"Now I don't want to get off on a rant here, but...." -Dennis Miller
Like everybody, there are quite a few things in this world which just annoy the hell out of me. I try not to voice these opinions for various reasons. I never want to hurt anyone's feelings, I appear bitter when I do, etc. Unfortunately, unless I voice my frustrations, they don't go away. The solution I've come up with, is this Rant & Roar section of my website. Every so often, I plan to vent my frustration, go on a rant and just plain roar about a certain topic that annoys me. I mean absolutely no offense to anyone in particular. This section is not an excuse for me to attack anyone. It's just me letting off some steam.
You can also check out my previous rants.
While I was at work the other day, a man came into the store with his daughter. He was browsing the magazines and came upon the new issue of Maxim, which had a naked picture of Christina Aguilera on the cover. He immediately called over Virginia (our manager) and began lecturing her on how disgusting it was that we were stocking such a magazine. Virginia tried to explain to the man how capitalism worked, but the man was furious nonetheless. He went on and on about how this sort of magazine should not be sold and how he doesn't want his daughter coming across it. He insisted that we either stop selling the magazine, or hide it behind all the others so no one could see it. This really bothered me. After the man left, my co-worker Kayla (who's married to my other co-worker Ya'akov.... there will be a test at the end, so please keep track) began defending him and saying that she'd never want her daughter to see that magazine cover. Now, since Kayla and Ya'akov are religious, I end up having discussions, debates and arguments with them quite often. This time, I was really annoyed though. I asked her how exactly a naked Christina Aguilera would damage her daughter. Her response was: "you don't know that it's NOT damaging".
First, aside from the obvious flaw in rational reasoning here, if her daughter is damaged by looking at the naked body of a woman, then her head would explode every time she took a shower. Second, We're ALL naked under our clothes. It's not exactly like the human body is some rare and horrible thing that causes blindness. Being naked is the most natural state we can possible be in! We're BORN naked for crying out loud! When a child is being born, the doctor doesn't suddenly yell "SWEET ZOMBIE JESUS!! The baby is NAKED! EVERYONE SHIELD YOUR EYES!"
Kayla's apparent dislike for the human body (talk about psychological issues!) was not what got me annoyed or irritated however. What bothered me most was how easily these people were willing to discard freedom of expression. After all, that's what this really comes down to. Kayla doesn't actually think a naked Christina Aguilera would be damaging to her daughter (she has no reason or evidence to support this view). Kayla just doesn't LIKE the idea of a naked Christina Aguilera on the cover of a magazine. As a result, she thinks it should be removed. Likewise, the man who complained to Virginia didn't give any cogent arguments for why the magazine should be removed. He just made offhand comments about how it was offensive. It's also important to note that this was not the case of a father concerned that his daughter might be getting unhealthy body images from magazine covers. He had no problem with Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Seventeen and all the other magazines we stock that present such images. It was the fact that this particular picture bothered him that's important.
Freedom of expression exists in Canada so that people aren't suppressed, harmed or killed for expressing their views or ideas. It allows people to express themselves in ways that wouldn't be possible in countries ruled by dictators who want their particular views enforced. The law gives people the right to express views and ideas they might hold dear, even if they are not popular with other people. It's what makes this country great. So, if Kayla or Complaino-Man finds the cover of Maxim offensive, then too freakin' bad. Christina Aguilera has the right to express herself in this way, and we have the right to put her expression on the front row of our magazine rack if we choose. If Complaino-Man chooses not to shop at Coles anymore because of this, then so be it. He has that right.
During my discussion with Kayla I mentioned that, using her line of reasoning, I'd be justified in removing the entire religion section from the store.. After all, I find the section offensive. I think it could be extremely damaging to children (and she doesn't know that it's NOT damaging). Kayla responded by telling me that it was not at all the same thing. It then dawned on me that people like Kayla don't want to live in a free society. They don't want to live in a society where people are free to express themselves. People like Kayla and Complaino-Man really just want to live under a dictatorship where they happen to agree with what the dictator says.
We can see another example of this behaviour in the responses people have had to David Ahenakew's racist comments. For those who missed my last update, he's the fucking moron who said Hitler did the right thing when he "fried" six million Jews. Now, while it's apparent that this guy has learned to defecate through his face, that does not give people the right to charge him with a hate crime. His opinion might be the national anthem to "Canadian Fuckers", but it's still his opinion. Freedom of speech means that people have a right to voice their own opinion, no matter how ridiculous, hateful or unpopular it is.
If people don't like living in a country where they can't forcibly remove things they don't like, then they should leave Canada. There are plenty of dictatorships out there. I'm sure they'll have no problem finding one to live under.
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