War on Symbolism, Continued
by Joe Pulcinella
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A teenager is suing her school district for barring her from the prom last spring because she was wearing a dress styled as a large Confederate battle flag.
Comments
Oh, well. That's the way it goes. If you want free speech Nazis to call the shots on something you agree with then you're giving them a green light to put the kibosh on everything else whether you favor it or not. A Kwanzaa tree (or whatever symbolizes Kwanzaa) OUTSIDE city hall affects you much less than the creeps INSIDE city hall. Guess which one I'd do away with given the chance?
To many the confederate flag symbolizes hatred as would a dress made to look like a swastika (see related blog below on the interesting history of the swastika). It doesnt matter whether its accurate or not, the impression is that at least part of what the old south wanted was to retain the right to have slaves, and that pisses some people off. Its an infringement of free speech, of course, but where do we draw the line. If they allow that, they have to allow other controversial symbols or free speech. In a perfect world, school would be private and can make their own decisions as to what they will allow and wont allow, this gets murkier with public schools. For me, Id have banned her for bad taste, crowned her trailer trash queen of '04, and moved on.... :-)
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