Turtleboy, You Are [not] My Hero

In a recent article posted by TurtleBoy- a former teacher who now lives and blogs from the safety of his home in Worcester, Massachusetts- the basis of privacy protection, journalistic integrity, and even human morality was completely thrown out the window. Aiden Kearney- colloquially known by his alias, “Turtleboy''- recently submitted an article in his online publication addressing the recent controversy surrounding a teacher at Melrose High School. 

The teacher, who teaches AP Seminar and Research, allegedly included a link in an assignment to their AP Research class containing an image of a female student in the class wearing a bathing suit. After the incident was reported to administration at the school, the principal and the staff released a school-wide email politely asking the student body to refrain from discussion on the topic. But Turtleboy saw this standardized email as a personal attack on the freedoms and First Amendment rights of every American citizen.

Let’s not beat around the bush here, Turtleboy’s article on the MHS teacher was unnecessary, ingenuine to the parties involved, and a slight to the due diligence of real journalists. He not only perpetuates false information surrounding the situation, but completely flips the content of the article on its head. Just take the title of the article: “Melrose High School Asks Parents Not To Talk About Library Teacher Who Sent Assignment With Hyperlink To Picture Of Student Wearing Bikini.” He doesn’t even do justice to the title of the article, nevermind justice to the situation by bringing to light the real and unembellished truth. He instead emphasizes the fact that the administration asked the student and parental body to refrain from discussion regarding the situation. Possibly one of the most moot points of arguments that came out of the whole debacle is that the administration was at fault for “censoring” the parent’s First Amendment rights. 

He didn't even get the facts right. TurtleBoy claims that, “Melrose High School has not suspended the teacher or even explained if any disciplinary action has been taken against [teacher].” This is, in fact, not true. At the moment, the “librarian” in question has not been in school for more than a week, has had their school-associated email and Instagram accounts deactivated*, and Mr. Merrill has publicly let the students know that the situation is still being investigated and that the staff and students will be updated once more facts are revealed.

Turtleboy’s next claim that, “...they [the administration] sent out an email asking parents not to talk about it at all.”, is also completely false. Turtleboy does graciously provide a screenshot of Principal Merrill’s email to the students/ parents, but then immediately goes on to paraphrase Merrill’s words saying, “Please do not discuss or share information about the incident so that we can cover this up and hope it goes away.” (Notice the use of quotations here). Turtleboy implies that this paraphrased quote was taken directly from the email and that the school’s administration was suggesting that they want to cover up this “mistake”, thus implying that they would come after any person who defies the school’s demands. In fact, the situation is still currently under investigation with no empirical evidence to even prove that the teacher even did it. How can Turtleboy, as an ex-teacher himself, reach the unequivocal notion that it was somehow the school’s fault for the alleged mistake of one of its staff members.

He even goes as far as to include pictures of the teacher and his LinkedIn, as well as taking the extra precaution to absolutely obliterate any privacy the victimized girl may have salvaged by adding a “redacted” video containing the link to her and her VSCO bikini-pose. This turtle scumbag has no regard for the privacy of others and their respective situations, and has utterly made a mockery of journalism and unbiased reporting. At the time of writing this, the article has more than 12,000 reads on his website, meaning that the teacher’s career, as well as the integrity of the student, is at risk or quite possibly abolished entirely.

This man and everything his website stands for essentially sums up the kinds of fake “news” we are constantly subject to in blogs and community pages with no filter whatsoever. This news publication is under the supervision of a man who was accused of posing as a rapist and murderer in order to send death-threats to his own children via Facebook.

So thank you, Turtleboy, for being the biggest fraud in Massachusetts. I guess this is what we can expect from a guy whose alias is based off of a statue of a child having sex with a turtle.

*At the time of publishing this article, the teacher’s email has been reactivated.