Principal fired after having himself whipped in front of students

[shecky]

http://www.adn.com/front/story/5774760p-5708623c.html

Principal Steve Unfreid, who said he was inspired in his choice of disciplinary tactics by the actions of Jesus, asked teacher Joe Brost to whip him in front of two male students in the school's basement last month after the boys were caught kissing girls in the locker room for the second time in a week.

WTF?

[TragicMonkey]

Kinky. Is kissing girls a sin? I wonder what he would have done if the miscreants had been caught kissing each other?

This sounds like the start of a certain kind of short film.

[Brahe]

Well, at least this is better than whipping the kids for their "sins."

The biggest mystery to me is just how Principle Unfreid talked Brost into whipping him. Did Brost just really dislike Unfreid's iron fist rule and jump at the chance? Did Unfreid convince Brost through logical discourse? Did Unfreid go to other teachers first, allowing the story to get around before Brost volunteered for the task? Or did Unfreid spring this on Brost when he took the kids down to the basement?

Of course, the whole article is riddled with bits that adequetely explain my disdain (and perhaps others') for "Christian values." This is not to say that all Christians share these sentiments, only that these sentiments are cited by fundamentalists as being "Christian."

The decision to take the boys' punishment on himself showed a form of Christianity that was too radical for some members of the school community, Unfreid said...This is one thing that pops up occasionally. Every now and then, a fundamentalist will perform some misdeed and, when chastised or punished, try to act as though the punishment was for his religious beliefs rather than for the misdeed! Or he'll try to play himself as being "too religious" for the community, the idea being that it's a clash between good religious values and bad secular values.

"The vision I had is the love of God can change everything," Unfreid said. Except Unfreid then fails to explain the link between him being whipped and love, let alone the love of God. I'm seriously in the dark about this one.

"Being a believer, I know that the only one that can take on the sins of anyone is Jesus," he said. What?! How does Jesus take on the sins of anyone? I mean, if a friend damages my neighbor's mailbox through poor parking, I could pay for the damage and thus compensate my neighbor for my friend's behaviour, but I suspect that Rausa means something different. But let's assume that Jesus could take on the sins of others. What's stopping someone else from doing the same?

Besides, the whole thing sounds suspiciously like trying to avoid responsibility. After all, if I were to hit a kid playing in the street through negligence, I wouldn't pray for Jesus to forgive me because I didn't injure Jesus! For that matter, if Jesus does take this "sin" upon his shoulders, how does that help the kid I just hit? Forgiven or not, it would be up to me to make up for my actions to the kid.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding this whole deal, I don't know.

[kuroyume0161]

It isn't worth the effort to comprehend the contortion artistry know as Christian apologetics, philosophy, dogma, and revelation.

These are the same people who cloistered themselves away and performed daily scurges, burned 'witches', counted the number of angels that may fit on a pinhead, and cannot agree on whether the Eucharist is symbolic, representational, transubstantitive, or what.

Robert

[CFLarsen]

Reality always trumps fiction.

Hollywood will never ever be able to match what goes on in the world.

Ed, I love reality...it's better than "Survivor" :D

[Crossbow]

Come on now, guys!

Who would not be sorely tempted to whip their boss if given the chance to actually do so?

:p

[kuroyume0161]

But I'm my own boss. What does that infer? ;)

Robert

[Bruce]

It would have been funnier if his name was Mr. Garrison. :D

[c4ts]

"Whip me Mr. Slave! Oh yes!"

And later he put the class gerbil up Mr. Slave's butt.

[neutrino_cannon]

Originally posted by TragicMonkey
Kinky.

Seconded. I shall add this to the ever-increasing pile of evidence that some forms of Christianity are just fronts for S&M enthusiasts.

[Art Vandelay]

Another interesting quote:
"Since coming to the school as a teacher several years ago, he said, he pushed for the school to admit a married student,"
The school doesn't allow married students? I guess they might be concerned that he might kiss his wife.

Another question that comes to mind: were the girls students? If so, why weren't they disciplined?

[RamblingOnwards]

He said that was when he remembered years ago he had cured his son of chronic lying by telling his son to hit him with a wooden ladle instead of spanking the youngster.

Wait, isn't that a scene from 'Little Men'?

[TragicMonkey]

Further questions: the kissing occurred in "the locker room"---boys' or girls'? And it was the second time they'd be caught--with the same girls, or different girls? Was the "punishment" for kissing girls, or being what the guy probably considers "promiscuous"? Were the girls complaining about being kissed? Or was it other girls who complained? And why weren't the girls "punished"? Is it assumed that the female is free of guilt because it's always the man's choice to kiss or not to kiss? I've noticed fundamentalism and sexism coinciding before.

I'm thinking this is more like the old concept of the whipping boy, where you disciplined a delicate or upper-class child by spanking another child and making him watch. The idea, I think, was to emotionally blackmail the child and force him to watch his little friend suffer for his actions. (The result was probably just to turn both parties into either psychological messes, hardcore S&M enthusiasts, or both.) So, was the principal hoping the boys would feel punished because of their sympathy for his own pain? Hmmm.

Perhaps that's the underlying basis of the Christ myth after all--we're supposed to feel guilty, horrified, and grateful to Jesus for going through torture "on our behalf", and out of guilt and gratitude we're supposed to obey his teachings. That sort of thing doesn't work on me--it's his own damn fault for getting himself into that mess, and while I'm just as sympathetic to suffering as the next guy, I wouldn't let it affect my reason.

[sackett]

Let's have some REAL details: were the boys cute? is the boss? the underling? were the girls present? if so, how were they dressed -- I should ask, how much were they dressed? describe exactly what sort of WHIP was used! how many strokes? did the boss have to cry, "Red light!" before it was over? will there be a sequel?

Damn, high school was never this much fun in MY day!

[TragicMonkey]

Originally posted by sackett
Let's have some REAL details: were the boys cute? is the boss? the underling? were the girls present? if so, how were they dressed -- I should ask, how much were they dressed? describe exactly what sort of WHIP was used! how many strokes? did the boss have to cry, "Red light!" before it was over? will there be a sequel?

Damn, high school was never this much fun in MY day!

In order, the answers are:

"yes, very"
"average,"
"yes, if you like Tom of Finland"
"yes"
"like Kelly Bundy"
"a black leather flogger with nine thongs, one inch width"
"50"
"he couldn't--had a gag in"
"no, but the proceeds from the video tape sales will supplement the bake sale income to purchase a new computer for the school library"

This is starting to make Christianity appealing.