Yes, intolerance. The Taliban had a thing about dirty statues too. Nice to know they exist in Montgomery County Taken down/covered up, no difference, and nobody said that the morons who go around looking at johnson with telescopes weren't "within their rights" to overreact. But anyway let's outline the position you seem to be advancing: According to your view, censorship is all right as long as as sufficient communal inertia remains to keep it from being checked? Wow, what a concept that is. So small groups of citizens should be allowed to suppress expressions that they disagree with until some super-majority of the "community" sufficiently dissents. That's a great way of ensuring that only extremely popular views are expressed. So the default rule should be "suppress/unless". That is just fantastic.
<blockquote>Originally posted by TheFreak why am I a "wacko"? </blockquote> OK, you're not a "wacko." But you are a "Freak," and you can't deny that.
What do you want to happen here? What is your solution to fix this massive crisis? From the full article: County Judge Alan B. Sadler denied that commissioners were catering to the group. "This is being portrayed as if these were exclusively Republican Leadership Council extremist issues," Sadler said. "It was started by the Republican Leadership Council, but we are not reacting necessarily to the Republican Leadership Council." He said the issues reflect mainstream opinion in the county. Here we have examples of citizens mobilizing to protest these decisions: Opponents of banning the books mounted a counterattack Monday, leading to arguments in the hallways as a crowd of 150 overflowed Commissioners Court. The issue occupied commissioners for 4 1/2 hours. and: While critics of the two books dominated the past two Commissioners Court sessions, most speakers Monday opposed any attempt to ban books. A petition was presented from nearly 800 residents opposing such bans, the attempted removal of Library Director Jerilynn Williams or the revision of the review process. Here is a restaurant on the receiving end of protest refusing to cater to this group: The Republican Leadership Council is continuing a boycott of the Buca di Beppo restaurant in the same shopping center because it has photos of nude statues and paintings. Jenkins said he is not satisfied that the restaurant had removed a photo of a statue of nude wrestlers and a photo in the men's restroom of a boy facing a wall, apparently urinating. He said he will be satisfied "if they put a sign up in front that says, `Caution, this restaurant is R-rated.' " Randall Lopez, vice president of field marketing for the restaurant chain, said he was unaware of any direct complaints about the artwork. He said the restaurant management learned about the boycott only after discovering that leaflets were being handed out protesting the photographs. Lopez said no more photos or paintings would be removed. Since the boycott became public, the restaurant has received more support from the community than criticism, Lopez said. Whitt complained to District Attorney Michael McDougal, who took a grand jury to Buca di Beppo for dinner last week. "They said the food was good," McDougal said, but they saw nothing that offended them. He said he didn't take them to view the statue because such works have "been around for centuries." "Mrs. Whitt said it was pornographic," McDougal said. "I said, `Sorry, there's nothing I can do about it.' " It seems to me that this community is able to handle itself just fine. Why couldn't the owner of the Oshman's just have refused to cover the package on the statue, like the restaurant owner? Nobody forced him to do it. I just think this whole thing is so silly. Overreactions all around. The Taliban in Montgomery County? LOL. We better put everyone on "orange" alert....or is it "green"....hmph.
Uhh, I didn't say it was a massive crisis. I said, way back when, that a few silly narrow minded fools shouldn't be allowed to dictate the cultural environs of the masses based on their own repression, and should not go around looking for phalluses to censor. I didn't say that the Texas Air National Guard should declare martial law or anything. I did say that your "community based" approach to free expression was silly and undemocratic. And I still believe that.
Also, what everyone (including myself) has failed to notice, is that this group is not even responsible for the fig leaf! It was one woman that was offended by the statue, who complained and the owner then brought out the leaf, apparently: Although the recent decision by managers of the Portofino shopping center to place a fig leaf on the statue did not result from the RLC's action, the group expressed support for the move. The statue stands atop an Oshman's sporting goods store, where it was moved from eye level. Dianna Whitt of Shenandoah, whose complaint led to the addition of the fig leaf, said she shares the RLC's views but prefers to call her protest a personal effort by a concerned citizen. Clearly what we have here is a store owner being overly sensitive, nothing more. Again, overreaction all around.
