change
Ytter-Järna 2011
…because I can see all these things, read all these things, experience all these things, without feeling as though there’s something strangling me. There’s no panic in it any more. No eerie feeling that I’m being suffocated. It didn’t happen yesterday, of course, this change, but I’ll be forever grateful for it — I try not to forget it. I try not to take it for granted. That old stuff is not something that hurts anymore, and I must not forget what it felt like to have it hurt terribly. Even though it was a long time ago, now. Maybe the difference is that I have dealt with it, in some way, through engaging with it, through seeking knowledge, through writing; or maybe it’s something that would have happened anyway thanks to the passing of time.
It’s a privilege to be capable of being angry without destroying yourself. A privilege I didn’t previously enjoy.
I don’t think this blog is going to change all that much, except I will try to make it a better place than it ever was. It has been so much fun, and I’ve got to know so many funny and interesting people in the course of discussing Steiner, anthroposophy and waldorf education here and elsewhere. I want these discussions, because they have been immensely important to me; it’s why I struggle on in english, instead writing of in my native language, which would be much easier, quite frankly (but there would be no interaction then). But I’ve also made it clear, on several occasions (and in no uncertain terms, in my opinion), that there are limits to what I want to do and what I can do. I write for my own pleasure, and if people derive any value from what I write, that’s all very well, but not part of my motive for writing. For writing is what I do, and practically the only thing — I don’t do organized activism, I don’t do counselling, and so on. I don’t write to the press (usually, but yes, not long ago I co-wrote the vaccination article) or to the politicians or to public authorities and I don’t stand outside waldorf schools protesting. And I won’t be doing it. And, in the end, as far as I’m concerned, everybody has to take responsibility for their own pain. I’ve not committed myself to agreeing with anyone. The only allegiance I admit to is friendship.
I had no idea that, when I started going after the ghosts of my own past, I would encounter one of the most interesting men in religious (or spiritual, whatever that is again!) history. This doesn’t mean I think waldorf education is a splendid idea or that anthroposophists are justified in doing what they do (when what they do have bad consequences). But it does mean that I’m not really where I once was, and I’m grateful for that. I’ve written about this before, so it should be no surprise. But some things are worth reiterating.
It’s not that I won’t write about these (same old!) topics in the future, I definitely will. But I will limit my activities to those things and aspects I truly care about or enjoy writing about. Or things I want to talk about with others, sometimes in comment threads that derail to something entirely new and surprising! (Or sometimes derail just for the fun of it.)
I prefer to stand between worlds and be myself. Only myself. Representing nobody but myself. So that’s what it has been like and is going to be like. Whatever people think of me and say about me. I have to remember Bjørneboe’s words: write so that every word can be used against you. And I have to remember this is the way life is, and this is what will inevitably happen every now and then when you express your thoughts. You will occasionally encounter people who don’t play fair. You will encounter people you wish you’d never engaged with at all.
That is the price to pay, I guess, for all the wonderful people you also have the privilege of encountering — anthroposophists and non-anthros alike. Not only on this blog, but elsewhere; via emails, social media, and so forth. I adore you.
Thank you Alicia! You offer a unique voice and ‘common sense’ understanding to life, childhood and education which is much appreciated.
Rudolf Steiner used the symbol of the butterfly to represent metamorphosis. In Waldorf schools, children make paper butterflies to represent this.
(Alicia, please forgive me for posting lyrics, but this is a song I chose for my own Alicia when she graduated high school under the most difficult of circumstances. I think they’re good words:)
Butterflies And Hurricanes – Muse
Change everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called
Fights and battles have begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are ahead
Best… You’ve got to be the best
You’ve got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now
Change everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called
Fights and battles have begun
Revenge will surely come
Your hard times are ahead
Best… You’ve got to be the best
You’ve got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now
Don’t let yourself down
Don’t let yourself go
Your last chance has arrived
Best… You’ve got to be the best
You’ve got to change the world
And use this chance to be heard
Your time is now
Margaret and Pete: Thank you both!
And yes… The butterflies. Lovely animals but you hear lots about them in waldorf. Not all of it (if any) fact-based. Poems, pictures, myth. One teacher had dead people communicating via butterflies. Good for her (though one wonders…), but what it had to do with our education is a mystery. They are beautiful though. The butterflies. Also without dead spirits attached…
When I first came across zooey (Alicia) the blog was very dark: was it a black background? It was very hard to read. The first post I read was this one: http://zooey.wordpress.com/2009/01/31/the-anthroposophical-movement-and-its-critics/ in fact for a while I thought that was the name of the blog itself. That was partly because I hadn’t much experience of the internet, and the post it mentions (gone now but still available in other forms) was the first blog post I’d ever commented on. I used the name ‘Thetis’, because I’d become fond of the character as she exists in Homer’s epic poem. My clever, funny eldest son even commented as Achilles. I thought that was the only time we’d air that joke.
Gradually I got to know Alicia, who I now consider a very dear friend. I value her intelligence, wit, humour and the sheer speed of her analysis – and I admire her courage.
I think Pete’s lyrics are apt. Slightly scary, but what an honest song for a father to give his daughter.
For myself (blush) I’ve just left twitter, which means nothing to anyone who isn’t on twitter but is a fairly significant step for those who are. This is not despair at Michael Gove’s decision to fund a Steiner Academy in Frome, which we were all expecting. I’m just itching to get on with other stuff and I don’t want to be distracted. To lay conspiracy theories to rest, I’m not founding my own occult society or putting the finishing touches to a book on Steiner’s hidden doctrines.
But if I go back I want to use my own name. Using an avatar name was, at the beginning at least shyness, if anything. It seemed a very odd world online. I don’t however fear any of those people I met at the two Steiner schools I was attached to, a few of whom I still think of fondly.
My desire to use my own name is partly because like Alicia I don’t want to comment exclusively on this one subject, although reserving the right to return to it occasionally. My friends tell me to be more confident, after all, I’ve nothing to hide, and only my children will be embarrassed. And possibly the dogs. Also the neighbours. And my mother.
Yes, mr Dog constantly accuses me of ruining his chances with the girls. ‘What if they google Mr Dog’, he says, ‘and find out I’m asaociated with you!?!?’ I imagine children are not easier to please, and may not be as easily bribed with a bag of dried liver.
A million thanks, Thetis. That is an absolutely lovely comment — thanks, thanks, thanks and then some woofs too!!
(Yes, it was black. Before that it was white. Then it was green for a while too. Black is cool, but unfortunately I’ve myself experienced how difficult it can be to read text on dark backgrounds… — I guess it’s partly an age thing…)
it was a bit Goth.
Frankly, on coming home from school, my children could easily be bribed with a bag of dried liver.
There’s a stage where children are hugely embarrassed by everything you do – breathing, being in a good mood, being in a bad mood, speaking to their friends .. but then it transforms (here anyway) into finding us eccentric but endearing. ‘Oh, look at my mother, isn’t she bizarre?’ Dogs are more highly evolved, loving you regardless, chasing your car, refusing to get in when you slow down, chasing your car again.. then chasing someone else’s car.. and so on.
Mr Dog is more into cats and bunnies; probably too many cars in the city, he’s too desensitized.
Yes — at one point, parents pass from being only embarrassing to being a bit exotic. Like these strange animals you can compare. Who’s the most bizarre, and so forth. It’s possible that dogs do this too, if we would just listen more carefully when they speak to their friends.
damn.
And we adore you too! Thanks for being you. Sorry for saying something so trite, but that about sums it up :)
Alicia, you write in English more eloquently than most native speakers.
Thank you very much, Nick and Diana!
I’m on my way home from the archipelago. I decided to go one last time before winter. It’s very dark. And cold. The baltic sea is icy. We have no running water. Anyway, I went there yesterday morning. Managed to get the wood-burner working. Still, it was a cold night. Woke up feeling ill. Have managed to get through the day, but am going home now. It’s very very sad (‘vemod’ is a word I don’t know how to translate — I must check dictionary when I get home, because that’s how it feels: incredibly vemodigt). It’s six months of being stuck in the city. And the last day wasn’t even pleasant.
The above written for no apparent reason at all ;-) But that’s where I’ve been.
‘Vemodigt’ = ‘sad’, probably the closest we can get. But maybe there is a special Swedish melancholy which our word, ‘sad’, doesn’t quite capture. Our winter’s are not so long and dark as yours. Did you see Jupiter shining up in the sky about 22.00? Quite close to the moon on Wednesday night but each successive night a little further away.
A lovely post to read, thank you for being you.
(and Mr Dog as well of course)
not at all appropriate for a positive post like this one, but it is Winterreise, and sublimely beautiful as well as deeply sad:
“Write so that every word can be used against you.” New favorite quote. That hit me hard.
I love what you’ve said here and can relate to it deeply. And also, I would not have guessed from reading your writing that English is not your native language. Ever.
falk — thanks! Yes, ‘vemod’ is quite different from sad. It’s like sadness with an element of longing. SAOL says ‘längtansfull sorgsenhet’.
Yes, I think I saw Jupiter — I never checked with google star map though… but it was a very bright ‘star’, so bright I thought it must be a planet. The moon wrecked the star gazing a bit — it was so bright! Even though it wasn’t even full.
Thetis — at least the title is verý appropriate right now!
Rebecca — Jens Bjørneboe is a lovely author, he was an anthroposophist, though something of a fringe anthroposophist (as far as organized anthroposophy is concerned). Some of his works have been translated and published in the US — I guess they’re quite rare, but if you come across them somewhere, I highly recommend them! The quote I paraphrased comes from The Powderhouse, I once saved the English translation (there was a website with English quotes from Bjørneboe’s books, unfortunately gone now): ‘I would probably even set up this basic doctrine for record-keepers: Write so that every word can be used against you!’
Also — thank you!
I learnt English pretty late — was very behind when I transfered from waldorf school to a more mainstream school after 6th grade; I was quite desparate for a while, thought it was hopeless. I used to be better at German, but now I haven’t practiced writing in German for over a decade… so my English has evolved and my German has devolved…!
“‘vemod’ is quite different from sad. It’s like sadness with an element of longing.”
“nostalgic”?
Nope (even though the concepts are all related), that would be ‘nostalgisk’ and the emotional tone is quite different.
Must be a Swedish thing then :)
I think so!! Am both pleased and frustrated to find an untranslatable concept!
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=1673182
I can think of related verbs, like “yearn,” but not other nouns that denote such an emotional state.
Someone in that thread above suggested ‘wistfulness’ — that, it seems to me, may possibly be the closest translation.
“Yes, I think I saw Jupiter — I never checked with google star map though… but it was a very bright ‘star’, so bright I thought it must be a planet. The moon wrecked the star gazing a bit — it was so bright! Even though it wasn’t even full.”
Yes, you’re right. My son has an amazing ap on his phone that allows him to point to the sky and it gives him a current star map – and it adjusts depending on where he’s pointing in the sky. Jupiter has been very prominent in the sky for a while now.
It’s completely amazing, I don’t fully understand how it works, but it works! There are several similar apps, but the google star map (it’s probably sky map, not star map, I wrote the wrong name…) is free, so I’ve been trying it out. It’s very practical. It’s pretty funny to point it downwards — during the night — because then you see where the sun is. (I’m easily amused ;-))
Thetis: ‘For myself (blush) I’ve just left twitter, which means nothing to anyone who isn’t on twitter but is a fairly significant step for those who are.’
I’d like to make a few observations.
1. These are sad days for waldorf/steiner criticism on twitter.
2. Sune seems to have left twitter too. Not left — as in deleted — his three accounts but ceased his presence. Which leads to the conclusion: for him, it was about Thetis!! (Right, dear Sune? You might as well admit it!)
3. For the time being, I’ve locked my account. I still tweet, though. I’ve just had it with certain things, certain lies, et c.
My husband uses that app and a bunch of other astronomy-related ones.
It’s very entertaining. Much easier than using an ordinary map + flash-light (the latter sort of messes it up).
Jupiter is still quite prominent, actually. Very bright. Other than that, I see only the brightest stars here in the city. Sadly.
I’m spending more time enjoying my family (it is not clear if they’re enjoying me – there is more music practise, certainly) and I have far less idea what’s happening in the world. It’s like getting off one of those walking escalators and watching everyone else sliding away. I cannot be expected to amuse Sune forever, even though I now know how to say his name.
One note in passing – Frome has the makings of a grand farce, with misunderstandings of the physical, verbal and metaphysical variety; lies, revelations, distortions and ultimate hilarious disclosure.
http://fromesteineracademy.co.uk/?page_id=113
For a start, where are the missing comments? What does Guy Marson do with them? Hide them in a wardrobe? Under a bed? Behind a curtain?
What will the state teachers flooding the Steiner courses do when they realise they had NO IDEA what they were getting into (because nobody told them).
And how will the Academy shut everybody up?
Meanwhile – Mr Marsdon will not last long. He has accomplished his task, he is clearly a plausible idiot. He may have dreams of power but he will end up waking in a wicker hamper somewhere outside Timbuktu.
We went to an open house at a university observatory here the other night. But they are in the middle of the city and “light pollution” is too mild a term; it was hardly possible to see anything. My husband can see much better, very distant things with his much less expensive equipment in our backyard, which is hardly dark, but it’s a lot darker than the middle of the city.
The Greenwich Observatory is rather good. But at least that’s in a park.
There’s an old observatory in Stockholm too, and I guess it might have been a decent idea before electricity. But new, modern observatories have to be in the desert… or far away in the wilderness at least.
Great observations (!) re Frome, Thetis!
‘It’s like getting off one of those walking escalators and watching everyone else sliding away.’
It’s a bit like life in general…
But I realize I can’t really just leave twitter. I need some… I don’t know… simple recreational entertainment… mr Dog does not always want to chat with me, and I don’t have a family.
there would be no reason to leave twitter if one could just dip in and out – and have fun (it was lots of fun) but I was sort of more mini blogging. And not as myself, which I would have preferred.
the reasons to leave twitter seem quite obvious right now. I guess hiding for a long while may take care of the problem though. Right now I don’t feel very happy either tweeting or blogging under my own name. Not that I feel the other options are any more attractive. In fact, they are worse.
‘For a start, where are the missing comments? What does Guy Marson do with them? Hide them in a wardrobe? Under a bed? Behind a curtain?’
Haha! I noticed now that there are no comments even though the blog says there are. Maybe they’re supersensible, and unspiritual people like us can’t see them?
I don’t see any reason to leave twitter at all. Do what you want to do. You have every right.
No, I know there are no reasons. I’m just tired. I think I have explained so many times what *I* am doing and not… this entire blog is a testament to what I do and what I don’t do… and it just doesn’t help. Presumably because people are incredibly dense. And it makes me so tired, having to waste my mental energy on utter crap.
>Presumably because people are incredibly dense.
Well, there’s that …
Yeah, that’s the big sumbling block. All the time. I don’t know why I’m surprised again and again. I must be an optimist, after all. My belief in humanity (albeit not a strong belief) must be much stronger than humanity deserves. Oddly, oddly…
lots of people lock their twitter accounts for a bit, I used to hardly notice (if I was already following them).
To have a blog that people care about – that’s a real achievement.
Thank you!
And yeah… I know. But it feels a bit silly… I tell myself it’s a for reprieve, necessary reprieve.
Absolutely — if it’s someone you already follow, you hardly notice.
The frustrating thing is feeling that you can’t defend yourself. People can make up any lie, and you can’t defend yourself, because if you do, you actually help them.
I just want to say one thing about something which bugs me to no end, because it paints me as a nasty person in *everyone’s* eyes, critics and anthros alike: I *immediately* said *no* to hanging anti-Steiner posters on town. I said NO. Not going to do it. It’s *not* like it didn’t happen because I somehow failed to meet expectations (being an unpaid propaganda worker?!) or it ‘ran out into the sand’ (as we say in Sweden — I’m not sure about elsewhere…!), I said NO, explicitly. Not doing it. Lies like that… implying I said something else, implying I admitted to obligations, and failed to follow through, et c. That is just nasty. But this is a consistent pattern in certain people’s behaviour and in their deceptive ‘arguments’.
And anyone who pretends differently should just go to the north pole because there’s a big secret anti-steiner meeting there in february. Polar bears will attend, along with various secret societies that rule the world. But they’re cute and cuddly. The polar bears.
I am committed to helping nobody. And I think that’s pretty clear from my writings. Heck, I’m not hanging up posters advertising my own blog, why would I take on such assignments on behalf of other people!? FFS. I’d much rather hang pro-Steiner posters, actually. On my own accord. Cheesus, the ideas people have about what others are expected to put up with. Really. It amazes me. I’m ONE (1) person running a blog. That’s all. And nobody, me included, had any obligation whatsoever to do anything — yet, somehow, with people who can’t take responsibility for themselves, and their own family, and their own actions, everyone else who happens to cross their way gets blamed for failures which are entirely their own.
Now, it’s bed-time.
I need to bring back, envision more strongly, the kind of mood of the ethereal kiosk. I’m not quite there yet, I suspect. The key-word is unbothered. We have gates. And guardians (of threshold and various other architectural features…).
To my defence, though, it should be said I’m more patient than I used to be.
Yes, I know, it reads that they asked you to do this, “but nothing came of that,” implying they had reason to think something *would* come of that. It would read differently if they clarified that you declined to put up the posters, rather than “nothing came of that,” which sounds like you offered and fell through. I would be rather pissed as well. They seem to not understand when they are told No.
I shuddered to read about my own crimes, but apparently the worst thing I have done, is say that I adore you. That must mean that I agree with and approve of everything you do, forever. Right?
Yes! And if you’ve reacted positively to anything they’ve done ever, you have an obligation not to say anything nice to me. Or something. But, yeah, your crime this time was kind of… funny. I’m not quite sure what horrible things people are supposed to think.
The posters are such a good example, anyway. This is a tendency — bizarre expectations and a near complete inability to take a no… Or to accept that people don’t want this or that, an unwillingness to accept that people might choose (at any time they fancy) to withdraw their participation and support.
Over the past weeks (or month) I’ve thought how lucky I was to say no explicitly to the posters (I said no in the same email to doing translations for them). Little did I know my answer could be used like this anyway.
I don’t know if their reading abilities are impaired or if they’re pathologically misinterpreting things a lot, but I get how they get into trouble with people. It’s no wonder. Also, these gigantic expectations on people — as though they’re the center of the world’s attention. Being on youtube is not really one step higher in the spiritual hierarchy even if it might seem so, I’d say…
I adore you both. There, said it. Anyone is welcome to put that in a pipe and smoke it.
… it’s hallucinatory! Try it!
I’ll say it again: I owe it to nobody to allow their demented drivel [ie, vile slander] to be posted on *my* blog. It’s not censorship, if I don’t want that stuff, whatever it is, I’m entitled to remove it. I’m not a nation, not even a small one — I’m not even f*ing Monaco or Liechtenstein. A legitimate demand not to be censored can only be made against a state. Not someone’s private website, not newspapers, not tv stations, et c — not against any privately owned enterprises. Lots of websites don’t even have a comments section, I could name examples…
In fact, I allow a lot more than many other website or blog owners would do. It’s usually a very pleasant experience, but that does not mean anyone is entitled to the space if they behave in such a way that they are a nuisance and a threat to other people. Actually, there’s no entitlement at all; if I chose to, I could be entirely arbitrary about it, and nobody would have a say. That wouldn’t be nice, so I wouldn’t go about it like that, but it would certainly not be censorship.
(No, I’m not even Andorra.)
At least you’re not Greece.
Oh, so they’re put a strikethrough on “nothing came of that” and changed it to “she declined to help.” Well, all better now. Hilarious!
We should resume our efforts to ignore this giant embarrassing tantrum. Steve and Angel: apparently you didn’t research very far, denouncing people in “open letter” diatribes on the internet is not really something that will interest people who have been working on this for years. So many nasty things have been said about me online, I lost track years ago (Sune Nordwall probably has a file, if you ask him, or Tarjei Straume, he’s got an entire section of his web site devoted to my crimes and misdemeanors. I am happy for you to provide links to my crimes and misdemeanors. All I ever had against you was that while I think a video project is theoretically a good idea, yours seems ill conceived, specifically, reenacted videos are lacking in credibility compared to live footage of actual events or interviews with the real subjects, and you will not get people wanting to work with you if you threaten to reenact an interview against their consent, or start making sly remarks about how if people don’t want to work with you, oh, now this is a matter of “public interest” to start researching THEM. Well, now people see that you can’t be trusted – get it? You don’t take no for an answer, and when you get mad, you take revenge online. That is what happened. Perhaps you should just re-think this, and find something constructive to do with your time. It really does not seem to me that stalking around after people like Alicia is useful. Why, for instance, is her picture on your web site? It’s just childish.
And yes I definitely support Alicia in her desire not to be an “activist” (or to be Lichteinstein). She wants to write a blog, that’s all. The irony is that she does support a lot of other people, in this way.
Most blog owners exercise control over who posts in the comments and reserve the right to remove comments or posters who offend them.
Oh, I had forgotten about the picture. If it’s a picture I’ve shot, which I guess it is (I remember seeing it at some point or another), it’s my copyright, and I’ve not been asked for permission to use it. I’m not that picky, usually, but in this case I might just as well point it out.
Anyway, Diana is right, the new development is hilarious in a crazy way.
‘We should resume our efforts to ignore this giant embarrassing tantrum.’
Agreed. I suspect they’re serial tantrumists. My sympathy for a certain school has only grown, and this despite my bias against this kind of education. I’m sure it’s as bad (or as good, but probably not very) as other steiner schools, but… well.
‘… denouncing people in “open letter” diatribes on the internet is not really something that will interest people who have been working on this for years.’
No. Which I’m quite thankful for. And the HUGE majority of people who have been into this for years are used to agreeing and disagreeing about things all the time — everybody knows we all have slightly different things we focus on, different areas of interest and so forth. And most are quite sceptical in general, critically thinking, and so forth.
‘At least you’re not Greece.’
Thank Dog. That would be so unglamourous. I suggested something like the Vatican to mr Dog — but without the CATholicism. We’ll see what happens. I could have my own nation.
‘The irony is that she does support a lot of other people, in this way.’
It’s both fun and unproblematic. In most circumstances…
‘Most blog owners exercise control over who posts in the comments and reserve the right to remove comments or posters who offend them.’
Absolutely. There are legal reasons but also… human reasons for that. And let’s remember that they were allowed to post quite a significant number of comments before I stopped it — and when I stopped it, there were extremely good reasons on several levels (legal, personal, et c). This aside, I wouldn’t even need reasons, just like I don’t need reasons to stop someone from coming into my apartment and hanging messages on my walls.
Out walking and realizing how eminently sensible Diana’s advice is. Also, let’s leave them some time to work over the rest of their texts with the eraser… Or strike-through. There’s a lot to do. But I expect no less.
A lot of people put themselves out there with plans or projects and cannot take the heat when someone disagrees with any piece of it. These people just moved with lightning speed from “What, you don’t agree with us?!” to rage-and-retaliation mode. The little hints that maybe they’ll now do what they view as some kind of public service project by making a documentary on US are flattering, but silly. No one is interested in a documentary on the “intriguing” topic of Alicia or Thetis or Diana and why they won’t work with these particular people on this particular project LOL. I mean, if you want to hire an actor to pretend to be Diana Winters saying “I don’t think reenacted videos are a good idea” be my guest, but really … anyone who wants to know what I think about it can, well, read what I’ve said about it. I am not telegenic and if you want to find an actor to play me they need to be fifty and frumpy, and this really isn’t using video to your best advantage :) At least Alicia is young and attractive – nothing personal, thetis, but I’ve never seen your picture, so I don’t know if you would make a good video star :)
I still think a video project is potentially a fantastic idea. It just needs to be done thoughtfully, not used as a blunt instrument, or vengefully.
Anyway, I counseled ignoring this and have failed to take my own advice. I propose we now give them at least a day or so to work up some more fury and post some more crap, which we can then try, and probably fail, to ignore :)
One might even begin to suspect that since focus shifted so easily onto us, there was a lack of material and knowledge for the initial project. Maybe, for all the huffing and puffing, it was not so impressive. I think there are several factors indicating this — the article, the methods they were thinking of (desperate), lack of knowledge about the topic too actually… Many things.
I think a documentary on waldorf or steiner or anthroposophy or all three would be most welcome. But I’d like to see quality stuff. Otherwise it’s going to be laughed at, quite rightly. It could certainly be controversial — but it should be good quality.
LOL, Diana. You are clairvoyant!
But let’s hope they work a bit on correcting stuff. The strike-through might prove a highly useful tool.
The more I experience of this utter shit, the more I admire the principal of that NZ steiner school. Imagine having to deal with these people in real life. Month after month. I would not have had the strength of mind to just walk past them silently while they were sticking their nasty cameras in my face and harrassing me and everyone else around. Maybe the school did something wrong, at some point in time (I seriously doubt even that right now — I don’t think these people should be believed about ANYTHING). But the school certainly has nothing to be ashamed of. In the circumstances, it seems they have handled it quite elegantly.
There’s clearly a pattern in the behaviour and the way these people act towards others will land them in big trouble one day if it hasn’t already, that’s for sure. The question is how much damage they will do to other people along the way. Quite a lot, is my sad guess.