Thursday, May 06, 2010

Stars and Stripes for Sometimes

Cinco de Mayo fashion faux pas:
Five students at a California high school were forced to leave school and then face disciplinary action yesterday for the crime of wearing clothing printed with American flag designs.
It reminds me of this case from a few years ago, where a kid got in trouble for wearing a shirt that said "Bong Hits 4 Jesus":
A divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that schools can punish a student -- without violating his First Amendment rights -- when he promotes illegal drug use at a school event.
After all, isn't patriotism addictive? Sure, you start with an occasional item of clothing. Before you know it, you're wearing a flag pin every day. You even start to contemplate getting a tattoo of Old Glory on some body part.

All I can say is: check the calendar before decking yourself out in red, white, and blue!

Whether printed on your shirt,
or inked upon your knee,
speech that might hurt
should not be free.

(Important alert:
that was irony.)

No comments: