THIS IS OUURRRRR VAGINA'S COUNTRAY!

sammybaby: Today's bit of mind-bending courtesy of this news story: http://www.nbc10.com/education/11187138/detail.html
[08:12am] sammybaby: Three high-school girls, suspended because they were doing a reading of The Vagina Monologues, and spoke the word "vagina."
[08:12am] sammybaby: The mind bending part is this: "In a statement, [school principal] Leprine said that because the event was open to the community, including children, the word "vagina" was not appropriate. He said the girls had been told when they auditioned that they could not use the word."
[08:13am] sammybaby: Oh - no, sorry. This is the mindbending part. "The suspension has prompted allegations of censorship. But Principal Richard Leprine said Tuesday that the girls were punished not because of what they said but because they disobeyed orders not to say it."
[08:14am] stankow: How is that-- ah, okay.
[08:14am] sammybaby: So, yeah. "They're not being censored. We just told them not to read it, and they disobeyed us."
[08:14am] stankow: Well, it's kinda cart-horsey, but I see what he means. Like that bomber pilot who was busted for sleeping with a married man -- she never faced charges of adultery, just of disobeying the order not to sleep with him.
[08:15am] PlasticJesus: dude, my breakfast fucking pwns this morning.
[08:15am] xiamin: On the one hand, the bomber pilot is in the military.
[08:15am] stankow: PJ is a master breakfast fucker.
[08:15am] xiamin: A school principal is not really a commanding officer.
[08:16am] MandaX: Kids' freedom of speech during a school-sponsored function is never going to be unfettered, though.
[08:16am] stankow: No, but the principal is responsible for school-sponsored presentations and events.
[08:17am] stankow: If the three girls had decided to stage a dramatic re-enactment of the final scene of "Debbie Does Dallas," it would be the principal's responsibility to put an end to that as well.
[08:17am] PlasticJesus: but he should have just said "no, that subject matter isn't appropriate for this event"
[08:18am] PlasticJesus: instead of saying "ok, just don't say that word". the dude's a twat and deserved embarrassment
[08:18am] MandaX: Well, he was trying to allow them *more* freedom than he would have by doing that, PJ.
[08:19am] MandaX: And trying to walk a very fine line in so doing.
[08:19am] letsgomiah joined the chat room.
[08:19am] PlasticJesus: it's pretty retarded to tell someone that they can perform a reading but can't actually speak the title of it
[08:19am] stankow: They don't say which of the Monologues they were presenting -- they're not all "CUNT VAGINA SNATCH VAGINA!"
[08:19am] PlasticJesus: it's a stupid line to walk, that's what i meant
[08:19am] xiamin: "My short skirt is a liberation flag in the women's army," they read. "I declare these streets, any streets, my vagina's country."
[08:20am] stankow: See, they could have said "cooter" and it would have retained its dramatic power.
[08:20am] MandaX: THIS IS OUURRRRR VAGINA'S COUNTRAY!
] xiamin: Vagina is a sword sheath in Latin.