Let me start by saying that I, undoubtedly, have plenty of crazy parenting fears (ask me how I feel about balloons), and I don't claim to be rational in all of my parenting decisions. I still, however, can't find even an iota of understanding for some Louisiana parents who are up in arms about their children's elementary school using a hand scanner in the school cafeteria because they fear it is an instrument of the devil. I wish I was kidding.
According to KPLC, when parents of Moss Bluff Elementary School received a letter letting them know about the new Palm Vein Scanner, designed to help their kids move through the lunch line more quickly, they were not happy about the improvement. Instead they were "disappointed" and "very very mad." And not because of the cost of the technology or because they feared it emitted cancer-causing rays, but rather because they fear its evil power.
While the school says it's optional, and kids still can eat lunch without getting scanned, some parents, like Mamie Sonier, are so upset they don't even want their children in the same building with the device. She says she'll likely be transferring them out of the damned (literally) place. She explained her reason to the station saying:
As a Christian, I've read the Bible, you know go to church and stuff. I know where it's going to end up coming to, the mark of the beast. I'm not going to let my kids have that.
She's dead serious, and she's not alone -- plenty of other parents reportedly feel the same way she does. Forget the threat of the mystery meat, it's the mark of the beast (a Biblical reference to a demonic symbol) your kid now needs to fear at noontime!
I typically try to respect all religious beliefs that don't harm anyone else, but ... are effing kidding me? I just can't believe these parents actually think this is a real threat that's manifesting itself in the school cafeteria. It's truly baffling, and I wonder how their children are affected by such extreme views.
Of course, they're their children, and we do have religious freedom in this country. But this, this is just so far beyond rational, it seems almost dangerous.
KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana
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Image via KPLC
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Comments 61
what the hell is a palm vein scanner? I would not be comfortable with that either...
Just a closer step to us all getting RFID tags implanted under our skin. I would want to know what kind of info it stored about the child and who could gain access to that info. I believe in a lot of "conspiracies" and could go on a long rant but I just got off work and don't feel like. But I would have to agree with the parents on this one and say no (not for the same reason).
And I would not be happy about my kid getting scanned either
Whaaat? Stick to the ID cards. Way easier, way cheaper, and if a kid loses one, make them buy another. That'll pay for the plastic, lanyards and machine on its own!
It is due to a belief by many religous people that this sort of thing prepares society for the "tyrannical mark of the beast", both because of its socialist nature as well as the conditioning it engenders for a Big Brother numbering system. ... I would not rush right out and enroll my kid in this program and I am not "parnoid" the school also does not have my kids Social Security numbers recorded...they have a noterized note saying they were seen in thier file and then the field is blacked out.