South Carolina state senator Robert Ford is seeking to criminalize bad language in songs and droopy pants. The former civil rights worker believes that he has the right to dictate the speech and styles of citizens — dismissing any claims of constitutional rights. Indeed, he has proudly proclaimed that “[w]e’re talking about teenagers. They have no rights.”
Of course, his law would affect everyone and not just teenagers. Yet, it is his complete lack of understanding or appreciation of the Constitution that is most alarming.
Ford sounds like a cranky old uncle in interview, railing against how teenagers appear in the mall. “It’s a disgrace,” he complains, “they want to look like prisoners . . . When older black people go to the mall they cry when they see that stuff.”
His law would make it illegal for people to wear pants more than three inches below their hips. It would also criminalize music that is “profane, vulgar, lewd, lascivious, or indecent.” Ford does not supply a definition.
However, it does not apparently include the word “H . . E . . . double hockey sticks.” When asked whether this is just laying the groundwork for his anticipated 2010 bid for governor, Ford responded “Oh no, hell no.”
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I agree that droopy drawers are unattractive. I also dislike most rap music. In fact, I dislike a lot of things. If we simply criminalized all of the things I dislike, and allow me to provide all of the statutory definitions, life on earth would be perfect. (Of course, I would also have to criminalize any disagreement with my views.) What I dislike even more than droopy pants, however, is droopy logic. Every time someone goes on a tear about the ACLU, up pops another Sen. Ford to remind us how thin the line is between freedom and repression.
If you treat teens like felons they’ll act like it. Treat them respectfully and they’ll return it. Drooping drawers and kindness can coexist. But geez, those pants are so last decade. {sigh} It is the south, though.
Speaking as a former hippie, I have to come down on the side of the kids. As long as their behaviour stops this side of the criminal, we should tolerate it when we can & get up & leave when we can’t.
As a side note: In the early 70’s I worked as gandy dancer up in Northern Michigan. Our crew was mostly made up of “dirty hippies” who were nonetheless making an honest buck doing some God-awful hard & dirty work. The reactions we received from many of the townspeople in the small communities where we were working ran the whole spectrum from fear to loathing. On one occasion we were refused service in a crappy little diner based solely on our appearance!
FFLEO,
Funny you should mention that. Retail establishment dress codes have been causing issues in KC recently. http://voices.kansascity.com/node/651
Here’s one solution FFLEO, but it bites adults right back in their fully covered butts!!! When I see those boys I think they’re cute. It’s so ridiculous and I think, this is their brains on peer pressure! I’m sure the stuff we wore as kids offended many older people and it’s the wheels of karma driving right over us now! 🙂
“The war between teens and authority figures has a new — or old — front: ears. British shopkeepers tired of teenage loiterers have turned to the Mosquito teen repellent, which emits a high-pitch frequency that most teenagers can hear — but not most adults.
But now teens have struck back against the Mosquito: They are using the same sound to communicate without adults’ knowledge.
At issue is a text-message ringtone that emits the same pitch as the Mosquito. Using it, students can learn about a new message while they’re in class — where they’re not supposed to be using their cellphones. Most of their teachers can’t hear the alert.” (NPR)
The senator’s dislikes raise some interesting legal questions involving the signs on businesses stating:
“No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” or “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.”
I must admit that I strongly dislike any rap music, especially when the car next to mine has the ‘noise’—not music—so loud that the bass penetrates my vehicle. Like the senator, I would just as soon not be subjected to hearing the music he mentions or seeing the ‘inappropriately’ appareled kids he dislikes. I try not to look or listen and I simply leave an establishment if I am personally bothered.
However, I wonder if malls and other businesses can legally enforce similar “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Service” policies for droopy drawers and loud music on private property whose owners primarily serve the general public under store policies barring rowdiness and customers who are “excessively dirty, unkempt, or unhygienic”?
State senator Robert Ford might want to be careful in his hypocritical overzealousness. The people he persecutes for prosecution might decide to petition the court for the criminalization of butt ugly…
Buddha,
You are right about the droopy pants guys will be the last one out of the burning building. It reminds me of the old Canadian fishing story(that’s where I heard it at least)that if you are in a fishing or hunting party in the woods and a bear is chasing you, the good news is that you only have to out run one person and not the bear!
From the article:
“Ford also wants to make it illegal to play or perform in public – or sell to minors – music that is “profane, vulgar, lewd, lascivious, or indecent.” Offenders would face fines up to $5,000 or five years in prison.
While the law would apply to all songs, “most of them are rap songs, yeah, I’m picking on them,” Ford said Thursday. He said “people coming out of church” shouldn’t have to hear such profanity,…”
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I have to agree, they’ve heard enough just listening to Leviticus and Deuteronomy.
I look at the baggy pants falling off your ass thing as a matter of natural selection. When the fire starts, who has a better chance of escape? The one with his pants up or the one with them halfway down to his ankles? Fortune may favor the bold, but nature favors the prepared. Dumb animals die from stupidity every day.
There goes my touchy keyboard again!!
I meant to say “trip and fall”
I do hate it when I see a group of guys walking with their pants so low and their underwear hangs out. It’s really gross. It does looks sloppy. But a rule like this is better suited for high schoolers. Adults should be able to dress how they want to.
If you want to walk around with your pants so low that they’re nearly falling off, then fine. Just don’t get upset when people offer to buy you a belt so that you don’t trip an