It sounds like these kids just learned another fact about life.
I have to agree with Judas about hiding behind clothes. I've caught it from both sides. Before people at work got to know me, I was labeled as a goth, and I even got to hear some of rumors of me being a witch, satanist or a cat-killer at parties. Based on work ethic, those rumors have quelled and people started asking the educational questions of why and what. Some of the parents have even approached me because their children are showing signs of heading in that direction. On the flip side, there have been some in the goth scene who have labeled me as a poser because I sacrifice my self expression by not wearing all black to work during the day. I laugh, and at the same time pity, any person that thinks it takes clothes to definie a person and applies stereotypes in that manner.
My only comment for the principal at the school would be one of my favorite quotes from Joe Ancis:
"The only normal people are the ones you don't know very well."
Believing that children that don't wear black aren't capable of the same things that are causing the paranoia makes for a pretty disillusioned person.
That being said, I have no doubt that there is more to this story than I have seen, so I reserve any further comment until I hear more about it.
Along the same lines, but more on a tangent, I read a really cool article in the latest Asleep By Dawn about Pauley Perrette. For those that don't know who she is, she plays the character Abby, a forensic specialist on NCIS. She's been known for wearing collars with her lab coat and plugging non-mainstream goth bands on routine occasion. I have clipped a few quotes from the article that she wrote about her character:
I've had many people write to me with comments. There have been several expressions of thanks from goth/alternative folks, who appreciate a character similar to themselves being positively portrayed on television. On the other hand, some of them have said tha Abby is "too happy" or "too funny" to be a goth. There have also been inquireies about whether a forensic specialist could really get a job looking like Abby does. Some people have even writte to ask, "Is she satanic?" (Why? Because she wears black?)
...
I think labels are applied to us by people inside the box that don't understand and need to simplify. They open up their little book of labels that they got at the parenting bookstore: "Hmmm...black hair, black boots, black coat...Must be a GOTH! Uh-oh, that also could apply to any number of punk and rock 'n' roll people to, and oh my, they must be on drugs!"
I said one thing to my bosses about Abby, and that was, "Let other people define her. Abby probably wouldn't call herself anything but Abby." I've been asked the same thing about myself. Who cares? What she represents is a smart, capable chick that cannot be reduced to a sterotype.
I've never known anyone who seeks to be labeled or defined as something. Those labels usually come from the outside in. People are just doing their thing, dressing how they want, listening to what they want. It may be fritghtening and not be as simple for the masses if they lose the ability to point each and every one of us out and find the definition and brand in a handbook, but that practice is frightening in itself.
The best part is that now there are millions of people who have been introduced to this character in their living rooms every week and perhaps, just perhaps, next time they see someone similar in their real life, they might think of them as "smart, funny, cool" instead of the negative sterotypes that have been pushed so hard by the media."
The entire article may be available on the Asleep By Dawn website. I'm not sure though.
I'm not wicked. I'm just viciously mischievous.