‘Be the bigger man, you’re better than this!’
A libertarian high school student was surprised to see that his photo had been left out of his high school yearbook, while Communist ideologue Karl Max’s had made it in.
Aryeh Rohde, a senior at a Clinton, Washington high school, “was excited to look through his yearbook with friends.” But “he soon realized his photo wasn’t published,” 770 KTTH reports.
“But then, flipping further, about page 99 in our yearbook, and the bottom right corner there’s a picture of Karl Marx. You know the father of communism!” Rohde told the radio station.
A photo of the yearbook posted to the radio station’s website does indeed show Karl Marx’s picture in the yearbook. Marx is considered the founder of communism, an ideology that has often been wielded by tyrants and dictators to justify brutal and bloody oppressive regimes.
Rohde “suspects the omission has everything to do with two student critics of his,” the station reports:
Rohde is very active in local politics, spending a chunk of his time defending our Second Amendment rights. Last year, he appeared on [Jason Rantz’s] show to promote a student walkout in opposition to I-1639 that he organized. It’s made him unpopular with the local social justice club on campus, he says. Coincidentally, two students in that club are two of the students working on the yearbook.
Is it possible they purposefully kept Rohde’s photo out — but included a photo of Marx — out of spite or a prank?
“It wouldn’t be very surprising to me at all…” Rohde explains. “[Those students] have been harassing me, my friends, and my girlfriend for about over two years now because of my political activism. And one of them is a senior. He did the senior page and he’s in Social Justice Club.”
The school’s principal, John Patton, did not respond to repeated calls and emails seeking comment. But Rohde’s dad forwarded a mass email he says Patton sent, apologizing for what happened. At the time, a false rumor was circulating that the Marx photo appeared in the space for Rohde.
“You may have heard that a picture of Karl Marx with no caption was printed in the Sophomore section (page 99) of the 2018-19 yearbook,” the email says. “Our yearbook advisor and I apologize for this oversight and any concern or frustration this error may have caused.”
Rohde said he has complained to the school administration numerous times but his complaints have been waved aside. “Basically everyone in the office, and every time I do, they’re just like ‘Oh Aryeh, be the bigger man, you’re better than this! You don’t have to pursue this!’ and they always try to push it under the rug to make sure nothing happens,” he said.
MORE: Philosophy prof: Karl Marx was right!
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