LOCAL CATHOLIC HIGH SCHOOL SCREWS UP

Today's Waterloo Region Record carrys this story "St. Mary's High School squanders a teachable moment". This Opinion piece by Luisa D'Amato could well be in my opinion a sad commentary on an awful lot of our so called authorities in our society. Let me partly illustrate by way of a joke. What do the following three have in common? That would be the Pope, the Catholic Church and both our local school boards. Answer: All three think that they are infallible.

Now first off an apology to devout Catholics. They know full well that the last two sure as heck aren't infallible however the Pope is a totally different story. Luisa's Opinion piece puts in perspective a video made by a student protesting the crackdown on school uniforms. The student apparently included a "...well known scene from the 2004 film Downfall, a biographical film about Adolf Hitler.". The student's video is satirical and yes it is critical of the school authorities clampdown. However as Luisa points out, in theory at least, we still have freedom of speech in this country. Or do we? Luisa actually suggests that this suspended student get hold of a lawyer; that's how far extreme and overboard the reaction from the school is. While Luisa is correct in that the school authorities appear mindlessly authoritarian she also misses one other aspect of this situation. That would be political correctness run amok. Hitler was a bad guy hence no one is ever allowed to use his appearance to make a point. Really?