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
What's your most irrational parenting fear?
Image via KPLC
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Comments 61
Just because one person identifies this system with the mark of a beast doesn't mean they don't have cause to worry. We are in a new age where everyone has or know business before you are born. There is nothing wrong with having the children scan a little ID card because we don't know if they are going to be expose to some type of radiation or chemicals. Usually problems don't come to light until they are older. We are coming a society where everything has to be link to a machine or some type of computer. I'm not paranoid just practical. I wouldn't want my children expose to this machine either.
@kisses5050- I think you hit the nail on the head.
@Me- I'm more scared that the book "1984" will be our near future.
That said, I wouldn't allow my children to participate in a program like that. A student ID should be enough. Besides unknown health issues, I think we're getting to a point of forced mapping and identification of our citizens to a level that its just ridiculous. Everywhere you go these days it seems like you have to walk through some kind of metal detector, body scanner, or whatever new tech is around. Not to mention the endless cameras in public areas, and facial recognition programs in certain places...
No. Just let the kids get their lunch and eat. No need for a palm scan. ID's or lunch cards should be just fine-
My most irrational parenting fear is that our house will catch on fire in the middle of the night and we will all be outside and end up on the news, and my kids pajamas won't match so everyone will think I'm a lazy parent because they don't match. So I make them wear pajamas that are a set or have coordinating colors. It's completely stupid. But it will keep me up at night if I know one of them went to bed with orange shorts and a yellow shirt, or the top from one pajama set and the bottom from another. And the weird thing is that I sleep in a tee shirt, so you'd think I would be more worried about being on the news in just a tee shirt! Lol
My kids use their school I.D. number and that's good enough for me. I wouldn't let them get scanned.
For those who asked the Biblical reference is:
""He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Revelation 13:16-17""
You can see where the palm scanner comes closer to the definition of the mark than social security cards or other external identifiers although the kids won't actually have a mark on their hands they're using the natural marks of the palm.
Even if you don't buy into that though I don't see why they should spend the money on this instead of using it for the actual food and other things that benefit the kids. I think the excuse of getting them through the line faster is just another way to shorten the lunch periods that in a lot of places are far too short already.