News Alabama Geometry lesson: How to shoot Obama

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An Alabama teacher was suspended after using an assassination scenario involving President Obama to teach geometry, prompting a Secret Service investigation. The incident sparked widespread outrage, with many arguing that the teacher's approach was inappropriate and tasteless. Some participants in the discussion expressed that the teacher deserved more than a minor reprimand, while others found humor in the unconventional teaching method, suggesting it might engage conservative students in math. Concerns were raised about the implications of using violent examples in education, especially regarding young students' understanding of such serious topics. The conversation also touched on broader issues of racism and political sentiment, with some asserting that the backlash against Obama is fueled by racial prejudice. The legality of the teacher's comments was debated, with references to laws regarding threats against the president, ultimately concluding that while the teacher's actions were offensive, they did not constitute a criminal threat. Overall, the discussion highlighted the complexities of balancing free speech in education with the need for responsible teaching practices.
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  • #52
IcedEcliptic said:
I believe the comparison was number of threats, but either way, I don't consider that to be a useful metric. The racism is clear if you are willing to talk to the... wrong... people, and listen. That said, it is the hysterical media that seems to fuel so much of this, along with the economy, and wars. Racism is there, and a factor, but deliberate misinformation and manipulation of gullible twits is probably a much greater factor.

First, remember that for any viewpoint you can think of, even authoritarian anarchism (the new A.A.), there's someone who supports it.

Now, it's true that there are racists, and they get a lot of coverage because the media (FOX included) loves a scandal. How often have you heard about the guy who disagrees with Obama or Bush because of their policies? Not much. How often have you heard about the guy who called Obama a Kenyan or Bush retarded? A lot more.

Note: The above statements are my perceptions, and have not been fact-checked. They sound really right, though.

Also, for almost every racist you have (I'm thinking a 4:5 ratio here), you have someone else inappropriately playing the race card. I'm sure we all remember how a certain Congressman whose name escapes me was branded a racist for daring to call the President a liar (during the President's speech too... almost Kanyesque in its bad taste), with the branders including Jimmy Carter and others. Now I'm not saying that the race card is never well played (Don Imus totally deserved it), but there are a great deal of instances where it is played badly, at the wrong time. It really devalues the meaning of the word "racism", just as radfems have devalued the meaning of the word "feminism", or theoneocons have devalued the meaning of the word "conservative".

Now that I've forgotten the purpose of this post (I'm not old!), I'll just leave it there. Hopefully someone else can figure out what I'm trying to say, because on the iPod it slipped my mind...
 
  • #53
IcedEcliptic said:
"Hatred is the coward's revenge for being intimidated." (George Bernard Shaw)

True here. As for racism, as cronxeh says you can rarely point to one case unless it's a tea-bagger with Obama as a witch-doctor. This does not change the fact that given what Bush "accomplished" vs. Obama's fairly tame 2 years, the hatred and hysteria around Obama is out of proportion. I do not believe that it is possible for a reasonable person to conclude that racism does not play a role in this.

Obama could be doing better, but compare him to W., and you'd think the hatred and fear would be greater for the one who has gotten us into two wars ans could barely speak, instead of someone who's healthcare policies you disagree with. How can anyone watching Fox News, and psychotics such as Glenn Beck and Limbaugh NOT conclude that racism is part of the fuel for their fire?

For the OP, no physics problem outside of sniper training in a military should involve calculating a ballistic trajectory to kill a person.

Why don't you try supporting a few of your comments? You are taking a lot of liberty with your posts.
 
  • #54
WhoWee said:
Why don't you try supporting a few of your comments? You are taking a lot of liberty with your posts.

What is a lounge for if not for lounging? Like Char.Limit, I can only base these statements on media coverage and personal experiences, and don't pretend otherwise. Take CNN's recent so-called racism study with children, it LOOKS damning, but offhand I can think of a number of holes in their methodology. Yet, it looks terrible, so people will believe the worst. Really, it struck me as a terribly constructed study, with no valid results.

For Beck at least, anyone who conflates socialism, with nazism (which was socialist in name only) is showing the kind of casual disregard for those millions of Jews, Catholics, Blacks, Gypsies, ans Homosexuals who were exterminated outside of combat during WWII. Perhaps I am more used to identifying racism as I have seen it in the many international varieties. There is such a thing as inciting others to draw a natural conclusion, and there is collusion. If you were in the midst of an anti-war protest and saw someone with a picture of a US military officer dressed as a Nazi, or covered in blood or the like, would you not say something? If not, and you continue to associate yourself with that movement, don't you take some responsibility for your silence? Obama-as-Witch Doctor, and you have a similar issue.
 
  • #55
Alabama Math Lesson:

If in a 100 cubic foot chamber, 3 canisters of Zyklon B will kill 7 Jews, how many canisters of Zyklon B will be required to kill 13 Jews?

Alabama Physics Lesson:

If the modulus of elasticity of a Rwandan child's skull is 3, and that of a Rwandan adult is 17, how much easier is it to crush the skull of the child with a machete vs that of the adult?

Alabama Economics Lesson:

If 14 Albanian's have an average worth of $50 each, and you kill them all, how will this affect the local economy?

-----------------

Turning humans into math problems involving death strikes me as a bit dehumanizing.

Dehumanizing people is a bad thing.

arrogance, dogma, or ignorance? what was the teacher guilty of?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8mIfatdNqBA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8mIfatdNqBA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
 
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  • #56
OmCheeto said:
Alabama Math Lesson:

If in a 100 cubic foot chamber, 3 canisters of Zyklon B will kill 7 Jews, how many canisters of Zyklon B will be required to kill 13 Jews?

Alabama Physics Lesson:

If the modulus of elasticity of a Rwandan child's skull is 3, and that of a Rwandan adult is 17, how much easier is it to crush the skull of the child with a machete vs that of the adult?

Alabama Economics Lesson:

If 14 Albanian's have an average worth of $50 each, and you kill them all, how will this affect the local economy?

-----------------

Turning humans into math problems involving death strikes me as a bit dehumanizing.

Dehumanizing people is a bad thing.

arrogance, dogma, or ignorance? what was the teacher guilty of?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8mIfatdNqBA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8mIfatdNqBA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

If you remove the races and other elements, it's just as disturbing for the reason you say; leave the calculus of death to medicine and soldiering, where it is necessary.
 
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  • #57
IcedEcliptic said:
How about testing his trajectory work with live rounds, with him as the target? Inject a little reality into these violent fantasies that seem so common in cowards.
Breaking news: PhysicsForums member banned after a forum outcry for using the murder of a high school teacher in a discussion.


Disclaimer: above news is purely fictional[/size]
 
  • #58
You know, it's funny.
If the geometry lesson "victim" was a 6-yr old child on a swing set I suspect there would be a virtually universal outcry for firring the teacher.
 
  • #59
Hurkyl said:
Breaking news: PhysicsForums member banned after a forum outcry for using the murder of a high school teacher in a discussion.Disclaimer: above news is purely fictional[/size]

I have no interest in seeing this person killed, it is simple hyperbole.

I should add, I was simply requesting that he grade those tests in a uniquely empirical fashion. :smile:
 
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  • #60
IcedEcliptic said:
What is a lounge for if not for lounging? Like Char.Limit, I can only base these statements on media coverage and personal experiences, and don't pretend otherwise. Take CNN's recent so-called racism study with children, it LOOKS damning, but offhand I can think of a number of holes in their methodology. Yet, it looks terrible, so people will believe the worst. Really, it struck me as a terribly constructed study, with no valid results.

For Beck at least, anyone who conflates socialism, with nazism (which was socialist in name only) is showing the kind of casual disregard for those millions of Jews, Catholics, Blacks, Gypsies, ans Homosexuals who were exterminated outside of combat during WWII. Perhaps I am more used to identifying racism as I have seen it in the many international varieties. There is such a thing as inciting others to draw a natural conclusion, and there is collusion. If you were in the midst of an anti-war protest and saw someone with a picture of a US military officer dressed as a Nazi, or covered in blood or the like, would you not say something? If not, and you continue to associate yourself with that movement, don't you take some responsibility for your silence? Obama-as-Witch Doctor, and you have a similar issue.


hey, how about this one? :smile:

Yeshayahu Liebowitz said:
Religious nationalism is to religion what National Socialism is to socialism
 
  • #61
Proton Soup said:
hey, how about this one? :smile:

Oh lord!
 
  • #62
IcedEcliptic said:
I have no interest in seeing this person killed, it is simple hyperbole.
Posts such as yours, zomg's, and Ivan's had led me to believe that facts such as this don't matter...
 
  • #63
Hurkyl said:
Posts such as yours, zomg's, and Ivan's had led me to believe that facts such as this don't matter...

What do you mean?

Are you saying that in fact, I do wish harm to be visited upon this person? If I posted: "Given Hurkyl is (fictional) 5'11" tall, and has an average HR/BP and blood volume, assuming that his throat is slit, how long will it take before he is fully exsanguinated, or his blood volume is too low to allow cardiac action?" I think you'd take that as threatening, gruesome, and out of line. Why is it different when naming another individual, and being shot? I could have used a leaky pump to illustrate my point.
 
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  • #64
Hurkyl said:
Posts such as yours, zomg's, and Ivan's had led me to believe that facts such as this don't matter...

what are you talking about Hurkyl? This seems to me like an unsubstantiated attempt at ad hominem nothing more.
 
  • #65
zomgwtf said:
what are you talking about Hurkyl? This seems to me like an unsubstantiated attempt at ad hominem nothing more.

Actually, if one of us did it, it would be trolling. Can you report a mentor? :rolleyes:
 
  • #66
This thread is ridiculously out of control.

Closed.
 

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