Censors Beware

"Censorship reflects a society's lack of confidence in itself."

Potter Stewart

A few weeks ago the local paper ran an article about an  t-shirt at the local dollar store.  The t-shirt had the following image:

It seems that a female shopper was so offended by the image that she approached the storekeeper and requested that he remove the shirt from the display.  She very strongly felt that the image promoted violence against women.  The owner of the store refused.  The paper was contacted, as was Interval House (a local shelter for abused women and children) and a lengthy article ensued.  

As a woman I am not offended by the image.  I saw it myself on a visit to the store and it made me smile...I thought it was funny.  But then, I don't look to t-shirts for morality lessons.

This week in the paper, a letter to the editor referred to a photo  in last week's issue that "at best is in my opinion, extremely poor taste and at worst is blatant racism."  The reader goes on to say that "while I'm sure there was no conscious intent meant by the young man, the images and the act are, in essence, racist....The costume promotes the idea that being Mexican is humorous and, in turn, I feel, dehumanized an entire people."

The photo was a young man on horseback with a bad fake moustache, a poncho and a sombrero -- his promosal involved the word "Juan"...something like "juan to go to prom with me?" (paraphrasing) . I love puns so I remember thinking...punny.  I also remember thinking..."What the heck?  This article is two pages long?  It's a promposal!"  I read a few paragraphs about how this young boy planned his promposal but was not so engaged that I could commit to the entire article.  I don't recall any reference to the culture -- offensive or otherwise.  My interest started and stopped with the photo.  The visual stereotype was used to make the pun work...there was no ill intent, no hate, no prejudice, no exclusion...no racism.

We are bombarded by messages every day.  Lyrics, art, advertisements, newspapers, social media.  Hell, the Internet has been dubbed "Satan's playground."   I could learn to build a pipe bomb on the Internet but I didn't; I found a recipe and then baked a rhubarb coffee cake.

There is good and bad in the world and that's why as kids we are taught right from wrong.  Sometimes those lessons are fun, sometimes they are uncomfortable and painful.  Such is love and truth and growth.  Parents and teachers take great pains to instill these lessons over and over until they form the mortar in the subconscious foundations of our children.  The building blocks of everyday life lessons are bound together with moral judgement.  The kids grow up, we release them to the world and they build lives on the foundations their parents helped to create. Some crumble.  Some build empires.  It's not a perfect science...but it's been working for a long, long time.

Censorship doesn't help society.  Awareness helps society.  We need to learn how to filter messages -- good ones AND bad ones.  We need to wade through volumes of information and find the messages that help us understand our world.  Our true world...not one that's been edited by censors.

There is no truth in censorship; only ignorance.  Denying information doesn't make it non-existent...it simply hides the information from the unsuspecting and, as the old saying goes, secrets will out. Censorship is a tactic for fools and cowards; for dictators and totalitarians.  When someone is so arrogant that they assume to know what message is the "right" message for me...well,...THAT is what I find offensive.

To the lady in the dollar store, I suggest you partake in some deep introspection to discover the true source of your fear and insecurity.  It is not a t-shirt.  Perhaps you've been treated badly and I'm sorry if you have.  Nobody deserves to be mistreated.  No woman, no child, no man.  Nobody.  Plain black t-shirts are not your panacea.

To the man who felt dehumanized by the pun, I feel sad for you.  You know there was no ill intent. You said it yourself.  So either you're an attention whore or you've been marginalized at some point in your life because you are a visible minority.  It happens.  I know.  I've been marginalized because of gender.  But the whole world didn't do that...just a few schmucks along the way.  Get up, dust yourself off and try not to take yourself so seriously.