Betsey Ramsdale’s Facebook photo
A young woman teaching in the middle school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin was suspended by panicking school administrators after a busybody on the school staff discovered that Betsey Ramsdale had posted a picture of herself on Facebook aiming a gun.
Beaver Dam school officials placed a middle school teacher on administrative leave after discovering a photograph of the teacher with a gun on the teacher’s Facebook page.
In the photo, teacher Betsy Ramsdale is training a rifle at the camera. …
[T]he Facebook photo was brought to the attention of school district officials by a concerned staff member at Beaver Dam Middle School. …
Middle school parent Jennifer Buzzell said the teacher’s decision to post the photograph was concerning.“I don’t think it’s appropriate,” Buzzell told 27 News. “I’m not sure why this would be on the computer at all.”
“I don’t see anything wrong with it,” school parent Mark Hagstrom said. “She’s on her time to do what she wants.”
1:55 video
Ms. Ramsdale’s pose in the photo is actually not a terribly unusual shooting photo pose. If the photographic objective is to present the subject aiming, this angle is the only way to show the person’s face aligned with the barrel and the sights. Additionally, the looking-down-the barrel viewpoint adds drama.
Beyond which, chicks and guns have a particular appeal as a combination, image-wise. Hollywood has been exploiting the iconic image of the girl with a gun forever. Some of the biggest Hollywood film industry supporters of gun control, people like Sigourney Weaver and Jodie Foster, can be found striking fierce poses-with-pieces on lobby cards
Ramsdale’s photo on a personal Facebook profile obviously has nothing to do with her job, and ought to be considered to exist in a realm outside the jurisdiction of her employers. Its supposedly alarming character is simply a case of the extreme and unreasonable fear of arms which infects the deracinated and effeminate contemporary community of fashion.
Note also the inability of the school administrators and the press to distinguish a shotgun from a rifle.
Alphecca » That Wisconsin School Teacher
[…] Yet Melted has the details including the photo of her posing with a gun, from Facebook (since deleted), that got her […]
Benjamin Wright
To deter employers from viewing social networking pages, employees might post on their pages legal terms of service under which employers agree to scram. This idea should not be taken as legal advice for any particular situation, just a topic for public discussion. Details: http://hack-igations.blogspot.com/2007/11/privacy-advocates-such-as-nyu-professor.html –Ben
GunPundit » Blog Archive » Teacher Suspended Over Facebook Photo
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February 9 roundup
[…] middle school suspends teacher Betsy Ramsdale because her Facebook photo shows her with gun [Never Yet Melted] […]
Doug
This is one of the most ridiculous things I have heard yet! So now you have to tailor your entire lifestyle to work for the government! This just another way to discourage conservative and moderate minded teachers and encourage the left wing loonies!
Thanks for the news.
Teacher on leave for rifle photo at Joanne Jacobs
[…] Via Never Yet Melted. […]
David Carlson
What garbage. I hope she gets an attorney and sues the pants off them. I will send money for his fees. That part of her life has nothing to do with their control over her. If it doesn’t happen in the classroom it is none of their business nor any of their ability to control. I frankly would have ignored any order to stay home because of something like this.
John Rentz
“I don’t think it’s appropriate,†Buzzell told 27 News. “I’m not sure why this would be on the computer at all.â€************************************************************Dear Ms. Buzzell and others;
You do not have to know why it is on the computer. Ms. Ramsdale is exercising her First Amendment rights, and if you do not think that Ms. Ramsdale’s righrs have any meaning or that they are not worth protecting perhaps we should suspend you from your job because of your statement regarding Ms. Ramsdale’s Face Book photo.. The so-called offending photo is not threatening in any way and has no bearing on Ms. Ramsdale’s fitness as a teacher. People should be outraged that Ms. Ramsdale’s Free Speech rRghts, and Freedom of Expresion Rights were violated.
Jeannine Ortiz
This whole thing does sound out of control. I don’t know why that would be so disturbing to parents, but it does seem a little odd. In this age of transparency and people putting all kinds of photos of themselves online, I think you need to be ultra conservative about it. i don’t have any problem with this teacher practicing her right to bear arms and to take pride in her skill, but I do wonder why she’d want that photo of herself out there for all to see. As a teacher, I say don’t interfere with that teacher’s right to do something that is not illegal. On the other hand, I just think you have to be really aware of what you’re putting out there. It’s a shame, but we have to revamp the whole “Dance like no one is watching” to “Dance like your photo could be tagged on Facebook by the morning.”
rent Out property
If only people could appreciate how dangerous gas burning appliances can be.
A yearly gas safety inspection would save lives.
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