One of Those Important Things

So this is how it goes: Ms. Thomas’ right to expression of conscience is at least as protected as the bigots demanding “religious freedom” in order to discriminate. Still, though, look at the outcome. Religious supremacism and the right to bully people? Apparently we need a Religious Freedom Restoration Act to protect supremacism as if it was equality. But, hey, being gay? Offensive. The idea of human rights for women? Offensive. These things, apparently, need to be suppressed. You know, as a matter of freedom and equality.

When 8th grader Sophie Thomas got her class picture this year, she was shocked to see that her t-shirt had been photoshopped. The actual shirt has one hand-lettered word on it: ‘Feminist.’ The picture shows her wearing a plain black shirt.

Sophie wasn’t about to take that lying down. She posted a picture on Instagram of herself in the t-shirt, along with this message:

“HELLO EVERYBODY! I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS PICTURE ISN’T GREAT, BUT THERE IS AN ISSUE AT HAND. I WORE A SHIRT WITH THE WORD “FEMINIST” ON IT. OUR SCHOOL TOOK A PICTURE OF OUR GRADE TO HANG UP IN THE SCHOOL. TODAY, I FOUND OUT THEY BLACKED OUT MY SHIRT. I WENT TO OUR PRINCIPAL AND SHE CLAIMED IT WAS “OFFENSIVE” AND SHE “DIDN’T WANT IT IN THE PHOTO”

THIS FRIDAY, APRIL 17TH 2015, IS THE DAY MY PROTEST TAKES PLACE. EVERYONE PARTICIPATING WILL BE WEARING A SHIRT WITH A PHRASE LIKE “I DESERVE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION” OR “FEMINISM ISN’T OFFENSIVE” OR ANYTHING THAT YOU BELIEVE FITS! PLEASE MAKE A SHIRT AND JOIN US AND HELP TAKE CARE OF THIS ISSUE. PLEASE REPOST AND SPREAD EVERYWHERE USING THE HASHTAG #IDESERVEFREEDOMOFEXPRESSION THANK YOU!”

That certainly got people’s attention — not only among students in this little town of Batavia, Ohio, but also in the media- nationally and internationally.

(Montesano)

And as we are wont to say, things only go downhill from there.

But this is what it’s really about. Supremacism is not equality, and we really ought to reject any sort of community standard that would suggest otherwise.

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Image note: Eri Ninamori eats a popsicle. Details of frames from FLCL episode 5, “Brittle Bullet”.

Montesano, Deborah. “8th Grade Feminist Is The Winner In Dispute With Narrow-Minded School Officials”. Addicting Info. 17 April 2015.

Crossposted (Facebook Fairy Cake Edition)

One thing about the American attitude is that we’ve transformed our outlook during my lifetime; one opens a business not with careful planning, but with an idea and a perception of opportunity. Many of these small, family-run businesses survive by the skins of their teeth, and develop functional business plans on the fly.

There is this aspect; a small bakery in Indianapolis likely does face constant financial challenges, and that in turn sucks the vitality out of the dream of being a baker or confectionist. As with all things, art is much more fun when it’s not a living.

But we are also a nation that believes in the proverbial fifteen minutes. Fame brings opportunity for profit. Though it is unclear what role this plays, the Indianapolis bakery is the second or third to gain headline traction for closing as a protest of conscience against civil rights; there was one in Oregon, and I believe also down in Arizona, but I’d have to check.

What we’re noticing on our plentiful American ground is that nobody really gives a damn. It’s as if American society is simply shrugging and moving on, and nobody is making the explicit point because nobody wants to be the one to pretend it is important enough to stop and take the moment to explain it to a bunch of people who won’t listen, anyway.

But there it is: Whether they were going under before, or simply fell out of love with their business dream, or are genuinely pursuing their consciences according to some perverse assertion of self-interest, the conventional wisdom on these outcomes seems to be that they did it to themselves. On some level, people are thinking, “Well, you could have just made the fucking cake and found some other way to chase everyone away from your business beating your chest about the conscience of your bigotry.”

This way, though, whatever the reasons one’s business is going under, blaming the government and calling yourself a victim is one way to appeal to the fifteen minutes; maybe social media will bring them a pile of cash from sympathizers. Then again, it’s not like we only left them a Negro―that is to say, nobody’s dead―so it’s not quite spectacular enough to get people sending that reward money.

It seems like almost a side note, but watch how showbiz and the fifteen minutes become so many Americans’ backup plans. Maybe one of these bakers will run for state legislature. Or, hell, Congress. House seats carry a low bar for admission among Republican voters.

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Note: Would you believe this was crossposted from Facebook? Yeah, it happens sometimes. A special tip of the hat and many thanks to Sean and Ben for inspiring this brief consideration in the wake of reports that another bigot bakery broke.

Image note: Detail of Mary Death by Matt Tarpley, 27 February 2015. I’ve been looking for an excuse to use this one.