OH MY GOD! Is that an American Flag! KILL HIM!!!
America needs to collectively Ranger the Fuck Up.
I’m not sure when we decided that we have to be complete and total Cowardy McCowardsteins regarding anything and everything that might offend someone somewhere, but it has to stop. The premise is contrary to the very fabric of our Republic, it teaches people to avoid discussing topics of any significance for fear of sounding “unsympathetic”, and allows the weakest members of our society – those with no backbone or character of any kind – to garner power by out-PCing everyone else.
Why am I so angry?
Four kids from Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill of the People’s Republic of California were threatened with suspension for wearing shirts with American Flags on them on Cinco de Mayo.
Cinco De Fucking Mayo.
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday so insignificant that it is barely celebrated in Mexico. It is NOT, I repeat NOT Mexican Independence Day, which takes place on 15 September. It actually celebrates Mexico’s victory over French invaders on May 5, 1862. Ages ago, Americans and Mexicans acknowledged the day as a battle won together, as Mexico’s defeat of the French eliminated France’s interference in the American Civil War, and America’s munitions support to Mexico allowed them to defeat their invaders. Over time though, we’ve pretty much bastardized it into one big party…just like we have for Saint Patrick’s Day. And do you know what’s wrong with that? Nothing. It’s awesome. We throw one hell of a party here in America.
What is wrong, however, is when a self-important high school administrator takes it upon himself to decide that being patriotic, or hell, even being a dissenter of a cultural holiday is somehow cause for punishment.
Our founding fathers argued so bitterly over the tiniest aspects of our Constitution that they often sought to personally destroy each other. Hell, back in the day congressmen would get in fistfights, swear at each other, and even duel to the death over policy arguments. Now, suddenly, we can’t even wear different colored clothes lest we might perchance showcase an opinion that is different than the rest of the cattle?
People should be disgusted. People should be horrified. “Who does this administrator think he is?” is the question that we should be hearing over and over again. Why does he think he can infringe on our rights as Americans? Were these kids wearing shirts that said, “I hate Mexico”? Did the shirts have aggressive, hateful, or angry quotes on them that a reasonable person would consider harmful? Were the children themselves saying cruel things about Latin culture?
No. In fact, two of the freakin’ kids come from Latin backgrounds. So what is the problem?
“The shirts were incendiary”, the assistant principle argued. Ah yes, that American Flag – that’s some rough stuff. The kids might as well have been wearing KKK robes or perhaps pornographic images involving farm animals. Another student of Mexican descent offered that she “wouldn’t have worn a Mexican shirt on the Fourth of July”. Later the assistant principal would point to the fact that 100 students walked out of school in protest of the four “flag wearers”.
High school kids in California staged a 100 person walkout? Is that newsworthy? Seems to happen every day and also doubles as a convenient way to get out of school. Hell, I’d have walked out too if I was sixteen. Hell, I’d walk out tomorrow except Tommy would call me on it. As for the girl who wouldn’t wear the Mexican shirt – wear away, young lady! 1) Its America. You can. 2) No one will give a rat’s ass, because no one cares what you do.
Now a lot of people out there miss the point. They spend time arguing that the kids were unsympathetic and should have considered the feelings of the Mexican students. Nevermind that we live in America por uno momento. Their argument may be right. I think we’re all kidding ourselves if we didn’t think these four kids weren’t trying to poke a little bit. Oh. My. God. Teenagers trying to get a rise out of someone? I don’t believe it. Yeah, they may have been on a mission of annoyance that day, and that might not be cool, but who cares? Their actions weren’t illegal. They didn’t violate school policy. They sure as hell didn’t violate the constitution. Are we now going beyond that and trying to get rid of assholish behavior? If so, we at Ranger Up are in a lot of trouble.
I’ll be the first to admit that prior to this incident you wouldn’t have caught me dead on Cinco de Mayo with an American Flag shirt on. I’d be wearing a giant sombrero, a fake mustache, a poncho, and bandoleer full of shots. And you know what? As absurdly offensive as that should be, no one ever gives a shit, because this isn’t about anything meaningful.
This is yet another incident showcasing this bullshit faux-PC belief that we’re supposed to hate ourselves because we’ve kicked ass.
America is hugely successful. Immigrants, like my Italian dad and many of our Mexican neighbors to the south, came here because it is awesome. You can change your fortune in one generation. You are rewarded for hard work. You can say anything you wish. You can act in any manner you want so long as it doesn’t harm other people. You can be Christian, Jewish, Mormon, Scientologist, Atheist, whatever. If you’re a giant douchebag, you can even protest a military funeral.
All of that is good. All of that is the reason men and women, many immigrants themselves, have bled and died for generations to keep us free. Furthermore, immigration is good. I love that we have cultural influences from every corner of the Earth here. It’s one of the things that makes the U.S. of A so incredibly unique.
What isn’t good is our steady progression towards pretending every belief, every action, and every circumstance is okay. What isn’t good is pretending that taking a stand, even a flawed one, is a bad thing.
Kids should all have to be culturally sensitive at all times. Why? Adults aren’t. And guess what, some cultures have significantly inferior qualities. In many areas in Afghanistan, men routinely rape boys. In most cultures worldwide, women are not valued as equals. In Germany, they like David Hasselhoff.
If you can’t speak English, we’ll teach you in Spanish, or German, or French. Why? No allowance will be made for you once you are an adult. Shouldn’t you be challenged now while you can learn without consequence to adapt to the American culture? Isn’t that in your best interests?
We will do our best to prevent you from ever feeling pain – we’ll expel kids who fight, limit classes that make you feel stressed, and decrease the standard so everyone succeeds. Why? No one will cater to those whims in the adult world. No. One. Cares.
We are a country built on carving our destiny out of the wilderness, surmounting any obstacle that comes in our way, and fighting tirelessly for our beliefs, no matter the consequence. We need to stop fucking around. Argue politics. Get passionate. Call it like you see it without worrying what others will think. But most of all protect our rights. They are so rare in this world and we take them for granted. Don’t let this kind of nonsense fly. Whether those kids were heroes or zeros, they have every right to wear the colors of the United States of America on their person any day of the week , in any city, in any state.
I know this. I’m retiring the sombrero, mustache, poncho, and even my beloved shot bandoleer. Next Cinco de Mayo I am wearing a big ass American Flag on the front and Unapologetically American on the back.
And to the school administrator and anyone out there who is sticking up for this oxygen thief: You’ve just won a free vacation to Doucheraq, Douchebagistan’s sunny, but economically and rights-challenged neighbor to the South.
I applaud you for this very well written piece and am happy to stand with you in agreement with everything you said in it. Now all we need to do is go kick some douchebag ass!
Easily the best commentary written about this incident that I’ve seen so far. Like you said, the kids were clearly trying to piss people off, but even if they ran around with a f*cking marching band with Beyonce on vocals singing “God Bless America,” the school can’t tell them to change their shirts. The core of the argument here is that the 1st Amendment allows you to stir up some controversy, to do something like 4 high school dudes coordinating American flag outfits on Cinco de Mayo to get on people’s nerves. When the hell otherwise besides Halloween would males even think of coordinating outfits? I think it’s about time that certain segments of the population start taking pride in our country again, this self-defeatism insanity has to go.
FINALLY! Someone understands that Cinco de Mayo isn’t Mexico’s Independence Day. I’m sure it’s a typo, but it’s actually 16 September and NOT 15 September as stated in the article.
Fuckin A Nick!!!! Ranger the fuck up.
Harmony Church 1963 earned my tab. 30 years in a uniform 1962-1993.
I’m sick of ass-wipes making demands for repect they have not earned. I’m tired of ass-wipes pissing on the Stars and Stripes.
“RANGER THE FUCK UP AMERICA”
Theodore Roosevelt’s ideas on Immigrants and being an AMERICAN in 1907.
‘In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language.. And we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.’
Theodore Roosevelt 1907
Every American citizen needs to read this!
It’s california, what do you expect
FUCK YEAH! Right on, man. Other than my language being a little worse, I couldn’t have said it any better.
I am so sorry to say I do Ranger this Fuck up. I will tell you really fast this kind of anti American BS would not float in the South.
How do people live in states such as these? Do they remind the school districts that they WORK for the tax payers? If this was to happen in our school District I would have to put the superintendent on a prayer list. My family came from Italy and Germany in the very early 1900′s-one day I will look into when they came. My Mom was born of German immigrants in 1921 here in America and my Dad was born to Italian immigrants here in America in 1914. My Dad fought for the American flag in WWII, my Moms dad was a merchant Marine. My 3 brother’s and husband fought for the flag in Viet Nam. My Son fights for the flag in the SC National Guard on orders 24/7, my son in law fights for the flag in the SC National Guard 24/7 on orders everyday. I have always fought for the flag and the United States of America as a responsible conservative wife, Mom and Nana. If anyone tried this crap with my 11 year old youngest child (who is expecting to be a Navy Pilot or a Marine-he hasn’t decided yet) there would be Hell to Pay and when he got thru with them- then I would be in the District Office and give them my 2 cents. If you accept this BS then you deserve what you get. It is not accepted in this household.
Kudos to you Nick! I believe that Aaron Neville once sang “Tell it like is, Motherfuckers”.. Well maybe without the cursing. You did just that. I admire people who are not afraid of the Moral High Horse Brigades and thier insane ways of trying to get people to adhere to their policies of wrong and right. Who gives two flying shits about kids wearing the American Flag on a damn T-Shirt? I’ll tell you who.. It’s people who have their heads so far up the “Don’t offend anyone” asses of Liberalism, that it’s cutting off the oxygen to their brains. The one thing I wish in my life right now is that John Wayne and Charlton Heston were here to witness some of this bullshit going on in our country right now… When did we start raising our kids to be a bunch of pussies? The Pussification of America is a strong movement apparently. Guess what? People get offended, pissed off, and angry in the Adult world all the time. And how to we deal with it? We act like grown folks and talk it out, or get out there and throw hands. This dumbing down and sensitivity bullshit is for the birds, I tell ya. Don’t let your kids be apart of this social sensitivity experiment. I remember a time when I was young, when not everyone got to play a sport because their parents put them in it. They didn’t play because they fucking sucked. We didn’t get participation ribbons or trophies. Everyone didn’t make the team. And what did that do? It made us either walk away from the sport (which was probably for the best) or strive to become better at it and show our asses the next time we had a chance to play. Nick, keep on keepin on Dog. I’ll be here to read your next one.
Semper Fi Mothertruckers !
Aaron Hughes
USMC Alumn 98-02
Great commentary, I agree 100%… As Americans we need to stop pussy footing around and take it old school…. Not everyone wins, not everyone deserves a trophy, not everyone plays…. PC is making us weak, there is no room in this country for weakness when many of the worlds lowest still want us dead. Ranger The FUCK Up and do something. If this shit is going down in your neck of the woods and all your doing is reading about it, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM!!!!! Don’t stand for this kind of wrong…. and that is all it is is wrong!
Nick, Mozart couldn’t have written music more masterfully to articulate how I feel about this situation – you must do your best work at 2 a.m. I too am trading in my Sombrero and you can bet your ass next year I’ll be wearing ‘a big ass American Flag on the front and Unapologetically American on the back’ RangerUp T, like I needed an excuse to add more to my collection. Better yet my three (3) sons will have more RangerUp apparel to add to their collection, which always goes well by the way with my Dick Kramer Sniper on the Hood of my F-150. Yet another reminder that I’ve got a space for you on our Devil Dog Brew Truck… I’ll be putting in my request for the graphic file. Keep up the outstanding work.
With Utmost Respect ~ Semper Fi, Hank
Mustang & Major, USMC (Retired)
And folks don’t forget to blast Nick’s blog out via Twitter & Facebook et. al. It’s about time for America to wake up.
I’m with yo…appalled at these kids being told to turn their American flag shirts inside out and I will be wearing a shirt with the American flag on it next year!
ranger-up you need to make a shirt with the QUOTES from TEDDY THAT MICHAEL posted above…..NOW THAT WOULD BE ON HELLUVA SHIRT….NOW THAT WOULD REALLY PISS THE PC CROWD TO DEATH. LMFAO!!!!
anyway as far as this crap about the shirts all I can say is I can’t wait till they wear their SONS OF LIBERTY SHIRTS…OMG you should see people here in CT react to my SONS OF LIBERTY….they look at me like I am some kind of racist traitor and militia member….LMFAO……this country is done….you know it’s ok for some professor at UCLA to stage LA RAZA protesting groups teaching all the students to hate America and burn the flag but you wear an AMERICAN SHIRT WITH THE AMERICAN FLAG AND YOU get crucified LMFAO………THIS COUNTRY IS DONE….IT IS TIME TO WATER THE TREE OF LIBERTY WITH THE BLOOD OF TYRANTS AND PATRIOTS…
Another sad example of our overly PC society. The same society that won’t even admit that the Fort Hood “incident” wasnt an act of terrorism.
LOL “was an act of terrorism . Gotta try proof reading my own posts
I say we all send those kids recruitment papers and a couple of free shirts!!! I don’t care if those kids just wanted to piss some tree huggin hippy off or what. they found something that pissed them off and they wanted to stand up for something they believe in. That is what America was founded on, standing up for what we believe in, WE THE PEOPLE. I say you guys design some kid/baby wear, man could you see the faces of some people w/ a 1 yr old wearing a shirt that says I shoot terrorists!! Man that would be fucking hilarious and bad ass.
Keep rocking it guys, I’m loving everything that you all put out.
Maybe we need to wear teeshirts with “Camerone” on May 5th to display our acceptance of people from foriegn lands.
Yeah, I know, I can’t spell.
Ranger Up…once again, fantastic article! Those Communists called Principals are just looking for a politically expedient way to move up the ladder. It’s ok though, those kids got what they deserved, right!? What a bunch of knob jockeying asshats. I wish I could tell them to move to Cambodia, Kenya, Botswana, or freakin North Korea and see what happens when they try crazy shit over there.
Great article! I just wanted to point out, that wearing an American Flag on your shirt ISN’T controversial or provocative, its a statement that the wearer is PROUD to be an American, and wears the flag to prove it. That sis not a crime. The school admin is a coward and communist and needs to be taken in the back and shot like the dog he is. regardless of the day of the week or month, citizens of this country should be proud to wear their national symbol, if it bothers someone else…SO WHAT?? That is THEIR problem…..not the citizens…wear an American flag shirt on stupid “sinko-de mayo’ wear and American flag shirt on Christmas…Be an American…and be proud. there is no other nation or people like this on Earth, never has been and probably never will be. There is nothing to be ashamed of,and having some chicken sh*t school desk jocky admonishing someone for being a proud citizen of this great country is truly a crime.
If they don’t like America…then feel free to leave and find someplace better…which won’t happen. =P
Thanks for posting this
Great article and it is good to see some of yall young guys understanding the problem with political correctness. keep up the great work.
Just a quick word found this site thru Facebook Currently in Afghanistan. Could not agree more with what twas written or how it was written. I am sick and tired of people expecting me to apologize for being a patriot and a proud American. I say screw you I fought for and will continue to fight for my RIGHT to be patriotic and proud! I can just say Hooah! Keep up the good work.
Chuck
Honestly, I’m more tired of people overreacting to stupid shit like that, than the originally offending act. Just because one person does a bafflingly moronic thing, is not evidence of the pussification of America. You have surely worked yourself up in a bigger lather of anger and disgust than the dumb administrator did in the first place. Just let it go. Want to make sure it never happens again? Then quit feeding the moron with your wasted energy. Yeah, on the surface at least, it was pathetic. (And I have yet to hear any evidence that reactionaries like you have missed any key piece evidence that might put it more into gray territory…does seem just really stupid.) But you are kidding yourself if you and your uncritical readers think it is something “new” to America, or somehow unique the land of movie-star governors, or any place at any time that humans have existed. We just hear about these kinds of trivial stupidities at the speed of light nowadays. Through Twitter, TMZ, and sites like this. And it mindless angry ranters like you to puff your chest out and gather the kudos from like-minded reactionaries. Whatever gets you off. I’d say you are no better than the administrator–just feeding off of attention, but then again I don’t know either of you so I’m not going to waste any more energy on either issue…
Holy shit!! I’m posting this in the local court house so I sit back and watch the Douchebagastanian politicians shit themselves. I agree…RANGER THE FUCK UP AMERICA
Holy shit!! I’m posting this in the local court house so I can sit back and watch the Douchebagastanian politicians shit themselves. I agree…RANGER THE FUCK UP AMERICA
Spot on. I’m wearing the American Flag shirt next year too. These pecker-heads need to spend time in the shit holes of the world so they can better understand how great American is, as long as other fuck nuts don’t screw it up like this school administrator.
Funny story: I am a military contractor in Africa and contractors before me taught some Africans “English” while having their hands out looking for ‘bon bons’ and ‘money’. They kept saying “Obama, Obama – give me money”… Too funny, and true.
My son bought an “Alien Crossing” shirt in beautiful Baker, CA- at a gag store called Alien Fresh Jerky. It showed a family of Aliens- The ET/ Martians/ Close Encounters version of alien running towards a sign that said Area 51. A large space ship was on the back of the shirt.
He was forced to wear his PE shirt all day because it offended someone in his class that is Mexican and not a citizen. The shirt was a parody of the “Crossing” signs that used to be in CA along the highways showing a family running across the road to warn drivers that people that hopped the border may do stupid shit.
Fuck that. I washed it every night and sent him to school in it every day for a week. His teacher got the hint.
If we can’t laugh about people in outer space. What the hell is left??
Hey Kelly and all,
I am a teacher and I am sick of all this political correctness and the fact that we have to police what students wear. I believe in live and let live. Many teachers like me wish the administrators would go the way of the dinosaur. The British school system has it right with just a Headmaster, who is a teacher with some free time off. Our school administrators in the US are nothing but failed teachers who now want to push some clueless agenda not based on any scientific research. They come up with all sorts of crazy seminars, self-esteem activities, festivals and other time-wasting tasks which distract us from educating kids. And who gets blamed for kids not learning? Who gets fired when the budget is depleted by overly inflated administrator salaries? These administrators cower to the most crazy and annoying parents who have nothing better to do. God forbid we teach any moral lessons about honest and hard work. If we say anything that might slightly hurt a kids ego, we get reprimanded. In other words, like this blog says….they are douchebags!
So the can find out where all those cameras are over there.