlooked while some kid wanting to wear a kilt gets national attention.

So, here's my official statement:

If you are in high school, and are not making straight a's, and are not in a club or committee of some sort dedicated to saving the world, SHUT THE FUCK UP.

And you know what else, if you are the parent of a kid in high school, and you have a problem with how your child is being treated, TRY A PTA MEETING. The media is not here for your amusement. If you tried being interested in your child BEFORE their "rights were violated", maybe your kid wouldn't be attempting to look like a character from the opera Faust.