The administrators at Roseville High School in Michigan recently sent a booklet to parents and students giving them information about the upcoming school year. It included the dress code and a list of what students shouldn’t wear to school: Pajamas, exposed undergarments, bare midriff tops, low cut shirts, etc.

Most of it makes perfect sense and it’s the same list you’d find anywhere else. But Christian activist (and vertical video aficionado) Joshua Feuerstein latched on to one bit in particular: The dress code apparently prohibits the U.S. flag.

Feuerstein couldn’t handle that. If you can’t wear a shirt with the flag on it, how are you supposed to broadcast your patriotism? Through your actions?! C’mon now. Patriotism for him is like prayer. Doing it privately is never an option. It must be forced down the throats of everyone else.

Excuse me? The “American flag” is prohibited? Notice they single out OUR flag .. but don’t prohibit others! If you find out flag offensive …. MOVE! Canada is full of snowflakes .. you will FIT RIGHT IN! SHARE THIS and blow their emails up …

That was posted early this morning. And while I’ve cropped the email addressed out of the image above, Feuerstein included the full page from the handbook that listed the contact information for the administrators at the school. Just to make sure his followers could harass them.

Setting aside the email thing for a moment, there’s a bigger problem with all this.

The District has a statement on its Facebook page letting everyone know there was a mistake in the handbook concerning the dress code.

We apologize for the error in the informational booklet that was mailed out this week. This booklet was a condensed version of several district and building policies. Regarding our dress code at Roseville High School, the specific language about the American flag states that it shall not be “worn in a demeaning manner.” We encourage proud, appropriate, displays of our nation’s flag. We will clear up the language in future publications.

There you go. Just don’t wear something demeaning the flag. It’s exactly the type of dress code rule Feuerstein would love… except he was too blinded by his rage and more concerned with making people angry than getting to the bottom of the story.

Even more telling is that the apology from the District came more than 24 hours before Feuerstein told people to get angry about this. There were news stories about this issue up yesterday for anyone doing a Google search of the school’s name.

So Feuerstein had a full day to do the most basic kind of research before whipping everyone into a frenzy… yet he didn’t bother with it. The moment he saw the dress code, he assumed the worst and ran with it.

This is a textbook case of how online witch hunts work.

You take a little bit of information, blow it out of proportion, break out the pitchfork, ignore any possible explanation, and jerk yourself off while sitting alone on your moral high ground.

(Update: Feuerstein has since deleted the post without apology or explanation. But screenshots live forever.)

