Parent outraged over possible pentagram symbol on Mid-South bus
Bus brake lights form a pentagram (Source: WMC Action News 5 viewer) Bus brake lights form a pentagram (Source: WMC Action News 5 viewer)
MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) -
At least one Mid-South parent is concerned about what she says is a satanic symbol on a school bus.
The Cordova, Tennessee parent snapped a photo when she noticed the shape of an upside down, five-pointed star outlined in the brake lights of a school bus that was stopped in Cordova.
"Anyone who fears a God, if not God and Jesus Christ, should be outraged," she said.
WMC Action News 5 is not sharing her name because she's getting death threats for her views.
She says Christians should be outraged that a symbol that looks like a pentagram would be allowed in the design of a vehicle used to transport children to public schools.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a Pentagram as a star with five points often used as a magic or religious symbol.
On social media, parents are arguing both sides of the debate. Some say the brake lights are a subliminal pagan message, while others say it's just an unintentional design.
"If you can't put a cross on there, you cannot put a pentagram on it," she said.
Last month, Walgreen's pulled wrapping paper from its shelves because the images on the paper appeared to be swastikas.
Even those who are not completely sold on the brake light being a sign from the devil have questions.
"Why'd they put it up there," Marsha Hudson asked. "Why'd they put it upside down?"
WMC Action News 5 talked to Jo Applewhite, who is a practicing Wiccan. She says technically the lights do form a pentagram, but she says the symbol itself is not a Satanic or evil one.
"Find out what it really means before you start getting riled up and all worked up about something," Applewhite said. "Wiccans, we believe in God, we believe in Jesus, but we don't call him God."
Either way, the concerned parent says the lights send the wrong signal, and she wants them replaced with solid red brake lights.
Neither Durham School Services nor the school district would answer any questions about the bus' brake lights.
Yep, those are LEDs. As to why they're arranged that way...produces a meets the required amount of light without wasting LEDs or looking weird, and looks distinctive for the manufacturer, 5 pointed stars being a fairly common generic shape. It was probably put in point down because the mechanic installing it wanted it to look tidy, because we do that sometimes, or possibly because there's probably a 25% chance of it ending up point down, instead of point left or right, or point up, or at least close enough your brain decides that's the direction its pointing. You'll notice the left one isn't actually even straight up and down, and honestly is over enough that if I hadn't read the article, I'd have said it was point sideways. So in other words, more moral panic due to wanting to see pentagrams to add some anti-satanic struggle to a suburban life. Also, good luck getting solid red brake lights for those things. Everybody's going to LEDs because they last a lot longer, as long as you don't cheap out, and use less power and heat. That said, if she's actually receiving death threats like she claims, totally not cool.
if she's actually receiving death threats like she claims, totally not cool.
I doubt it. At worst, she probably received a bunch of letters telling her that she's a fucking idiot. And since she really is a fucking idiot, she interpreted that as a death threat.
Then again she could just be lying out of her ass to try and gain some sympathy after making a total public fool out of herself...
if she's actually receiving death threats like she claims, totally not cool.
I doubt it. At worst, she probably received a bunch of letters telling her that she's a fucking idiot. And since she really is a fucking idiot, she interpreted that as a death threat.
Then again she could just be lying out of her ass to try and gain some sympathy after making a total public fool out of herself...
If she has any sort of online presence there are going to be Anons sending her threats...
A minute's thought suggests that the very idea of this is stupid. A more detailed examination raises the possibility that it might be an answer to the question "how could the Germans win the war after the US gets involved?" - Captain Seafort, in a thread proposing a 1942 'D-Day' in Quiberon Bay
LaCroix wrote:I wonder how she feels about the US flag...
That's obviously a completely different situation, because it's the flag, which is right and proper and can do no wrong because it stands for a God-fearing country.
Baltar: "I don't want to miss a moment of the last Battlestar's destruction!"
Centurion: "Sir, I really think you should look at the other Battlestar."
Baltar: "What are you babbling about other...it's impossible!"
Centurion: "No. It is a Battlestar."
Corrax Entry 7:17: So you walk eternally through the shadow realms, standing against evil where all others falter. May your thirst for retribution never quench, may the blood on your sword never dry, and may we never need you again.
That flag isn't as problematic because they are not upside down pentacles* and the interior lines are not visible. But whether or not an upside down outline of a 5 pointed star is evil is really down to the individual Christian.
*edit: I mean a star with a circle around it, not sure if that's a pentacle or not and I don't care either way
I'm not exactly agreeing with the crazy lady, but putting something like that on a bus in a country where the predominant religion has people who think it's evil is still a dick move and probably shouldn't be done. On some person's car? Sure. That's their choice. On a public bus? Probably shouldn't.
HeadCreeps wrote:I'm not exactly agreeing with the crazy lady, but putting something like that on a bus in a country where the predominant religion has people who think it's evil is still a dick move and probably shouldn't be done. On some person's car? Sure. That's their choice. On a public bus? Probably shouldn't.
You make it sound like someone made the conscious decision to do that. I think it's pretty safe to assume that no one thought of them as pentagrams until the woman saw them on the bus and went into a panic.
The designer probably picked the pattern because it is one of the few ways to arrange ten lights symmetrically in a disk and because a star is a pretty pattern. Whoever sourced the lights for installation into the bus may not even have known what the pattern was, just general stats on the light's characteristics. Whoever installed it payed no attention—no attempt was made to make them even point in the same direction.
Darth Holbytlan wrote:You make it sound like someone made the conscious decision to do that. I think it's pretty safe to assume that no one thought of them as pentagrams until the woman saw them on the bus and went into a panic.
The designer probably picked the pattern because it is one of the few ways to arrange ten lights symmetrically in a disk and because a star is a pretty pattern. Whoever sourced the lights for installation into the bus may not even have known what the pattern was, just general stats on the light's characteristics. Whoever installed it payed no attention—no attempt was made to make them even point in the same direction.
Especially, since in the case of a five-point star, you alyway have either one or two points pointing downward.
A minute's thought suggests that the very idea of this is stupid. A more detailed examination raises the possibility that it might be an answer to the question "how could the Germans win the war after the US gets involved?" - Captain Seafort, in a thread proposing a 1942 'D-Day' in Quiberon Bay
HeadCreeps wrote:If I have no idea that some religions prohibit ham and I offer someone from that religion some ham, I'm still being a dick.
Yeah, I don't see how that follows. Besides, this is more like offering that person chicken and them deciding that it looked kind of like ham and raising a big stink about it without checking if they were right.
Darth Holbytlan wrote:Whoever installed it payed no attention—no attempt was made to make them even point in the same direction.
This is probably pretty accurate. I've seen lots of LEDs of this design and they wind up pointed every which way, even on the same vehicle, including those that have two brake lights right next to each other on either side - all four were pointed different directions.
I'd be unsurprised if, when unlit, you probably can't tell the difference (since most of the vehicles I've seen them on have their lights running at all times, I've never seen any unlit) that probably explains it; and when they do test to make sure they light up, I doubt the maintenance people or whoever gives a shit if they're aligned the same or not.
"How can I wait unknowing?
This is the price of war,
We rise with noble intentions,
And we risk all that is pure..." - Angela & Jeff van Dyck, Forever (Rome: Total War)
"On and on, through the years,
The war continues on..." - Angela & Jeff van Dyck, We Are All One (Medieval 2: Total War)
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear." - Ambrose Redmoon
"You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." - Harvey Dent, The Dark Knight
HeadCreeps wrote:If I have no idea that some religions prohibit ham and I offer someone from that religion some ham, I'm still being a dick.
Yeah, I don't see how that follows. Besides, this is more like offering that person chicken and them deciding that it looked kind of like ham and raising a big stink about it without checking if they were right.
Likewise, I don't see how that follows either.
All I'm saying is, putting it on a public bus is a faux pas. The crazy religious lady is raising more than a stink than is necessary, but I don't feel like doing that kind of thing, intentionally or not, is excusable for a public school bus. I fully recognize that it was probably a mistake, though.
Oh sorry, was I supposed to fall in line and make fun of crazy religious people. Oops, I guess I have to try harder.
HeadCreeps wrote:If I have no idea that some religions prohibit ham and I offer someone from that religion some ham, I'm still being a dick.
Yeah, I don't see how that follows. Besides, this is more like offering that person chicken and them deciding that it looked kind of like ham and raising a big stink about it without checking if they were right.
Likewise, I don't see how that follows either.
All I'm saying is, putting it on a public bus is a faux pas. The crazy religious lady is raising more than a stink than is necessary, but I don't feel like doing that kind of thing, intentionally or not, is excusable for a public school bus. I fully recognize that it was probably a mistake, though.
Oh sorry, was I supposed to fall in line and make fun of crazy religious people. Oops, I guess I have to try harder.
The problem is who cares what religious symbol it happens to be? Freedom of religion applies to the unpopular beliefs just as much as Christianity.
The only valid argument is that religious symbols don't belong on public school buses.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
General Zod wrote:The problem is who cares what religious symbol it happens to be? Freedom of religion applies to the unpopular beliefs just as much as Christianity.
The only valid argument is that religious symbols don't belong on public school buses.
And that's the argument I was making, so what's your point?
General Zod wrote:The problem is who cares what religious symbol it happens to be? Freedom of religion applies to the unpopular beliefs just as much as Christianity.
The only valid argument is that religious symbols don't belong on public school buses.
And that's the argument I was making, so what's your point?
As far as I could tell your argument was "We shouldn't put things on buses that might offend people."
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
Hm, then maybe. I'm saying a symbol that would offend someone for religious reasons does not belong on a school bus. The article is about someone being offended for religious reasons. Now if that doesn't fall under your idea for "religious symbols don't belong on public school buses", then alright, fair enough.
HeadCreeps wrote:Hm, then maybe. I'm saying a symbol that would offend someone for religious reasons does not belong on a school bus. The article is about someone being offended for religious reasons. Now if that doesn't fall under your idea for "religious symbols don't belong on public school buses", then alright, fair enough.
I don't care if people are offended because of their religious beliefs. This woman would probably find a Menorah offensive.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
HeadCreeps wrote:Hm, then maybe. I'm saying a symbol that would offend someone for religious reasons does not belong on a school bus. The article is about someone being offended for religious reasons. Now if that doesn't fall under your idea for "religious symbols don't belong on public school buses", then alright, fair enough.
Why shouldn't such symbols be allowed on school buses? Especially when these lights aren't pentagrams as they are not star polygons which is the specific shape that fits within a circle to form a pentagram. At best this is an object that bears a limited similarity with a pentagram.
In any case this is only an issue for the extremely religious, and frankly fuck every single religion that ever has, does, or will exist. Not a single one of them serves a purpose that can't be replaced by a less harmful secular organization in today's world.
HeadCreeps wrote:Hm, then maybe. I'm saying a symbol that would offend someone for religious reasons does not belong on a school bus. The article is about someone being offended for religious reasons. Now if that doesn't fall under your idea for "religious symbols don't belong on public school buses", then alright, fair enough.
Why shouldn't such symbols be allowed on school buses? Especially when these lights aren't pentagrams as they are not star polygons which is the specific shape that fits within a circle to form a pentagram. At best this is an object that bears a limited similarity with a pentagram.
In any case this is only an issue for the extremely religious, and frankly fuck every single religion that ever has, does, or will exist. Not a single one of them serves a purpose that can't be replaced by a less harmful secular organization in today's world.
Since public schools receive government money, any sort of religious symbols can be seen as a violation of church and state. Therefore no symbols should be on them.
"It's you Americans. There's something about nipples you hate. If this were Germany, we'd be romping around naked on the stage here."
