| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Free Speech? Not if You Hurt Their Feelings. |
| 2007-05-25 |
| Mia Lazarus put her chips and juice down on the counter and prepared to pay. But in the midst of the lunchtime rush, the cashier's eyes wandered to Lazarus's T-shirt, which expressed a political message that proved to be overwhelming for the clerk. One glance at the words "Baltimore Zionist District" on Lazarus's "I Stand for Israel" T-shirt, and the cashier at the Maryland Food Collective, a crunchy grocery and sandwich shop in the student union on the University of Maryland's College Park campus, blurted: "Your shirt offends me. I won't ring you up." The cashier told Lazarus she could go to the back of the store to find another clerk. In this odd political climate, when many people find their worth and identity in the fine art of taking offense, this confrontation at a campus lunch spot has blossomed into a seminar on constitutional rights. The loser is free speech. Lazarus got her food; another cashier at the independent, worker-owned co-op was willing to take the student's money. But the incident led to the creation of a Facebook site on which some students called for a boycott of the food co-op; an hours-long, teary meeting at which Lazarus and her friends hashed things out with the collective; and then an agreement. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #10 I find it encouraging that the director of the student union stepped up and tried to explain common sense to these students, and threatened sanctions if they didn't wake up and smell the coffee. At least somebody on campus knows what the law means. |
| Posted by: mom 2007-05-25 23:13 |
| #9 This echos the rationale of southern slave owners in the early 19th century who wished to ban abolitionist speech because it "inflicted emotional injury" on slave owners. It's the same mindset. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2007-05-25 18:27 |
| #8 Whats telling is they made teh leap from a tshirt that supports Jews to teh Nazi Symbol. But I guess there is no dif to these rubes. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2007-05-25 13:54 |
| #7 Enjoy your time in Fantasyland now, kiddies. The real world awaits... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2007-05-25 13:44 |
| #6 could have been an accident at the counter and the drink got spilled all over. OOPSIE! |
| Posted by: USN. Ret. 2007-05-25 13:19 |
| #5 Fill your tray up with about $50 worth of food. Accidentally sneeze on it when you are waiting in line. When they refuse to serve you, put the tray down, turn around and walk out. Rinse and repeat for a couple of weeks. Of course, if they do agree to serve you, you just bought a $50 lunch. |
| Posted by: Eboreg 2007-05-25 12:39 |
| #4 Put your money down and walk out. |
| Posted by: mojo 2007-05-25 11:58 |
| #3 Collective: You will be assimilated! |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2007-05-25 11:50 |
| #2 Free speech for me but not for thee! I bet the 'collective' and its members would be the first to sue if it was they who were refused service by anyone. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2007-05-25 08:04 |
| #1 "They're more committed to their righteousness than they are to the rights of other people." Money quote. I just had to repeat it. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2007-05-25 07:16 |