Controversial material for high school yearbook photos

Which of the following are you okay with having appear in a photo in a high school yearbook? In a candid photo -- not in the formal photo each student typically gets.


1. MAGA hats are okay, but not confederate flags or swastikas

2. MAGA hats and confederate flags are okay, but not swastikas

3. All are okay

4. None are okay



Mostly I'm interested in hearing from people who think MAGA hats are okay but swastikas are bad. I want to know how they feel about confederate flags. Related thoughts are welcome. I pose the question in this context because this is how the question arose in another thread.

Amelia said:

Which of the following are you okay with having appear in a photo in a high school yearbook? In a candid photo -- not in the formal photo each student typically gets.


1. MAGA hats are okay, but not confederate flags or swastikas

2. MAGA hats and confederate flags are okay, but not swastikas

3. All are okay

4. None are okay



Mostly I'm interested in hearing from people who think MAGA hats are okay but swastikas are bad. I want to know how they feel about confederate flags. Related thoughts are welcome. I pose the question in this context because this is how the question arose in another thread.

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I think the community should be free to ban or allow anything they want. They should be able to set their own standards.

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I don't really care, but the MAGA hat isn't really close to the other two "symbols".

Schools are NOT democracies nor should they be. Children in school are, uh, you know, feckin children. The vast majority of children in school are not old enough to vote. Hopefully, school boards have established or will establish rules for yearbook pictures that each school must follow. As a school board member, I would vote to ban all hats, badges, handsigns and religious jewelry in yearbook pictures.

It actually comes down to parenting or lack thereof.

trouble13 said:

I think the community should be free to ban or allow anything they want. They should be able to set their own standards.

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Assume you are part of the community and are being asked to help set standards. Which option comes closest to what you would support?

ajn678 said:

I don't really care, but the MAGA hat isn't really close to the other two "symbols".

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That's related to what I was curious about. Some people consider the confederate flag a symbol of pride in their heritage, in a manner which is not all that far from how they feel about the MAGA concept. Some proudly sport both symbols with similar motivation.

And presumably some who are okay with the MAGA hat are very much not okay with the confederate flag.

Amelia said:

That's related to what I was curious about. Some people consider the confederate flag a symbol of pride in their heritage, in a manner which is not all that far from how they feel about the MAGA concept. Some proudly sport both symbols with similar motivation.

And presumably some who are okay with the MAGA hat are very much not okay with the confederate flag.

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The confederate flag was used by Southerners in a war to keep slaves, the swastika was used by Nazis in a war to annihilate Jews and other people. The MAGA hat was used by a ****ty president.

Risky Thicket said:

Schools are NOT democracies nor should they be. Children in school are, uh, you know, feckin children. The vast majority of children in school are not old enough to vote. Hopefully, school boards have established or will establish rules for yearbook pictures that each school must follow. As a school board member, I would vote to ban all hats, badges, handsigns and religious jewelry in yearbook pictures.

It actually comes down to parenting or lack thereof.

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I hit like but you actually give an example of how things can become complicated very quickly. What about people who have a medical reason to wear a hat?

Thank you, Amelia, for starting this thread. I thought about this since we both posted in the other thread last night. What is acceptable, what is not, what if XYZ dons this or that? Would it make a difference if I agreed with the statement, material, clothing?
So two options make it most difficult to decide
3. All are okay

4. None are okay

I like to think there is a time and a place for everything. Administrations change, political climate changes, our heroes come and go, our opinions change as we learn and mature.
So I vote None are okay.
May be the fact that we are being preached to everywhere we turn has something to do with it.

Amelia said:

I hit like but you actually give an example of how things can become complicated very quickly. What about people who have a medical reason to wear a hat?

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Excellent point. As with most rules there could be and should be reasonable exceptions.

Once long, long, ago when I actually was a member of a school board we faced an interesting situation.

There were rules that stipulated that anyone arrested for a sexually related crime would be dismissed.

There was a maintenance supervisor who was known to most everyone. He was a hell of a fine guy. He had been employed by a large school for many years.

He was fishing on the weekend on a boat with a friend of his. They were having a few beers and fishing under a bridge where the fish were biting when he had to pee. There was nowhere to dock and find a restroom. They were under a bridge. No one could see.

He stood up in the boat and peed over the side. The current shifted enough so that "mid-stream" (pun intended) the boat swiftly floated out from under the bridge just enough that a police car about to cross the bridge saw the guy.

The cop wrote him up for indecent exposure. It was later dropped. But he had been arrested for a "sexually related" crime.

Fire him or not? The decision eventually got kicked up to the school board.

We voted to retain him with a stern warning never to pee from a boat again.

I think it was the right decision.

Amelia said:

Assume you are part of the community and are being asked to help set standards. Which option comes closest to what you would support?

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Context would matter to me more than the actual symbols. As a general rule of thumb i lean toward the side of free expression but i also have an objection to a community deciding for themselves that a particular symbol is too offensive from being part of publication.

I empathize with the kids that got their maga hats blurred out in yearbook pictures but i dont think they have the right to demand they be allowed to display them if its the policy not to.

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trouble13 said:

Context would matter to me more than the actual symbols. As a general rule of thumb i lean toward the side of free expression but i also have an objection to a community deciding for themselves that a particular symbol is too offensive from being part of publication.

I empathize with the kids that got their maga hats blurred out in yearbook pictures but i dont think they have the right to demand they be allowed to display them if its the policy not to.

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I'm guessing you meant "no objection" instead of "an objection".

Amelia said:

I'm guessing you meant "no objection" instead of "an objection".

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Yes i did

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Amelia said:

Which of the following are you okay with having appear in a photo in a high school yearbook? In a candid photo -- not in the formal photo each student typically gets.


1. MAGA hats are okay, but not confederate flags or swastikas

2. MAGA hats and confederate flags are okay, but not swastikas

3. All are okay

4. None are okay



Mostly I'm interested in hearing from people who think MAGA hats are okay but swastikas are bad. I want to know how they feel about confederate flags. Related thoughts are welcome. I pose the question in this context because this is how the question arose in another thread.

Click to expand...

The MAGA hat is nowhere even comparable to swastikas.Contrary to what foam at the mouth loony leftists claim the MAGA hat is not a racist symbol and trying to equate it racism just shows how far off the rails those leftist have gone.

If a school allowed Hope and Change t-shirts and hats as well as other political messages then they should allow MAGA hats, t-shirts and buttons in their yearbook photos. If a school has had policy of no political messages for a long time (as in a policy put in place way before Trump even announce he was running for office) in their yearbooks then they should be able to ban the MAGA hats, t-shirts. and buttons as well as other campaign slogans and other political messages from their year book photos. I am fine with schools having a no political message policy regarding yearbook photos. However not if its something just done because they don't like the president. I not okay with schools allowing the campaign slogan of one president while not allowing the campaign slogan of another president.

we weren't allowed to do anything in our yearbook photos but look at the camera. they even stopped letting us smile for our license photo until last year or so. i'm fine with not letting little trumpsters wear their maga hats in yearbook photos. they can put them on after the photo.

Amelia said:

Which of the following are you okay with having appear in a photo in a high school yearbook? In a candid photo -- not in the formal photo each student typically gets.


1. MAGA hats are okay, but not confederate flags or swastikas

2. MAGA hats and confederate flags are okay, but not swastikas

3. All are okay

4. None are okay



Mostly I'm interested in hearing from people who think MAGA hats are okay but swastikas are bad. I want to know how they feel about confederate flags. Related thoughts are welcome. I pose the question in this context because this is how the question arose in another thread.

Click to expand...

You are seriously confused as to why MAGA hats are OK but swastikas are not?? Maybe do a little research and you wont pose such dumb questions.

Amelia said:

Which of the following are you okay with having appear in a photo in a high school yearbook? In a candid photo -- not in the formal photo each student typically gets.


1. MAGA hats are okay, but not confederate flags or swastikas

2. MAGA hats and confederate flags are okay, but not swastikas

3. All are okay

4. None are okay



Mostly I'm interested in hearing from people who think MAGA hats are okay but swastikas are bad. I want to know how they feel about confederate flags. Related thoughts are welcome. I pose the question in this context because this is how the question arose in another thread.

Click to expand...

Option number 1.

Obese Donald is neither a traitor to America nor an enemy past, or for that matter, a present enemy, despite his labeling me as one.

I feel that at the intersection of individual student free speech rights and public schools collective rights, that of falculty and staff and student body, current and future, they have, in Year Book publications, the greater right to not have their images forever linked by association with enemy and traitor iconography.

Now if the students wish to wear those hats to school I can live with that, as long as doing so is in no way proving disruptive.

Fletch said:

You are seriously confused as to why MAGA hats are OK but swastikas are not?? Maybe do a little research and you wont pose such dumb questions.

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What does it take to get MAGA supporters to tell whether they think Confederate symbols are acceptable to display while wearing their MAGA hats, or if the Confederate symbols belong on the other side of the line closer to swastikas?

"OK" is not the right word choice. I interpreted the question as what should be prohibited for students to be wearing or displaying.

In my opinion, if the personae of a student is that s/he often displayed/wore a Confederate flag or swaztika then that would accurately represent who that student is. As a matter of free speech I do not believe it can be banned. Simply, I do not believe creating lies to sanitize reality and history.

Maybe the yearbook committee should photoshop portraits to make teachers and students look prettier, taller, thinner, all with beautiful smiles - no male teachers bald - and more popular by adding friends - and make the school look much bigger and the lunch room only serving vegan, while portraying all their sports teams as winning the state championship complete with photoshopping in trophies. Under the student description, all are 4.0.

Progressivism is about denying reality to replace it with their own fantasy realities, making agendas within that fantasy, and trying to erase any history that contradicts it.

There are a lot of people with Confederate flags on stickers, front license plates, clothing and flags around here. Sanitizing that by erasing it? No. Regardless, it is a free speech right, THAT is the reality here and pictures in a yearbook would only harm some immature and emotionally unstable progressives incapable of living their lives in the real world.

But prove me wrong. Which of you became a Nazi or a Confederate because you saw pictures of a Nazi or Confederate flag? Anyone? If not, this is nothing but about promoting lies about history (and about students).

Amelia said:

Which of the following are you okay with having appear in a photo in a high school yearbook? In a candid photo -- not in the formal photo each student typically gets.


1. MAGA hats are okay, but not confederate flags or swastikas

2. MAGA hats and confederate flags are okay, but not swastikas

3. All are okay

4. None are okay



Mostly I'm interested in hearing from people who think MAGA hats are okay but swastikas are bad. I want to know how they feel about confederate flags. Related thoughts are welcome. I pose the question in this context because this is how the question arose in another thread.

Click to expand...

As a freedom of expression advocate, I am torn by this because in each case context and nuance apply. However, I recognize that schools are allowed to limit free speech to a certain extent based on SCOTUS rulings. Still, consider the following:

For example, the MAGA hat. It is merely a political slogan. So if a school has banned ALL "political symbolism" and has previously published and subsequently applies this ban across the board, then telling students in advance and then asking students to remove the items in favor of "neutral" wear would be acceptable.

Next example is the Confederate flag. That is a historic emblem, which represented to many a symbol of independence, State's right's, and separatism. It was even a part of at least 5 state flags until fairly recently. However, again my point about previously published and subsequent warnings applies.

Finally, the Swastika. One might easily argue there is no exception for the display of this symbol. Yet I can think of two. First, Halloween costumes (although I doubt many such are still available). Recall, Halloween was a time to show off as a "monster," and what could be more monstrous than a Nazi uniform? But I doubt this would ever come up so that's not really a good example. However, a good example would be a theatrical production where some members of the cast would be wearing this costume. For example, either a play based on Mel Brooks "The Producers," or a Musical like "The Sound of Music." In such case there is no socio-political motive, it was simply a costume worn solely for purposes of a production.

So that's my take on this issue.

Amelia said:

What does it take to get MAGA supporters to tell whether they think Confederate symbols are acceptable to display while wearing their MAGA hats, or if the Confederate symbols belong on the other side of the line closer to swastikas?

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What does it take for you to realize that there is absolutely no correlation between MAGA and Confederate symbols or swastikas? Add to that you are asking a hypothetical question here - there is no evidence that the two wearing MAGA hats displayed Confederate symbols while wearing them, so why ask that?. Is there some evidence that you can present that anyone wearing such a hat also displayed a Confederate symbol or a swastikas at the same time?

Sabre said:

What does it take for you to realize that there is absolutely no correlation between MAGA and Confederate symbols or swastikas? Add to that you are asking a hypothetical question here - there is no evidence that the two wearing MAGA hats displayed Confederate symbols while wearing them, so why ask that?. Is there some evidence that you can present that anyone wearing such a hat also displayed a Confederate symbol or a swastikas at the same time?

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Thank you for another refusal to answer whether you think confederate symbols belong in the peachy keen pile with MAGA hats, or whether they belong over in objectionable pile with swastikas.

You did not disappoint.

But I still am hopeful that others, including confederate symbol supporters, will be willing to discuss the issue.

Have a lovely week.

It all would depend on the school's dress code policy, hence I voted in your last category.


If there are NO MAGA hats allowed at school, then there you have it but as you know this is not the case at the school in the other thread.
As I mentioned to you last night those two boys had their first amendment rights violated; see Tinker vs. Des Moines. The school rightfully owed the boys an apology and they did apologize to them.

Comparing a MAGA hat to wearing swastikas or Nazi symbols is inane; apples to oranges.
It's highly doubtful if a school board would allow the wearing of the latter. If someone has found a school who allows the wearing of swastikas or Nazi symbols, let me know.

Fletch said:

You are seriously confused as to why MAGA hats are OK but swastikas are not?? Maybe do a little research and you wont pose such dumb questions.

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I think, sir, the OP was looking for answers, not positing a position.

trixare4kids said:

It all would depend on the school's dress code policy, hence I voted in your last category.


If there are NO MAGA hats allowed at school, then there you have it but as you know this is not the case at the school in the other thread.
As I mentioned to you last night those two boys had their first amendment rights violated; see Tinker vs. Des Moines. The school rightfully owed the boys an apology and they did apologize to them.

Comparing a MAGA hat to wearing swastikas or Nazi symbols is inane; apples to oranges.
It's highly doubtful if a school board would allow the wearing of the latter. If someone has found a school who allows the wearing of swastikas or Nazi symbols, let me know.

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Are confederate symbols closer to MAGA hats or closer to swastikas?

Even for most MAGA supporters, there is a line between MAGA hats and swastikas. MAGA hats are perfectly fine to wear, and even wear with pride. Swastikas are not.

It is not "apples to oranges" to ask if Confederate symbols fall on the side of "fine to wear" or on the side of "not fine to wear". Some of my friends in Oklahoma would put Confederate symbols proudly on the side with MAGA hats. Or rather they would add their MAGA hats proudly to the Confederate symbols they've been wearing as long as I've known them.


This is "apples to poison ivy". To you, are Confederate symbols closer to apples or are they closer to poison ivy.