Was Al-Jazeera Reporter Treated Ugly?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Really, I have no longstanding grudge against Texas, the soil that yielded Buddy Holly, Larry McMurtry and (I assume) Texas toast, and which received Pee\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/2011\/09\/was-al-jazeera-reporter-treated-ugly\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Was Al-Jazeera Reporter Treated Ugly?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Really, I have no longstanding grudge against Texas, the soil that yielded Buddy Holly, Larry McMurtry and (I assume) Texas toast, and which received Pee\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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{"id":1266,"date":"2011-09-07T15:30:26","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T15:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/community\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/?p=1266"},"modified":"2015-03-13T15:04:03","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:04:03","slug":"was-al-jazeera-reporter-treated-ugly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/diaryofawimpycatholic\/2011\/09\/was-al-jazeera-reporter-treated-ugly\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Al-Jazeera Reporter Treated Ugly?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

For that reason, I consider myself able to report on the big story from the small Texas town of Booker.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In brief: An Al-Jazeera correspondent named Gabriel Elizondo was dispatched from his home base in Brazil to report on 9\/11\u2019s long-term effects on American life. Figuring, \u201cWhat better a setting to immerse one\u2019s self into Texas rural life than high school football,\u201d he introduced himself to Mrs. Yauck, the principal of Booker High, whose \u201cdouble-wide smile\u201d contracted at the sight of his business card. According to Elizondo, she conferred with school superintendent Michael Lee, who told Elizondo, \u201cI think it was damn rotten what they did,\u201d and denied him permission to film the game or interview students. Not wanting to settle for a \u201cclassic shot of [Lee] putting his hand in front of the lens of the camera,\u201d Elizondo left. <\/p>\n

Posting on the high school\u2019s website, Lee has explained that he did not mean to appear \u201cdisrespectful.\u201d He reports being preoccupied with several other problems \u2014 among them the fact that two elementary school students had yet to arrive home \u2014 when Elizondo submitted his request. Once free, he sought out Booker, hoping to talk more \u2013 in particular, to explain that allowing students to be filmed might violate their FERPA rights. Lee also denies using \u201cprofanity\u201d in his talk with Elizondo. <\/p>\n

Did Lee make any knee-jerk equation between Al-Jazeera and the 9\/11 hijackers? Not even Elizondo claims to know for sure. Certainly, Lee didn\u2019t say, \u201cWait a second while I do the rest of my job; then I\u2019ll come explain the potential legal ramifications of your request.\u201d On the other hand, up to the point of their encounter, Elizondo doesn\u2019t seem to have had much of a story going.<\/strong><\/a> His blog post begins with lengthy descriptions of a rather nondescript town. An Easy Rider-type cultural clash \u2014 or even the suggestion of one \u2013would have been a godsend. And, in fact, his account has attracted over a million Facebook shares. <\/p>\n

The TMC blogger<\/strong><\/a> scores a point for \u2014 or maybe deducts a point from \u2014 each side. He observes that asking permission to film on public property was an act of unnecessary courtesy on Elizondo\u2019s part. \u201cLook, I\u2019m not sure how they teach the First Amendment in Booker,\u201d he writes. But as long as nobody\u2019s interrupting the game, a peaceful conversation in a public place should not be Lee\u2019s business.\u201d <\/p>\n

At the same time, he points out that, to represent the town of Booker, Elizondo insisted on posting a photo of crudely drawn sign advertising an upcoming gun show. In a word, he wasn\u2019t above throwing his readers a bit of red halal meat.<\/p>\n

In any case, if Elizondo really is interested in interviewing Texas high school kids, Texas high schools may be the last place to find them. According to a recent study<\/strong><\/a> of a million Texas high schoolers, over half were suspended or expelled. This might sound like an unfortunate, inevitable outgrowth of various \u201cno-tolerance\u201d policies, but apparently it\u2019s not. Only 3% of punishments were mandated by state law; the rest were handed down at the discretion of school authorities. <\/p>\n

At this point, the only sensible conclusion may be, \u201cMess with Texas if you must, but mess with Texas educators at your peril.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"