Name: Tess
Home: St. Louis
A Tale of Two T-Shirts
The State of the Union Address might have been boring (watching a bunch of people in suits dutifully applaud abstract statements about freedom is not exactly ratings gold), but the T-shirt incidents beforehand added some drama. Two women--anti-war protestor Cindy Sheehan and Republican representative's wife Beverly Young--were detained for wearing T-shirts. Sheehan's shirt said, "2,245 Dead. How many more?" Young's shirt said, "Support Our Troops." Sheehan was briefly arrested. Young wasn't.
Now when I read on cnn.com that Sheehan was invited to attend the address, I knew she would do something to call attention to her cause. It surely must have crossed Rep. Lynn Woolsey's mind that Sheehan might be disruptive. But merely wearing a T-shirt is tame compared to some of the other things Sheehan has done.
According to CNN,
Is it decorous to wear a T-shirt to a formal event? Not really. Personally, should I ever be invited to a State of the Union Address, I will probably choose something boring to wear. But wearing a T-shirt is legal, and it should be legal regardless of the message. (With a few exceptions, of course--if your T-shirt makes a threat against the president, that's clearly illegal.) I'd also like to think that all Americans receive the same treatment by the police, regardless of whether you're a congressman's wife or an anti-war protestor.
At the same time, I find it hard to be indignant about Sheehan's arrest because she's going to use it to further her cause by filing a lawsuit. I'm sure the Capitol police wish they could undo it, and it's going to lead to a big headache for them.
I also wish we had somebody besides Sheehan as the popular head of the anti-war movement. I think Americans need to have serious conversations about the way the war is going, but I'm not sure Sheehan promotes that kind of dialogue.
Support our troops. How many more?
My dad once said that if you can fit your slogan on a bumper sticker or a T-shirt, you've oversimplified. We need a national dialogue about the war that grapples with tough issues instead of reducing them to talking points. But in this divided climate, will we be able to have it?
Now when I read on cnn.com that Sheehan was invited to attend the address, I knew she would do something to call attention to her cause. It surely must have crossed Rep. Lynn Woolsey's mind that Sheehan might be disruptive. But merely wearing a T-shirt is tame compared to some of the other things Sheehan has done.
According to CNN,
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said neither woman should have been removed from the chamber. "We made a mistake," he told CNN.
He said an apology was made to Bill and Beverly Young, and the congressman has been told that Capitol officers will receive better training. He said they are operating under outdated guidance on House rules regarding demonstrations.
"Just wearing a T-shirt is not unlawful," Gainer said. Wearing a T-shirt and engaging in actions meant to draw attention to the shirt is against the law, he said, but neither woman was doing so.
Is it decorous to wear a T-shirt to a formal event? Not really. Personally, should I ever be invited to a State of the Union Address, I will probably choose something boring to wear. But wearing a T-shirt is legal, and it should be legal regardless of the message. (With a few exceptions, of course--if your T-shirt makes a threat against the president, that's clearly illegal.) I'd also like to think that all Americans receive the same treatment by the police, regardless of whether you're a congressman's wife or an anti-war protestor.
At the same time, I find it hard to be indignant about Sheehan's arrest because she's going to use it to further her cause by filing a lawsuit. I'm sure the Capitol police wish they could undo it, and it's going to lead to a big headache for them.
I also wish we had somebody besides Sheehan as the popular head of the anti-war movement. I think Americans need to have serious conversations about the way the war is going, but I'm not sure Sheehan promotes that kind of dialogue.
Support our troops. How many more?
My dad once said that if you can fit your slogan on a bumper sticker or a T-shirt, you've oversimplified. We need a national dialogue about the war that grapples with tough issues instead of reducing them to talking points. But in this divided climate, will we be able to have it?
posted by Tess | 7:26 AM
3 Comments:
Clap, clap, clap. Applause, applause!!!
I think we need people like Cindy Sheehan to remind us in a more emotional way about the human cost of the war. Of course, we also need reasoned dialogue about it, but I see people like her as helping bring about that dialogue. And I think by her essays and statements she has proven to be actually quite capable of making good, reasonable arguments regarding the war.
Remember also that it was Cindy Sheehan who galvanized a vital public debate back in the summer when Bush wanted to simply retreat to his comfortable hobby ranch back in Texas and forget about having a serious debate.
The right-wing slime machine has been trying to discredit Cindy Sheehan since she emerged to bring public urgency to a debate over the costs of war. Just like they did with Michael Moore and other public figures who dare to question their policies from the gut level. But we need both a head and a heart.
Half the time I wish that everybody would stop speaking in bumper stickers.
The other half of the time I just wish the Democrats would come up with some better bumper stickers.
(P.S. Do you ever watch the Colbert Report? It is the funniest thing I have ever seen. I want that guy to run for president.)
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