Thank you so much for this explanation. For people who haven't gone through this it is so tempting to make those statements, and hopefully you've educated some people about why TPOs are important.

Yeah, the most outrage I can see is that it's worded poorly. Kids have been taking pictures at football games/backstage before a band concert/at debate tournaments forever and it is weird to outlaw it. Lots of rules are written poorly at first and need to be rewritten, but it's really not as big of a deal as the…

After reading the original article, it seems like they just need to change the wording to "instructional time." Kids have been taking pictures and videos at school sponsored events forever, and it seems silly (and not their intent) to ban it now.

I have to say, I'm torn on this one. I was a high school teacher for 5 years, and I see the validity of not allowing phones to be used in the classroom. I used to have kids try to take selfies while doing science labs all the time. Sometimes they would try to take selfies during lecture (phone under desk at an…

Yep, it would also be a relevant comment if they were stranded on a desert island or snowed in at a mountain-top cabin for the winter.

I know you're kind of getting piled on by a lot of commenters, but that's still not a good excuse.

"Correlations" based on things you feel like you see often can be very harmful. Saying something like "I often see a correlation between [bad behavior] and black/hispanic/white/asian/etc. people" would be seen as a bigoted comment.

I'm not aware of any data aggregated on this topic. Could this be a case of anecdotal evidence and conformation bias at work?

A correlation between being fat and being neglectful?

I have a Republican "friend" (we grew up together, and I can't bring myself to unfriend him on Facebook) who strongly identifies with the 1%/"job creators." He is middle class. He grew up middle class, he and his wife have jobs that will keep them firmly in the middle class. Which is great for him, but in his head,…

Our local grocery store sometimes has frozen lobster tails on sale for $5 a tail. GOD FORBID a poor person treat themselves to a nice dinner every so often.

Totally agree.

You're out of range here. A pet owner should definitely have money for food, vaccinations, etc, (and ideally some extra for unforeseen expenses) but saying you shouldn't have a pet unless you have tens of thousands of extra dollars is extreme.

I can't even deal with this right now. We found out about a month and a half ago my dog has bone cancer. We had the leg amputated, but I know it's likely that a hard decision will have to be made sooner rather than later. It's making me sick.

he married a dog named Maggie at Parnassus Books last summer as part of a successful fund-raiser for the Nashville Humane Association

I went through this about a month ago with my dog. Good luck!

I think that's why I don't mind it from my husband; he more often complements me about other things (smart, hardworking, etc) so if he does complement my looks, I know its not the only thing he sees in me.

OMG! Totally different!

LOL @ telling me my husband isn't "confident enough"

Are you really not grasping this? Yes, before I knew him, he was the literal definition of a stranger. When we were strangers, he didn't tell me I was pretty.