A courthouse is of course a public forum; an airplane is private property. Your reference to Cohen v. California is therefore inapposite.
KipEsquire | Homepage | 10.06.05 - 9:40 pm | #

Asking people not to wear offensive and obscene t-shirts when they fly on a plane full of families isn't asking much. I'm glad this hate-filled psycho was thrown off the plane. For the record, I also don't think it's a big deal for Southwest to ask people with anti-Jewish, racist, and other offensive shirts to cover up. What if Southwest had asked a lady wearing a shirt with a black man hanging from a tree and the words "DIE BLACKIE" on it to cover it up? Would that be so wrong?

Just like people who want obscene music should shop at Target instead of Wal-Mart, people who want their children to sit next to people in "Fuck You Cheney" t-shirts should ride another airline. Businesses have a right to set some decency standards. Businesses also have a right to set no decency standards or require people to be offensive. Contrary to what this woman claims, this is freedom.

Nikos, I know you support the right of Southwest to make its own dress code. But, you forgot to give the "of course, they have a right to do this" disclaimer. Don't you read the rants on Hit & Run???
cicero | Homepage | 10.06.05 - 10:30 pm | #

It is just a t-shirt! Jesus, people are so fucking annoying. It isn't as if this woman was brandishing some weapon or being aggressive to people and disturbing the peaceful cabin, was she? She was expressing herself and her ideas about the morons running this country. Good for her! It is a brave thing to do in this hyper-patriotic culture we are living in.

Of course, businesses can do what they want about who they serve and don't serve. No one on this blog would argue with that, I don't think. I just think that the level of sensitivity to the easily-offended is too much sometimes and businesses just caving into it gets boring. I mean I sometimes get bothered when I see someone decked out in some religious regalia, but I wouldn't want that person put off of a plane or out of a business because the sight of the hypocritical religious stuff makes my stomach sick.

But now that I think about it, if enough people feel the same way, maybe we can get those people kicked out!
Minerva Oblongata | 10.06.05 - 11:12 pm | #

I would love to kick nuns off airplanes!

Speaking of people that are too sensitive, check this out: http://www.washingtonpost.com/ wp...5100601770.html

Apparently some people are worried about the "moral deficit at Victoria's Secret" because of their scantily clad mannequins. Note to Hit & Run commenters, yes the owners of the mall have a right to ask Victoria's Secret to cover up their mannequins! But, Minerva is right. Businesses should stop catering to the sensitive. What's really wrong with a little mannequin t&a, or hard-hitting anti-Cheney t-shirts for that matter. Maybe Victoria's Secret should have a line of sexy "Fuck Cheney" t-shirts.
cicero | Homepage | 10.06.05 - 11:24 pm | #

Shouldn't they be "Fuck Bush" t-shirts? It would seem a little more appropriate at Victoria's Secret, which I step into once per year to get the latest sickly sweet smelling powder speckled with glitter or some other such cosmetic frippery... no, not for me but for a woman friend of mine.

Malls are generally wholly private enterprises, whereas airlines are considered common carriers -- which are subject to regulations above and beyond whatever crap legislative obligations Congress decides to ram down a private actor's throat under the Commerce Clause.

Southwest is actually one of the more relaxed airlines when it comes to employee dress codes, allowing their attendants to wear shorts and polos. I would actually support its ability to fire those who are overweight or old as a matter of contractual freedom, thought the latter characteristic is covered under federal employment law.

Any obscenity that a child of not-so-tender years would be able to comprehend on a t-shirt pales in comparison to the obscenity of the average public school system that wharehouses them like cattle, the common religious syncophant that fills their minds with semantic and "philosophical" pablum, and governmental entities that seek to quash their family's economic freedom and risk the lives of their relatives in the name of "The American Way."

I saw a t-shirt in the gym the other day with the phrase "I've busted my nutt," with a squirrel and an acorn. Would that be acceptable in Southwestern's obscenity calculus?

And who has time to read other blogs?
Nikos A. Leverenz | 10.07.05 - 2:25 am | #

I read about the Victoria's Secret story and I thought what are these folks thinking out in their little Tyson's Corner? "Oh no, Victoria's Secret sells stuff that people buy to feel sexy and perhaps something they wear for a short time before engaging in something sexy and fun?? Oh lord!"

Yes, I like the Fuck Bush t-shirt idea...it could go with so many outfit combinations.
Minerva Oblongata | 10.07.05 - 7:13 am | #

Nikos,

An argument can be made - and is made all the time actually - that because malls have "replaced" town squares that they should be treated like town squares. This is why, for instance, people can stand outside shopping malls, Target, Wal-mart, etc. and circulate petitions. California has ruled that they have to allow it.

The real issue is does it make sense for Soutwest to kick off its passengers because some people are offended by what they're wearing.

Also, the whole notion of suing an airline for "civil rights violations" because they kicked you off for being insensitive to the concerns of people around you is offensive. This woman clearly thinks the whole world revolves around her. Why not just never ride Southwest again? That's what I would do. She could also start a web site and form a movement to get Southwest to change its policy. But, claiming to have a fundamental right to wear whatever you want wherever you want is outrageous. I guess I should wear my "Fuck Them All" t-shirt to a fancy restaurant and then claim my rights are being violated when they refuse to seat me for not wearing a tie.

Also, who is this woman friend?
cicero | Homepage | 10.07.05 - 9:59 am | #

The TSA let her thru with the t-shirt, the airline wouldn't.

Let's get ALL of airline security back into the hand of the airlines, that way you have ONE set of rules to deal with and that's it.
Russ | 10.07.05 - 3:01 pm | #