Follow Your Heart
Casey ·
March 2, 2012 at 4:32pm
41-year-old High School teacher James Hooker has fallen in love with an 18-year-old girl. The girl is his student. He has known her since she was 14. He has left his wife and children to be with her.
This just seems wrong to me.
"In making our choice, we've hurt a lot of people," Hooker acknowledged. "We keep asking ourselves, 'Do we make everyone else happy or do we follow our hearts?' "
Good point, Hooker. Doing the right thing just to make other people happy is really kind of stupid. Much better to do the wrong thing and make yourself happy.
I shouldn't have been so judgmental.
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Comments:
Jun '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
If you can't wag your finger at a teacher who is shacking up with a very recently ex-student, whom can you wag your finger at?
Sep '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
Wow, there's a lot of indignation and contempt being expressed over a man and a women having a perfectly legal, consensual heterosexual relationship. Doesn't seem like a big deal at all to me.
Nov '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
Conservatives (nor necessarily libertarians either) do not believe an action's morality is or should be equivalent with its legality.
Sep '10
Re: Follow Your Heart
Fricosis Guy: If you can't wag your finger at a teacher who is shacking up with a very recently ex-student, whom can you wag your finger at?
Operative word = easy.
But so what? That's my point. Can we talk about the culture of romance and chick flicks of "follow your heart" and "true love forever"?
Can we talk about how men like younger women and young women like older men? I find it ridiculous when human nature is denied and then moralized. This is everywhere in our society and everywhere in every culture. Everywhere. And it's been everywhere always.
Have you looked at any bilboards or commercials lately and seen any fat, old, or ugly models?
Seen any high-status women marrying young taxi drivers or pool-boys?
Human nature - get used to it. I wish people didn't become so appalled when it happens.
Sep '10
Re: Follow Your Heart
Leigh
Conservatives (nor necessarily libertarians either) do not believe an action's morality is or should be equivalent with its legality. · 5 minutes ago
Lots of immoral stuff happens every day, much worse than this. Is this a morality site now? Are we just going to publically shame people who aren't even famous? There are famous people who do this too. Are we giving them a pass?
Are we going to send a representatives out to red-light districts and take down licence plates of suspected johns next?
Mar '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
Definitely not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. But to defend some of the comments here:
- Outrage over legal but unseemly acts of others will always exist in society. Better that this energy be channelled though societal pressure than through laws banning consensual behavior.
- They called a freakin' press conference! If they didn't want others to judge them, they shouldn't have gone public.
- Ricochet is a site where people pay for the privilege to pontificate. After a while Romney- or Santorum-bashing gets old. It's Friday afternoon. This topic is like a cold beer for the intellect.
Sep '10
Re: Follow Your Heart
Casey,
"This just seems wrong to me."
What else is wrong?
Ricochet editors, get out there and find all the wrongs. There must be worse stuff than this...
Mar '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
Franco: Casey,
"This just seems wrong to me."
What else is wrong?
Ricochet editors, get out there and find all the wrongs. There must be worse stuff than this... · 2 minutes ago
Hey now... don't knock the setup for my punchline... that's just mean.
Sep '10
Re: Follow Your Heart
The word pedophile is being misused and abused here. Please use words for what they are supposed to mean. If you don't then you participate in degrading the language to the point where words have no meaning. Once that happens, we have to resort to violence.
Mar '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
Franco
Leigh
Conservatives (nor necessarily libertarians either) do not believe an action's morality is or should be equivalent with its legality. · 5 minutes ago
Lots of immoral stuff happens every day, much worse than this. Is this a morality site now? Are we just going to publically shame people who aren't even famous? There are famous people who do this too. Are we giving them a pass?
Are we going to send a representatives out to red-light districts and take down licence plates of suspected johns next? · 11 minutes ago
The point here isn't so much that the guy is creepy. The point is that creeps can get away with anything if they claim it makes them "Happy". We all can get away with anything if that is the standard.
That is culturally relevant I think.
May '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
In the extremely unlikely event that the teacher's union would allow the school board to fire him, he would have lost his pension. So he quit in order to keep it, not because he recognized that what he did was selfish, immoral, and disgusting.
Jun '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
@Casey: Won't hear that from me...nice misdirection after the setup. Heck, if you'd thrown in a "topper" I'd have dubbed you the "Last of the Vaudevillians"!
Aug '10
Re: Follow Your Heart
Mendel
- Outrage over legal but unseemly acts of others will always exist in society. Better that this energy be channeled though societal pressure than through laws banning consensual behavior.
Yep.
Mendel
- They called a freakin' press conference! If they didn't want others to judge them, they shouldn't have gone public.
There's the kicker. A press conference.
Sep '10
Re: Follow Your Heart
I'm not trying to be mean, and I see you are being tongue-in-cheek. This is fine for a member feed but the comments and the piling on and the promotion to the main feed it's getting to me. I'm not understanding why this story resonates and gets so many comments (now I'm commenting myself only after 50+ comments) I was waiting for someone else to push back because I was lazy I guess. Finally I had to jump in and I'm not sure I want to have this fight. I'm already depressed and dejected and AB dying is affecting me adversely as well, and now I'm looking at this meaningless (politically) story.
I'll never be a Democrat, but boy, oh boy, I'm dissapointed in Republicans, especially when they are clueless and petty.
Membership in Ricochet has shown me sides of Republicans and conservatives I don't especially like.
Jun '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
I'm not going to grant the legality of Mr. Hooker's actions given the LT relationship. Besides, the students aren't in class to provide the teachers a dating pool...though with teacher contracts these days they may well be!
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Mendel
- Outrage over legal but unseemly acts of others will always exist in society. Better that this energy be channeled though societal pressure than through laws banning consensual behavior.
Yep.
Mendel
- They called a freakin' press conference! If they didn't want others to judge them, they shouldn't have gone public.
There's the kicker. A press conference. · 0 minutes ago
Aug '10
Re: Follow Your Heart
Franco: I'm not trying to be mean, and I see you are being tongue-in-cheek. This is fine for a member feed but the comments and the piling on and the promotion to the main feed it's getting to me. I'm not understanding why this story resonates and gets so many comments (now I'm commenting myself only after 50+ comments) I was waiting for someone else to push back because I was lazy I guess. Finally I had to jump in and I'm not sure I want to have this fight. I'm already depressed and dejected and AB dying is affecting me adversely as well, and now I'm looking at this meaningless (politically) story.
I'll never be a Democrat, but boy, oh boy, I'm dissapointed in Republicans, especially when they are clueless and petty.
Membership in Ricochet has shown me sides of Republicans and conservatives I don't especially like. · 6 minutes ago
Yeah, you do sound down. Have a beer. Pet the dog.
Sep '10
Re: Follow Your Heart
Casey
Franco
Leigh
Conservatives (nor necessarily libertarians either) do not believe an action's morality is or should be equivalent with its legality. · 5 minutes ago
Lots of immoral stuff happens every day, much worse than this. Is this a morality site now? Are we just going to publically shame people who aren't even famous? There are famous people who do this too. Are we giving them a pass?
The point here isn't so much that the guy is creepy. The point is that creeps can get away with anything if they claim it makes them "Happy". We all can get away with anything if that is the standard.
That is culturally relevant I think.
It is legal. I don't see him getting away with anything. He's losing his job and he's making a choice which is probably stupid. Also, please see my comments about chick-flicks and true love forever/follow your heart propaganda we are fed everyday.
Apr '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
Mendel
- They called a freakin' press conference! If they didn't want others to judge them, they shouldn't have gone public.
Mendel my friend, I think you have hit is nail squarely on the head. All the creepiness and ethical problems of this relationship is underscored by the very fact that something I would never have known about, now has become common knowledge. This is not because we are voyeurs, but because the they are exhibitionists.
I am sure there will be a "Sex Tape" coming out and a E! reality TV show based on this. Have they set a date for their You Tube wedding yet?
Mar '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
Valiuth
...E! reality TV show based on this.
Teacher's Pet - Wednesday at 8:00
Mar '11
Re: Follow Your Heart
Franco: I'm not trying to be mean, and I see you are being tongue-in-cheek. This is fine for a member feed but the comments and the piling on and the promotion to the main feed it's getting to me. I'm not understanding why this story resonates and gets so many comments (now I'm commenting myself only after 50+ comments) I was waiting for someone else to push back because I was lazy I guess. Finally I had to jump in and I'm not sure I want to have this fight. I'm already depressed and dejected and AB dying is affecting me adversely as well, and now I'm looking at this meaningless (politically) story.
I'll never be a Democrat, but boy, oh boy, I'm dissapointed in Republicans, especially when they are clueless and petty.
Membership in Ricochet has shown me sides of Republicans and conservatives I don't especially like. · 20 minutes ago
I'll grant that the fact that this is a story is utterly ridiculous.