Boo on the spineless, pathetic, kowtowing principal who made that decision. I suppose it’s easier to oil the squeaky wheel than to actually stand up for the other students who created the posters. It’s easier to not tell some hyper-sensitive, attentionwhore that the reality of life is that not everyone will do exactly what you want and other people have a right in this country (at least for now) to say and post their opinions too, regardless of how you choose to react to it. And you’re supposed to be a role model? Grow a backbone and try doing something besides taking the easy way out.

Well, I’m happy to say that the theater students at El Camino Real High School created new posters which questioned the reality of free speech. The new poseters all feature Bush (in silhouette) and a burning cigar (apparently this cigar does not promote smoking in the way that the other cigar did. Perhaps this cigar is Cuban, and because of the embargo, students know that it would be impossible to get ahold of this cigar to smoke anyway–WTF???) , and captions like “Free Expression for All (unless you are in high school)” and “What First Amendment?”

The principal reported being much more satisfied with these posters. But maybe that’s just until a student writes a letter claiming to be offended by the colors used on the posters or offended by the size of the font on the captions…

So, this is the type of shit that just irritates me to no end.

At what point do we, as people, start taking ownership for and control over being offended or not? At what point do we just accept that there are other people out there who don’t agree with our opinions and it’s okay for them to say so? When do we realize that there are a lot better things to get up in arms about than a poster in a high school or a boob on t.v.? When will we finally figure out that not everything everyone else does is aimed at us personally in a conspiracy to oppress us?

We can choose what will or won’t offend us.

And instead of using our voices to make change that only benefits us so that we don’t have to endure the torture of being personally”offended” (because we all know that being offended kills nearly as many people each year as Cancer and AIDS combined) how about we use our voices to make a difference for humankind? Or don’t we care about that? As long as nothing “offends” us, all is right with the world, right?

It’s sad that we are so confined by other peoples’ “sensitivity,” that if we do anything that someone else disagrees with, we are called “insensitive.” We can’t display anything religious in public places because it might offend someone. What happened to embracing diversity as opposed to pretending it doesn’t exist? What happened to Christmas decorations in public schools right there along with menorahs and dreidels on the first day of Hannukkah? What happened to learning about other religions and cultures by seeing how great they can be for those who practice them? Are we so scared that our own beliefs are so tenuous that exposure to someone else’s might somehow shake our own foundation? If that’s the case, we need to re-examine whether those beliefs are strong enough to be worth maintaining. Are we worried that a poster of Bush with a mustache will convert conservatives to liberalism? Are we worried that including homosexuality in sex ed curriculum will make our children become gay? Are we worried that seeing other children dressed in Halloween costumes will make our children turn to satanism?

Where the fuck does it stop? When do will it be expected that at some point, you just have to say ‘Fuck it. I don’t agree, but they have the right to say and do whatever they want?”

When will we be able to say what we really think without being censored because someone somewhere might be offended by our opinions? Until we accept that others will have their own opinions and the right to say them, we as a country, will never truly be tolerant, and that is not a direction I think we should go. Because it isn’t good for any of us.

May 24

Star Wars Episode III

This is the cloak he was referring to —>

Then one night, he asked me if I was going to wear flip flops to the movie.

I click on the link and you’ll never guess what he wanted… yes, a light saber. Not just any light saber. Not one of those cheap ass plastic glow in the dark light sabers that you can get at Toys R Us. It’s from some high end technology company (think Hammacher Schlemmer) and it’s a $250 fucking flashlight really.

I’ve decided that George Lucas must understand the male mind better than anyone on earth. He came up with something so enticing to men that they are reduced to the excitement they had as children waking up on Christmas morning.