That first little phrase in the Constitution has been evoked for freedom more times than many would care to count.
“Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of a religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of people to peacefully assemble and to petition the Government for a readdress of grievances.”
That has to be one of the most powerful phrases in all of history. But recently many people have become so accustomed to accepting being censored that they have become numb to the idea that if someone disagrees with the masses that they should be subjected to rejection or humiliation or even jail.
Take the aviation industry for instance. Air travel has become a mass transportation system. The dress code use to entail dress jackets and hats. But as the airlines crammed more seats into a smaller space the dress code slipped to ensure comfort to the passenger.
Today you are more likely to see sweats and pullovers and more recently short skirts and long legs at the airport. But at one point can an airline or an airline employee subject their own views on the traveling public?
The courts might say that once you infringe on the rights (cause harm or threaten) of others you have lost those freedom of speech rights. But with the close quarters of an aircraft cabin and so many people with various levels of interpretation of that first amendment, how can one person’s interpretation be the correct one?
Can a person wear a short skirt on a flight from one hot destination to another hot destination? Can a person wear a shirt depicting two people having sex? What about a person who is wearing an anti-Bush shirt?
All of these cases resulted in the person wearing these kinds of clothing options to be pointed out on board or being escorted off the aircraft. With free speech one of the key pillars of our nation, why has our nation become so particular on what a person can say or not say with their clothing?
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