How far is too far?
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The Bill of Rights was written by our forefather’s to protect our rights as U.S. citizens. So shouldn’t every right be protected? In Gilbert, Arizona that right has been taken away from a high school cheerleading squad.
USA Today wrote an article about an incident where these cheerleaders’ right to freedom of speech was taken away from them by their high school administration. The cheerleaders were told they “cannot wear their pink T-shirts to raise money for breast cancer awareness during the school's football games because the administration finds the shirts display an objectionable slogan. The shirts say ‘Gilbert cheer’ on the front and ‘Feel for lumps, save your bumps’ on the back.” With something as small and minuscule as not being allowed to wear a shirt to a football game, what’s the next infringement on our rights?
As Wendy Griswold puts it in Cultures and Societies in a Changing World, the Cultural Diamond is being disturbed. The squad is the “Producers” of a “Cultural Object” (the pink shirts) and the administration is trying to block others from “Receiving” the shirts and making it a part of the “Social World.” The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights has a lot of its basis on this. By telling all U.S. citizens that they have the right to the freedom of speech, they are allowed to create their own Cultural Object and therefore insert it into the Social World.
These shirts weren’t meant to cause any sort of trouble. Instead, they were meant to do good for others affected by breast cancer. If we aren’t allowed to help others that need it, how can our society improve? Isn’t this something we should strive for every day?
The cheerleaders went on to say that they were going to wear the shirts regardless of what the administration said because they wanted to raise breast cancer awareness. Why wouldn’t they? This minor offensive shirt is nothing in comparison to other attire that raises awareness for other causes. The “I (heart) Boobies” bracelets and “Save Second Base” shirts are much more offensive than “Feel for lumps, save your bumps.” “The cheerleaders also said they've seen Gilbert High American sign-language club shirts said, ‘I'm good with my hands’" (USA Today). Why did the administration discriminate against breast cancer awareness but allow the sign-language club to wear “offensive” shirts? If there is no set boundaries to what is allowed, how will the students know what is socially acceptable at the high school level?
References:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-10-13/arizona-school-breast-cancer-shirts/50752830/1
Griswold, Wendy. Cultures and Societies in a Changing World 3. Pine Forge Press, 2008.