I have Asperger Syndrome, Erb's Palsey in my left arm, and am somewhat out of shape. I enjoy video games, watching television, roller coasters, and reading.
During a foreign speaker event, Diamond Tiara uses a racial slur she learned. She gets in trouble and is forced to apologize the next day.
Author: Just figured I'd warn you: I'm not good at rhyming, but I'll try to keep Zecora in-character regardless. Also, this will feature accidental racism, as DT doesn't know the meaning of the word she uses, so if this is not your thing, do not read.
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she used a word with no idea what it meant, that doesn't merit punishment
I should add, it's not really a badly written story, I just disagree with the premise
5702449 Filthy Rich knows that Zecora is a friend of the Apple Family, and that Apple Bloom is the younger granddaughter of Granny Smith. He overreacted, afraid that Bloom would tell Granny, and their image, as well as his business, would be damaged.
5702486
Cheerilee still suggested a punishment though. Teachers shouldn't suggest punishment for things done in ignorance. How would anyone ever learn?
5702500 I edited it so that she retracts the punishment on those grounds. Mr. Rich's overreaction stays.
the synopsis brings back memories honey <3
5702611 Thanks.
((aparently the story was edited while i wrote my review so some of this may not apply))
well apart from some errors in perspective this was well written though I think Diamond was treated unfairly. She was plenty remorseful and humiliated just by Ms Cheerilee's scolding and the scorn of her classmates.
Ms Cheerilee should have gotten Rich involved LONG AGO about the bullying, not for this. It's like "A Christams Story" when Ralph drops an F-Bomb but in that case he knew it was swear word. He was right to be punished.
Diamond was only curious and meant no harm but in a sheltered community like Ponyville I can imagine the ponies overreacting to anything with so negative a connotation.
In today's society it would have likely ended with the verbal reprimand (if the teacher gave a F---)
However I REALLY LOVED Zecora's explanation of where the term come from and not because it is similar and the brony equivalent to the N-word. No she had a VERY specific reason whu ponies of the past would come up with the word to slander her kind.
if you ask me, Earth Ponies had it similarly hard in the times of the 3 tribes.
Likely Zebra were not considered fully equine because they didn't have cutiemarks like the ponies had. So when Earth Ponies stopped being serfs and slaves themselves the races started importing livestock from Zebrafrica or Rome as it is described in Fallout Equestria.
5702486 Thats a good point. Filthy would overreact but not if Cheerilee kept it in class.
5702548 i agree with this.
5702806 Cheerilee felt that Mr. Rich should know. Granted, Zecora was kind enough to explain its origin, but if you were a teacher, and someone used a racial slur, whether they meant harm or not, wouldn't you at least try to notify the parents, in the hopes they'd take steps to prevent a repeat?
5702827 As for the bullying, she probably thought Diamond and Silver were only playing and that Bloom and the others were overreacting. Or, possibly due to her own upbringing, she thought that informing the parents would do nothing, and only resorted to it as a last resort. Plus, before Call of the Cutie, we don't know how long it went on. She might have tried, and Mr. Rich brushed it off as kids being kids.
5702827 Well like I said in a community and world like Equestria such a verbal assalt or implied hate crime is probably a thing of the past. These days she'd be lucky if the teacher didnt role her eyes and continue the lesson. THOUGH it might make a diffrence if the teacher was black or there was a guest speaker like Zecora was.
i think the removal of detention but keeping the Filthy reaction was a good call, hon.
5702859 Thanks, and I agree, but will extend it to include bullying, too. At least, the verbal kind.
A earned label, used as a double edged sword. Nothing good from the political arena .
Why does this not have more likes? Because this story deserves it!
What the everloving..?!
So let me get this straight. A student who didn't know what a particular word meant, is then punished and hated for daring to be curious enough to ask. She's punished for wanting to know something.
How the... I mean, how can anyone consider what everypony here does to Diamond anything but completely and utterly unfair? They all need to have their heads examined! All of them, from Cheerilee down to Apple Bloom! The only one remotely sane was Zecora, and even she could've stepped in to keep the rest of Ponyville from turning into... that.
Oh wait, scratch that, she also asked for punishment. Regardless of context. Which is completely insane. What, would Diamond have to be punished for quoting a text where the word is used, too?
My God, such a small-minded, ignorant bunch of... if my kid went to Ponyville's school, I'd consider pulling him or her from it. What kind of school punishes wanting to learn? Cheerilee is horrible at her job! They're all horrible people! They treat Diamond Tiara like a bad guy when she honestly didn't know the word was even hurtful! They stopped thinking about issues as they come in favour of blindly censoring thought.
Well, at least we now know that Cheerilee doesn't want her students to think. She could've encouraged Diamond Tiara's intellectual curiosity, but chose not to, because it's easier just to punish her and censor her thinking.
I hope the apology note looks something like this:
"I'm sorry for asking a word I didn't know was hurtful and had no way of knowing because my teacher never got around to explaining it. I'll never ask a question again, because knowing something may be insulting to somepony else."
5724062 I edited it so the reference to punishment was changed to asking how to get in contact with Mr. Rich. As for Mr. Rich, it was an overreaction driven from shock over what Diamond said, and fear over what tale Bloom could spin to AJ if he didn't do something.
5724123
They still all treat her like a pariah. Not one of them sees a problem with punishing a child for wanting to know something. They just all treat her like utter crap.
It's lazy how they act. Intellectually lazy. Cheerilee could've started off with asking where Diamond Tiara heard that word and whether she knew it was a racial slur. Instead she just shuts her down; what does that teach her students? "Don't ask me things because any word will potentially get you in trouble."
5724152 I admit, writing something like this was my first foray, as I've never been a teacher or parent. Feedback like this is appreciated. The only one who is angry at Diamond is Apple Bloom, but considering their history...
As for the others, they're more shocked at the meaning than that Diamond said it. I wasn't sure how to express that and keep the focus on Diamond.
Edit: Made some more edits to the story, making it more apparent that AB was the only angry one, as well as using your suggestion.
5706735 I want to like it but there are too many editing changes that need to be made. The tense switches between past and present, and the paragraphs are not indented consistently. I know how hard copying the text with the formating intact is though, so I am not judging.