“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
This is the first amendment of our Constitution, for those of you who do not know. Those 65 precious words give us so much freedom that some nations do not get to enjoy.
There are, at points, times when certain things the First Amendment should protect are not acceptable. Hate speech, Confederate t-shirts and other epithets should not be tolerated.
However, some people really need to stop being so sensitive. Sure, a high school student really should not wear a Corona Light t-shirt, but is it that big of a distraction? Not nearly as much as the kid who is sitting with his hat on backwards, tweeting about how boring the lecture is and posting every little thing he finds funny on Instagram. No one cares what you ate for lunch.
Fourteen-year-old Illinois native Michael McIntyre certainly had a bone to pick with Genoa-Kingston Middle School in Genoa, Ill. Recently, the student wore a t-shirt with “MARINES” emblazoned across the chest with automatic weapons crossing below. He probably did not realize his choice of clothing that day would create a national story.
Long story short, McIntyre was forced to remove the shirt. Eventually, the school district came to the defense of the family.
However, that is not why this story is important. It is important because this was an example of government interfering with our civil liberties. Had he been wearing a shirt that had the Confederate flag, it would be a totally different story. However, his shirt was clearly in support of the United States Marine Corps.
It is perplexing to ask someone to remove a shirt that supports the troops. “Support the Troops” is a fairly common saying and is widely accepted. Has education moved so far away from the middle that they believe that a United States Marine Corps shirt with weapons on it is advocating for violence?
Marines don’t exactly use textbooks and seminars to defeat enemies of our nation.
For many, that would appear to be an unfortunate state of affairs, while others tend to call it reality. Terrorists aren’t exactly warming to the idea of sitting around and discussing Plato’s “Myth of the Cave.”
Where does this end? Students are no longer required to say the Pledge of Allegiance. A school is a government institution, after all; is saying the pledge really that controversial? In 2010, three California high school students were forced to remove American flag t-shirts on the fifth of May, with the idea that their shirts may offend the Hispanic community. It was Cinco de Mayo, after all.
Are you kidding? In the United States, Cinco de Mayo is kind of like St. Patrick’s Day. It is celebrated as an excuse to drink lots of alcohol. I don’t think too many educators in the Mexican state of Michoacán would be concerned if a student was to wear a shirt bearing the Mexican flag on the fourteenth of June or Fourth of July.
Why they would be in school at that point is a little unclear, but the point is poignant. As a collective nation, we have become entirely too sensitive.
In a few years, possibly months, people will probably not remember who Michael McIntyre is. However, he is the kind of person that America used to stand for. He has the gall to do what he believes is right, despite what the establishment wants him to do.
Lest we forget that America’s establishment used to be the British Crown, it took people who fought and spoke out for what they believed in to topple the British Empire, not those who sat silently and obediently and allowed the establishment to control them.