First there were the Knights Who Say Ni! (below). Now we have the problem of the lawyers who say Meep! After reading the recent publications over the decision of the principal of Danvers High School banning students from saying the word “Meep,” Entertainment lawyer Theodora Michaels decided to act and wrote a letter using the four-letter word to Principal Thomas Murray, who comes across as a high school version of Dean Vernon Wormer from Animal House. She was immediately reported to the police for investigation by the school.
Murray stumbled on a conspiracy on Facebook where he learned that kids in the Danvers High School in Massachusetts intended to say “Meep!” in school — mimicking the lab assistant to Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, of “The Muppet Show.”
Meep is actually in the dictionary which defines it as “whatever you want it to mean.” Murray, however, did not want it in his school and banned it — sending an automated call to parents warning that any student using “Meep!” could be suspended. His minions had uncovered a plot for students to do a “mass meep” in one part of the school.
That is when Michaels decided to nail her letter to the Internet door like a Meepish Martin Luther.
Here is the entire letter:
An open letter to Principal Murray of Danvers High School (MA):
Meep.
Sincerely,
Theodora Michaels
She says that the response was fast and furious: “Yesterday I received a reply email from Assistant Principal Mark Strout, which said (in full) “Your E-mail has been forwarded to the Danvers Police Department.”
I am pretty sure that Meep is not a form of hate speech, even under the Muppet criminal code. Methinks that Murray doth protest too much.
For her account of the controversy, click here.
Buddha,
Meep, Meep….
I have to agree with Simone. Insider has too much personally invested in convincing – not just others – but himself that he’s not an overreacting clown with no understanding of teen psychology. Anyone who argues ex deus in defense of someone essentially stalking his students is not fit to run a public school, but I’m sure some half-wit like Pat Robertson will give them a job running one of his indoctrination, er, “educational” facilities. Maybe there is a spot on the Regents faculty for someone like Murray. If God is on his side, that makes him a shoe in. Can I get God’s phone number, Principleless Murray, er, Insider? I have some questions. You not only have superior wisdom as to the dangers and nature of meeping but even claim to have a God on your side? My but you are a petty and arrogant little Jesus Nazi. I sincerely hope you have someone like me in your student body. Someone with a creative mind and total disrespect for faux authority and meddlesome, skulking, holier-than-thou, Civil Rights abusing, jackasses who threatens kids. You’ve got it coming. Seriously. You have prank target writ large right across your forehead. Written in your own hand, poorly and partially backwards, I might add.
Again, I suspect exploding plumbing and liberal applications of toilet paper to foliage will be the least of your concerns if you’re lucky enough to have a little Buddha Is Laughing in your student body.
This comes from a Meeper who was part of a prank that made a teacher quit – as was our goal. And her crime wasn’t even a Civil Rights violation, but it’s never a good idea to put someone in charge of a G&T program (let alone an entire school) who isn’t at least as smart as the students let alone someone who is an active insult to their collective intelligence. This went on until we had had enough. Then when stopped it. And that’s what will happen here. You will eventually have a situation where the local board will be forced to move Murray, he’ll quit or it’ll escalate until someone actually does get hurt. That’s how these things work. Or have you never read “The Chocolate War”? Anything by S.E. Hinton or J.D. Salinger? Or been to high school? I don’t need an electronic bible to tell me that an “educator” like Murray is headed for disaster. I’ve been there. So unlike you, I’m not making a false claim to authority – God being on “my side” is irrelevant just as it is to your “argument” – but rather relaying personal experience. It’s called “reality” vs. “wishful thinking”. You are 1) outnumbered by the kids and 2) obviously not smarter than the majority of them. You can’t have any pudding if you don’t eat your meat. Have a nice day.
I think Insider is really the principal in disguise. He tried to convince us that we were wrong, we just didn’t understand, we didn’t know the facts, he is really a nice guy, etc.
When that didn’t work, Insider/Principal came back and worked a different angle. He gave us the consequeces that will affect us all throughout the entire land. He tried to convince us if this meeping business continues, the entire service industry will fail. I get it. If he doesn’t stop the meeping, the economy of the country will collapse.
Then he worked on his ethos a bit. Pretty clever. “Maybe you are against me, but God sides with me, therefore God is against you.”
AY,
Free the Meeps! Freedom of speech for the Meeps!
rafflaw,
Hey Meep me over, lend me a meep….
Me thinks that Principal Murray is full of Meep!
It’s a movement.
50 people a day
walkin in singing meep
and walkin out.
All together now!
You can get anything you want
meep meep-meep-meep meep meep meep
It would be interesting to hear the reaction of the police department to the forwarded meep-mail. Apparently this school has no real problems (such as vandalism, gang activity, teen pregnancy, etc.) and can focus so heavily on the meep menace, but it is likely that the Danvers police department has more serious concerns than the meep situation.
Bleep the Meep. Don’t meep for me Argentina. And Jesus meeped. Jesus said: Bleesed are the meep for they shall inherit the earth (until it’s destroyed in 2012). Mary had a little lamb which grew up to be a meep. Meep, meep said the Roadrunner after the Coyote let him down. Meep me in St. Louis. (O.K. now we know the secret of GWB’s speeches.)
I think there’s a big difference between having an entry in the urbandictionary and one like Merriam-Webster’s or even the free dictionary google gives in search returns.
But, just because a word isn’t in a dictionary doesn’t mean that people don’t use it constantly…
MEEP!
Insider—
I find it interesting that you accuse people commenting here of being harsh with their anonymous comments. Yet, it seems you think that it’s okay to make harsh comments about others anonymously. You don’t know who we are—but it appears that you’ve formed judgments about the kind of people we are so quickly.
You imply that people who left comments in this thread are fools—as are the “slacker” kids who started the meeping. You say we can’t understand anything but low level humor. You imply that we are not wise enough to understand—and are wicked as well. You also refer to a female reporter as a “news bimbo.” One might surmise that you could be one of those “prideful arrogant people” of which you speak—one with a “holier than thou attitude,” I might add.
Too be sure, Danvers High School has had an exceptional band for a long time—and to the best of my recollection, it has received its share of the spotlight from the local news media at the appropriate times over the years. Maybe the “news bimbo” was sent to the high school to get information about the “meep” story. I would hazard a guess that if she returned to her office with information about something else—the band, a sports team—her boss might not have been too happy with her.
I have no doubt that there is much more to the “meeping” story than many of us know. Maybe if the situation at your high school had been handled better by administrators, Professor Turley wouldn’t have written about it at his blog. The school’s vice principal writing Ms. Michaels to inform her that he had forwarded her E-mail to the Danvers Police Department shows a lack of good judgment. And I’d say that sending automated calls to parents informing them that their children could get suspended for saying “meep” at school is not the best way to address a serious problem at your school.
***************
Maybe you would agree that the following applies to you as well as the other people who commented here:
Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Matthew 7:1-3
Paully,
I think you are correct, in that most people complain of what they know not of what there is to complain about. They have to figure something to gripe about. Then again, they gripe about something that they don’t want, but they don’t offer anything that they do want. So what would you suggestion be? What is you answer to this quandary that you speak about. Uniform Rules of School Conduct? That worked well in the late 20’s though the mid 40’s in Germany. How about a having Senate Investigations about Communism in America. I know of a Senator from Wisconsin that would be all to happy to assist you in your endeavor. To wit, Joe McCarthy. Some people complained about his working habits. Some people even went so far as to volunteer their services for the screen actors guild. One even went on to become Gov of California and President of the US. I think he reported to the House Unamerican Activities which was abolished right before he took office. Coincidence? I think not. This one ran from 38 to 75. Would you explain to me what Unamerican activity really is? Thus far I am unmoved by anything that I have heard so far. It is kinda of like a radical christian. Are people who are not radical not Christians? What about Jews for Jesus. Do you see any contradiction? If so, where? How about the original catholic belief. Jesus was still a Jew and that part has not changed. Do you see any place in the bible where any of the original disciples renounced Judaism? If they do so, where?
Insider you too can chime in on this. One last question, what does meep really sound like and what does it mean? What does a hundred dollars mean to you? A person that lives on the border of Mexico and the US?
Please answer these for me.
Insider: “In the last five or six years, I’ve noticed a shift in the kids that I teach. So many of them are coming to us with no sense of propriety and no sense of duty to themselves and to their community. I do NOT command respect from my students, I make an earnest attempt to EARN that respect…”
Insider,
Other than rediscovering how advances in technology can lead to death by distraction, your leadership approach to the problem is all wrong.
You’re applying a ‘joiner’ paradigm where a ‘teller’ type of leadership is warranted.
Don’t ‘earn’ their respect; take it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiedler_contingency_model
You’re dealing with a bunch of brats spoiled by technology–leaving them bereft of conscience.
Pick up the f’n ruler and teach for Christ’s sake.
Insider, Thanks for the follow-up. You make some very good points.
You are correct. This is a tough crowd. It’s always easy to defend the rights of others when you don’t have to suffer the consequences of such freedom. There’s a reason children are not granted the same rights as adults. If limiting the speech of high school students, when it comes to something as petty as being able to say the word “meep”, will have a positive effect on the deeper issues, I say do it.
I’m sure the word “meep” has a personal meaning to the students that are using it. The word “bitch” didn’t always carry a negative meaning. There was probably a principal somewhere that placed similar restrictions on its use. -I don’t think most here would protect a high school student’s right to say “bitch” at school.
Elaine M.,
You always bring a smile to my face. You must be a pleasure to be around. I probably had someone like you for a teacher and I was blessed because of it. Thanks for Teachers like you.
________________________
Now, in response. Are you implying that you could be speaking from an alternate reality?
************************
I may have smoked my way there. Not sure as it was an alternate reality.
________________________
Maybe you’re not a man or a woman.
***********************
I am a female caught in a males body. More explanation if you request.
________________________
–but one of those sinless aliens I read about on the Turley blog a few days ago.
**********************
I wish I knew what sin was, as I have had an altered reality since about the early seventies. At one time I could tell you but then it became a blur in law school. But I’ll never smoke weed with Willie again. I am unsure if he’s stopped but I did.
AY–
Are you implying that you could be speaking from an alternate reality? Maybe you’re not a man or a woman–but one of those sinless aliens I read about on the Turley blog a few days ago.
Elaine M.,
How do we know what reality is? I am speaking anonymously as well.
P.P.S.
I assumed Insider was a woman. Insider could be a man.
AY–
Do I have a problem with people posting anonymously? Not at all. I just wanted to point out to Insider that I didn’t–since that seemed to be a problem for her…even though she commented anonymously.
P.S. I will say that I do have a problem with people who post extremely crude and vulgar comments anonymously.