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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

opinion

Group proves hard to ignore

It has come to my attention that the Traditional Youth organization has stuck its slimy, bigoted head out of the mud once again.

Now, as an American who values the freedoms and liberties guaranteed by our society, I cannot rightly discourage free ?expression.

Even if that expression might be offensive to 99.99 percent of the IU student population and possibly all of the squirrels, though we may never truly know.

However, it seems logical to suggest a way around this widespread offense.

Just as the Traditional Youth organization has a right to spread their message, we have a right to ignore it.

But I find it is difficult, nay, impossible, to ignore them.

It always seems to be the case that I am walking along, innocently reading the chalk messages on the sidewalk, when I’m confronted with racist slurs and absurd commentary equating Christianity to Communism.

I don’t see how it is fair that they have the right to write whatever they want while I do not have the ability to ignore what they have written.

I have just the solution.

A simple warning system that does not change the content of the message, yet warns innocent passersby about bigoted and thoroughly uneducated commentary in their immediate vicinity.

I have considered many ideas.

Grand light displays that blind passersby before they can read Traditional Youth’s message. Or a bat signal to warn people.

Chaining a bear by said message to ward off unsuspecting soon-to-be victims.

An app that warns passersby when they are in the vicinity of bigotry — Bigot-B-Gone Version 1.2.

However, these choices are extravagant at best and abusive to animals at worst.

Therefore, I have come up with a simple solution — require all potentially offensive messages by the group to be written in hot pink.

That way, if passersby see bright, hot pink in their peripheral vision, they will not mistake it for a club call-out or comedy show performance.

This idea is not new. Consider how news stations warn viewers that an upcoming segment “might contain graphic content.”

This is the same idea, and no one has accused news stations of limiting free speech in that particular manner.

Or consider how movies have warnings about a movie containing “strong language” or “excessive violence.”

The warning does not change the content of the message.

It simply informs the audience about the content generally.

I hope you will agree with my proposal and will join me in the noble campaign to wipe out offensiveness and then replace it again, only this time in the much more noticeable bright, hot pink.

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