First it was Jim ‘gay marriage makes me vomit’ Buell from Florida. Then it was Viki ‘homosexuality is a sinful cancer’ Knox from New Jersey. And now the latest teacher to share their anti-gay views via the innerwebs is Jim Whitney, a teacher at Joplin High School in Missouri who joked about Jamie Hubley’s suicide—nice.
Did these educators not learn that Facebook walls are public?
When Mr. Whitney’s former student Josh Gonzales placed a link to Hubley’s story on his wall, Whitney replied, “Moral of the story: Don’t be gay.” Then when another person asked, “How many more kids have to kill themselves before everyone realizes that this is an actual issue?”, Whitney responded, “11-13 ought to do it.”
Whitney has said that his account was hacked (uh-huh). Nevertheless, Whitney released this statement basically admitting his guilt:
How about we take this to the next level?
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“I do not condone bullying or harassment of any kind and I am very aware and saddened by the negative impact this type of behavior creates. I regret that the posts appeared on Facebook. They do not reflect my personal views and I apologize for any and all offenses caused by the comment.”
Gonzales believes that Mr. Whitney’s account was hacked because “The part that got me really fired up was the ‘11-13 might do it. At that point I was like, ‘OK, that can’t be him.’”
Now the school the Joplin Board of Education is investigating and the National Orgasm for Marriage is probably preparing to canonize Whitney as their next “defender of traditional marriage, harassed by gay activists for airing his personal beliefs online” or some other self-righteous crap.
Image via striatic
ewe
Zero tolerance. Fire all of them.
Bob
National Orgasm for Marriage? WTF?????
Michael
Disgusting bastard educators are supposed to be INTELLIGENT compassionate and unbiased.When you come to school you leave your issues beliefs etc…at the fucking door otherwise you need to quit period.That comment was not him being hacked either the little pussy coward is just too chickenshit to admit that those are his ACTUAL feelings especially the “11-13 ought to do it comment.
Linda Metz Mooney
My partner has two children from a previous relationship. OUR children have had to deal with name-calling and sometimes physical abuse due to our relationship . I’ve told them tell these commenters ” See ya later, hater” or ” Don’t be a hater ” and walk away . I’ve shown them some moves to get away from physical confrontations or how to defend themselves if needed . Having teachers in the classroom make anti-gay comments gives these bullies the idea that mistreating others is okay . Our kids are still in grade school , it is not your job to impose your oppinion on our children . Try teaching them the three R’s, that’s what my taxes pay you to do.
kylew
Hmmm, I wonder if Facebook records IP addresss along with posts? That would be a very easy way to know if the account was really hacked, or this is just being used as a convenient excuse.
That being said, accusing a teacher of being a homophobe, in the current climate is almost as bad as accusing them of being a pedophile, so it would be a good way to cause an innocent person trouble.
In this case, I simply think that the answers are just too convenient. Are there really hackers monitoring this man’s account awaiting relevant opportunities to make homophobic comments?
jonjon1968
We need to expose haters in these situations. It is a proven fact that persons with excessively strong opinions on sexual orientation are compensating for insecurities about their own sexuality. It’s the same as a person with low self esteem bullying others. We don’t consider it an insult to call them gay, but maybe, just maybe, they will shut their pie holes if we point out homophobic rants are indicative of latent homosexuality. Hell, I have even silenced haters in chatrooms going on about “God’s Judgment for gays” by pointing out that anyone who presumes to know God’s will is committing blasphemy. Fred Phelps fell through that ice years ago. You have to hit them where it hurts. In the case of the Bible thumpers – right in the “Godnads”. Go to Soulforce.org to read up on the gross misinterpretations of the Bible these morons use to spread their hate and use it against them over and over.
Little Kiwi
the man’s right to say what he wants comes with the reality that what we say can have consequences. he has just compromised his role as an educator as he chose to make public some views which will make for an uncomfortable and unsafe learning environment for his students – gay or straight, liberal or conservative.
and yes, he should lose his job.
Cam
I love how they always try to say that nobody should attack THEM because they have “Free Speech” And yet they then try to claim that nobody ELSE has the “Free Speech” right to disagree with them.
Sorry bigots, you may have the right to express an opinion, but nothing protects you from the consequences of doing that or from people disagreeing with you.
Little Kiwi
…has anyone ever noticed that the people who were the most vocally angry at the Dixie Chicks a number of years ago are now the ones making the most insanely derogatory comments about President Obama? Yeah, me too.
the crustybastard
As I said with respect to Congressman Weiner, accusing someone of hacking your accounts is falsely accusing another person of committing a crime. Making false criminal accusations is an offense that ipso facto proves the accuser has insufficient honesty or integrity to function in a position of public trust.
As I said with respect to NJ schoolteacher Vicki Knox, making statements demonstrating prejudice against an identifiable person or group is ipso facto proof the speaker is incapable of judging individuals or groups on their merits, and should be barred from any public job that involves making subjective evaluations of people.
Jim Whitney should be fired by the public school district on both grounds.
However, Mr. Whitney’s antigay bigotry should qualify him to teach at virtually any religious school.
timncguy
as i recall, a while back, there was a lot of uproar about the ever-changing security of Facebook. If everyone on Facebook is so concerned about security, why don’t they use it? Can’t they set their security so that only those they have identified as “friends” can actually see inside their Facebook? Why do they leave it so everyone in the world can read it? Do they really think their lives are interesting to the entire rest of the world’s population?
Forrest Jones
I’m from Joplin, MO actually… and my mother happens to be a teacher there… and this is in no way surprising to me.
DKirby
If anyone actually read the article, the guy who he was talking about said that usually the teacher and him have debates, but this time that the teacher sounded “out of character” and that he doesnt believe that the teacher actually said them..
I love when people dont CITE the entire article or get ALL the facts…
Just as bad as Fox News
rjlove
I am a Joplin resident and a former Joplin High School graduate. While I never had Jim Whitney as a teacher, many of my friends did. They said the type of comments he posted are actually rather typical for him, on Facebook and yes even in class. I read on the Missourians for Marriage Equality Facebook page a comment from one of his former students that stated Jim Whitney threw her out of his class before for standing up for herself when he had made asinine comments. So many people are stating that it is stupid that people want him fired. At the very least he needs reprimanded. But children should feel safe in school. If my daughter were in highschool and in his class you can bet I would remove her. If she were part of the LGBT community you can bet I’d remove her, give him a piece of my mind, and be gunning for his job.
Those_darn_liberals
Lol, now teachers aren’t allowed to have opinions in annnyyything. Otherwise it’s “they’re being biased” complaints from students. No shit. You don’t expect republicans to become democrats when they become teachers. Or a catholic to go atheist when he/she becomes a teacher. This bullcrap about gay rights and pro-choice… A student says something. A teacher must “correct him/her” to view it in a liberal-democrat’s way.
Aussie Col
Vile comments. Lame apology. Horrible situation.
Mav
So I guess now everyone is going to pull the, “Oh noes, that wasn’t me, my Facebook was hacked!” excuse every time they decide to say something vile, racist, bigoted, or asinine on the Internet.
Track Jim Whitney’s IP address at the time that the comments were made. If they were not made from his home computer, I will be very, very surprised.
If it turns out that the comments *did* originate from his home (and him), he should lose his job. Immediately. Because at that point, not only did he really write those terrible things, he had the gall to lie about it, too. At least these other educational morons had the integrity to claim their biased views. This jerk doesn’t even have THAT much going for him.
It amazes me how many bigots say stuff like this behind what they perceive as “closed doors”, then immediately retract their comments as soon as they receive negative attention about it.
Cowards, the whole lot.
@Those_darn_liberals: If you are a teacher and you advocate that gay students should kill themselves, and you do this in a public forum for everyone to see, no, you aren’t allowed to have an opinion or keep your job because you’re obviously too fucking stupid to be teaching anyone.
If a teacher got on Facebook and started calling for the lynching of black students, we would be reading a very different story right now. But gays and lesbians are the new n*ggers on the block, so it’s perfectly okay to call for their deaths. Hell, it’s “free speech”.
Well you know what the caveat to free speech is that so many people conveniently forget? Free speech allows you to say whatever you want, *but it does not protect you from the repercussions of your views*.
I seriously can’t believe we’re living in 2011 and still dealing with mental midgets like this.