Greeson: Clarity better than clickbait after 11-year-old arrested in Florida

The American Constitution on American Flag
The American Constitution on American Flag

The Yahoo.com headline read "Florida student faces misdemeanor charges after refusing to stand for Pledge of Allegiance."

What? The controversy. The outrage. The divide between freedom and freedom of choice.

Or the simple fact that clickbait and race-baiting are too often the same dang thing in this world of web traffic and faux outrage.

photo Jay Greeson

Technically the headline, "Florida student faces misdemeanor charges after refusing to stand for Pledge of Allegiance," is 100 percent accurate.

But you know what else is 100 percent true:

"Florida student faces misdemeanor charges after relatively uneventful ride to school."

"Florida student faces misdemeanor charges after a satisfying breakfast." Or "Florida student faces misdemeanor charges after unsatisfying breakfast."

Too often, the powers that be throw "fake news"or "biased media" claims in the air. And sadly, some of my "industry colleagues" make those claims viable, even substantial at times.

Back to the story:

This 11-year-old in Florida was not arrested for NOT standing for the pledge. (It's Florida state law - and it has been on the federal books since the early 1940s - that students do not have to stand for the pledge).

This 11-year-old was arrested after making a scene with a substitute, who asked him why he was sitting, and his myriad responses included that this was not his home and that he was forced here by slave owners.

The substitute called the office, and a school administrator and on-campus officer tried to calm the sit-first, pout-later student down and asked him to leave the classroom more than 20 times. Read that again. More than 20 times.

And the kid refused and then went on to threaten school personnel - including threatening to beat the substitute - as he was being escorted to the office.

So technically, the kid was arrested AFTER not standing for the pledge, but he was arrested for disrupting a school function and resisting an officer without violence.

This was about a preteen threatening an adult, and in this day and age, do we really want any teacher to turn a blind eye to any student threatening to beat up a teacher?

Now the boy's mother wants the charges dropped.

From the Yahoo story: "Dhakira Talbot, the boy's mother, told Bay News 9 that she wants the charges dropped. She denied the arrest affidavit accusing her son of threatening to beat the teacher, the station reported. 'She was wrong. She was way out of place,' Talbot told Bay News 9. 'If she felt like there was an issue with my son not standing for the flag, she should've resolved that in a way different manner than she did.'"

Way out of place for asking why he did not stand? Way out of place for calling the office after being threatened with violence by your son?

Misguided kids, misdirected parents and misled readers. Sadly, we are in a place that it's always some else's fault, and far too often the goal of clicks after the fact is more important than the truth or the facts.

Parents, take care of guiding your kids. Media companies, take care in guiding your readers and your messages, especially when the easy way adds to your appeal as well as adds to the division.

This story was a rude and aggressive 11-year-old who grew unruly and combative was arrested after sitting during the pledge not because of it, regardless of what the headline implies.

And we'll close with the distinction this way: There was a time when a boy would act like that to adults and he would not have to worry about standing for the pledge - which is his right - because he would not be able to sit down for the next few days.

Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com and 423-757-6343.

Upcoming Events