Jewish Family Flees County After Fox News, Breitbart Falsely Blame It for Cancellation of Christmas
Source: Slate
Dec. 22 2016 1:33 PM
A protest against the appointment of Steve Bannon, white nationalist and former Breitbart News head, to be chief strategist of the White House. Donald Trumps victory spurred a wave of hate crimes and harassment, some of it anti-Semitic.
Photo by DAVID MCNEW/AFP/Getty Images
A Jewish family whose child attends an elementary school in Lancaster, Pennsylvania has fled the county out of fear for its safety following false reports on Fox News and Breitbart implying that the family forced the school to cancel a Christmas
Centerville Elementary School has put on a production of Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol for years, but educators have grown concerned that the play requires 20 hours of classroom time to produce. Changing state educational standards no longer allow for that luxury, Principal Tom Kramer noted in a post explaining why the school had cancelled the play. Educators also called off the production because they wished to be respectful of the many cultural and religious backgrounds represented by the students. (A Christmas Carol is unmistakably Christian.)
By coincidence, a Jewish family had requested that their child be excused from performing in the play back in September. They did not complain or ask that the play be cancelled, and the school insists that their request had nothing to do with the decision to cancel the production. But as Breitbart and Fox News Todd Starnes reported the story, unnamed parents complained about the line God bless us, every one and essentially forced the school to scrap the play.
These untrue claims fit neatly into both outlets War on Christmas narrativeand, as intended, sparked outrage among readers. It would be nice if we had the addresses of those concerned citizens and, I bet, this info is known to people living in the area, one commenter wrote in response to the Breitbart story. Several commenters posted the address of the school, and a self-professed white nationalist urged others to take action.
Lancaster Online reports that the Jewish parents who asked to excuse their child from the play were so unnerved by these reactions that they pulled their child out of school and fled the county. Theres no way were going to take a chance after the pizza incident, one parent said, referring to the man who fired his assault rifle in a pizza restaurant after reading fake news stories alleging that the pizzeria housed a child sex ring run by Hillary Clinton. The parents say their child was also harassed by classmates after the school canceled the play in November....................................
Read more: http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2016/12/22/jewish_family_flees_county_following_fox_news_breitbart_stories.html
O'Lielly has been spouting off about his crazy War on Christmas for years--Now he has Cannon about to enter the WH! Give that an armed man entered a pizza place and shot off his gun over a conspiracy --I would be deadly afraid for my family also.
bdamomma
(63,923 posts)their moral compass and tolerance. our civilization is deteriorating.
Warpy
(111,359 posts)That's what has to happen, kick them hard in the corporate wallet (and hope it sticks through appeal) so that it becomes unprofitable to attack random private citizens.
Then we can work on what they do to public figures.
Mc Mike
(9,115 posts)Judi Lynn
(160,631 posts)It's everyone ELSE who's just not fit to live.
bucolic_frolic
(43,311 posts)These are places they would brag about being 'closed-minded' - IF
they knew what it meant.
still_one
(92,422 posts)baldguy
(36,649 posts)This story proves it.
elmac
(4,642 posts)Israel is kissing, sniffing sniffles ass, trying to work him against Obama over the UN vote
Behind the Aegis
(53,991 posts)Funny, how some always make that "connection."
DavidDvorkin
(19,489 posts)elmac
(4,642 posts)elmac
(4,642 posts)have nothing better to do then complain about stuff they do not understand or about anything period.
Behind the Aegis
(53,991 posts)Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)excusable because. . .Israel?
All Jews are the same. And I only thought deplorables thought these way.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Very bizarre post.
Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)I don't want to get my post blocked, so I will bite my tongue hard enough for blood to come out.
jpak
(41,760 posts)"They always come for the Jews."
Troll Pogroms are the New Normal under Trump.
yup
murielm99
(30,765 posts)Anyone who wants to can opt out of a holiday program or classroom party. We have kids here who are Jehovah's Witnesses. They never take part in any of this. The children are quietly excused to go home early. We have Muslims and Hindu people here as well. I don't know what they do. My town is very small, but I think we try to accommodate everyone. I hope this is not OT, but I am sick and tired of all this crap where we can't respect each each other's beliefs.
montana_hazeleyes
(3,424 posts)"Christmas" has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus. It is really just a celebration of winter with most every custom having roots in pagan religions-rites.
whathehell
(29,095 posts)Most every holiday, non-Christian ones included, has it's roots in some previous culture. That doesn't cancel out the the current meaning or legitimacy.
montana_hazeleyes
(3,424 posts)I am Christian myself. I'm aiming it at those who think Christmas is the only legitimate holiday.
It's not as they think it is, entirely.
whathehell
(29,095 posts)but if it included Hanukkah, that was fine too...Such an absurdly petty and divisive "issue".
.
Shoonra
(523 posts)An update on Slate to its original story makes a correction:
The Jewish family didn't "flee" the county - - they just took an unscheduled "vacation" until the fuss cooled down.
Demit
(11,238 posts)The ADL spoke to the family. Which evidently the local reporter for "Lancaster Online," the origin of the story, did not do.
http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/miscellaneous/adl-calls-reports-of-family-lancaster.html
LuvNewcastle
(16,858 posts)When you consider that the entire Christmas story is a fabrication, a story from other religions that is written to illustrate a deeper truth. And people take it word for word as if it's a record of actual events. The whole holiday is a joke. It's just an excuse to drink too much and spend a lot of money. But hey, if people want to have their holiday and feel good for a while, I'm not going to stand in the way.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)That hate tabloid shouldn't be allowed in breaking news.
question everything
(47,537 posts)probably do not observe Christmas?
pstokely
(10,530 posts)they outta
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)Same thing goes for the town administration, sue the crap out of the mayor and every town official.
Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)We are just as bad. We're not on the same level as Muslims, but that will come. Even Hitler had people to crush before he targeted Jews, namely Communists and Homosexuals.
Now, when I posted something about wanting to beat the shit out of teenagers who made swastika cupcakes, I got villified.
The only want to deal with Nazis and bigots is to beat them into the ground until they see the error of their ways. I'm tired of being nice while they do this shit.
They will do it to me as a Jew. They will do it to my wife as a foreign born Chinese woman. They will do it to my former Mexican students. They will do it to my boss and my partners because they are black.
When is enough truly enough? When the fucking camps and ovens open? Shit, they targeted my mother after her stroke last month because she is Mohawk and not white. FUCKING MOHAWK!!! A NATIVE FUCKING AMERICAN!!!!
I hate these motherfuckers and I hate what my country has become.
ck4829
(35,091 posts)That was my reaction precisely!
whathehell
(29,095 posts)and needlessly made it worse for them. There was no need to cancel a Christmas play out of "respect" to anyone. That's the action which brought on the brouhaha for which this family was mistakenly blamed...They could have simply complied with the family's wishes and gone on as before.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)That date fact- could have easily been written into a kids play with a line or two and made the play inclusive of all people.
whathehell
(29,095 posts)and you're right, adding Hanukkah would have been a good idea.
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)Article and post specifically state that the parents did not request cancellation, nor did the school cancel because of anything the parents did. The real reason was changed educational requirements that did not permit 20 hours preparation time.
whathehell
(29,095 posts)as I never blamed the parents.
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)replied to wrong post; see reply #44
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)Family didn't "request", therefore school didn't "overreact" to family's request by cancelling the play.
"In cancelling the play, the school overreacted to the family's request, imo"
whathehell
(29,095 posts)Again..I didn't SAY the family requested the play to be cancelled, I was referring to their request that their child not participate...THAT is the request I was speaking of...Get it now?
Feeling the Bern
(3,839 posts)play about a Christian holiday we Jews don't even fucking celebrate.
Damn all you other non-Christian religions for not being Christian.
whathehell
(29,095 posts)Maybe I missed something, but I don't see how the school was saying that at all...If anything, their request seemed to be make them consider if staging the play wasn't in itself insensitive to religious minorities. THAT, I think was an overreaction, but not one that reflected hostility to non-Christians -- more like the opposite
The only way I can read this as a "hostile" action, is if the school authorities KNEW that can telling the play would bring on a hostile reaction, ...That would indeed be ugly. Whatever the intent, it IS very unfortunate that this family had to endure the fallout. It really sucks.
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)(which you didn't specify btw) and said they needlessly cancelled the play out of respect. Now you say that you didn't say what you said?
Whatevs.
whathehell
(29,095 posts)was already specified in the post. My point was, the parent's request seems to have unintentionally caused the school to fear they were being "insensitive" to religious minorities simply by staging the play and so they cancelled it. That's what I meant by "overreacting".
DonViejo
(60,536 posts)News reports alleging that a Jewish family has fled Lancaster County are untrue and damaging, the ADL's regional director, Nancy Baron-Baer, said in the statement. We spoke with the family, who explained that they went on a previously-planned vacation for the holidays. Stories like this can sow fear in the Jewish community and beyond, and it is important to stop the spread of misinformation."
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/jewish-family-leaves-lancaster-county-fox-breitbart
mpcamb
(2,878 posts)This is some obvious goosing of the public.
It sat there for that amount of time to suit someone's purpose, not because the pieces couldn't be put together.
We're left to figure out who planted it and for what benefit.
There are more that 2 dozen predictable reactions above.
Like a lot of the crap the republicans have pulled over the last couple decades it keep a segment of the public occupied, misdirected and in the end exhausted.
It's very effective.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Also, I believe in Latest Breaking News you're supposed to use the title of the article, which is:
"Fox News, Breitbart Falsely Suggest Jewish Family Is to Blame for Cancellation of Christmas Play"
and not the one you used.
Use the published title of the story as the title of the discussion thread.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)While it's set at Xmas time, the point is Scrooge only cares about money, nothing about people. The ghosts show him how he's viewed by others, and Scrooge changes to a kind, benevolent man.
Great story that has nothing to do with Christ, the trinity or religion. It has to do with a stingy money grubber who changed. Dickens was a genius. Too bad a family had to leave their home over mean spirited people spreading false news.
Sunlei
(22,651 posts)at local levels.
Imajika
(4,072 posts)The Anti-Defamation League has disputed the story. The family is simply on a pre-planned vacation. The entire thing is nonsense.
ronnie624
(5,764 posts)as it will eventually bite them on the ass. There has always been"fake news". It came with the developement of verbal communication.
Imajika
(4,072 posts)...and I found it rather sad that with all the complaining about 'fake news", here is an obvious bogus story sitting here on Latest Breaking.
I agree that totally fraudulent news making the rounds is a problem (particularly on the kook right), but who is going to be the arbiter of what is "real" and what is "fake". Even fringy websites that produce a lot of sketchy stuff still cover stories the mainstream media won't touch and occasionally at least point people to a story that should get a second look.
In this case though, this particular "news" is just flat dogcrap as best I can tell.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Everything about the story is true except for the "fleeing" part.
DonCoquixote
(13,616 posts)The same people Steve Bannon used to put poppy in office are just sharpening their knives for when they get to go after your children, and you know it. When the Shoah came, many jews, rich and poor, found themselves in the same place, and you know many of your Dad's supporters want to put YOU there.