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oraxx's avatar

Jesus couldn't be bothered to intervene in the Holocaust, or prevent a child from being raped by a priest, but he really, really cares about what people wear to prom. It isn't about any standard this school is supposedly trying to uphold, it's about forced conformity, and letting people know what happens when they get out of line. I hope this bone-headed move motivates some of these kids to abandon religion the minute they can.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

"Unjust and unduly harsh." Says the ogre who raped a 6-year-old?

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cdbunch's avatar

Ok. Why do the charges mention the respective genders and why the under the age of 12 bit. Under the age of 16 or 18, I could understand, but 12? Even if's a sentence enhancing thing, the threshold is too low.

Psychological harm to his wife and kids? That "psychologist" is a whore (no offense meant to sex workers) Getting away from such a monster is the best thing that could happen to his kids.

And the sentence leaves a lot to be desired.

"expressed remorse and apologized to his victim", so fucking what, he raped a 6-year-old.

No place is perfect, but I expected better of New Zealand.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

NZ doesn't go in for the hugely long sentences you get in the US. There are factors that the judge – I think – must take into account when sentencing including early guilty pleas not putting the family through the trauma of a trial and so on. I think remorse is probably included in that although, how they judge if it's true remorse or not I don't know. The system is supposed to be rehabilitative as well as punitive, although that's often honoured more in the breach than the observance it seems to me.

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cdbunch's avatar

In general, I approve of rehabilitation over punishment. But there is no known effective rehab for child fuckers.

And blaming demons doesn't strike me as remorse.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

True but he was from Kiribati ... hence overly religulous and gullible.

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XJC's avatar

Jesus is working the NBA Round 1 games this week. Between that and Tucker Carlson, his plate is full. He had to prioritize so shaming the prom kid rose to the top of the list. It's not easy being an omniscient, omnipotent deity, you know.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Yet once again, a Christian school decides that it's okay to be an asshole to a minority because Christianity. [Sun rises in the east, water is wet, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead, et cetera, et cetera.] The sad thing is that, once again, the school can get away with it, presuming they don't accept public funds.

If anyone wants to keep track of the myriad reasons why Christianity is losing traction, particularly with millennials and Gen Z, here ya go.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

There is quite a number of boomers here too.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Yeah, including me [in case you hadn't already guessed!]. Thing is, I was an apatheist (indifferent about gods) for the longest time. It was a combination of the likes of the Bakkers, Swaggart, and Falwell, Sr., plus 9/11 to start to move me to a more affirmatively atheistic position.

But move I did.

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Joe King's avatar

I have lost count of the reasons.

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jomicur's avatar

How do I abandon thee? Let me count the ways...

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NoOne of Consequence's avatar

My dude, you're a regular here too. You know it's entirely possible they're getting public funds AND being absolute bigots. We see it every week, because apparently we like being angry. 😉

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Nice to see that Christian schools have their priorities in order. :S

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Joan the Dork's avatar

Of all the things there are in this world to get worked up about- many of them actual, honest-to-goodness existential threats- 𝘱𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘴 are what you're going with? Not even pants in general, just "pants if they're on a set of legs connected to an AFAB person." 𝘙𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, Christians... and you wonder why we don't respect you. This- this right here? 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺. If you don't want to be ridiculed, 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘳𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘴.

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NoOne of Consequence's avatar

'k I can't keep up, what's AFAB? I don't want to go to Urban Dictionary today, I have things to do. Heh. Also, you are spot on. Christendom is getting mad that they keep winning stupid prizes after playing stupid games.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Assigned Female at Birth

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

TY. It flummoxed me also.

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NoOne of Consequence's avatar

Thanks! I seriously can’t keep up. I get an info dump whenever I see my trans nephew but my stupid ass only retains a fraction of it.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

OT: Sad News: Harry Belafonte has died at the age of 96. Wonderful voice, genuine talent, and tireless fighter for human rights.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/25/entertainment/harry-belafonte-death/index.html

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NoOne of Consequence's avatar

Dammit, he was one of my favorite people. This is how I choose to remember him, losing it while trying to sing Day-O with the Muppets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-4xyg4PU-U

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NOGODZ20's avatar

"Kingston Town," "A Hole in the Bucket," and so many others.

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

Surprised Statler and Hilton didn't make some sarcastic statements. I kept waiting for them. Thank you for this.

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Len Koz's avatar

Statler and Waldorf, not Hilton. Wrong hotel.

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NoOne of Consequence's avatar

What sarcastic thing could they say? It's glorious.

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Bagen Onuts's avatar

The writers were genius. Prolly decided not to use them here.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Woke up to his music this morning on KEXP.

So much goodness in one man. He was one of the greats.

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Joe King's avatar

My late wife spent years in corporate America. She never wore a dress to work, always a suit. I wonder how this school would have reacted to her if she had shown up to audit their books? (She was an accountant.)

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NoOne of Consequence's avatar

I expect pearls would be clutched and fainting couches deployed. Not just because of the suit but she was a *woman* doing *math*! How did her weak, female mind handle all those scary numbers? Uhm, snark? I just realized that might be their exact reaction.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Maybe we should arrange for an exclusive showing of 𝐻𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑒𝑛 𝐹𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠 for them! Think they'd like that? 😁

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cdbunch's avatar

Black and female. Scanners time.

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Old Man Shadow's avatar

I like how "biblical principles" for dress just happen to accord with ye old American cultural gender expectations of the 19th century.

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Guerillasurgeon's avatar

Actually if I remember correctly, trousers were considered somewhat effeminate in biblical times. Persians wore them. Mind you, so did Roman soldiers I guess.

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jomicur's avatar

One of the reasons the Greeks considered the Persians "effeminate" was because Persian men wore trousers.. As I recall it, the attitude was that "real men" weren't afraid to expose their junk to the open air.

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cdbunch's avatar

It's not the open air that I don't want to expose my junk to. It's the screams of "My Eyes! My Eyes!"

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jomicur's avatar

Too big? Too small? Botched circumcision?

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cdbunch's avatar

With all the fat around it, it's practically an innie.

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GrandmascienCe's avatar

TMI!!!!!

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

Yes, but try that on the subway...

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jomicur's avatar

When I lived in NYC in the 70s I tried a few things on the subway that'd stand your hair on end. Those were the days.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

I did something at the back of a Greyhound bus while I was stationed at Castle AFB.

Not just once, but several times. Ooh, I wuz the wittle wascal.

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Zizzer-Zazzer-Zuzz's avatar

I was usually the last one off of the school bus and I always sat in the very back.

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larry parker's avatar

My city doesn't allow junk in the open air. You have to keep it in the barn.

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Black Hole and DM mourner's avatar

By the way anyone saw the woman/girl with the blue dress at the right of the picture ? How spagettis straps are modest* ?

* I am not shaming her but shouldn't the school ban her from the premises for showing her shoulders ?

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ericc's avatar

The school's choices clearly has little or nothing to do with their written policy and much more to do with '50s-era* sexist views.

*1950s...1850s...1750s...

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Joan the Dork's avatar

"Immodest" in this context just means "I want to punish that woman over there for existing and get away with it." A woman (or, in B's case, a person the powers-that-be 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘪𝘷𝘦 as a woman, regardless of their real identity) could be wearing a burlap sack and still run afoul of a modesty rule worded so loosely, and that's precisely the point- the staff gets to target anyone they wish to, for anything they wish to, at any time they wish to, because the rules are arbitrary and subjective.

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NoOne of Consequence's avatar

Clearly not a Mormon function, ladies aren't allowed to show so much *gasp* shoulder! I'm not joking, she'd have to wear a little sweater or something or they wouldn't let *her* in. Honestly not sure how they'd react to someone they feel is female in a suit.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

Okay, so women have been fighting this fight for generations. How many stars were dragged for wearing slacks, rejected from roles and studios because they insisted on pants in the forties and fifties? Wasn’t there a big kerfluffle over someone wearing a tuxedo to the Oscars in the 90s? This school is fighting a fight lost ages ago.

At least they are troubled over someone they consider feminine being masculine rather than someone they think ought to be masculine being feminine. Because the worst thing a man can be is considered too lady like. But it’s the same thing I guess. No matter how much they claim they love and respect women, they are misogynistic. Women need to be feminine so they can oppress them correctly and men cannot be feminine because they aren’t supposed to be oppressed that way. (If they’re poor, or a person of color they get to be oppressed, just not the same as women)

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ericc's avatar

I interpret this as a pendulum back-swing rather than fighting a lost battle. 'No Pants Suits' wasn't even a *conservative* thing or concern 10, 15 years ago.

Sigh. The Village wasn't a high quality movie, but it kinda captured what conservatives seem to be driving (backwards) towards, doesn't it?

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Whitney's avatar

I'm guessing you're thinking of that tuxedo/gown ensemble Billy Porter wore? Guy looked awesome in it, and it did make some noise at the time.

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Val Uptuous NotAgain's avatar

Mostly I was thinking of Katherine Hepburn, one studio rejected her if she insisted on wearing slacks and not just during awards shows. But Marlene Dietrich and so many others as well.

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S. Arch's avatar

Well, if the school policy states that students should choose attire consistent with "biblical principles," then every person wearing clothes made of blended fabric should have been kicked out. It's one of Yahweh's many commandments: "Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material." (Lev. 19:19 and Deut. 22:11)

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Let's not be serving no Shrimp Scampi at that event, either, and all the boys had better NOT be clean-shaven, either! It never fails to amuse me how believers cherry-pick their way through the bible and utterly fail to notice that they're doing so.

Then, too, ALL religion is CAFETERIA religion.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Wonder what the school's reaction would've been had a boy rebelled against the school's dress code and came to the prom dressed in a robe and sandals like you-know-who?

Just a thought.

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Troublesh00ter's avatar

Oh, they doubtless would have lost their shit and cried, "BLASPHEMY!" and "Who do you think you are that you try to emulate Our Savior™" and generally carry on.

Like they usually do.

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jomicur's avatar

And if the kid actually quoted Jesus they'd have screamed about socialism, communism, wokeism and more.

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Kicking and screaming like spoiled, whiny children.

IOW, Christians.

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Zorginipsoundsor's avatar

Then he should reply, "No, no, I'm not cosplaying Jebus. I'm cosplaying the beloved disciple."

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NOGODZ20's avatar

Maybe he could've come as Mark, then proceded to run naked like that apostle did after Jesus' arrest.

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XJC's avatar

Hugh Heffner?

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NOGODZ20's avatar

What's the joke after Hefner's death?

(image of Hef being surrounded by beautiful women): "No one can look at this photo and still say that he's in a better place."

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Kevin Bealer's avatar

Nashville is one of the two "buckles" of the Bible Belt because it has multiple Christian schools and over 700 churches (Abilene, Texas is the other). So what do you expect? Every day I thank the divine spaghetti monster that I don't live in that part of the country. My advice to B is flee any state controlled by the Christian Taliban.

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larry parker's avatar

If a dress was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for B.

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Joe King's avatar

They want people to fit into two (and only two) neat little boxes. Then proceed to narrow those boxes so tightly that no one really fits.

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Richard Wade's avatar

Meanwhile, American Christian schools and churches keep trying to blame their dwindling numbers on anything other than their own regressive policies, obsession with control and conformity, and bigoted behavior. This incident is a classic example of the demise of American Christianity. Let's run the likely outcome forward:

B, his friends, and the fellow students who sympathize with him will remember this marred prom as they continue to grow into full adulthood. Many of them will marry and have children, and because of this "last straw" experience, many will choose to definitely NOT send their kids to their old school or any other Christian school. So the next generation of students for Nashville Christian School will not be supplied by as many alumni as the previous generation, and the student body will shrink year by year until the school cannot stay afloat. Bye.

I wish B and everyone who has been supportive of him a good life.

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larry parker's avatar

"B Hayes (he/they, according to Instagram)"

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Richard Wade's avatar

Ah. Thank you. I edited my comment to correct that error.

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NoOne of Consequence's avatar

Isn’t Jesus typically depicted in what is essentially a dress? Would a dude get kicked out for wearing something like that? Ugh. Well B, I wish you the best, if you keep this level of courage and willingness to be yourself then you have excellent prospects.

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