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In order to avoid a very scary riot involving grown men dressed up in Santa Claus costumes, Oak Lawn school officials have backed off from their proposal to stop celebrating Christmas and Halloween in the classrooms.
The Christmas controversy started when a parent brought to light the fact that Muslim holidays were neglected by the school system. In the spirit of Christmas, board members offered a compromise — holidays for no one! They decreed that the district should tone down holiday celebrations because, among other reasons, there really isn't enough time in a school day to celebrate all the holidays clustered around the winter solstice.
The community responded with great vengeance and furious anger, not to mention some choice xenophobia, like, "We're letting you come here, we're honoring you, don't dishonor us," from resident Linda Pferschy. Parents and community members came out in droves to save Christmas, feeling like they got screwed after the Jell-O fiasco (dietary restrictions of Muslim students, who make up one-third of the school's student body, sparked a debate over the substance because of its pork content and it was eventually eliminated from the cafeteria menu.) Eventually, each board member's heart grew 10 sizes and they gave back all the holidays.
Image via spiedies.com.
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"The community responded with great vengeance and furious anger ..."
Wow, ripping off pop-culture quotes more than a decade old. Great, uh, writing. Or something. Irony? Meta? Laziness?
Perhaps you were ripping of the Bible, but somehow I doubt it.
Why the hell are any religious holidays celebrated in public schools? Aren't parents and houses of worship responsible for that?
Crap like this is nuts! I can't believe it even got that far. A segment starts whining and the school board crumbles in fear. I'm glad parents showed up and let that board know how they felt. I'm even happier for the kids. Why should they have their traditions changed because of the newbees? That is just lame.....
"Timeless" pop culture references, #1. Tarantino and Dr. Seuss.
There's a federal holiday on December 25th, but we can't tell you why........
Why should they have their traditions changed because of the newbees?
Yeah that's never happened before, haha.
Holiday celebrations are supposed to be secular in publis schools in any case. Why were the muslims being left out?
Some traditional American holidays:
Christmas - celebrate by spending lots of money on gifts that we can't afford to give.
Halloween - celebrate by having men dressing up in drag, and females dressing in something slutty that they would never wear out in public any other day. Oh, and we eat lots of candy.
Thanksgiving - celebrate with supreme gluttony until we pass out from a food coma in front of the TV.
Valentine's Day - celebrate with sex and candy.
Some Muslim holidays:
Eid ul-Adha - celebrate by sacrificing your best domestic animal.
Ramadan - celebrate by fasting during daylight hours for a month.
Ashura - celebrate by fasting.
Laylat ul Bara'ah - celebrate by spending the night reciting the Qur'an and praying.
So, by that list, it looks like if Muslims want us to start celebrating their holidays, they need to make the celebrations more in the 7-deadly-sins style of American holidays!
Thanks for the solstice link to show people that religion is a farce and that it can all be traced back to pagan beliefs and astrological readings. If people actually read into religion they could see that it's all made up to control people's actions. Ancient people created gods because they couldn't understand how things worked so they assumed it must be an unknown force or a god or the force if you a star wars fan.
great vengeance and furious anger
I love it!
"Halloween - ... females dressing in something slutty that they would never wear out in public any other day."
That means Halloween is everyday. Seeing copious amounts of cleavage in board rooms every day and underwear as outwear for years, nothing is too slutty these days for ready-to-wear.
".....some choice xenophobia, like, 'We're letting you come here, we're honoring you, don't dishonor us'....."
From that passage, it seems that Chicagoist had to find some person to play the role of a ham-fisted yokel. Well, Chicagoist, that remark is hardly xenophobic. Politically incorrect? Of course. Factually incorrect? Not at all.
Americans are indeed "letting" newcomers into the country. In the case of Oak Lawn, some newcomers were, rightfully, seeking more inclusion and stumbled along the way. That stumbling was going to needlessly take enjoyment from kids.
Fortunately, the ship has been righted. There was no xenophobia, just parents doing the right thing for their kids.
Ramadan will be recognized as well as Halloween and Christmas, with each event/period recognized for its cultural importance. Best of all, a lot of fun will be had in the process. Chicagoist, stop looking for redneck villains.
The school bopard NEVER took jello out of the menu.
The school board Never took away ANY holidays.
The school board NEVER even proposed those ideas.
What a shameless media frenzy.
FYI: ALL school board ACTION is done in public...oh yeah it is the law
minor detail for those of you in the media that could not find the law let alone read it, god forbid report it correctly.
The original Sun-Times article quoted the Muslim mother as saying that she didn't want any of the holidays to be cancelled, she just asked if they could also have one for a Muslim holiday just so the kids could learn about it.
My question, then, is: with a such a common sense petition as that, how does this still get turned into a "They're taking away all of our culture" type of argument?
I never quite understood holidays (other than getting days off from school/work/life, which is always awesome)...the idea of celebrating something I have no personal connection to never really made sense to me, so I could really care less (aside from the cultural aspect of education, which is pretty non-existent anyways) but...but...
JELLO? Who fucks with the jello? If you don't like it or can't eat it for religious reasons, DON'T EAT IT...but don't deprive the other children of something as simultaneously wonderful and questionable as jello.
Seriously guys...do what you want to Christmas...anything that inspired "The Santa Clause 3" probably deserves to be re-evaluated, but leave the jello alone.
Not sure where you got your information but your article is very WRONG.
maybe try the FACTS!
12 says: "ALL school board ACTION is done in public"
Well, sort of, but not quite. I suggest you review the Illinois Open Meetings Act. Minor detail for you.
Here's a solution: No celebration of religious holidays in public schools. The dumbshits need more time to learn anyway.