Oh hells yes! Thank you, thank you! you are going to get what’s coming to you for you cowardice! Rock in a hard place or not he chose to help the bully rather then the victim believing it would be the easiest rout for him. I feel nothing but joy at this page.
Suddenly, Officer Martin realizes that Selkie may have been justified in calling 911 after all. And I’m sensing a new principal for the school pretty soon.
Exactly. I mean, I don’t think Selkie was as consciously aware of it the way we are, but calling the police was actually justified, and certainly not a false call. This is now a history of violence from a student, as well as a failure on the adult’s part to handle LEGAL OBLIGATION to report abuse. The authorities tend to frown on an adult deliberately concealing abuse that he was fully aware was happening.
If she didn’t call, the officer would’ve shown up anyway. However, the conversation wouldn’t have gone the way it will go now.
See, the actual call from Selkie wasn’t justified at all. Bullying at that age never results to prison, and can’t be considered a life threatening emergency.
HOWEVER: because Officer Martin now knows the 911 caller is the very same victim for whom a ‘potential abuse case’ was already reported, he will not brush her off as a prank caller, and will probably get to the bottom of this.
I foresee a small talk with Officer Martin, Todd and Selkie about not calling 911 lightly, but with Officer Martin saying he understands why she did it.
Well, let me say that there has been a case in Mexico where bulling actually did kill a kid. It happened in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, the 15th of May, I believe. The kid died the 20th of May. He was bullied by a bunch of 12 or 13 year olds. The other kids hit him in the head against a wall.
That’s not bullying anymore, that’s assault and battery.
Truck only pushed and shoved, and when 911 is called with the report “I’m being bullied”, they won’t do shit. They will only respond when there’s a call about bodily harm. So it’s not the act of bullying that’s punishable, but the result it can bring.
being pushed and shoved still constitutes assault. from the america heritage dictionary assault: 1. a violent physical or verbal attack.
2.an unlawful threat or attempt to do bodily injury to another.
3. the crime of rape
pushing and shoving someone definitely is a physical attack selkie in fear of bodily harm from tank alone constitutes a valid situation for police involvement.
the fact that he has in the past violently assaulted her only strengthens the case that her 911 call is legitimate
Selkie HAD TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL after that “shoving”. There’s a reason the nurse called; there’s no way that ISN’T bodily harm. She could’ve gotten hurt worse, too.
Honestly? Almost all of the adults seem competent at their jobs. While Professor Trunchbull needs a refresher on child psych, da Hobbit is the only one who seems to be bad at his job.
Yeah, ok, I was being a little sarcastic. But Principal Hobbit really is bad at his job, and Trunchbull is kind of a lousy parent, so that’s at least two.
i’ve seen it a few times when i was in the military, the guy’s not really “bad” at his job, it’s just that he’s “risen to his level of incompetence” as the saying goes. meaning that he was good enough maybe even great at his prior job, probably as being a vice-principal, good enough that the school system wanted to keep him around and so he got promoted… not a bad decision in and of itself, it’s just that he’s just flat out NOT a good fit for BEING the HCIC, he NEEDS someone over him to vet his decisions (or lack thereof). unfortunately, the only ones over him now are the school board and they’re a remote entity, that only get the reports and such after the fact… it won’t help him get things going the right way again… and NOW with the DCFS (and whatever district 322 is) involved, nah i foresee either him taking an admin leave/sabbatical with transfer to another school entirely with possible demotion to VP again if they think they can salvage him as a staff member, or, more likely getting asked to retire without all the scandal a Firing would cause, and if he’s too stupid to see that, then he’ll get fired… with Scott not pressing charges, and Trunchbull getting his nose rubbed in it, he’ll not want to make waves either, so the matter will hopefully get dropped quietly, though it won’t make for a good comic, so…
And I took Todd´s words to mean he wasn´t pressing charges against Truck… if he hears that police is investigating the Principal´s actions, I think he just might decide to press charges against HIM for endangering his kid.
…I find myself feeling a bit sorry for the principal. I mean, we know he screwed up before, but HE also knows it. All we’ve seen him doing “today” is being a stickler for the rules, and in his mood at the time I can kinda understand the way he was going about it. It would be nice to see what he’s thinking of doing to remedy the situation to whatever degree he can.
Now I have to ask myself if I’m a sucker, because I’ve BEEN the kid with the inept principal who didn’t do jack squat when he should have. Such a difference when the unpleasant guy has admitted he should have probably handled things differently.
I’ve been that kid too, unfortunately. Except it was an Assistant Principal that was inept and she ended up getting fired because of how she handled things after my mom reported it to the district as well as the Principal… It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that somebody who was negligent like that didn’t just get away with it.
We also pressed charges against the kid who attacked me and we ended up settling out of court since I didn’t fight back. Most of the time, people get what is coming to them.
The principal’s plan was to send all the witnesses away, so it’d just be him, the Professor, and Truck. He didn’t know Todd was coming. And his comment in #474 (“Whatever is going on with Selkie …” makes it clear he considered Selkie the problem, not Truck.
Whatever happens now, he definitely deserves.
“I mean, we know he screwed up before, but HE also knows it.”
In my experience, it’s much better to not replace someone who genuinely realizes their mistakes and attempts to make up for them, instead of constantly replacing them with people who don’t know to not make the same mistakes, or go and make even worse mistakes because they are even less experienced.
But sometimes mistakes are made because of character flaws, not inexperience. Maybe the mistake was genuinely not malicious, but gross negligence is gross negligence.
The problem though isn’t that he knew he screwed up and tried to make up for it. He knew he screwed up and started trying to cover up his error and Truck’s behavior. This isn’t a man that deserves that position and the longer he’s there, the worse for the kids it’ll be.
ANY principal or teacher that lets a child get hurt or unjustly punished through cowardice deserves to get the book dropped on him from a high place. There is no excuse for this. Truck should have been suspended long ago.
So it’s not an acronym for something else, perhaps internet or popular culture related, with which I am unfamiliar. That was the whole point of the question.
It’s stated in the series, actually! The “G” stands for “Garbage”, although I believe that Zim was told by the Tallest that it stands for “Great” or something like that. I think it stands for “Garbage” because Gir is actually made out of (among other parts) a garbage can that the rest of the parts happened to be stored in.
Alternately, his function was primarily garbage disposal, rather than information retrieval.
actually speaking of abuse, i’m kind of worried about truck and the professor. the prof strikes me as someone who could easily take discipline in a bad direction while equallyeas ily justifying it to himself. that could explain some aspects of truck’s behavior. if that is true, truck’s publicly embarrassing his father and, probably worse, proving him wrong could easily take a tragic turn.
This is what made me nervous when he started screaming in his child’s face. We already know he is not a sensible man and that he lets his emotions rule him.(Kicked out of the Sarnothi project) I really hope Truck doesnt return to school with bruises, though emotional abuse is just as bad and leaves no obvious marks.
In all fairness, I’m not sure the principal KNEW she was in the hospital – she got suspended and taken home, then declined into severe illness at her grandparents’. All he knows is what we knew at the time – Truck shook her and she kicked him in the nuts. Most principals wouldn’t suspend a child for shaking someone by the arms, but for kicking, yes. We didn’t know about the deadly consequences until Agent Brown revealed them.
Upon being told a student was in the emergency room he surmised that it was Selkie. He knew she was in the hospital the whole time or else she wouldn’t have been his first guess.
Were you reading the same strip as us? Because Thomas picked her up and slammed Selkie against a brick wall. It was a simple grab her arms and shake her. Also she had to be rushed to the nurses office so I think the principle put 2 and 2 together. https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie312/
Yah, I was reading that part very closely because it looked a lot worse at first. You’ll note in the comic you linked, she is not slammed against the wall but shaken back and forth in front of it. There’s a window behind her, she’d have gone through the glass if she were close enough and she wouldn’t have been conscious to kick him if she were hitting bricks. By the time the teachers get there, they see Truck shaking a very pale Selkie who then goes incoherent/passes out. He didn’t give her a concussion, bruises, or break any bones, just shook out her heating pads. Therefore the school nurse has nothing to go on as far as documenting the fight and reviewing injuries with the principal. Considering she isn’t quite human, being a lighter shade of periwinkle might not have clued them in to the life/death situation.
LeDayz –
I’m sure the principal did know, because at the least the teachers knew and if the teachers know, then the principal does. Refers back to the comic where the kids were informed that Selkie was in hospital after they said that she lied about that. More than that Truck knew it.
I hope the principal gets the book thrown at him. And the confluence of Selkie calling 911, and the officer coming to investigate abuse of Selkie is just beautiful!
After reading these comments, I can only come to the conclusion that you people are utter psychos. Damn the circustances, hang everybody who even looked at you wrong! That’s the Selkie way, it seems…
Truck did more than “look at Selkie wrong”. He assaulted her. If Truck was an adult, he would be on his way to jail now. And the person in authority, who is supposed to protect her, did nothing. Selkie’s actions (including the 911 call) are totally justified.
She nearly died from the assault too. Some places might even hit the kid with attempted murder charges.(Where I live they would sure try).
Of course I am a firm believer that bulling is not natural and should be treated as severe as it is. I guess I must be biased and insane to think that is is inappropriate to ignore violence. After all I only know too well that when you ignore it now it only escalate in the future.
Everyone know that kids who hurt animals grow up to be violent why do they ignore kids who hurt other smaller kids?
She got sick from the cold because she was shaken – and, as a result, the heat-packs which had been given to her to make sure that her core body temperature didn’t drop low enough to be a danger to her, were shaken out of her clothing. They’re actually shown falling out of her jacket and onto the snow when Truck shakes her.
Plus, being shaken is not good for people! Especially not when you’re shaking them like a rag doll – which Truck was. It does all kinds of bad things to the brain if it gets shaken around like that.
Basically: the duty nurse did the right thing. Kid came in with injuries that needed emergency care, injuries she got at her school. In that situation? You report it to the proper authorities to make sure that someone looks into what the heck happened and makes sure that it wasn’t an adult who did it and that the situation won’t repeat itself.
Especially for a young kid whose skull is most likely still developing, as is her brain! (Though we don’t know a ton about sarnothi biology in that respect, I suppose) She could’ve gotten a concussion, easy- and if she hit the wall, which is ambiguously possible given the art, it could have been even worse.
Skull is still developing?? How the hell young do you think these kids are?? Does there need to be any more proof you people have no idea what you’re talking about?
i think its you who dont know what your talking about the human skull does not completely knit together until around the age of 20 so unless they are significantly older then we think they are their skulls are still developing. not to mention the fleshy bits inside which don’t entirely finish developing till the mid 20’s regalli’s comment is right on the mark and concussions can cause severe damage to developing brains
Interesting. When that strip came out, in the comments I said that I’d have Truck charged with assault and battery, and attempted murder (hell, he almost killed her). The responses said that I was foolish (to be kind). What kind of fool would charge a CHILD with attempted murder. HE’S ONLY EIGHT.
And she was still ALMOST KILLED. I guess that you, also, are a parent? Seems to make a difference, if you can put yourself in the other’s place.
After reading your comment, I can only come to the conclusion that “Someone” includes trolling among their hobbies. They’ve argued the same point five-six threads back. It’s been pointed out to them that Truck’s actions were the cause of Selkie’s illness. Every time someone’s said that, Someone’s gone back to repeating “it was the cold, not being shaken.”
One wonders why so serious on defending a boy who physically abuses other children.
As to ignoring facts, I don’t think Dave is the one doing that.
hmmm, possibly this arc is hitting a bit too close to home, maybe? and that individual is seeing the rest of the public’s opinion on stuff that may or may not have happened to/done by that individual and they don’t like to be thought of in that light?
I find amusement that supposedly attacking people for looking at you funny is the Selkie way when it’s Truck’s policy. Trolls will be trolls though, idiotic, pointless, and foolish children that just want to appear important.
The dude you’re replying to is trolling. Look up the definition of a word before you toss it around on people who don’t share your opinion. Crazy people…
Why is HE the one trolling? YOU’RE the one who keeps saying it was the cold and not the shaking whereas the shaking was why she got cold! Simple cause and effect, if Truck had not shaken Silkie, she would not have ended up in the hospital.
Is this in Canada? Because that is apparently a benefit for not having socialized health care. We already feel enough entitlement. We don’t need more excuses.
Ha, I had to go back through the archives to figure out who the freaky-looking guy arguing with the receptionist was, and realized he’s just an extra. https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie366/ For some reason his appearance made me think of some evil general.
I also realized, while going through the archives that about the time Amanda was demanding Heather apologize to HER (after hitting her) was very close to the time Trunchbull was telling Todd he expected Selkie to apologize to his son Truck. As the viewing audience I bet we were feeling really worked up back then. This satisfaction was a long time in coming.
Truck am still be taken by Officer Martin Truck was the one you got selkie sick and put her in the hospital and Principal Ashton is going to have to tell what happen and tell what Truck did what do your guy think is going to happen.
Eh, judging by the local trends… He might get away with a board hearing and a few threats if he seems repentant. If he tries to feign stupidity then there will probably be a paid suspension. If they take it seriously, paid suspension and a trial. And if Selkie’s race factors in, he may actually be fired, do jail time, or even disappear.
Remember, school boards like to look the other way on these things, as knowledge that they hired someone who allows kids to be hurt can easily lead to elections going against them. And any attempt to punish him would most certainly become public and bring attention to who hired him. Yeah, it makes little sense. But people aren’t logical. They are always looking to blame other people instead of fixing the problem.
Tricky call. If a normal person got dumped in the snow and arrived at the hospital with hypothermia, I expect the officer filing the report would still refer to it as “injury.”
It’s not perfectly accurate, sure, but it expresses “harm caused by another” in a way that’s more accurate to the situation than the word “illness.” And it’s likely that the “someone else caused her sudden drop in core body temp” came out in the discussion of Selkie’s condition at the hospital.
I guess so. But I went back to the comic where they go into the hospital (https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie366/). The nurse shown here is the one at the front desk of the ER, and all they said to her was that they were there for Dr. De’Madiea. How did she figure that Selkie was there because of ‘injuries’ (Selkie is coughing), or where or how it happened. The only people in the room at the hospital when Todd talked about it were him, Selkie, the doctor, the grandparents, and Agent Brown. How did the nurse find out?
Maybe she’s also feeding information to whatever agency Agent Brown works for. It’s not entirely unreasonable to expect either agents or informants for the Agency to be working in the same hospital as a Sarnothi doctor. It’s also not unreasonable to expect a call to Agent Brown (or one of his peers) when a Sarnothi child is brought in… that might result in the “suggestion” of contacting local authorities in order to keep the Agency officially out of it.
I’m getting a sense that people are mis-remembering what happened here. Posters above are saying that Truck put Selkie into the hospital and that he almost killed her. What I remember is that she got taken to Emerg because they didn’t know what was going wrong with her and that she almost went into hibernation, not that she almost died. She ended up with a bad cold too, but I don’t feel Truck should be held responsible for that.
My kudos to the nurse. She spotted two risk factors for abuse: 1.) Child is adopted and 2.) Child is differently… um, speciesed. And so she did an end run around the MIB in case they were too busy keeping secrets to make sure that the patient was protected.
I don’t think a drop in core body temperature causes hibernation for sarnothi. I think it causes a pneumonia-equivalent, a loss of energy, and in severe cases, death. Basically the kinds of things that happen to humans if hypothermia sets in and our core body temperature manages to drop in spite of our warm-bloodedness.
Truck’s clearly more of a kid than he was presented as earlier, and obviously he didn’t know how much danger he was putting Selkie in by shaking her that way. He may even have thought this was the gentler approach – comparing it with hitting, in his head. But his actions did send her to the hospital and she was in real danger.
I recall Dr. Pohl telling Todd and his parents that Selkie simply has a bad cold. However, with everyone other than Pohl being unfamiliar with Selkie´s physiology, OF COURSE they panicked -and frankly, I´m not sure that, where your kid´s health is concerned, “when in doubt, panic and take her to a doctor” is a bad thing.
The duty nurse probably only knew that (1) a kid´s health was bad enough that her dad and grandparents are taking her to the hospital (rather than a general practitioner) and (2) it was the result of the kid being assaulted at school. So without knowing Selkie and getting a good look at her condition, it seems reasonable for the nurse to assume that somebody at school had beaten Selkie to a pulp.
So, both decisions were made on insufficient information, but in both cases, responsible adults erred on the side of safety for the kid. I would wish that all adults did so…
Also, no disregarding the fact that Selkie is kinda blue-colored. Normal for a sarnothi, but decidedly NOT normal for humans. What if she nurse thought she was human and had been beaten black and blue? Minor possibility, but existent nonetheless.
as I said previously, the principal had an incident at his school, regardless of how he handled it, he was legally obligated to report the incident to the police, his failure to do so is now a case of child neglect through inaction and worsened by the fact that he covered it up to the best of his knowledge. the fact that he was continuously covering up multiple cases to protect one child adds more to his list of offenses, each incident being a separate offense, coupled with the wrongful termination suites that he should be having against him, the principle is royal ♂+♀ed and this is without the agents input, add to the fact that Selkie was involved with those incidents,,, well, people go missing for un-suspicious, non-mysterious reasons all the time now don’t they? in short CALLED IT!
Thought I’d just give my opinion on a couple of things.
I know we’re all angry at truck, and I do not approve of his actions or the attitude he takes toward others in the slightest, but I would prefer to see him change his ways than “get what’s coming to him” and keep this attitude through life. I won’t deny that the idea of a bully facing serious consequences has appeal. I don’t have any illusions that he will become a great friend to Selkie or even start being less of a jerk any time soon. I do, however, think that he could learn which of his behaviors are inappropriate if his parents now pay closer attention and reinforce the idea that these behaviors are wrong rather than acting like people who suggest that he did something wrong are personally attacking them.
The things Truck did were wrong, his attitude toward others is unacceptable and would be terrifying if it lasted through to adulthood, and the negative impact he’s had on the happiness and well-being of other children has made me furious. However, you have to take into account that he is a child who has had very little encouragement to learn the delicate art of understanding how hiss actions affect others beyond how their affects on others affect him (if that makes sense). This does not justify anything he’s done, but it does mean there’s still a chance for him to learn to be a better person. He probably won’t enjoy it one bit, and it may not have the same sense of satisfaction that comes from watching a villain fall, but I think it will be better for everyone in the long run.
If he changes, he will no longer be a threat to those around him. If he changes, the other children won’t have to be afraid of him anymore (I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the children were at least slightly wary of him, given that he pushed his own friend down and had no better explanation for it than that he doesn’t know how to rein himself in he’s mad). If he changes, he will not go on to continue causing hurt and fear in others because he will have learned to be content without doing so. If he changes, he will one day become an adult who can function normally in society.
I don’t like Truck. I don’t like him at all. Even if he does change, I probably still won’t like him and I doubt Selkie ever will either. There’s too much bad blood, and the shadow of who he used to be and what he put her through will probably never fade enough for her to regard him with anything better than neutrality. However, I would prefer a Tommy that learns what is and isn’t appropriate, becomes functional in normal society, and goes on to live a normal happy life without doing harm to others over one that keeps his current outlook, never learns how to function without a sword to hang over everyone’s heads, and continues to lower the quality of life of everyone he comes into contact with.
I am hopeful that Professor Trunchbull will behave more reasonably, now that he’s been forced to face the reality of the situation. I don’t expect him to become an ally (or at least not a strong one). I doubt I will ever actually like him (his prejudice against the sarnothi made me want to reach through the fourth wall and punch him, and I dislike his refusal to even make the attempt to listen objectively), but if he could at least stop defaulting to antagonizing people I would be content with that. I’m not going to say he has the kind of potential for change that his son might, but I am holding out hope that the reason we’ve only seen unreasonable behavior from him is that we’ve only seen him when he’s worried about his son and not wanting to believe that his child is a bully. It would be a very difficult thing to accept that one’s child has that kind of problem. It doesn’t justify his actions, particularly not his attempts to vilify Selkie, but it opens the possibility of him acting differently. I’m just hoping his problem is that he’s only human, rather than that he’s a complete monster.
In regards to the principal, I’ve seen a lot of gleeful cackling at the prospect of him getting what’s coming to him. I don’t like him either. The man failed at his duty of protecting the children he’s responsible for. What’s more, he chose that failing because he thought that the parent of the child who needed protection was less likely to cause trouble for him than the parents of the aggressor. The man did not fulfill his responsibility and there is no excuse. I don’t think we’re likely to see significant change from him because he is not a child and he was consciously aware of each bad decision he made and all of the relevant factors. That being said, I’m not calling for his blood or his suffering (tempting though it may be to some deep, dark part of my mind), I just want to see him removed from the equation and replaced by someone who will make better decisions.
Another commenter mentioned that problems could arise from firing people who made mistakes and learned from them, then hiring inexperienced people who also didn’t know better than to make the same mistake. I agree that that could be a problem, but I don’t think it applies to the principal here. He didn’t make a mistake, he made a calculated decision to let his students fear for their safety so that he wouldn’t have to fear for his job, and we still haven’t seen any signs of repentance from him. He may not have enjoyed making the bad decisions, but he acts as if they were something he had to do rather than something he shouldn’t have done.
I realize that a lot people probably don’t possess the courage to potentially sacrifice their own employment for the sake of other people’s children, and that there might never have been a problem if a situation that played on that weakness hadn’t arisen, but it did happen and there are no guarantees that it won’t again. I won’t request a pound of flesh from him, but I don’t see a way for him to improve and I don’t want to see a repeat performance.
I’ve also seen a lot of stuff about agent brown coming to the rescue, and I’ll admit it is tempting to imagine a protector with a high level of authority delivering justice, but I think it might be for the best best that it didn’t happen that way. If I’m understanding things correctly from this page https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie373/ Selkie is something like a test case to see if Sarnothi orphans can be offered refuge through the existing care system. This being the case, the issue being resolved through mundane methods without requiring Agent Brown’s interference will probably bode much better for others like Selkie.
Regarding the comic link you posted: Thinking about it now, I wonder where those other Sarnothi children are and if any of them will eventually enter the story.
Would have been better if the song was ‘Mariner’s revenge’ by the Decemberists. There’s a wonderful line in it.
“Find him, find him
Tie him to a pole and break
His fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he
Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling
Of his grave”
I am cackling loudly at this.
THIS.
THIS is beautiful.
Oh hells yes! Thank you, thank you! you are going to get what’s coming to you for you cowardice! Rock in a hard place or not he chose to help the bully rather then the victim believing it would be the easiest rout for him. I feel nothing but joy at this page.
This statement echoes my feelings exactly.
Seconded. Did a little victory dance in real life when I realized what the page was saying. 😀
Suddenly, Officer Martin realizes that Selkie may have been justified in calling 911 after all. And I’m sensing a new principal for the school pretty soon.
Exactly. I mean, I don’t think Selkie was as consciously aware of it the way we are, but calling the police was actually justified, and certainly not a false call. This is now a history of violence from a student, as well as a failure on the adult’s part to handle LEGAL OBLIGATION to report abuse. The authorities tend to frown on an adult deliberately concealing abuse that he was fully aware was happening.
If she didn’t call, the officer would’ve shown up anyway. However, the conversation wouldn’t have gone the way it will go now.
See, the actual call from Selkie wasn’t justified at all. Bullying at that age never results to prison, and can’t be considered a life threatening emergency.
HOWEVER: because Officer Martin now knows the 911 caller is the very same victim for whom a ‘potential abuse case’ was already reported, he will not brush her off as a prank caller, and will probably get to the bottom of this.
I foresee a small talk with Officer Martin, Todd and Selkie about not calling 911 lightly, but with Officer Martin saying he understands why she did it.
Well, let me say that there has been a case in Mexico where bulling actually did kill a kid. It happened in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, Mexico, the 15th of May, I believe. The kid died the 20th of May. He was bullied by a bunch of 12 or 13 year olds. The other kids hit him in the head against a wall.
That’s not bullying anymore, that’s assault and battery.
Truck only pushed and shoved, and when 911 is called with the report “I’m being bullied”, they won’t do shit. They will only respond when there’s a call about bodily harm. So it’s not the act of bullying that’s punishable, but the result it can bring.
being pushed and shoved still constitutes assault. from the america heritage dictionary assault: 1. a violent physical or verbal attack.
2.an unlawful threat or attempt to do bodily injury to another.
3. the crime of rape
pushing and shoving someone definitely is a physical attack selkie in fear of bodily harm from tank alone constitutes a valid situation for police involvement.
the fact that he has in the past violently assaulted her only strengthens the case that her 911 call is legitimate
Selkie HAD TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL after that “shoving”. There’s a reason the nurse called; there’s no way that ISN’T bodily harm. She could’ve gotten hurt worse, too.
Picking up and shaking in a manner that could potentially cause injury . That is assault
What? An adult who was competent at her job? That’s a new one. 🙂
Honestly? Almost all of the adults seem competent at their jobs. While Professor Trunchbull needs a refresher on child psych, da Hobbit is the only one who seems to be bad at his job.
And it looks like even he won’t be bad at his job for much longer!
Because it won’t be his job.
Yeah, ok, I was being a little sarcastic. But Principal Hobbit really is bad at his job, and Trunchbull is kind of a lousy parent, so that’s at least two.
i’ve seen it a few times when i was in the military, the guy’s not really “bad” at his job, it’s just that he’s “risen to his level of incompetence” as the saying goes. meaning that he was good enough maybe even great at his prior job, probably as being a vice-principal, good enough that the school system wanted to keep him around and so he got promoted… not a bad decision in and of itself, it’s just that he’s just flat out NOT a good fit for BEING the HCIC, he NEEDS someone over him to vet his decisions (or lack thereof). unfortunately, the only ones over him now are the school board and they’re a remote entity, that only get the reports and such after the fact… it won’t help him get things going the right way again… and NOW with the DCFS (and whatever district 322 is) involved, nah i foresee either him taking an admin leave/sabbatical with transfer to another school entirely with possible demotion to VP again if they think they can salvage him as a staff member, or, more likely getting asked to retire without all the scandal a Firing would cause, and if he’s too stupid to see that, then he’ll get fired… with Scott not pressing charges, and Trunchbull getting his nose rubbed in it, he’ll not want to make waves either, so the matter will hopefully get dropped quietly, though it won’t make for a good comic, so…
Scott? You mean Todd, I assume?
And I took Todd´s words to mean he wasn´t pressing charges against Truck… if he hears that police is investigating the Principal´s actions, I think he just might decide to press charges against HIM for endangering his kid.
And it’s a clean sweep!
*cackles maniacally* I love the secretary.
I saw this coming the last few updates but still am so happy it did happen.
…I find myself feeling a bit sorry for the principal. I mean, we know he screwed up before, but HE also knows it. All we’ve seen him doing “today” is being a stickler for the rules, and in his mood at the time I can kinda understand the way he was going about it. It would be nice to see what he’s thinking of doing to remedy the situation to whatever degree he can.
Now I have to ask myself if I’m a sucker, because I’ve BEEN the kid with the inept principal who didn’t do jack squat when he should have. Such a difference when the unpleasant guy has admitted he should have probably handled things differently.
I’ve been that kid too, unfortunately. Except it was an Assistant Principal that was inept and she ended up getting fired because of how she handled things after my mom reported it to the district as well as the Principal… It’s a wonderful feeling knowing that somebody who was negligent like that didn’t just get away with it.
We also pressed charges against the kid who attacked me and we ended up settling out of court since I didn’t fight back. Most of the time, people get what is coming to them.
The principal’s plan was to send all the witnesses away, so it’d just be him, the Professor, and Truck. He didn’t know Todd was coming. And his comment in #474 (“Whatever is going on with Selkie …” makes it clear he considered Selkie the problem, not Truck.
Whatever happens now, he definitely deserves.
“I mean, we know he screwed up before, but HE also knows it.”
In my experience, it’s much better to not replace someone who genuinely realizes their mistakes and attempts to make up for them, instead of constantly replacing them with people who don’t know to not make the same mistakes, or go and make even worse mistakes because they are even less experienced.
But sometimes mistakes are made because of character flaws, not inexperience. Maybe the mistake was genuinely not malicious, but gross negligence is gross negligence.
The problem though isn’t that he knew he screwed up and tried to make up for it. He knew he screwed up and started trying to cover up his error and Truck’s behavior. This isn’t a man that deserves that position and the longer he’s there, the worse for the kids it’ll be.
Reality Ensues meets Adults are useless aka criminal negligence. Well done.
Officer Martin would have you know that he, too, is an adult, and not useless at all. 😉
ANY principal or teacher that lets a child get hurt or unjustly punished through cowardice deserves to get the book dropped on him from a high place. There is no excuse for this. Truck should have been suspended long ago.
G.I.R.? Is that like Gir from Invader Zim?
G.I.R. & Gir are one in the same.
Most people spell it out as a word, instead of the acronym it is (though nobody knows what the G stands for)
Well, he’s a malfunctioning S.I.R. (Standard-issue Information Retrieval) robot so I always figured the “G” was part of his malfunction.
I always figured the G stood for glitchy.
So it’s not an acronym for something else, perhaps internet or popular culture related, with which I am unfamiliar. That was the whole point of the question.
It’s stated in the series, actually! The “G” stands for “Garbage”, although I believe that Zim was told by the Tallest that it stands for “Great” or something like that. I think it stands for “Garbage” because Gir is actually made out of (among other parts) a garbage can that the rest of the parts happened to be stored in.
Alternately, his function was primarily garbage disposal, rather than information retrieval.
um… where did that come up?
actually speaking of abuse, i’m kind of worried about truck and the professor. the prof strikes me as someone who could easily take discipline in a bad direction while equallyeas ily justifying it to himself. that could explain some aspects of truck’s behavior. if that is true, truck’s publicly embarrassing his father and, probably worse, proving him wrong could easily take a tragic turn.
This is what made me nervous when he started screaming in his child’s face. We already know he is not a sensible man and that he lets his emotions rule him.(Kicked out of the Sarnothi project) I really hope Truck doesnt return to school with bruises, though emotional abuse is just as bad and leaves no obvious marks.
That’s why I said a few panels back that I’d feel sorry for Truck later… because I have still got the feeling that this is going to be a concern.
In all fairness, I’m not sure the principal KNEW she was in the hospital – she got suspended and taken home, then declined into severe illness at her grandparents’. All he knows is what we knew at the time – Truck shook her and she kicked him in the nuts. Most principals wouldn’t suspend a child for shaking someone by the arms, but for kicking, yes. We didn’t know about the deadly consequences until Agent Brown revealed them.
Upon being told a student was in the emergency room he surmised that it was Selkie. He knew she was in the hospital the whole time or else she wouldn’t have been his first guess.
Were you reading the same strip as us? Because Thomas picked her up and slammed Selkie against a brick wall. It was a simple grab her arms and shake her. Also she had to be rushed to the nurses office so I think the principle put 2 and 2 together.
https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie312/
Don’t forget the severe hypothermia – they saw her when she was brought in.
Yah, I was reading that part very closely because it looked a lot worse at first. You’ll note in the comic you linked, she is not slammed against the wall but shaken back and forth in front of it. There’s a window behind her, she’d have gone through the glass if she were close enough and she wouldn’t have been conscious to kick him if she were hitting bricks. By the time the teachers get there, they see Truck shaking a very pale Selkie who then goes incoherent/passes out. He didn’t give her a concussion, bruises, or break any bones, just shook out her heating pads. Therefore the school nurse has nothing to go on as far as documenting the fight and reviewing injuries with the principal. Considering she isn’t quite human, being a lighter shade of periwinkle might not have clued them in to the life/death situation.
LeDayz –
I’m sure the principal did know, because at the least the teachers knew and if the teachers know, then the principal does. Refers back to the comic where the kids were informed that Selkie was in hospital after they said that she lied about that. More than that Truck knew it.
I hope the principal gets the book thrown at him. And the confluence of Selkie calling 911, and the officer coming to investigate abuse of Selkie is just beautiful!
That’s it. Put him on the hot seat. Better than the charges the teachers were going to bring…
I’m not sure why, but I think Creature Feature is more apropos to the situation than pirate music.
I called it! Lisa loves the song she does!
After reading these comments, I can only come to the conclusion that you people are utter psychos. Damn the circustances, hang everybody who even looked at you wrong! That’s the Selkie way, it seems…
Truck did more than “look at Selkie wrong”. He assaulted her. If Truck was an adult, he would be on his way to jail now. And the person in authority, who is supposed to protect her, did nothing. Selkie’s actions (including the 911 call) are totally justified.
Indeed. I wonder if Mister Trunchbull is not getting out of this without punishment? But what would he be charged with?
Bullying teachers/assistants into staying silent – “intimidating witnesses” comes to mind – about the real nature of the incident.
She nearly died from the assault too. Some places might even hit the kid with attempted murder charges.(Where I live they would sure try).
Of course I am a firm believer that bulling is not natural and should be treated as severe as it is. I guess I must be biased and insane to think that is is inappropriate to ignore violence. After all I only know too well that when you ignore it now it only escalate in the future.
Everyone know that kids who hurt animals grow up to be violent why do they ignore kids who hurt other smaller kids?
she got sick from the cold, being shaken by a boy is secondary. the fact that the author even ignores this fact is mind boggling.
She got sick from the cold because she was shaken – and, as a result, the heat-packs which had been given to her to make sure that her core body temperature didn’t drop low enough to be a danger to her, were shaken out of her clothing. They’re actually shown falling out of her jacket and onto the snow when Truck shakes her.
Plus, being shaken is not good for people! Especially not when you’re shaking them like a rag doll – which Truck was. It does all kinds of bad things to the brain if it gets shaken around like that.
Basically: the duty nurse did the right thing. Kid came in with injuries that needed emergency care, injuries she got at her school. In that situation? You report it to the proper authorities to make sure that someone looks into what the heck happened and makes sure that it wasn’t an adult who did it and that the situation won’t repeat itself.
Especially for a young kid whose skull is most likely still developing, as is her brain! (Though we don’t know a ton about sarnothi biology in that respect, I suppose) She could’ve gotten a concussion, easy- and if she hit the wall, which is ambiguously possible given the art, it could have been even worse.
Skull is still developing?? How the hell young do you think these kids are?? Does there need to be any more proof you people have no idea what you’re talking about?
i think its you who dont know what your talking about the human skull does not completely knit together until around the age of 20 so unless they are significantly older then we think they are their skulls are still developing. not to mention the fleshy bits inside which don’t entirely finish developing till the mid 20’s regalli’s comment is right on the mark and concussions can cause severe damage to developing brains
Interesting. When that strip came out, in the comments I said that I’d have Truck charged with assault and battery, and attempted murder (hell, he almost killed her). The responses said that I was foolish (to be kind). What kind of fool would charge a CHILD with attempted murder. HE’S ONLY EIGHT.
And she was still ALMOST KILLED. I guess that you, also, are a parent? Seems to make a difference, if you can put yourself in the other’s place.
After reading your comment, I can only come to the conclusion that “Someone” includes trolling among their hobbies. They’ve argued the same point five-six threads back. It’s been pointed out to them that Truck’s actions were the cause of Selkie’s illness. Every time someone’s said that, Someone’s gone back to repeating “it was the cold, not being shaken.”
One wonders why so serious on defending a boy who physically abuses other children.
As to ignoring facts, I don’t think Dave is the one doing that.
hmmm, possibly this arc is hitting a bit too close to home, maybe? and that individual is seeing the rest of the public’s opinion on stuff that may or may not have happened to/done by that individual and they don’t like to be thought of in that light?
I find amusement that supposedly attacking people for looking at you funny is the Selkie way when it’s Truck’s policy. Trolls will be trolls though, idiotic, pointless, and foolish children that just want to appear important.
The dude you’re replying to is trolling. Look up the definition of a word before you toss it around on people who don’t share your opinion. Crazy people…
Why is HE the one trolling? YOU’RE the one who keeps saying it was the cold and not the shaking whereas the shaking was why she got cold! Simple cause and effect, if Truck had not shaken Silkie, she would not have ended up in the hospital.
Is this in Canada? Because that is apparently a benefit for not having socialized health care. We already feel enough entitlement. We don’t need more excuses.
This takes place in Wisconsin, which has been… slow on the ObamaCare uptake.
Ha, I had to go back through the archives to figure out who the freaky-looking guy arguing with the receptionist was, and realized he’s just an extra. https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie366/ For some reason his appearance made me think of some evil general.
I also realized, while going through the archives that about the time Amanda was demanding Heather apologize to HER (after hitting her) was very close to the time Trunchbull was telling Todd he expected Selkie to apologize to his son Truck. As the viewing audience I bet we were feeling really worked up back then. This satisfaction was a long time in coming.
“DCFS” would be “Division of Child and Family Services” for those who are neither local nor have yet had any reason to commit the acronym to memory.
This politician in a principal’s job will have cause to remember it, I suspect/hope.
Argh I meant to mention that just in case. Thank you.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, VINDICATION!!!
(I’d say “sorry for yelling” if I was at all sorry and didn’t just do a victory dance in real life when reading this page. XD)
Truck am still be taken by Officer Martin Truck was the one you got selkie sick and put her in the hospital and Principal Ashton is going to have to tell what happen and tell what Truck did what do your guy think is going to happen.
Eh, judging by the local trends… He might get away with a board hearing and a few threats if he seems repentant. If he tries to feign stupidity then there will probably be a paid suspension. If they take it seriously, paid suspension and a trial. And if Selkie’s race factors in, he may actually be fired, do jail time, or even disappear.
Remember, school boards like to look the other way on these things, as knowledge that they hired someone who allows kids to be hurt can easily lead to elections going against them. And any attempt to punish him would most certainly become public and bring attention to who hired him. Yeah, it makes little sense. But people aren’t logical. They are always looking to blame other people instead of fixing the problem.
? I’m confused, Selkie was admitted to the hospital for illness, not injuries. Did I miss something?
Tricky call. If a normal person got dumped in the snow and arrived at the hospital with hypothermia, I expect the officer filing the report would still refer to it as “injury.”
It’s not perfectly accurate, sure, but it expresses “harm caused by another” in a way that’s more accurate to the situation than the word “illness.” And it’s likely that the “someone else caused her sudden drop in core body temp” came out in the discussion of Selkie’s condition at the hospital.
I guess so. But I went back to the comic where they go into the hospital (https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie366/). The nurse shown here is the one at the front desk of the ER, and all they said to her was that they were there for Dr. De’Madiea. How did she figure that Selkie was there because of ‘injuries’ (Selkie is coughing), or where or how it happened. The only people in the room at the hospital when Todd talked about it were him, Selkie, the doctor, the grandparents, and Agent Brown. How did the nurse find out?
Maybe she’s also feeding information to whatever agency Agent Brown works for. It’s not entirely unreasonable to expect either agents or informants for the Agency to be working in the same hospital as a Sarnothi doctor. It’s also not unreasonable to expect a call to Agent Brown (or one of his peers) when a Sarnothi child is brought in… that might result in the “suggestion” of contacting local authorities in order to keep the Agency officially out of it.
I’m getting a sense that people are mis-remembering what happened here. Posters above are saying that Truck put Selkie into the hospital and that he almost killed her. What I remember is that she got taken to Emerg because they didn’t know what was going wrong with her and that she almost went into hibernation, not that she almost died. She ended up with a bad cold too, but I don’t feel Truck should be held responsible for that.
My kudos to the nurse. She spotted two risk factors for abuse: 1.) Child is adopted and 2.) Child is differently… um, speciesed. And so she did an end run around the MIB in case they were too busy keeping secrets to make sure that the patient was protected.
I don’t think a drop in core body temperature causes hibernation for sarnothi. I think it causes a pneumonia-equivalent, a loss of energy, and in severe cases, death. Basically the kinds of things that happen to humans if hypothermia sets in and our core body temperature manages to drop in spite of our warm-bloodedness.
Truck’s clearly more of a kid than he was presented as earlier, and obviously he didn’t know how much danger he was putting Selkie in by shaking her that way. He may even have thought this was the gentler approach – comparing it with hitting, in his head. But his actions did send her to the hospital and she was in real danger.
I recall Dr. Pohl telling Todd and his parents that Selkie simply has a bad cold. However, with everyone other than Pohl being unfamiliar with Selkie´s physiology, OF COURSE they panicked -and frankly, I´m not sure that, where your kid´s health is concerned, “when in doubt, panic and take her to a doctor” is a bad thing.
The duty nurse probably only knew that (1) a kid´s health was bad enough that her dad and grandparents are taking her to the hospital (rather than a general practitioner) and (2) it was the result of the kid being assaulted at school. So without knowing Selkie and getting a good look at her condition, it seems reasonable for the nurse to assume that somebody at school had beaten Selkie to a pulp.
So, both decisions were made on insufficient information, but in both cases, responsible adults erred on the side of safety for the kid. I would wish that all adults did so…
Also, no disregarding the fact that Selkie is kinda blue-colored. Normal for a sarnothi, but decidedly NOT normal for humans. What if she nurse thought she was human and had been beaten black and blue? Minor possibility, but existent nonetheless.
Not reporting gets you into more trouble than reporting.
YES!!!!!!!
I’m surprised the dad in panel 2 isn’t bleeding, since he’s been clubbed in the head.
That’s bad. 😀 Congratulations.
Well played! Love it! 🙂
Well! That certainly came back to bite him in a huge way.
as I said previously, the principal had an incident at his school, regardless of how he handled it, he was legally obligated to report the incident to the police, his failure to do so is now a case of child neglect through inaction and worsened by the fact that he covered it up to the best of his knowledge. the fact that he was continuously covering up multiple cases to protect one child adds more to his list of offenses, each incident being a separate offense, coupled with the wrongful termination suites that he should be having against him, the principle is royal ♂+♀ed and this is without the agents input, add to the fact that Selkie was involved with those incidents,,, well, people go missing for un-suspicious, non-mysterious reasons all the time now don’t they? in short CALLED IT!
Hundred bucks says the hobbit tries to spin this into Todd abusing Selkie.
Pay up, he looks WAY too guilt tripped for that.
Plus: Officer Martin clearly states the injuries were sustained at school. No way he can try to turn that around to Todd.
MuchachoNL, Hobbit may try anyway tho.
Aaron, I’m not gonna call a bet myself, but I’m personally afraid of the same thing you are. *bites nails*
Thought I’d just give my opinion on a couple of things.
I know we’re all angry at truck, and I do not approve of his actions or the attitude he takes toward others in the slightest, but I would prefer to see him change his ways than “get what’s coming to him” and keep this attitude through life. I won’t deny that the idea of a bully facing serious consequences has appeal. I don’t have any illusions that he will become a great friend to Selkie or even start being less of a jerk any time soon. I do, however, think that he could learn which of his behaviors are inappropriate if his parents now pay closer attention and reinforce the idea that these behaviors are wrong rather than acting like people who suggest that he did something wrong are personally attacking them.
The things Truck did were wrong, his attitude toward others is unacceptable and would be terrifying if it lasted through to adulthood, and the negative impact he’s had on the happiness and well-being of other children has made me furious. However, you have to take into account that he is a child who has had very little encouragement to learn the delicate art of understanding how hiss actions affect others beyond how their affects on others affect him (if that makes sense). This does not justify anything he’s done, but it does mean there’s still a chance for him to learn to be a better person. He probably won’t enjoy it one bit, and it may not have the same sense of satisfaction that comes from watching a villain fall, but I think it will be better for everyone in the long run.
If he changes, he will no longer be a threat to those around him. If he changes, the other children won’t have to be afraid of him anymore (I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the children were at least slightly wary of him, given that he pushed his own friend down and had no better explanation for it than that he doesn’t know how to rein himself in he’s mad). If he changes, he will not go on to continue causing hurt and fear in others because he will have learned to be content without doing so. If he changes, he will one day become an adult who can function normally in society.
I don’t like Truck. I don’t like him at all. Even if he does change, I probably still won’t like him and I doubt Selkie ever will either. There’s too much bad blood, and the shadow of who he used to be and what he put her through will probably never fade enough for her to regard him with anything better than neutrality. However, I would prefer a Tommy that learns what is and isn’t appropriate, becomes functional in normal society, and goes on to live a normal happy life without doing harm to others over one that keeps his current outlook, never learns how to function without a sword to hang over everyone’s heads, and continues to lower the quality of life of everyone he comes into contact with.
I am hopeful that Professor Trunchbull will behave more reasonably, now that he’s been forced to face the reality of the situation. I don’t expect him to become an ally (or at least not a strong one). I doubt I will ever actually like him (his prejudice against the sarnothi made me want to reach through the fourth wall and punch him, and I dislike his refusal to even make the attempt to listen objectively), but if he could at least stop defaulting to antagonizing people I would be content with that. I’m not going to say he has the kind of potential for change that his son might, but I am holding out hope that the reason we’ve only seen unreasonable behavior from him is that we’ve only seen him when he’s worried about his son and not wanting to believe that his child is a bully. It would be a very difficult thing to accept that one’s child has that kind of problem. It doesn’t justify his actions, particularly not his attempts to vilify Selkie, but it opens the possibility of him acting differently. I’m just hoping his problem is that he’s only human, rather than that he’s a complete monster.
In regards to the principal, I’ve seen a lot of gleeful cackling at the prospect of him getting what’s coming to him. I don’t like him either. The man failed at his duty of protecting the children he’s responsible for. What’s more, he chose that failing because he thought that the parent of the child who needed protection was less likely to cause trouble for him than the parents of the aggressor. The man did not fulfill his responsibility and there is no excuse. I don’t think we’re likely to see significant change from him because he is not a child and he was consciously aware of each bad decision he made and all of the relevant factors. That being said, I’m not calling for his blood or his suffering (tempting though it may be to some deep, dark part of my mind), I just want to see him removed from the equation and replaced by someone who will make better decisions.
Another commenter mentioned that problems could arise from firing people who made mistakes and learned from them, then hiring inexperienced people who also didn’t know better than to make the same mistake. I agree that that could be a problem, but I don’t think it applies to the principal here. He didn’t make a mistake, he made a calculated decision to let his students fear for their safety so that he wouldn’t have to fear for his job, and we still haven’t seen any signs of repentance from him. He may not have enjoyed making the bad decisions, but he acts as if they were something he had to do rather than something he shouldn’t have done.
I realize that a lot people probably don’t possess the courage to potentially sacrifice their own employment for the sake of other people’s children, and that there might never have been a problem if a situation that played on that weakness hadn’t arisen, but it did happen and there are no guarantees that it won’t again. I won’t request a pound of flesh from him, but I don’t see a way for him to improve and I don’t want to see a repeat performance.
I’ve also seen a lot of stuff about agent brown coming to the rescue, and I’ll admit it is tempting to imagine a protector with a high level of authority delivering justice, but I think it might be for the best best that it didn’t happen that way. If I’m understanding things correctly from this page https://selkiecomic.com/comic/selkie373/ Selkie is something like a test case to see if Sarnothi orphans can be offered refuge through the existing care system. This being the case, the issue being resolved through mundane methods without requiring Agent Brown’s interference will probably bode much better for others like Selkie.
Regarding the comic link you posted: Thinking about it now, I wonder where those other Sarnothi children are and if any of them will eventually enter the story.
Yeah, this was totally supposed to be a direct response to “somebody” … oops.
Would have been better if the song was ‘Mariner’s revenge’ by the Decemberists. There’s a wonderful line in it.
“Find him, find him
Tie him to a pole and break
His fingers to splinters
Drag him to a hole until he
Wakes up naked
Clawing at the ceiling
Of his grave”
And since Selkie is a Mariner. . . <3