School Bows To Obama Supporters
by Big Dog on Oct 9, 2008 at 20:21 Political
The University of Texas had a rule barring students from displaying signs in their dorm windows and that rule has been around a while. Two cousins, Connor and Blake Kincaid, decided that the rules did not apply to them and put an Obama sign in their dorm windows. They were not allowed to register for Spring classes because of their refusal to remove the signs.
The school has decided to suspend the rule and will now allow students to display signs. The school is worried about free speech concerns and the cousins said that this was a basic free speech issue.
NO IT IS NOT.
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.
Schools, workplaces and private establishments may decide what people can display and what they may discuss. Your boss can tell you not to discuss politics at work. The Constitution says that government will not make laws abridging free speech. This is nothing more than people being rewarded for breaking the rules, kind of like the Wall Street bailout. If I were the president of the school they would have removed the signs or been expelled. And before the Obamabots get their panties in a wad, I believe in the rules so if it were a McCain sign I would feel the same way. No signs means no signs.
It is now up to another student to see how much this school is really in tune to free speech. A student needs to put a sign with the Confederate Flag on it in his dorm window.
Anyone want to take wagers as to whether that student’s free speech will be honored?
This must be what Obama meant when he told his followers to get in people’s faces. These kids better be glad Big Dog is not in charge or they would find out real quick what a pucker factor is.
Source:
My Way News
Tags: free speech, liberal idiots, rule breakers
Tell what you think on these questions. Folks would like to know.
Good old fashioned protesting and people power comes through and you’re coming unglued. Or maybe you’re just surprised these Obama supporters are smart enough to even make a stand. With all their un-informed opinions or their white guilt, whichever it may be I be…I bet you’re sitting there wondering how did they find the time?
No, I am wondering why the school changed the rules to accommodate these two kids. If you read this, I said that rules were rules and that I don’t care what sign was there, it needed to come down.
A good old fashioned protest and people power or disobeying the rules. It is the inability for you and other liberals to tell the difference that results in ILLEGALS here and pleas to let them stay. Rules are rules.
So Adam, if some kids put a Confederate Flag in the window are you going to be OK with their free speech or will you scream racism and say it is inappropriate. It is either free speech for all or none but, like I said, free speech does not apply here.
People assume they have the right to say and do what they want. Untrue, you just have the right to not be stifled by the government.
Like I said, if I ran the place the signs would come down. But there are other ways to handle kids who won’t listen. I wonder if they will fail out this semester…
I don’t care where they found the time. I am concerned that people feel rules do not apply to them and that people like you agree that rules do not apply. If they spent that time studying they would know that free speech does not apply in their case.
I agree BD, they should have been told to stuff it where the sun don’t shine and whatever penalties for breaking the rules should have been applied.
You see that I believe is the fundamental difference between conservatives and liberals, conservatives in general believe in the rule of law (and rules in general) applied equally to everyone regardless of sex, race, religious affiliation, etc.
Liberals believe in whatever “feels right” at the moment and a “perception of fairness” which often turn out to be absolute bull-pucky. Look at Charlie Rangel as one example, a Republican (generally conservative) by their own RULES would have been required to step down while under investigation, not the democrat (generally liberal) cause he doesn’t FEEL like it and doesn’t FEEL he did anything wrong.
The 1st Amendment only applies to GOVERNMENT, a school or place of business is not government. Rules and codes of conduct are also not laws. The 1st reads:
“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.”
Note, “Congress shall make no law”, it says nothing about State legislatures, local municipalities, etc.
These kids broke the rules of the institution they attended, rules they agreed to when they registered for classes and applied for admission and they should suffer the consequences. The content of the sign is irrelevant unless the rule is not evenly applied based upon the sign’s content. If for example the school allowed McCain signs but not Obama then there is an issue of application and their views would be being oppressed by selective application of the rules. This however is not the case.
Oh brother. I love it when you guys write broad generalizations and utter bull crap about conservatives and liberals. What a bunch of vomit you two just spewed above me. As usual though the facts are getting in the way of your great story about how evil liberals don’t care about the rule of law but good conservatives do. Let’s take a look at the source to see how dumb y’all are being:
“The crackdown sparked an outcry among students, and university Democrats and Republicans worked together to fight rules they said were unconstitutional. They had encouraged students across campus to put signs in their dorm windows as a form of protest.”
Okay, read carefully for a moment and I’ll try and explain it to you.
The school did not change to rules simply to accommodate these two kids. The two students took issue and raised their voice against what they disagreed with. Other fellow students joined in to support them and stand together in a peaceful non-violent manner. Finally the administration said alright we’ll re-consider the rule and in the meantime you can hang your signs.
This was not a riot or violent protest. They weren’t trying to hang hate speech like a rebel flag. They didn’t want the rule applied differently to them than anybody else. They weren’t trying to disrupt or insult anybody. They simply wanted to show support for their candidate for president.
This was a group of both liberals and conservatives standing together saying we want the rule changed. This at the heart is the essence of our country and our freedom. Sorry if that seems wrong but that’s how many great things in this country came to be. Like it or leave it.
Okay, you can stop reading carefully now.
The matter is not one of the Constitution or free speech. I think that has been spelled out.
I guess if all the kids got together and said they wanted to be able to exercise their Second Amendment rights by carrying guns on campus the school would be OK with it? That is, after all, a real Constitutional issue.
Does not matter who opposed. If there is a rule, there is a rule.
There is no evidence that the Confederate Flag is a hate symbol, only what people say. Suppose some students find Obama posters symbols of hate?
I would lay the law down and if they did not like it they could pick another school.
But then again, today’s youth does not let rules get in the way.
How many students opposed and why were they not given consideration?
Again it shows the failure of our education system (even higher education) to teach our kids properly. The general ignorance of all those kids regardless of being liberal or conservative is the problem. The rule was not “unconstitutional” because the US Constitution does not apply, nor was the rule really “unfair”. Do you think that if I decided I didn’t want to dress business casual at my job but instead wanted to wear jeans/shorts, t-shirts, and flip flops and just started doing so as “personal expression” and “freedom of speech” I would remain long employed? No, I’d be fired and rightly so because I did not abide to the the company policies I agreed to when I accepted the position.
Did they happen to wonder why the rule was in place? Probably not, they just saw a restriction and defied it. Rules are usually in place for a reason, and next election when people are putting up signs in their windows and instances of theft and vandalism or verbal & physical conflict rise it will be evident why and the rule will probably be re-instated.
Many of today’s youth and even adults have gotten used to a world where there are few real consequences and we coddle people socially. The concept of personal responsibility and accountability is gasping its last breaths if not already dead. Look at what just happened with the banks for one major example. These kids chose to violate a rule, they should have faced the consequences of that choice, no one forced them to hang those signs. They also did not approach the solution in the proper fashion. Instead of approaching the proper authorities in charge of the dorms and inquiring to the purpose of the restriction and then working to get the rule changed if they didn’t agree with the reasoning they encouraged others to break the rule.
“Freedom is not merely the opportunity to do as one pleases; neither is it merely the opportunity to choose between set alternatives. Freedom is, first of all, the chance to formulate the available choices, to argue over them — and then, the opportunity to choose.”
~C. Wright Mills
You see those student chose to abide by the rules when they decided to live on campus. They could have lived off campus and displayed whatever sign they wished to. Some might have even had the choice of living at home and commuting, they could have attended a different school with no such restrictions. So even if they decide to change the rule these kids should face the consequences of breaking it.
By their acts they are in fact impinging on the freedom of the institution’s governing body and Alumni to choose how they want their campus to appear. Perhaps they do not desire to see their campus littered with signs, perhaps many other students don’t care to see their school politicized. The protests and threats of litigation based upon “free speech” are in fact a thuggish attempts to force their desires upon other regardless of their desires. The students did not have to choose that school, they could have chosen other housing off campus, those are the freedoms those kids have in this regard no more no less. They are (as seems common now days) a vocal minority forcing their views on others and robbing them of their freedoms through litigation (or the threat thereof), protests, and threats of various natures.
If the rule was much of a big deal then the administration wouldn’t cave on it.
The problem is you keep comparing this to things that aren’t comparable. This is not hate speech like a rebel flag that draws heated discourse and divides students bitterly. This is not about kids wanting to carry dangerous weapons that threaten the lives of those on campus. These kids are not at a place of business where their bosses run the show. These are kids challenging the rule about hanging posters on their windows at their living quarters on a college campus.
Y’all can’t see that and instead just want to preach about whether or not it’s free speech. Who cares? These kids stood together in a non-violent non-threatening manner to change something they disagree with and you guys act like this is the beginning of chaos in the universe. Get over yourselves…
Guns carried by law abiding citizens are not dangerous weapons that threaten lives. Law abiding citizens are never a threat and that is the problem with liberals, they can’t understand that. All school killimgs were the result of a criminal (or criminals) who slaughtered people that had no means of protection. If one kid at VT had a gun lives would have been saved.
The problem with liberals is they pick and choose which rights are OK and which are not. If the rule was a big deal they would not have caved? I think that speed limits are no big deal but they won’t cave on them if I get a ticket.
Once again, just because the Confederate flag causes people problems does not mean it is a symbol of hatred or that it is racist. That is the problem, no one learned their history. We assign hatred to some symbol. The Confederate Flag is not a hate speech symbol that draws bitter discourse but since the country is split about 50/50 in politics I could argue that an Obama (or McCain) sign causes heated bitter discourse as well.
You just keep taking this conversation off course so you can prattle on about your gun zealotry and your idiotic refusal believe that objects can be symbols of hate or oppression. A rebel flag is a hateful symbol just as a noose is. Only with your head up your ass can you still argue that it’s not. You’re absolutely wrong about everything you’ve said in this thread and yet you just keep on adding more garbage to the pile.
Our government and our very society is structured around the right to protest and oppose legislation, rules, regulations, and anything else we disagree with in and out of private sectors.
These students may not have a constitutionally protected right to hang their signs wherever they want but they sure as hell have a constitutionally protected right to stand up together peacefully for what they believe in and try to change that rule.
I’m sure somewhere in the core of this conversation is the subject of unions and I’d bet you oppose those too. How many more ways can you stand up against the rights the basic people of this country yet still insist it is liberals like myself that want to destroy it. I’ll never understand that…
You are of course wrong. The right to stand up and protest deals with protesting government.
There are rules, and there are ways to get rules changed. They did it the wrong way. You don’t break a rule and then force people to change. You follow the correct process and if it was bipartisan then it would get done the right way.
I am opposed to unions the way they are now and the attempts for FORCE companies to unionize. It is extortion to make a worker join a union to have a job.
Gun zealotry? Now, gun rights. You oppose my Constitutional rights when there would be no others without the Second…
When the time comes you will beg gun owners to protect you.