I found this posting by an Esther Heimberg on Facebook. It was very educational.
January 20 at 5:51 PM ·
I’ve seen a lot of chatter about the disgraceful incident involving students from Covington Catholic High School and an Indigenous American and Veteran in Washington, DC this weekend. This morning, as news of the “full video” began to break, people started hedging, saying that there were “multiple perspectives.” Here’s my perspective.
I served an Episcopal parish in Northern Kentucky, approximately 15 minutes from Covington Catholic High School. It’s a prestigious all-male school with a reputation for strong academics and strong athletics. You can learn that much from the website.
What you won’t learn from the website is that there is a sinister pattern of similar behavior within the Diocese. While the Bishop there concerns himself with bizarre pronouncements (such as admonishing the faithful not to hold hands during the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer) and quashing “unorthodox hymns” that are otherwise approved for use in the Catholic church, he also has created a culture that is not only anti-LGBT, but also actively seeking out teachers and other administrators who might even hold sympathetic views toward people who are LGBT.
As a (retired) soccer referee, I dreaded officiating matches where Covington Catholic was involved. The fans were always among the rudest, most disrespectful, and mean-spirited that I’ve encountered–and I’ve refereed for a long time at almost every level of the game! Student after student has come forward over the years to try and shed light on the abuses that not just LGBT students faced, but students of color. Racial epithets and slurs were commonplace in the halls.
My point is that what we’re seeing on the (many) videos circulating should not come as a shock. It is a continuation of a long and disgusting pattern of toxicity and abuse that has been allowed and even encouraged at all levels of the school and, as far as I can tell, from the diocese.
While we might be concerning ourselves with “who moved first” or “who moved toward whom” in the video, I encourage you to reflect on this: notice the posture and demeanor of the young man. There is a troubling display of xenophobia embedded here. It’s the kind that says that white bodies (read: white, cis, straight, male bodies) can be anywhere they choose at any time, but that non-white bodies (read: non-cis, straight, male bodies) must first seek permission to exist outside of their “place.” This is a window into a perverse system that thrives on toxic, fragile masculinity embedded with xenophobia. And it’s not pretty. Let those who have ears to hear, listen.
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How many perspectives are out there? Each one seems to paint someone in a different light each time. My bet is that the smirking kid is trying to portray himself as the one true innocent one here and if so, he should trying actually smiling and not smirking. Smirking like he did tells me that he isn’t quite as innocent as he claims to be. Good to see a new twist to the story that provides some good insight to this story
““Smirking like he did tells me…”
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I had a classmate in high school who’s expression when he got nervous, an uncertain expression and slight smile, was easily interpreted as a “smirk”. Several times it got him in trouble when called on by a teacher to give an answer and his nervousness at not knowing, or just being the focus of the class, was misinterpreted.
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It’s far too easy to look at someone’s expression and see what you expect to see.
This kid was not nervous. He was overwhelmingly smug.
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PAD
Very perceptive, Sean. I had the same affliction. Some teachers seemed to understand, others it drove crazy. I will be forever remorseful for smirking and smiling while serving at funeral masses. Just being a thoughtless adolescent, and giddy to be let out of class for the service does not excuse the insensitive behavior. My reaction to the incident in D.C. with the youngsters was that it created a “teachable moment”. And wasn’t that the purpose of their trip? I still smile nervously at inappropriate times unless I catch myself and consciously think of the other persons position.
When that expression is worn beneath that hat then said expression can only lead one to logically conclude that the one wearing the hat is a piss ant little turd.
If he actually did smile? What is the correct posture he should have taken? How would you have reacted?
Smiles generally show teeth.
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PAD
I wonder why he didn’t just put up his hands in a show of it’s ok and walk away instead of stubbornly just standing there appearing to smirk while his classmates hooted and mocked the elder.
PAD
I don’t show my teeth when I smile (bad teeth). We have met and exchanged pleasantries on many occasions. My smile didn’t offend you. Besides, the kid would probably have been accused of baring his teeth. Again, what would have been the correct posture?
JV
Leave. Step back. Move aside.
The correct posture would have been to step aside, as others did, to let the old man pass.
Which is most certainly what he would have done had he been approached by an altar server swinging a censor and chanting a Catholic liturgy.
Veeh, he did leave. Saw it on a video that the NY Times put together. It was a video of clips so no way to know how long he was face-to-face with Phillips before he decided to leave.
The “correct posture” in my opinion would have been a non posture, but to stay clear of an obviously bad situation. Posture? How about back away before getting in the spotlight in the first place. If a gun fight breaks out do you stand your ground and posture correctly?
I first have to get something off of my chest. Every time I hear a left-wing person talking about “cis bodies” or “white bodies” or “brown bodies” or whatever, I start to think about empty human bodies inhabited by alien parasites or something. Whoever started that turn of phrase?
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I don’t doubt for a minute that Covington HS could be one of those Christian places where the finer points of Jesus’s message are somehow lost. Sadly, there are too many places like that out there. And I mean, anti-LGBT? Guys, this is the Catholic Church, right? I do find it a bit disingenious when progressives claim surprise and outrage when they “discover” that some Christian church is not very encouraging of LGBT rights. I mean, that is like discovering suddenly that vegetarians may not like eating meat…
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These kids might be áššhølëš. They probably are. The Hebrew Israelites probably are áššhølëš too. But they (Covington kids, Black Hebrews, all of them) are also people with lives that can’t be defined by a single moment captured on camera to paint them as pariahs. And here is where I mostly disagree with many leftists: Flesh and blood human beings shouldn’t be made into symbols for whole systems of oppression. Not even white, rich kids with “very punchable faces”.
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Of course, I agree that once you put on a MAGA hat or any sort of clothing that shouts your political affiliations, once you join a political demonstration against abortion or in favor of abortion, you are putting yourself out there. Still, the level of scrutiny and censure and outrage that is levied at folks these days is obscene and disproportional.
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One woman commenting about this article (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/14/opinion/call-out-social-justice.html) perhaps said it best. We have an American President that is out of control and a Republican Party that is out of control. We leftists are understandably upset about the horrible things these guys and their international counterparts are doing to our civilization. But since removing Trump and the GOP from power isn’t easy, we choose to double down on our disgust against their lowly minions, or even against liberals and folks on our side that somehow can stand in Trump’s place (on account of being male, cis, straight, white, etc.).
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And most of them are just folks. They shouldn’t be transformed into little Trump efiggies to be punched and burned.
Rene wrote:
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“Every time I hear a left-wing person talking about ‘cis bodies’ or ‘white bodies’ or ‘brown bodies’ or whatever, I start to think about empty human bodies inhabited by alien parasites or something.”
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When someone uses these phrases, I start to think of bigotry.
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They’re all used to marginalize or defame; just like n_____ or k___, they make an individual ignorable by putting that individual into a grouping for mass condemnation, as if all in that grouping were alike and to be reviled.
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They can be used as name-calling hate speech, too.
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(I’m talking about the descriptive, classifying words, Rene, not using them as accusatory toward you because you asked about them.)
I probably am guilty of this more than most, and I’m sorry but, the supporters of this scumbag are worse than Individual 1. I refuse to use his given name, as he also does not use it.
But your point is a good one. Though what better way to look at the bodies than vehicles for spiritual beings. Seeing the meatbags as anything else is ridiculous
Buz –
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I used to get very angry with the supporters of right-wing authoritarians. I still do, most times. But I also pity them. In a lot of ways, they are like cattle being led to the abattoir by leaders that do not really give a šhìŧ. Of course, they are also dangerous cattle that trample other people underfoot as they madly dash this way and that.
It is not that Catholics or any other Christians Sect does not like LGBTQ people, it’s that they refuse to do what Christ commanded and LOVE THEM! Instead, the ostracize, demean and threaten them.
Well, most Christian Churches have a long story of siding with the powerful and attacking the less privileged. At best, they simply turn a blind eye to the predations of the strong over the weak.
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That is, they are more the Church of Machiavelli than the Church of Jesus. Just like in most institutions, Realpolitiks rules all.
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There are a few congregations, and a lot of individual Christians that are tolerant, though.
I have seen the racism of rural KY up close and personal. Confederate flags, Klan symbols, neo-nazi symbols are everywhere so I was not in the least surprised that these hooligans were from KY. It’s 1930 there still in places. It was KY that allowed a clerk to refuse to grant a gay couple a marriage license, and is now at the center of a racist display by MAGA hat wearing bullies. There is another, lesser known video of this same group of boys cat-calling and harassing a group of girls as they walked by…also not surprising. Granted, the BI group was no better, with their racially charged heckling, but it may have been brought on by the cocky attitudes and MAGA hats the boys ere wearing. And not of it excuses the lack of manners and respect shown to Nathan Phillips by the boys. That their chaperones allowed, possibly even condoned, the wearing of those hats and the cheering/chanting that occurred, is in itself disturbing and decidedly UNCHRISTIAN. The chaperones should have told the boys to remove their caps, shut their mouths and progress quietly to the side. The chaperones/teachers need to be fired, the boys expelled and the county prosecutor should investigate the school for hate crimes. This is the black mark. This is the defining moment.
Except it won’t be because they hired a PR firm to spin it, and it’s working.
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PAD
Except that this school is not in rural Kentucky. It’s in a close in suburb of Cincinnati’s, Ohio
“Rural” can be as much a mindset as anything else. Just because the school’s in a “suburb of Cincinnati” doesn’t mean its people don’t share the same VALUES as “rural Kentucky” and, considering the fact that the county in which the school’s located is EXTREMELY white (94%) and the city in which the school’s located is even WHITER (96.6%), that would pretty much make it what folks could call “rich rural” (Cincinnati proper is only about 49% white while its home county, Hamilton, is 69% white).
Oh, gee, the school isn’t in a rural area. So I guess that makes their bigotry and sexual harassment all okay.
Duuuuh.
And that’s why you need to hire a PR (RunSwitch) firm with connections to get your story “straight” (read as- promoted as the correct narrative).
“(Jake) Tapper shares a network with RunSwitch partner and CNN exclusive political contributor Scott Jennings, who served as special assistant to the Deputy of Political Affairs for the latter Bush administration before taking an advisory role with Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell.”
https://www.theroot.com/cnn-and-jake-tapper-push-covington-catholic-narrative-1831973661
The difference between a smile and a smirk is not in the mouth… it is in the eyes. This kid has something far different from joy in his eyes at this moment. I will not presume to know what is there, but I feel pretty confident in saying what is not…
Who actually wrote this? How do we know if it’s accurate?
I’m curious where on Facebook you found this post. I always like to locate the source to ensure information holds merit. I have looked at Esther Heimberg’s profile and did not find this post. I looked for your profile on Facebook and did not locate your page. This puzzles me. As you know Facebook does not allow “Fake or impostor profiles”. I found this story on another individual’s FB page posted via your website. As a liberal Bernie supporter, I want our perspective and arguments to be accurate. Would you please provide referential evidence that this was a FB post by Esther Heimberg? Thanks! I really appreciate your answer.
Says where it is from at the top: “Esther Heimberg on Facebook”. Go here: https://www.facebook.com/esther.heimberg.9
The author is also on FB: Marshall Jolly.
So this is where we are now? Some people are so desperate to repudiate commentary they don’t like that you’re going to doubt the person who wrote what is clearly a genuine and heartfelt posting? You think someone else is disguising themselves as Esther Heimberg? Or perhaps I fabricated it and assigned it to her?
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Jesus.
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Her post wasn’t found on her page. What could the possible explanation be? It’s because she posted it on someone else’s thread, people. And if you think I’m going to scour tens of thousands of Facebook posts in order to find it again, you are very much mistaken. If it means that much to you, go to her Facebook page and ask her if she wrote it.
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PAD