Nate Fisher, the teacher in Eightball-Gate, has posted in our comment section, and in the interest of giving his comments equal prominence, here’s a link.

While I’m well on my way in my effort to move on and I have mixed feelings about generating MORE press, I’d like to send out a note of thanks to the blogosphere for all the passionate and reasoned posts I’ve been reading over the past few months. While I am tempted to address the numerous factual errors and outright affronts to my character that have been made public (at times anonymously) concerning this incident, I’ll instead address a larger outcome that I see as tragic and one better suited to the audience here: This has been bad for comics in education.


More in link.

1 COMMENT

  1. I missed that one. Thanks for pointing it out. Nate seems to be very insightful and positive about this. We live in a time that smacks of Ferinhite 451, where it is the people (not the government) who are banning the books. Good luck Nate. As a teacher I have learned something from you today.

  2. That’s “Fahrenheit.”

    Hopefully what teachers have learned is not to give R-rated comics to pre-teens. Jeez.

    At least he acknowledges his mistake. But nowhere does he express any regrets over the poor girl he helped place in a position of social pariah…not unlike the protagonists of GHOST WORLD.

  3. So, by handing a book to a girl he put her in the position of social pariah. Aren’t you skipping a few steps?

    If I was that girl’s parents I might now be “regretting” going over a teacher’s head and bringing down the wrath of police and school administrators. I’m a parent. I have a child in elementary school. I’ve been mad at teachers. It doesn’t take more than an ounce of common sense to know that you go to the teacher first. Jeez.

  4. In a case like this? Hell, no I wouldn’t go to the teacher. The teacher has already proven he has a screw loose by giving a comic discussing rabbit blow jobs (!!) to a 12-year old.

    Nate Fisher is lucky all he lost was his job, and not his front teeth.

    “Going over a teacher’s head” – Give me a break.

    Yeah, the next time a new neighbor goes around handing out R-rated DVDs to pre-teen neighborhood kids, I’ll just go discuss it with him.

  5. That’s “Fahrenheit.”

    Thank you. I’ll pay closer attention to my spell check next time.

    “The teacher has already proven he has a screw loose by giving a comic discussing rabbit blow jobs (!!) to a 12-year old.”

    First of all, she is 14. Second “a screw loose” is blowing things out of proportion, all over again.

    “Yeah, the next time a new neighbor goes around handing out R-rated DVDs to pre-teen neighborhood kids, I’ll just go discuss it with him.”

    Yes, that would be the level headed thing to do. I saw many R-rated movies at neighbor’s houses, and when my mom or dad found out about it, they discussed it with me. I’m not damaged by it. At least I don’t think I am. Does watching R-rated movies as an early age cause spelling errors down the road?

  6. Malus, how has he “proven” this? Even the parents are now admitting that it was not the crisis of sexual perversion they initially feared.

  7. “Yeah, the next time a new neighbor goes around handing out R-rated DVDs to pre-teen neighborhood kids, I’ll just go discuss it with him. ”

    I’m sure you realize that the above is a far cry from a teacher giving a teenager something with mild sexual content… lighter content than other “approved” books.

    You do know that, right?

  8. Nate Fisher is my hero. If for nothing else than for being able to keep his dignity intact throughout this crapfest.

    I held my internet tongue for a bit before chiming in with my opinion, even though I’ve been following this pretty intently since it came to light. The outcome is exactly what I expected it to be – a misunderstanding blown waaaaay out of proportion by a combination of overzealous “morality”, the newsmedia and internet morons.

    Frankly, I take Mr. Fisher at his word, as there’s no reason not to. From the beginning, it smacked of newspaper spin, and after reading between the bullshit lines, this is exactly the conclusion I drew. It pisses me off for a number of reasons. Several things have been glaringly obvious, because, unlike some previous posters, I actually used my brain to parse the facts and separate them from speculation and accusation:

    Nate Fisher is not a criminal or a pervert.

    Nate Fisher is not an idiot.

    Nate Fisher is a guy who gives a shit about his students, his work, and comics too. Did he fuck up? Yes. Did anyone die? No. In fact, the only thing damaging to the kid in question is arguably the fault of the parents.

    Mr. Fisher seems like the kind of teacher I would have loved to have in high school, and it’s sad that students he’s been teaching will no longer benefit from having him on staff. If there’s any justice in this world, everyone involved with dragging this guy’s name through the mud and casting aspersions will have trouble sleeping at night (at the very least). Somehow I don’t think they will, though.

  9. “Mr. Fisher seems like the kind of teacher I would have loved to have in high school, and it’s sad that students he’s been teaching will no longer benefit from having him on staff.”

    We need more teachers like him. I’d be happy to let him teach my child.

  10. That level of poor judgment = Screw loose – in MY opinion.

    “Hey, this comic filled with vulgarities and references to paroled rabbit blow jobs…this will be perfect for a 13-year old girl to read!”

    Screw loose.

    And apparently not the only one judging by the bleeding-heart-let-it-all-hang-out liberal defenses seen on this site.

    And I *am* a liberal.

    C. Moonlight: “I saw many R-rated movies at neighbor’s houses, and when my mom or dad found out about it, they discussed it with me. I’m not damaged by it. At least I don’t think I am. Does watching R-rated movies as an early age cause spelling errors down the road?”

    No, bad neighbors and lackluster parenting have nothing to do with spelling deficiencies. ;)

  11. Hey “Malus” – grow some balls and use your real name or shut the fuck up and go away. Take some responsibility for your words – isn’t accountability what this whole thing is about? Apparently not entirely – the parents who started this whole mess are still hiding their identites while Fisher has his name plastered all over the place.

    Since we’re now devolving to personal attacks: Do you suppose that bad neighbors and bad parenting would have something to do with YOUR being more willing to kick someone’s teeth in than talk to them? Hmmm….

    I call troll.

  12. “Hey “Malus” – grow some balls and use your real name or shut the fuck up and go away.”

    Ah– I didn’t realize public names were a prerequisite for opinion here.
    But there you go, big man.
    I never cared one way or the other about being anonymous. I just saw others using similar ID’s and assumed that was standard.
    I stand behind every word I’ve ever written.

    “Do you suppose that bad neighbors and bad parenting would have something to do with YOUR being more willing to kick someone’s teeth in than talk to them? Hmmm…”

    I never said I would have kicked his teeth in. You’re putting words in my mouth.
    I said he’s lucky that didn’t happen.
    And he is.

  13. You don’t seem to have a problem putting words into the mouths of others, or making asinine assumptions about them, so I assumed it was fair game to reciprocate.

    And fuck you and your condescending bullshit, “big man”. I do legitimately give you props for owning up, though – at least you have conviction.