Proving the Point

Oppressive regimes are ruled by (to use an all too crude term) douchebags. One of the ways we know this is that if their charges dare call them such, they are punished and repressed for their temerity.

Right now, the 2nd Circuit is hearing a student speech case out of Connecticut, Doninger v. Niehoff. Mitchell Rubenstein summarizes the case as follows:

A Connecticut High School Student used vulgar slang on an Internet blog which was sent from her personal computer while at home. Specifically, she criticized the administration by saying "Jamfest is canceled due to douchebags in central office." The school, in turn, refused to allow plaintiff to run for re-election as class secretary. She then won with write in ballots, but was not allowed to serve.

This, of course, seems to validate the student's original assertion, but whatever. It's fantastically frightening to me that schools think they can assert this much influence over their student's private speech, in their own home. It's frankly authoritarian, and the message of disrespect it sends to the student body far exceeds what the student did in the first place.