Vito Perrone is out of a job. The incoming Massachusetts school superintendent was ready to start as head of Easthampton Schools when scandal struck. No, it was not embezzlement or some stalking charge as principal of Easthampton High School where he previously served with distinction for eight years. Perrone made the unpardonable error of sending an email to Chairperson Cynthia Kwiecinski and Suzanne Colby, executive assistant to the committee, that referred to them as “ladies.” What is most interesting about the outrage of Kwiecinski and Colby at being sent such a greeting is that it is considered a “microaggression,” but in this case had a decidedly macro impact.
Perrone was offered the position as the head of Easthampton Schools on March 23. He was willing to take the job despite it being $14,000 less than his existing job. However, Perrone wrote to Kwiecinski and Colby to seek more sick days and possibly a bump in living adjustment costs or compensation. He began the note with the greeting of “Ladies,” which Kwiecinski and Colby reportedly found deeply offensive.
Perrone recounted how Kwiecinski told him that using “ladies” as a greeting is hostile and derogatory and constitutes a microaggression. She reportedly added that “the fact that he didn’t know that as an educator was a problem.” He was then informed that the job offer had been withdrawn following a vote.
Perrone was devastated and said that “This job was not about the money for me. I honestly felt like I was coming home to Easthampton. I coached football here. I was principal here when we built the school. I have such wonderful memories … I was excited to come back.”
What is most striking is the macro impact of the microaggression in this case. We have previously discussed the growing list of microaggressive language deemed inappropriate at colleges and universities. From a free speech perspective, the concern is that this category of prescribed language is often ill-defined and subjective, including seating decisions or eye-contact. Mount Holyoke College’s Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion added new terms to the list with a guide on social media listing “fatphobic language” that will now be deemed microaggressive.
It is now common for universities to list offensive terms to be avoided by faculty and students, as we have previously discussed at schools like Michigan, James Madison, and Berkeley. Brandeis issued a list of “oppressive” words that include such expressions as “killing two birds with one stone” and “beating a dead horse.” However, the school did not issue a trigger warning because “trigger warning” is now on the list as . . . well . . . triggering.
Recently, the University of North Texas lost a critical motion in a free speech case brought by Mathematics Professor Nathaniel Hiers after his contract was not renewed due to his criticism of the school’s microaggression policies.
I have had debates over my opposition to how microaggression policies have been used to limit free speech and target dissenting voices on campuses. Advocates for these policies often struggle to clearly define them. They were originally deemed as a category of speech that fell below outright discriminatory or hateful language. However, the language was still considered “harmful” or not helpful. In the past, I was told that microaggression policies are not free speech concerns because they are not treated as seriously as outright discriminatory language.
It is now apparently enough to lose a job in a single greeting. I have no problem with Kwiecinski and Colby objecting that they do not want to be called “ladies.” However, there are generations (including my own) where this greeting was accepted as a standard expression of respect. There is no evidence that Perrone meant to insult or belittle these two women. Indeed, he was actively negotiating with them on employment compensation.
If microaggressions are going macro, the distinction between the categories of discriminatory language and microaggressive language is largely illusory for teachers and students. That would mean that a much wider array of speech could be subject to sanctions.
Thank you Kenny Rogers but be careful the woke will be coming for you next.
Lady
I’m your knight in shining armor and I love you
You have made me what I am, and
I am yours
My love
There’s so many ways I want to say I love you
Let me hold you in my arms forever more
You have gone and made me such a fool
And I’m so lost in your love
And oh, we belong together
Won’t you believe in my song?
Lady
For so many years
I thought I’d never find you
You have come into my life and
Made me whole
Forever
Let me wake to see you each and every morning
Let me hear you whisper softly
In my ear
And in my eyes (In my eyes)
I see no one else but you (I see no one else but you)
There’s no other love like our love
And, oh, girl I’ll always want you near me
I’ve waited for you for so long
Lady
Your love’s the only love I need
Oh, and beside me is where
I want you to be (I want you to be)
‘Cause, my love
There’s somethin’ I want you to know
You’re the love of my life
You’re my lady
In the circus of the absurd these two are clowns and not good ones.
How are you offended by a term of respect?
Co-whorets
Darren….love it!
Oh Boy here We go again.
Oops … I can’t say ̶B̶o̶y̶ !
Will this insanity ever end? Just when I think that the last Turley blog post made me crazy, I read the next one and it gets worse.
“Ladies AND Gentlemen …”
I guarantee that these two “Ladies’ will move on to hire another “lady” to fill the evil man’s position. I hoe these two “ladies’ are enjoying being mocked around the country for the authoritarian fascists that they are.
This is the mindset that has 19 year old boys being charged on campus with no right to representation, no right to face their accusers and no right to due process at all. The rubber hits the road when the white suburban women have it happen to their sons. This is why the Kavanaugh hearings did some damage to the Dems and the Metoo fiasco. Of course some women have been abused and they not only deserve their day in court, it is our duty to give them that day. But once we had some “inconvenient truths” occur, like Biden being accused, then the “believe all women” canard disappeared.
When I was going through bootcamp at MCRD SD in the summer of 1966, being called “ladies” by our Drill Instructors meant it was a good day. When terms like “maggot,” or “whale s**t,” or any other of a couple of dozen or more unrepeatable names were used, I knew we were in trouble.
What a steaming barrel of ridiculous. Your best candidate – pitched – for some stretch of the woke imagination? Once again, when it comes to government, Americans get what they vote for. In this case, it’s morons on a school board.
A few observations.
1. They are not ladies by any definition of the word.
2. The school board and or parents should oust those displaying “unladylike” behavior for the benefit of the children and the community.
3. Vito Perrone should now endeavor to compete with the Easthampton High School and create a private school as the existing public school system is being run by Cretians.
4. He is being discriminated against by his use of generally accepted terms of speech and the definitions of those words which are long standing in the vernacular. There is probably a first amendment case and an age discrimination case.
In celebration of ladies everywhere:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt2YIpZWBqA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1LkiYKwnAk
What is next, firing men if they open a door for a woman?
“What is next, firing men if they open a door for a woman?”
Too late. Feminists already consider it “sexist” and “belittling.”
Lisa and Sam,
I’ve explained several times to women for whom I have opened the door that nothing sexist or belittling is intended. Quite the contrary because anyone who has been deer hunting knows that a buck always lets the doe enter the open field first. If she does not get shot then the buck knows it is safe.
I like it! 🦌🦌
I wonder: are the fools on the committee democrats? I mean this is Massachusetts after all! Election do have consequences.
My Webster’s dictionary states a few of these qualities for a Lady. It is obvious that these are not accurate descriptions of the “triggered” individuals.
“A woman having proprietary rights or authority especially as a feudal superior. A woman receiving the homage or devotion of a knight or lover. A woman of refinement and gentle manners.”
Soooooo, by that definition he was wrong.
Just noting the obvious, as have others here… those ladies aren’t.
Just when I don’t think leftists can be anymore absurd, they prove me wrong.
When we were little, we wanted a collie just like “Lassie” on television. When my dad brought a collie puppy home, we were ecstatic. Wasn’t until we got older that we understood why his name was “Laddie.”
How about a salutation of “Lassies and Gentlemen?” …That ought to torque them off….
How about “Vagino-Americans”?
Has a nice ring to it, and perhaps wouldn’t upset the thumbsucking Toddler Taliban.
I am stealing that!
Let’s hope this microcosm of two pseudo-authoritarian non-ladies does not turn into a macrocosm. Think Mao suits.
“Xiexie!”
lin….yeah, nothing says “cuddly” more than a woman who looks like she just stepped off the front page of The Daily Worker.
It seems like there is a mad rush to grasp at literally ANYTHING to be offended and of course be a victim. Anything. Welcome to the Woke Left.