Stupid Is As Stupid Does

You know, I have a fairly high tolerance for stupid. I see it everyday. I've been guilty of being stupid. I've sometimes been an overacheiver in stupidity. There have been times when I thought I could give graduate classes in stupid.

Today we have college students throwing pies at conservative speakers, people coining slogans and anti-Bush sentiments, others selling T-shirts, coffee mugs and the like all calling for various political figures to kill themselves.

Stupid.

Let me make two points clear:

First of all, under the 1st Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, they have the right to express themselves. What I think of what they have to say is only my opinion, which I also have the Constitutional right to express.

Second, it doesn't make a difference to me if any of the above incidents (pies, hate speech, sales of various items calling for someone to kill themselves) are directed at liberals or conservatives; Republicans or Democrats; Christians, Jews, or Muslims; blacks or whites; or any other group or individual. I have a high sense of right and wrong and my sense tells me this is wrong, not to mention stupid, no matter who it's directed at or why.

As far as I am concerned, it all comes under hate speech in one form or another and it's wrong. Don't tell me that it's "all in fun." It's juvenile behavior and it's not attractive in people who are supposed to be mature, thinking adults. It's especially annoying to me when it comes from those who want to either lead or influence those who lead our country. It really annoys me to see people who should be setting examples for others to be engaging in such pathetic, juvenile, moronic behavior.

I wrote in a previous post about throwing pies at speakers and how it could escalate from pie-throwing, something we can all giggle at, to someone using a baseball bat, a knife, or even a gun. One thing I forgot about was that throwing pies is also a violation of civil rights. A pie thrown at a speaker interfers with the speaker's right to Freedom of Speech. It also interfers with the rights of the people who came to hear the speaker. They have been prohibited from hearing what they came to hear.

If I were in the audience when such an event occurred, I think I would be looking for an attorney the next day. I'd file civil charges against the pie-thrower and maybe the venue for not providing better security. It becomes a Freedom of Speech issue. I believe I have a Constitutional right to hear the speaker. With luck, he or she would pay a higher price in cash than they would in jail or fines if they were convicted of a criminal charge. And I know enough about civil law and judgments and liens that I could tie the pie-thrower up for at least the next twenty years paying off the judgement. And it would be for the principle of the issue, not the money.

I used to think that when someone said it "wasn't for the money, it was the principle" that it was really for the money. I've learned that's not always true. Sometimes it is the principle that's important.

One definition of failure is when you keep doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Substitute "stupid" for "failure" and you have the mind set of those who are throwing pies, coining slogans, and selling items advocating the death of various political figures. It's just stupid and can lead to a dangerous. slippery, slope.

Wasn't it Justice Holmes who said that the right to free speech ends when someone yells fire in a crowded theater? Isn't pie-throwing sort of like yelling fire? They both end in chaos and mayhem. Both are disruptive; audience members have been subjected to fear - wondering if they are going to be victims of a violent event. Audience members are deprived of hearing the event they were expecting to hear.

Forrest's mama was pretty smart. Stupid is as stupid does.

Says it all, I think.