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pstokely

(10,510 posts)
Thu May 19, 2022, 02:05 AM May 2022

Protests erupt as some Lee's Summit West students seek to form a conservative club

Source: KC Star

A protest erupted at Lee’s Summit West High School on Tuesday as some students work to establish a local chapter of Turning Point USA, a national right-wing organization that promotes conservative policies on school campuses. A few students have approached administration about starting a chapter in the school, district spokeswoman Katy Bergen said. They met in the library on Tuesday to discuss forming the group, and in response, hundreds of students protested, holding LGBTQ flags and Black Lives Matter signs. Video of the meeting, posted on YouTube by Turning Point USA, shows a couple of students — a boy and a girl — explaining that they want to start the group to offer a space for students to express and debate their conservative values — something they say students might otherwise be afraid to do.

Many students filled the library to protest, while hundreds more protested outside in the courtyard. Protesters said they worry about having the group at school, arguing that the national organization espouses racist and anti-LGBTQ concepts.


Read more: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/education/article261564667.html

39 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Protests erupt as some Lee's Summit West students seek to form a conservative club (Original Post) pstokely May 2022 OP
Turning Point is Twitler Youth pfitz59 May 2022 #1
CEO: Charlie Kirk, genuine grifter asshole. dchill May 2022 #3
And they're going after even younger people now. Initech May 2022 #39
Conservative views are fine, albeit very fraudulent AZLD4Candidate May 2022 #2
👆 Roy Rolling May 2022 #6
Oh, but they DO want to conserve! What they want to conserve is: lastlib May 2022 #18
they're starting to develop the Certainty Deficit Disorder, a heritable susceptibility to certainot May 2022 #28
Freedom of speech can't only exist if it's speech that you like. brooklynite May 2022 #4
Seems like too many don't get that. nt oldsoftie May 2022 #10
There are consequences though. The Grand Illuminist May 2022 #29
Exactly DavidDvorkin May 2022 #35
I'm going with some parent thought this would be cute. Phoenix61 May 2022 #5
I agree though I wonder if they have a recruitment arm that's getting to students. chowder66 May 2022 #12
I wouldn't be surprised but they'd have to have a way to Phoenix61 May 2022 #24
"Conservative values" SuperCoder May 2022 #7
If these students want to debate conservative ideas, Deminpenn May 2022 #8
Yeah; but that's not how Conservatism works... EarthFirst May 2022 #13
Exactly the point, they don't to have a reasoned Deminpenn May 2022 #27
remember those highly regarded literary works re liberalism as a mental condition? they're right! certainot May 2022 #30
And these actions just help them prove their point. They have the RIGHT to form their club oldsoftie May 2022 #9
The problem here atreides1 May 2022 #14
Remember the Christian flag case in Boston; they won the right to fly their flag oldsoftie May 2022 #17
The school has to let that club form and treat it equally to all other clubs dsc May 2022 #11
Safe harbor provisions..... chowder66 May 2022 #16
That case fizzled out, with Harper's graduation rendering it moot. mahatmakanejeeves May 2022 #19
Bullshit. WHEN have repugs EVER been afraid to espouse their filth? Ferrets are Cool May 2022 #15
"We just want to start a KKK club." intheflow May 2022 #20
Conservatism Icanthinkformyself May 2022 #21
Why weren't the conservative students asked mahatmakanejeeves May 2022 #22
Exactly! I have no clue what conservatism means today to those who say Trump corrupted it. Lonestarblue May 2022 #25
What's their criteria for joining the club? KY_EnviroGuy May 2022 #23
Conservatve values - Only the best people keithbvadu2 May 2022 #26
I'm familiar with Lee's Summit dlk May 2022 #31
And a generally lousy school district. My kids are stuck in it now and there is way too much push LT Barclay May 2022 #34
I know what you're talking about. dlk May 2022 #36
Right now it is just crazy dad ranting... LT Barclay May 2022 #37
Good for you! dlk May 2022 #38
I'd have my kid join maxsolomon May 2022 #32
Turning Point is a "conservative club" like MS-13 is an "El Salvadoran Club" DBoon May 2022 #33

Initech

(99,914 posts)
39. And they're going after even younger people now.
Sat May 21, 2022, 07:02 PM
May 2022

It's fucking scary. These are the people who, if I had kids, I would not want them grooming them.

AZLD4Candidate

(5,558 posts)
2. Conservative views are fine, albeit very fraudulent
Thu May 19, 2022, 02:44 AM
May 2022

Turning Point and that pathetic Charlie Kirk don't have conservative views. They have bigoted, xenophobic, homophobic, nativist, sexist views. That deserves as much protest as possible.

Then again, listen to the whining.

Video of the meeting, posted on YouTube by Turning Point USA, shows a couple of students — a boy and a girl — explaining that they want to start the group to offer a space for students to express and debate their conservative values — something they say students might otherwise be afraid to do.


No one has a problem with conservative views. Many have a problem with what modern conservatives espouse AS their views.

Roy Rolling

(6,853 posts)
6. 👆
Thu May 19, 2022, 05:11 AM
May 2022

Well said, it’s an important distinction. It’s how values become relative instead of fixed—branding.

So-called conservatives’ strategy? Be Nazis, but label it “conservative”.

Why? The party of business—Republicans—are better at branding than being conservative. They don’t give a shit about conserving, unless it’s to mislabel themselves to acquire more power and wealth.

lastlib

(22,981 posts)
18. Oh, but they DO want to conserve! What they want to conserve is:
Thu May 19, 2022, 08:27 AM
May 2022

1) Wealth for the wealthy;
2) Power for the powerful;
3) Comfort for the comfortable;
4) Poverty for the poor;
5) Affliction for the afflicted.

 

certainot

(9,090 posts)
28. they're starting to develop the Certainty Deficit Disorder, a heritable susceptibility to
Thu May 19, 2022, 10:35 AM
May 2022
sex on the wrong brain and in their case there's probably greed and learning to simplify a complicated world full of scary uncertainties into absolutes with religion and ayn radian wet dream free market bullshit.

The Grand Illuminist

(1,306 posts)
29. There are consequences though.
Thu May 19, 2022, 10:49 AM
May 2022

So to the students who want a Turning Point chapter, all I can say is this. Zachary Greenberg

Phoenix61

(16,953 posts)
5. I'm going with some parent thought this would be cute.
Thu May 19, 2022, 05:05 AM
May 2022

I can’t imagine a high-school kid having a clue what Turning Point is.

Phoenix61

(16,953 posts)
24. I wouldn't be surprised but they'd have to have a way to
Thu May 19, 2022, 09:13 AM
May 2022

access minors. So parents or church would, IMHO, be the top two contenders.

 

SuperCoder

(300 posts)
7. "Conservative values"
Thu May 19, 2022, 05:59 AM
May 2022

Translation: "We are a bunch of racists, rapists, and hate everyone that isn't a strong white male, and we don't want to be yelled at for being wrong."

Deminpenn

(15,246 posts)
8. If these students want to debate conservative ideas,
Thu May 19, 2022, 06:06 AM
May 2022

then maybe they should form a debate club where they will have to actually present and defend coherently the conservative side of topics.

Deminpenn

(15,246 posts)
27. Exactly the point, they don't to have a reasoned
Thu May 19, 2022, 09:44 AM
May 2022

debate of ideas. They just want to be preaching to their own choir.

 

certainot

(9,090 posts)
30. remember those highly regarded literary works re liberalism as a mental condition? they're right!
Thu May 19, 2022, 11:19 AM
May 2022
The Liberal Mind: The Psychological Causes of Political Madness Paperback – October 21, 2011
by Lyle H. Rossiter, Jr. M.D.

Liberalism Is a Mental Disorder: Savage Solutions
by Michael Savage


it is now well recognized that conservatism and authoritarianism are part of a broad category of strategies humans use to avoid uncertainty.

now the sex on the wrong brain theory explains it better as a need for certainty, which along with greed, are part of a heritable susceptibility to wrong handed masturbation.

heritable because some of those symptoms had survival value in times of conflict.

liberals are too tolerant of uncertainty!

oldsoftie

(12,410 posts)
9. And these actions just help them prove their point. They have the RIGHT to form their club
Thu May 19, 2022, 06:26 AM
May 2022

Or no one else has the right to form THEIRS.
Sorry, but thats how our system works even if we don't like their positions.

atreides1

(16,046 posts)
14. The problem here
Thu May 19, 2022, 07:35 AM
May 2022

Is that their club seeks to do what the Buffalo shooter started!!!

Our system was never intended to bring about its own destruction!!!

oldsoftie

(12,410 posts)
17. Remember the Christian flag case in Boston; they won the right to fly their flag
Thu May 19, 2022, 08:16 AM
May 2022

So now a Satanic group has asked that THEIR flag be flown too. Which is their right. If we open schools to allowing student groups, then you have to allow them for people you don't like.
I haven't seen Turning Point advocate for killing innocent people nor are they a white nationalist group; they just have ridiculous ideas on many topics.

dsc

(52,130 posts)
11. The school has to let that club form and treat it equally to all other clubs
Thu May 19, 2022, 07:11 AM
May 2022

that is settled law for decades, and as the advisor of a GSA I thank God every day for that settled law.

chowder66

(9,011 posts)
16. Safe harbor provisions.....
Thu May 19, 2022, 07:46 AM
May 2022

snip....

Finally, Congress included "safe harbor" provisions within the Equal Access Act to protect schools from abuse by extremists and other similar groups. Pursuant to the Equal Access Act, districts retain the authority to "maintain order and discipline on school premises, [and] to protect the well being of students and faculty."

Districts, therefore, can restrict speech in order to maintain order and discipline and to protect students and faculty, by prohibiting speech that "materially and substantially interfere[s] with the orderly conduct of educational activities within the school," and any speech which offends the standards set in Tinker and Fraser.

Those limits were tested in Harper v. Poway (2006), in which students wore T-shirts to school with anti-homosexual slogans. (The students were protesting against a "Day of Silence" organized by a gay-straight alliance.) Following the standard set in Tinker, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals found that it was proper for the district to prohibit the students from wearing those T-shirts because "students who may be injured by verbal assaults on the basis of a core identifying characteristic such as race, religion, or sexual orientation have a right to be free from such attacks while on school campuses."

While banning a club is a more serious action than banning a T-shirt, the same legal standards under Tinker and Fraser would apply.

https://www.nyssba.org/news/2017/08/10/on-board-online-august-14-2017/schools-cannot-engage-in-viewpoint-discrimination-when-students-wish-to-form-political-religious-clubs/

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,897 posts)
19. That case fizzled out, with Harper's graduation rendering it moot.
Thu May 19, 2022, 08:30 AM
May 2022
Harper v. Poway Unified School District (9th Cir.) (2006)

{snip}

Supreme Court vacated judgment and said to dismiss case

In March 2007, the Supreme Court, in an unsigned order, granted certiorari in Harper and vacated the judgment “with instructions to dismiss the case as moot.” The mootness question arose because Harper since had graduated from high school. The Court noted that this action would permit “relitigation” of the underlying issues if necessary.

Ferrets are Cool

(21,063 posts)
15. Bullshit. WHEN have repugs EVER been afraid to espouse their filth?
Thu May 19, 2022, 07:43 AM
May 2022

edited to ask this after reading the replies: Would it be ok for the school to approve a Nazi Club? A pile of shit by any other name is still a pile of shit.

intheflow

(28,407 posts)
20. "We just want to start a KKK club."
Thu May 19, 2022, 08:40 AM
May 2022

“What’s the big deal? It’s a Christian organization!”

Exactly why I cringe when people say children are the future. Biologically & socially true, I usually hear it in response to actions like the protesters in this incident, while completely ignoring the young people trying to “raise awareness” about “conservative” views are also in our future. 😞

Icanthinkformyself

(212 posts)
21. Conservatism
Thu May 19, 2022, 08:51 AM
May 2022

is, at it's core, hate, racism and bigotry, religious and otherwise, as public policy. Why weren't the conservative students asked what conservative values they are talking about? It's a zero sum ideology. Pundits like to say it's not our grandfathers GOP. Ah, yes, it is. It's just a louder, more open version of the same bigotry and racism Republicans have espoused since the parties changed sides in the 1930s. It's too bad the fascists who left the Democratic Party in response to FDR and the 'Great Society' became the Republican Party. Many Republicans, before and during WWII supported Hitler. They should have been hung as traitors, not elected.

mahatmakanejeeves

(56,897 posts)
22. Why weren't the conservative students asked
Thu May 19, 2022, 09:09 AM
May 2022
Why weren't the conservative students asked what conservative values they are talking about?

That's the point of the club.

Lonestarblue

(9,880 posts)
25. Exactly! I have no clue what conservatism means today to those who say Trump corrupted it.
Thu May 19, 2022, 09:19 AM
May 2022

We know what Republicans stand for today, but the media constantly describes them as conservatives instead of radical extremists. It is not conservative to want to remake the country and the culture into a whites-only, Christian Nationalist theocratic system where only certain people have rights, and even those rights allowed are restricted to traditional family structure, no mixing of races, nothing but heterosexual relationships, no reproductive choices and women not allowed to function without permission of men.

Republican radicals stand for no corporate regulations, small government with the elimination of many federal agencies such as the Department of Education, low taxes on rich people and business (that’s still true), dedication to the trickle-down economic theory that has resulted in a transfer of most of the wealth of the country to the 1%, elimination of Social Security and Medicare and all safety net programs, and the continued rule of the country by the white elite. Why those positions are attractive to anyone but the white elites is a mystery to me.

Obama’s election shook this group to its core because they were enraged that a black man could occupy the office reserved solely for white men. The prejudice and hatred came out of the closet and Trump used his four years to whip it up to a frenzy. Fox became much worse during his tenure and now does little more than incite hatred. What crazy times we live in.

KY_EnviroGuy

(14,483 posts)
23. What's their criteria for joining the club?
Thu May 19, 2022, 09:09 AM
May 2022

Are liberal-thinking kids allowed to join to keep debate open?

If I were a parent there, I would want to make sure this didn't turn into just brown shirt rallies or a campaign to control curriculum.

Like in churches, it's far safer to not allow political or religious private clubs to prevent divisions among the populace. If they want political debate in schools, do it in the classroom where it can be kept balanced and fair for learning.

After all, tax-exempt churches are for religious worship and tax-supported schools are for learning.

KY

keithbvadu2

(36,368 posts)
26. Conservatve values - Only the best people
Thu May 19, 2022, 09:28 AM
May 2022
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215434834

In Nov., ANOTHER Trump official was indicted in D.C. on child pornography charges,

The LinkedIn profile bearing Hageman’s name shows that prior to joining the Commerce Department the user was a Phoenix-based events administrator for Turning Point USA, a group for young conservatives whose events have frequently drawn top Trump administration officials — including the former president himself.

dlk

(11,435 posts)
31. I'm familiar with Lee's Summit
Thu May 19, 2022, 01:15 PM
May 2022

A friend of mine taught school there some years ago. It’s long been a white flight bastion of racism.

LT Barclay

(2,585 posts)
34. And a generally lousy school district. My kids are stuck in it now and there is way too much push
Thu May 19, 2022, 11:32 PM
May 2022

toward right wing views now.
This mess seems like the Tea Party fiasco. An AstroTurf program funded by wealthy right wingers to find a way to push their lies on younger more impressionable people.

dlk

(11,435 posts)
36. I know what you're talking about.
Fri May 20, 2022, 08:29 AM
May 2022

It’s a rough situation. I hope you and your family can find others who are like-minded to support each other.

LT Barclay

(2,585 posts)
37. Right now it is just crazy dad ranting...
Fri May 20, 2022, 06:14 PM
May 2022

My son was sent to a "School of Economics" on a field trip and they had to listen to me talk about income inequality, outsourcing, pollution, etc. for a whole month. Then I sent him with a bunch of cartoons pulled from here and allhatnocattle.net about the same things and gave him $5 to give them to the instructor and tell her "my dad gave me these and I don't understand them, can you help me?"
I also buy them t-shirts from groups like Sea Shepherd.

dlk

(11,435 posts)
38. Good for you!
Sat May 21, 2022, 09:43 AM
May 2022

We can't let the bullies indoctrinate our children. Every day is a new beginning and a new battle, it seems. If we don't fight to save our world, they will blithely destroy it (while singing hymns).

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