OH I HEARD IT THROUGH THE GRAPEVINE

Don't you just love the Grapevine column in The Daily Crime? ... I mean, on one hand it's a little scary seeing how ignorant the readership is, but on the other hand it's kind of fun watching the Great Unwashed to proudly parade their ignorance in front of God and everybody... Today's parade included a comment about a scholl principal who suspended 128 students on the first day of classes for what he called "inappropriate clothing." The genius who referenced the story suggested Wicomico County educators take a lesson from that event.... For those of short memory, this was a reference to an incident in Wicomico County last year, when two boys were suspended from school for wearing shirts showing the Confederate Battle Flag. In the days after the story broke, the Daily Crime, stalwart of the First Amendment that it is, supported the suspensions saying, in part, that school is a training ground for business and as such, has a duty to restrict and teach their charges about what is appropriate in a business environment.
Of course, I took issue with that argument and sent the following letter to the editor. But, for their own reasons, they elected no to publish it:
I find it curious that a newspaper, whose very survival depends upon the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech, would suggest that some members of American society should not have the same guarantee. But that is exactly what the Daily Times did in its October 18 editorial when the editors suggested that “school is, in effect, a training ground for future employees,” and as such, students should “be required to wear clothing that is at least minimally suitable for the workplace.” This, in a move to silence words and remove symbols that some find offensive.
The Daily Times notwithstanding, I suggest that the primary job of public schools is not to train children to become good little worker bees, but to train young minds to think clearly and independently, and to teach children to become happy and productive members of American society. In order to do that, students must be encouraged to explore and study the entire social and political landscape and be allowed to express their thoughts and opinions.
If school boards were to adopt the use of uniforms as a way to end the possibility of offending anyone by the discussion or display of controversial political of social subject matters , it would effectively be a curtailment to student’s First Amendment rights. And if we silent students’ political speech, isn’t fair and right that we silence everyone’s?
Without free and open discussion of those subjects, it seems as if the only resolution to issues facing this nation, like racism, poverty or equal access to justice would have to come from the government. But before we leap aboard that bandwagon, we need to stop and remember – not the best leaders this nation has ever produced, but the worst. Because without discussion and dissent, our leaders would no longer need to be thinking men who put the nation’s needs before their own, they would only have to be megalomaniacs who thirst for power.
I suspect it was no accident the framers of the Constitution listed freedom of speech as first among the rights of Americans, as it seems the lynchpin upon which all our other rights are predicated. When the freedom to discuss controversial issues is taken away, why then would Americans need a right to cast a vote in a ballot box. And why would we need a right to assemble, or a right to redress of grievances from government officials, or public trials of those accused of crimes, or even freedom of the press?
It’s easy to call for the silencing of a voice whose words we find objectionable in the name of political correctness, but before you abandon your duty to speak in support of the powerless and disenfranchised, ask yourselves who will speak for you when others complain the news you disseminate is offensive and should be silenced.