You're missing the point entirely. It's a public educational institution conflating Islam with terrorism. It's an idea that's prevalent in our society, and that's just wrong, whether it's the federal government or a city's education department's IT guy.

The fact that your school in Seattle has staff stupid and bigoted enough to block that says very little about the country and Nigee is clearly just looking for a chance to rip the US. You're helping. Make him wait until there's a reason, which will probably be tomorrow given our track record.

It's perfectly reasonable to rip on the US for this, especially in the lighthearted manner in which he's doing it. I'm glad to help him.

"Nigee is clearly just looking for a chance to rip the US"
Bo that is such a sad and ignorant thing to say, I pity you.
Can you tell me where you were mis-educated ... what did they teach you Tiger?
I hope you kept the receipt, with any luck you can get your money back.

Yeah, your idiotic tech department guy is an accurate representative of the entire country.

Isn't it weird, people do crazy,stupid,nasty things.
You question it because it is obviously crazy,stupid,nasty
Next thing you know you're anti-this or anti-that .... or you want to 'rip' something
Bo you should learn to love and respect the guy with the torch because you're in such a dark place you need someone to help lead you to the light.
When there was only one set of footprints in the sand you were not on your own, that is when I was carrying you.

The issue of Islam being conflated with terrorism is quite prevalent in America, yes.

Yes, it is, but the point Nigee made is that the United States is clearly not "the land of the free" because your public school in Seattle stupidly blocked a website, which is what they do in *gasp* CHINA :o

It's like he was being humorously hyperbolic or something. Huh.

If he wants to make fun of the US, all he has to do is talk about the average family dinner.

Yeah, or he could reference a ridiculous anecdote already in the thread.

I like the dinner thing better.

So you had to attack him for it? Classy.

"Hello son! You need to put out the fancy dinner plates. I ordered some Chinese food and we will serve it on the plates so we can pretend I cooked."

"Of course mom, can u pass me the apple juice?"

"Of course son. Be careful, it is very spicy."

*sips juice*

"OH SWEET JESUS YOU WERE RIGHT MOM THIS APPLE JUICE IS MUCH TOO SPICY!"

*Enter daddy.*

"Haha, wash it down with hot dogs, and all-American tradition."

"Thanks dad. Hey, wanna play baseball with me after dinner?"

"We can't tonight, son. Tonight is the night we are having our annual family photograph taken."

(Mom)
"I picked out matching sweaters for all of us, including the dog!"

"We will look great! We should use the photograph as a Christmas card! Merry Christmas from the Bakers!"

"Great idea, son. Don't forget about our fishing trip this weekend."

"Golly dad, how could I forget that important American family tradition!"

Yeah ghug, I'm a classy bitch.

Bo I know you are young and headstrong and a little naive, none of those are crimes right..... but to wear your ignorance on your sleeve in such a manner is a little sad and disappointing, I thought you were smarter than that. Not every comment about bad schooling is about you or the USA, just like any comment about Netanyahu being a murderous psychopath is not an attack on Judaism.
When you are young you can be forgiven for thinking that you are the centre of the universe and everything is just spinning around you, as you mature you learn that you are just one of billions of stars (some glow brighter than others) and it gives you a great perspective on people and life and ultimately that wisdom and understanding makes you a better person.
For now having a conversation with you is hard work, chill out young man, the world is not for you or against you .... it's just ambivalent, get over your good self.

Was that supposed to be humor? Who gave you a comedy cube?

https://31.media.tumblr.com/6a8e256dc4de9b151aaccc593b7572ec/tumblr_inline_mz9um4SoYY1qksxf8.gif

I believe that Bo_Sox is our future
Treat him well and let him lead the way
Show him all the beauty he possesses inside
Give him a sense of pride


(Don't mention the Ryder Cup)

This is hilarious, seeing Nigee and ghug make wild speculations about why a random school district might have a word blocked without having any other information to go with that. Ignoring the very real chance that there is a perfectly legitimate reason for specific words being blocked. Without knowing if all words related to religions are blocked, etc. There are literally hundreds of reasons why the word Islam might be blocked on a school network. To use that as a justification to whine about school systems is just hilariously naive.

There are dozens and dozens of reasons to hate the school systems in America...how about the fact that they are increasingly focusing on falsely passing students who deserve to fail with programs designed to give schools money for each kid who passes out of high school? How about the increasing idiotic methods of teaching math? The lowering number of high school students who can read at a middle school level?

Nope, lets go complain about the word Islam.

"I remember not being able to work on a report on Islam because all the resources were blocked for terrorism."

Now here is the kicker. The statement you are both getting so worked up over doesn't even say that the word Islam is blocked, it says the sources for a paper on Islam are blocked. Semantics, but semantics are important here. This phrase far more clearly indites online pages and media reporting then it does a school system. The implication here is that when searching for Islam sources for a paper the majority of pages had references to terrorist organizations. Is that the schools fault, bo's, or the media for sensationalizing a hyped atmosphere implicating a relation between the word terror and Islam? I'd lean toward the third. But maybe that's just me.

Anyways, feel free to try and justify your nonsensical complaining.

@Putin, decent point on the cheating. I personally worked hard as a student and there was a case where I couldn't figure out or understand my assignment and as a last resort I posted here. Mapu was kind enough to debug my program and give me the solution. I learned quite a lot from that experience of being desperate enough to post here for help on homework and never had to again. So in kind, I'm willing to help anyone once with an assignment, etc here if I can. If it's recurring then sure, it's cheating and bad, if it's a one time occurrence then I don't really see harm in it.

Don't mention the 2-3 decades it takes for an Englishman to win an Open Championship. Or the 77 years it takes for an Englishman to win a Wimbledon. Or the English habit of never making it out of the group stage of the World Cup. Or the fact that overpriced English clubs can't seem to win the Champions League.

What a sporting colossus.

Is asking for knowledge and information really cheating?

Sparksnotes is knowledge now?

He didn't do his homework and wanted somebody else to do it for him. He tried to scam the system by avoiding the blacklist on these kinds of cheap websites for people who don't want to do work.

Hey, jmo, did you notice that *I* was the one that posted the little anecdote about *my* school blocking the word Islam? I know for a fact that any page containing the word was blocked and the reason given by the blocker was "terrorism." We complained and it got changed, but that's still horrible.

I think that it is the media's fault, or our fearmongering culture, or whatever you want to call it. I don't think anyone disputed that point. It's nice to see you jump to defend bo by casting baseless doubt on what we were saying. Next time I'll let him attack Nigee for making jokes.

Putin - a bit like people who want to use websites and expect others to pay - *ouch*
When you leave school and enter the real world you are rewarded for receiving and using information from any source available if it means getting the job done in a timely and efficient manner .... so do we label students as cheats because they have worked out a route to success before actually leaving school, there is an intelligence in getting something finished in minutes that may have taken you hours, unless of course you suffer from PE, but that's a whole different ball game.....

Putin, one side of the Ryder cup is more than just England.

" one side of the Ryder cup is more than just England."

No kidding, which makes Nigee's taunts all the more silly.

"Putin - a bit like people who want to use websites and expect others to pay - *ouch*"

I figured you'd understand considering you're such a big fan of inherited wealth.

"When you leave school and enter the real world you are rewarded for receiving and using information from any source available if it means getting the job done in a timely and efficient manner"

So our resident socialist par excellence wants to corporatize education and turn the youth into mindless clogs for the capitalist machine who just unthinkingly "get the job done". Wonderful.

Putin, I say this because I love you: learn to pick your battles.

1. Oh, take a chill pill, Putin...

Sometimes people get behind on things in life and need a quick refresher or a lifeline to get by.

(I'd recommend a quick search on Wikipedia next time though, grking--I tell my students when they approach me for Shakespeare tutoring that No Fear Shakespeare/Sparknotes isn't that great...just read Wikipedia for the plot so you're not lost, and then read the actual play, because so much of what makes Shakespeare or any great author is in the language ITSELF, so just get the plot outline out of the way so you're not lost, and then focus on the language.)

You should always read the book, but sometimes, people get behind...as long as he doesn't plagiarize for a paper or anything, who cares that he got the book summary? Half the time the books' back cover/introduction itself has a summary.

Besides, one of the most overrated of sayings is "Cheaters never prosper"...pretty sure just about every successful businessman out there cheated at some time...

As long as he doesn't make a habit out of it, who cares? Even good students get behind and need a crutch sometimes...again, as long as he doesn't copy/paste that into a paper, what's it matter that he comes to class having read a synopsis?

2. You really SHOULD read this book though, grking, it's a masterpiece! :)

There's also a really good 2008 BBC miniseries version of it that I'd recommend, it's pretty faithful to the book and well acted.

3. "So our resident socialist par excellence wants to corporatize education and turn the youth into mindless clogs for the capitalist machine who just unthinkingly "get the job done". Wonderful."

"Mindless cogs for the capitalist machine"...you're just a walking self-parody at this point, aren't you?

(To say nothing of the "mindless cogs for the communist regime" in North Korea, Stalinist Russia, and Maoist China, but no, unthinking masses only occur and are only ever used in capitalist countries because alskdfaksdjfaisjodfiajiosdf. And you can quote me on that.)

4. I ask this as the absurd gushing literature fan round about these parts...

So long as he isn't copy/pasting it into an essay or otherwise using it to cheat his grade, what's so wrong with reading a plot summary?

Plots are only part of a work's value...our good buddy and Cheater Extraordinaire, Shakespeare, ripped off just about every single one of his plots...and has subsequently seen HIS plots ripped off as well (see: every ripoff of a Romeo and Juliet or Taming of the Shrew-style story, ever) and yet, with all those plots being ripped off, we still seem to value his above others most of the time.

There are only so many story "types" in the world...so you will have repetition...

Knowing the plot of Tess is nowhere near as important as delving into Hardy's juxtaposing the old with the new, nature with the D'Urbervilles home, his treatment of religion, Tess/Angel in nature vs. Tess/Angel in society, the socio-economic conditions which preempt Tess's actions, and on and on and on...

The plot is just the skeleton, while all the other elements make up the STORY, and THAT is the important thing (and why you should after this really read the book, grking.) :)

But for one class period, as long as it's just so he's not totally lost, who cares if someone spoils the plot for him? It doesn't dilute Hardy's message, it only spoils the story for him somewhat, and as long as he's not plagiarizing for a paper, why should you stand up and act indignantly towards a guy just trying to get by in class?