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gotnoh8 t1_it2xrzt wrote

Reply to comment by setho212 in previous post with info about candidates by Southern-Score2223

These are talking points from a media hit job, Chen’s demeanor is different because he’s a Chinese immigrant with Confucian values. He has a calm, confident, placid manner. Skipping a media circus where everyone pretends to kowtow to the gay community is not any indication of competence and frankly, if this is the standard people want to use to judge candidates, it’s part of the reason why we will never solve any real problems in our system. Chen cares about one thing: outcomes of students who want to do well and are capable of it.

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setho212 t1_it2z9c2 wrote

Pretends to kowtow to the gay community? That’s just a little offensive. Further, he didn’t even respond to a written questionnaire. Claim what you want about the in person forum, but responding to a written questionnaire isnt that hard. Considering that 90% of what I’ve seen from Mr. Chen are general statements that basically every candidate supports, you’d think he could spend the hour writing responses that just rehash the same generic talking points he frequently uses. If Mr. Chen doesn’t have enough respect to even respond to a written survey I really wonder whether he cares about the outcomes for all students.

My impression is that Mr. Chen knows his best chance of winning is to court the anti-progressive vote along with Adler while getting enough middle of the road voters to get him over the line. Accordingly he has taken an anti-redistricting view and the rest of his campaign is about working as hard as possible to avoid offending anyone except the voters he knows won’t support him. I guess you could call that pragmatic. I call it lacking a backbone.

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gotnoh8 t1_it41kn1 wrote

>I call it lacking a backbone

this is just more coded language to attack the Confucian demeanor. I get it, he doesn't kiss the ring of the gay community and you don't like him. you can pick newburger or mckoy and watch them spout off about how important gay people are while they bungle things and drop home values even more

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setho212 t1_it422ss wrote

Coded language?!? What exactly is a Confucian demeanor. Does it involve completely ignoring a portion of the community? There is a huge area between kissing the ring and completely ignoring people. If Mr. Chen cares about all students as he claims he should at least make an attempt to listen to a variety of concerns. As it stands he seems as though he could not care less about the issues those students face.

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gotnoh8 t1_it45lp9 wrote

we have different value systems. I value educational integrity, pragmatism, and serving students who want to achieve and have the potential -- for these things, Dr. Chen is easily the best and only option. I have full faith that he will get things done. He is not distracted by the circus

you seem to be entirely preoccupied with the plight of gay students and generalize that if he doesn't pay special attention to this community it means he doesn't care. it's an absurd leap of logic and if you insist on looking at everything through intersectional lenses, there's no chance that we'll agree.

Dr. Chen is holding everyone to the same standard and whomever is willing to step up to that standard will find an advocate and a champion in him. If you want to make excuses and live in a world of victimhood, then pick someone else

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setho212 t1_it479ym wrote

If Dr. Chen truly believes in working to ensure all students are successful he should at least make a basic attempt to hear the concerns of all students. He has not held back on listening to and championing the “plight” of those who have been redistricted and who oppose redistricting even if they haven’t been directly impacted by it, but he hasn’t even made a basic attempt to listen to LGBTQ students who frequently suffer much worse conditions. LGBTQ youth are at a higher risk of mental illness and suicide as a result of the treatment they receive, but I guess that’s meaningless compared to what students experience having to take a longer bus ride to school or seeing their friends less frequently. But yeah only LGBTQ students are playing the victimhood card.

You just don’t get it. No one is asking Dr. Chen for special treatment. He has expressed a desire to listen to people’s concerns and yet when given the opportunity to listen to the concerns of the LGBTQ community he has turned down the opportunity more than once.

This whole isssue combined with Dr. Chen’s recent statements denigrating FARMs kids just demonstrates how little regard he has for some parts of the county. And yes I saw his pathetic attempt to walk back those horrendous comments.

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