Outrage as martial arts-obsessed teacher poses with guns in chilling internet photo

[PizDoff1]

Outrage as martial arts-obsessed teacher poses with guns in chilling internet photo
Last updated at 09:37am on 2nd November 2007

A teacher has sparked fury among parents after a chilling picture showing him holding a pair of fake handguns appeared on a popular social networking website.

English and media studies master William Cambata, 29, set up a personal page on hit website Bebo - which shows him adopting a sinister pose dressed in black, with arms crossed, each hand grasping a handgun.

As well as the disturbing picture depicting him glaring menacingly into the camera, Cambata went on to list his interests on the page, which included horror movies, martial arts and role playing games. Using strong language, he also spoke of how he made classroom bullies feel “insignificant”.

The site was spotted by parents of pupils who had visited the page - and after one concerned parent wrote to the school complaining Cambata’s site “glamorised violence” the shamed teacher was forced to apologise and remove his profile, although he has not been suspended.

A mother of one of Cambata’s pupils, who did not want to be named, said: "My son enjoys the lessons he has with Mr Cambata but after looking at the website I was concerned. I was shocked to see him posing with guns.

“The interests he seemed to have were unusual to say the least and I think as a teacher he should be keeping his private life private. Students had been contacting him praising him for the work he has done to combat bullying, but I don’t think it was appropriate to do this on a personal website.”

Another furious parent wrote to the school fearing the website “glamorised violence” and could encourage pupils to take part in “mind-disturbing interests” - and added that it could encourage a school shooting such as the Columbine massacre in 1999.

Rob Williams, headteacher at Malton School, North Yorks., - where Cambata remains employed - said an internal investigation by the school, following county council disciplinary procedures, have already started, adding that the teacher had been advised not to speak about the case.

He said: "I have spoken with Mr Cambata about the matter and he has deleted his personal space on the website Bebo.

"He explained to me that the website relates to an external interest in role playing games and the picture is related to this. As a teacher posing with toy guns this illustrated poor judgement and he has apologised.

"I can categorically state that this is not another ‘Columbine in the making’ and if I thought for a minute that a member of staff had posed with real guns I would have called the police.

There will be an investigation into the matter following North Yorkshire County Council disciplinary procedures.

“Mr Cambata is a good teacher who encourages creativity among his students.”

Twelve students and a teacher were killed at Columbine High School in America when two students went on a shooting rampage.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=491250&in_page_id=1770

Gun kata anyone?
If I were a parent I don’t know how comfortable I’d feel with my child in this guy’s classroom. :happy4:

How do you guys feel?

[Scrapper]

Yes…nerds with toys are the most dangerous things in our schools.

[ironlurker]

horror movies? ok
martial arts? ok
role playing games? ok (if you’re 12)

All three together? An Ammonium Nitrate bomb of disastrous nerdhood

[Worldchampion]

Yes, he posed for a silly picture (some sort of the matrix meets roleplaying thing) and he has nerdish hobbies. He must be a ticking timebomb! Society has to stop this man!

[kintanon]

Yes, god forbid he teach any children to think critically and creatively. If that sort of thing caught on we might end up with all manner of freethinking anarchists running around writing poetry and painting masterpieces. By all means crush this spark out of him lest it tempt the precious children into emulating him!

[Jadonblade]

OH noes! scary pictures of a man who roleplays…, now Im not a detective or anything but I think there may be a link between posing with fake guns and roleplay. And ill even go out on a limb and suggest that the link is stronger than the supposed link of scary picture = homicidel child rapist.

[partyboy]

hahahahahahahaha

I can categorically state that this is not another ‘Columbine in the making’ and if I thought for a minute that a member of staff had posed with real guns I would have called the police.

There will be an investigation into the matter following North Yorkshire County Council disciplinary procedures.

I hate that in our world today we’re so fearful of a teacher that has a great track record because he takes a LARP’ing picture.

[jnp]

I know more than a few teachers and many of them have hobbies/pursuits outside the social norm. They are smart enough not to elevate their profile when pursuing these activities however. I guess Mr. Cambata wasn’t.

This is the ‘information age’. If you put something personal out there on the net, someone you know is going to see it.

I sidestep this problem by having no personality and almost no net presence.

[Anna_Kovacs]

Oh heavens, I was under the impression that teachers did nothing but grade papers in their free time.

[sdave]

@Rob Williams

…if I thought for a minute that a member of staff had posed with real guns I would have called the police.

Oh noes!!! I think I’ve been caught on camera more than once with a firearm in my hand. I hope Headteacher Williams doesn’t report me to the North Yorkshire Police…

Double Ewe. Tee. Eff.

[Worldchampion]

Should he have posted that picture up on the internet? Probably not, for practical reasons, there are a lot of hystrical people out there.

The serious side to this is that hysterical parents and the media are basically trying to ruin his life over a silly picture on the internet. Teachers generally are paid very poorly compared to other people with their level of education. They often do the job because they have a passion for it. Here a teacher is being crucificed by hysteria.

These days, the most hysterical arguement will be taken seriously if you add “for the children” at the end of it.

[Teh_El_Macho]

This is fucking ridiculous. The guy may be a nerd, but he’s not doing anything wrong. There are far more important things that should generate outrage and yet they don’t. And then, they take it on this guy who’s not doing anything outrageous.

That’s his personal life, that’s his hobbies. He’s a fucking, free thinking man, free to be creative, interested and passionate in anything he likes, even if he crosses the borderline into “Livin’ La Vida Dorka”.

I have a friend from the Salsa scene, much more into partner dancing that I am. And she had a myspace page with which to interact with other amateur and pro-dancers, with pictures and shit regarding dance events. She had to take it down because to avoid potential controversy.

Teacher can’t talk about his passion for martial arts movies and guns. Teacher can’t talk about the dancing arts. Not only they are underpaid, they are under the fucking microscope, usually observed by an unqualified “please think of the children” crowd more eager to find scape goats than to find solutions to existing problems.

Fucking fuckers.

[HonkyTonkMan]

"I can categorically state that this is not another ‘Columbine in the making’ and if I thought for a minute that a member of staff had posed with real guns I would have called the police.

Here is what bothered me.

Has America become so stupid that it sees everything as a future massacre?

The guy seems to be a stand up teacher why are these parents getting all up in arms? They are probably the same parents who will say to the news crews

“Gee, my son was always a good kid. I dont know why he would kill strangers and eat them”

[Worldchampion]

Yes, I was under the impression that guns were legal in america and it was a free country.

[Vince_Tortelli]

But I thought it was only the fundamentalist Christians that engaged in witch hunts?

But this poor guy is being crucified in the press because…he put a picture of himself on the Internet in a Matrix pose? That’s screwed up. I’m also a little concerned, because I have horror movies and martial arts as two of my interests both here and on my myspace page. Am I next?

[Worldchampion]

@Vince Tortelli

But I thought it was only the fundamentalist Christians that engaged in witch hunts?

But this poor guy is being crucified in the press because…he put a picture of himself on the Internet in a Matrix pose? That’s screwed up. I’m also a little concerned, because I have horror movies and martial arts as two of my interests both here and on my myspace page. Am I next?

Only if you teach or go to school… At least for now.

[Teh_El_Macho]

This would be akin to firing a teacher because he and his wife go to a swinger’s club on a Friday night. People are entitled to their private lives and pursue their interests in private or in public (with certain restrictions.)

Does any of the following disqualified an educated professional from teaching?

• firing a gun in a gun range for fun?
• dancing Salsa and wearing a miniskirt on a Saturday night for fun?
• watching gruesome horror movies over and over for fun?
• engaging in non-monogamous sexual behavior with other consenting adults?
• participating in combat sports (.ie. beating the shit out of each other)?
• participating in a fitness comp where you have to pose with a bikini?
• believing in God?
• not believing in God?
• masturbating?

There is a difference between judging correctly and fairly, with all facts laid on the table and with the purpose of promoting positive change and while giving the person being judge a fair chance to explain and defend himself.

It is quite another to unfairly judge someone. That’s no longer judging. It’s demonizing. Those who do so should well to familiarize with John 8:2-11 or Matthew 7:1-5

@John 8:2-11

“And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto Him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the Law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest Thou?”

“This they said, tempting Him, that they might have to accuse Him.”

“But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not. So when they continued asking Him, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground.”

“And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”

“When Jesus had lifted up Himself, and saw none but the woman, He said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee?”

“She said, No man, Lord.”

“And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.”

@Matthew 7:1-6

"Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

"Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?

You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

[ironlurker]

@Teh El Macho

This would be akin to firing a teacher because he and his wife go to a swinger’s club on a Friday night. People are entitled to their private lives and pursue their interests in private or in public (with certain restrictions.)

I agree with you, and the social dilemma we’re increasingly facing is that with the internet public/private is blurred.

Was this guy saying “hay kidz lol look at my webpage guns and stuff”? No. But an uptight parent thinks that the mere fact that their kiddy can find it online means that it’s totally public and totally directed at the innocent kiddy who found it.

There have been several cases of female teachers fired for running amateur porn sites. Of course, the question was raised, “well who the hell found it and how?” but it doesn’t have any effect- she’s a “bad influence” even if it’s a subscriber site for 18+ only etc.

This is going to happen more and more as more people use/rely on the internet for their private lives or recreation. There was another recent case where a Miss USA contestant or something or other came under fire for photos she had posted in a part of her profile accessible only to friends.

The immediate answer is that the unions should stand up more for this guy and people like him BUT the issue that you then run into is the PC-ness of many teachers union members (or, alternatively, the prejudices of the community) and the human desire to avoid any guilt by association.

People could also just chill out, but that’s unlikely to happen. The ideal answer IMHO, but probably an unfeasible one, would be to strictly regulate access by age to forums and social networking site and tell people to STFU if their unwatched ten year old finds his teacher on utahswingersclub or gunkataIRL.com

But a) people are hypocrites b) people don’t watch their kids and blame others and c) it would cost money and time to carry out completely which probably wouldn’t make it worth it with A and B.

[happyoldguy]

@Worldchampion!

Yes, I was under the impression that guns were legal in america and it was a free country.

Unless I am misreading, this is from the uk.

[gangrelchilde]

First of all, ironlurker, there is a world of difference between Salsa dancing videosor DnD poses versus running an amateur porn site. Seriously, there are.

Anyway… This reminds me of a situation we had here. A student was getting ready to graduate from Millersville University and was denied her teaching credentials over a picture on her myspace page. She was in a pirate costume at Halloween holding a beer. She is currently suing the state. Good for her.

I really do empathize with a lot of these people. I always have to debate putting pics of my tats online; god forbid some loony with a vendetta find pics of me w/o my shirt. Or vids of me fighting. I put them up anyway, because dammit, it’s my life. Just because I’m a professional doesn’t mean I don’t get to have a life. It may mean I have to show a bit of discretion (ie: joining an amateur porn site would be a really bad idea), but I grow weary of this idea that I have to be 100% above reproach in all that I do all the time.