Telluride

Hell of a name gets boy banned from Australian school

And it's not even a first name. It's his last name, so it's not like his parents intentionally did something that Catholics may find offensive.

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Xazy

That really is dumb, I can not believe how silly it is.

MexicanOnABike

a name is a name. nothing more.

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Sion

so many jokes...so little time


that's a helluva strange story

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Some wrong been done, he done it first. -fz

I jus' want ta thank you...falettinme...be mice elf...agin...

tenniels

That is ridiculous. Hell is a word. People say it. The bible says it. It's their last name. Deal with it. This frustrates me on many levels.

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Kpax

Ha at first I thought he was banned from school altogether because of his name. It was a Catholic school. It's at least commendable that they have a standard.

I know that "Heck" is a real surname. Not sure what country it originates from, but yeah.

warrrreagl

Although this seems dumb on certain levels, they are still a private school and responsible for setting their own standards and living with those consequences. I think it would be far dumber for outsiders who felt outrage to have the nerve to try and force a private entity to succomb to their will.

In short, I think it's dumb, too, but that's their business.

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healer

I had to setup the mail account for one of our new clients. You try keeping a straight face when you ask someone what their username is and they reply:

"Hell, my name is Hell."

Can you imagine? Your mail address is hell@organization.co.za.

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Telluride

I agree with you completely. I just can't understand why the school doesn't get that this is a last name. It wasn't something that was hand-picked by the parents just to piss off or offend Christians. What if this guy had a child and wanted to send him or her to that school?

This would be like an American school or business banning someone with a last name like Hitchcock because it has "cock" in it, which may be offensive to some.

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"I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice." - Friedrich Hayek

Cynthetiq

People change their surnames all the time for many reasons, like to escape persecution of some sort. I see this as no different.

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Telluride

I think it's different. These people aren't being given shit for their race, ethnicity, or anything like that (which is why many people change their surnames). It's because their name sounds like something bad. I'm not disputing the school's right to do this, but I think it's incredibly dumb.

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"I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice." - Friedrich Hayek

Cynthetiq

So if the person's last name was Hitler?

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

tenniels

I don't think it should matter if the last name was Hitler either. It doesn't mean that they ARE Hitler-esque in anyway. Sure, it's a pirvate school and they have the choice to let in who they want, but this seems to be one of the most idiotic things I have ever heard of. Fuck, even the bible says hell. Back to the Hitler thing, it's like people saying I'm responsible for the holocaust because I have German heritage (yes, someone said this to me once). It just makes no sense. If your last name is Hitler or Hell, I don't think you should be punished for it, nor do I think you should feel forced into changing your surname.

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MageB420666

Read the story a little more, the school did change its mind. But then the father did too and said he wouldn't enroll the kid there anyways.

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Apathy: The best outlook this side of I don't give a damn.

Cynthetiq

Again, people decide to change their names because they don't want the baggage that comes with it. In this case it may be the catalyst to change that last name for that family. It may not.

I can attest to the fact that my great great great grandfather changed the family name to escape persecution of the Spaniards. He could have easily been right and stuck with it. I don't think I would be here today if he did.

The question to really ask yourself, do you want to happy or do you want to be right?

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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not.

Telluride

Yeah, they eventually changed their mind. But the fact that they objected in the first place was pretty dumb, in my opinion.

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"I am certain that nothing has done so much to destroy the safeguards of individual freedom as the striving after this mirage of social justice." - Friedrich Hayek

troit

Too bad for the drama induced society we live in - the school says yes and then the parents have a change of heart - great - I'd rather read about something else on the internet this evening.....

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Jetée

Agreed, I really didn't see this topic as a debatable issue at all(along with other current threads at the moment).

This is an attribution to a faucet of news, but not really... it is just a story that will make you feel blah, blah, blah... it is along the lines of 'weird and strange', but nothing worthy of discussion. It is a page six story that relies solely on the misjudgment of one party and the implication that it was expected, but not merited. I honestly rather not even comment on this, but I'd rather have it known that the proliferation of threads that have very little points of discussion are lost on most(perhaps just me, then), and are sometimes only posted because of the initial 'shock value' of the story that is being linked.


So what?


Add more than an opening thought and menial opinion about whatever story, article, experience you have come across and thought to post. It aids immensely when the OP puts an extensive ammount of thought into the post being made so that those that follow can be able to exchange commentary upon what was posted. But the recent trend of finding stories and making a half-hearted opine about it to spark a discussion is faulty and relatively annoying to those wanting a stimulating intellectual discourse. I don't care to find tabloid-worthy news in general discussion, where it becomes just a berating spectacle of loose talk and discussion.


Had I come across this story, I wouldn't have bothered to give it a second glance because it involves very little room for debate(private institution has standards to uphold and has concerns with an issue that may affect the well-being of the community because of it...) - a story more likely reserved for Found on the Net.

Can we find a more worthy topics of discussion that seek more to interpret and investigate than what has been observed recently?


was that a rant?
OK, rant over then.

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