Wright's rights:
So, you’ve seen
those decals on the rear windows of cars – you know, the ones that show a Calvin (from
Calvin & Hobbs) look-alike peeing, usually with the utterance
“Fear This!” , or something equally inane, right?
Well there’s this intrepid dude, One Ted Wright, who sells “personalized” versions of this decal from a pushcart in our local mall. (Yeah, we’re a One-mall town.) Seems that there are some who find Calvin, wearing the logo of one local school, and pissing on the names of rival local schools… well, offensive.
Local educators are in a lather, they feel that it’s
wrong for Mr. Wright to be able to sell the offensive decals in the mall, and want to send him a-packing, so they’ve taken it upon themselves to challenge the right for Mr. Wright's right to sell them… and, you know… they’re gonna win!
Plattsburgh City Schools Superintendent Michelle Kavanaugh says
"I felt the sign offended our community values and undermines the hard work all schools are doing, and it also undermines our efforts under SAVE legislation to reduce actions of violence and disrespect between students…"
and
"We have no intent to run any vendor out of town as long as they understand there are clear values we are trying to teach our children…”
Compelling points, but I think that Mr. Wright also brings up a valid point, with his response…
"Isn’t freedom of speech taught at schools? Drugs and pornography offend me, but I don’t think this is offensive. It’s all in good fun." He also went on to say that School officials should worry about what is occurring in the classroom, instead of his stickers.
You can read the story - it’s Wright, er, I mean
Right Here.
So... does the general public have the right to run any merchant, whose wares they find offensive, out of a (privately-owned) mall?
If Mr. Wright gets booted from the mall, by mall officials, shouldn’t those same mall officials give the boot to other mall favorites – like
Spenser Gifts, bastion to such classics as canned farts, bullshit-repellent-in-a-can, candy pants and the ever-popular drinking boardgame
Pass-Out??
Who determines who gets the boot, and who stays???
But first, with regard to the graphic itself…
I just don’t get it.
I admit, I instantly (and probably unjustly) equate people who desire to display the pissing Calvin decal, right along with those who display their sense of “individuality” by displaying mud flaps with the silhouette of the impossibly-endowed naked women, baseball hats put on backward, guys with the way-baggy pants who wear the beltline at-or-near the knee line, and piercings in bizarre places, as all within the same “class” of person.
Without!
Absolutely clueless… But that’s just my opinion, and you won’t find me (publicly and overtly that is) trying to judge these folks for others… although I do tend to shake my head and mutter “whatever” a lot!
I actually feel kinda sorry for them – Man, they’re gonna look back some day and cringe!!
But, you know, these chaps add color to my day – I’d get bored to tears if everybody looked and dressed just like me... I've got that early-American-younger-old-fart look. You’ve seen me: Dockers pants, Stafford shirt, balding, middle-age spread – boring as hell!
Okay, Back to what’s
Wright right.
No, I think it’s wrong to kick Mr. Wright out of the mall – I mean, who’s the most dangerous… the guy who sells the dopey decals, the dope who buys it, or the autocrat who suppresses the right to do either? Anyone who feels that they have the right to (re) move whatever
they deem offensive from the public, is well, just plain offensive to me. Yeah, the decals are just plain stupid, and a waste of money (eh-hem, in my humble opinion) – but they're not
really hurting anybody here, are they?
At least Mr. Wright is employed – you know, he could be out of work, hanging-around the outside of Ms. Kavanaughs’ schools, relieving his own bladder instead!
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