Freedom of speech? Whatev's

[dark_blue_mania]

This is just ridiculous.  Who cares about the Constituion?  I guess it's more important to be sensitive.

Students Kicked off Campus for Wearing American Flag Tees

Even if they were doing it to be dicks (which I do believe was the intent), they still have the right.  Tinker v DesMoines resolved this issue 40 years ago.

Comments

[grumpymonkey]

Even if they were trying to be dicks... what right does the administration have to enforce SENSITIVITY? Hell, I HATE St. Patrick's Day, from many years of suffering Boston Irish telling me I was Irish one day a year. FUCK THAT. I'm Slavic/German 24/7/365. I don't wave it in others' faces, unless I'm told that somehow I'm not. Come Cinqo de Mayo, I'm not about to flaunt colors of another culture to be 'sensitive'. I'm not even going to give it any mind, because it's not MY culture.

What REALLY pisses me off about this sort of thing is how the article says they were punished for not being sensitive to the cultures of Mexican-AMERICANS. We're a melting pot, people! We're all American, so why should the flag offend? If you're celebrating your culture HERE, it's because you CAN celebrate it here and still be American. If anything, it should be viewed as a way for non-Mexican-Americans to show solidarity with them. I'd view it as "I'm not from your background, but we're all Americans"

[dark_blue_mania]

Schools can enforce dress codes, and they can bar someone from wearing symbols and images that could be viewed as something that would substantially interfere with school operations or harm the rights of other students. They could thinly stretch that to cover your shirt, since the word hate was blatantly right there, even though it was surely harmless.

Simply trying to avoid uncomfortableness or play down "unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint" is not justified. What clinches the situation here is that they were told that any other day the shirts would have been fine. It was "wrong" on this day because it could hurt other people's feelings. If fights had been broken out, specifically because of the shirts, then fine, they sort of have an excuse, but this is just bullshit.

[heart_of_stars]

Yeah, it sounded like a very lame, half-hearted attempt at the "Fire In A Crowded Theatre" exception to free speech. Ugh.

[thegreyeminence]

By the vice principal's logic, the UK should not fly the Union Jack on the 4th of July, lest it offend any expatriate Americans. The Fourth is a sensitive day too, you know.

“Nuh-uh, Britain, you don't get to fly your flag today. It offends me. Today.”