An 11 year-old student, Daxx Dalton, that attends an elementary school in Aurora, Colorado was suspended today after wearing a shirt that said, “Obama is a terrorist’s best friend.” The school system said that the shirt was disruptive to the learning environment and gave the student the option to change, turn it inside out, or be suspended. The student chose to be suspended saying that his right to free speech was infringed upon.
The students father is a self proclaimed “proud conservative” that has taken part in many anti-abortion protests across the state. He claims that the public school system is “full of liberal loons.” The school claims that Daxx was not suspended for the content of the shirt but for his “willful disobedience and defiance.” The boy’s father plans to pursue a lawsuit against the school district.
What does xPirate think of this shenanigan? Well, just having read the story, I am thinking in the back of my mind that no 11-year old boy is going to be paying close enough attention to the campaigns to make an educated decision on which candidate they like better. What further stirs my suspicion is that Daxx’s father is so actively involved in the conservative community. Knowing from personal experience the influence parents have over a child’s political viewpoints leads me to believe that the student’s father gave him the idea to make and wear the shirt. He wanted an excuse (or proof as he might call it) to call all teachers “liberal loons.”
So was Daxx’s right to free speech infringed upon? In my opinion, no. Wearing any shirt that insults another human being is inappropriate to me. Daxx has a right to express his opinion. “Obama is a terrorist’s best friend,” is not an opinion, it’s libel which is illegal. Had he worn a shirt that called a Muslim classmate a terrorist, he would have been reprimanded. Schools have dress codes that ban inappropriate content and have the right to enforce that as they will. Had the student worn a shirt that said, “Vote for McCain”, I doubt anything would have happened to him. Moreover, had a student wore a shirt libeling McCain, they too would have been reprimanded.
Furthermore, not only have mudslinging campaigns mudded up political campaigns for years, it’s just downright annoying. I want to know why I should vote for a specific candidate. I could care less if Obama is friends with a terrorist, if he can get this country back into shape after the great Bush fuck-up, I’d still want him to be president.
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