Defending a tiny child, and talking back to Goliath

As a longtime Wolverine fan, I feel particularly obligated to respond to a news item about an Oklahoma kindergartner who has been banned from wearing a University of Michigan T-shirt toschool. It’s not as if the school dress code banned all T-shirts, which might be understandable.Rather, the Michigan T-shirt ban reflects the official dress code for the entireOklahoma City school system that students may “only wear gear from Oklahoma or OklahomaState or an other in-state school.”

That seems pretty harsh. The kid is only in kindergarten, and I don’t see what the big deal is. It’s not as if Michigan is a rival; Oklahoma is not in the same division as Michigan, and no games are scheduled or played between them.

This is ridiculous.

However, it is important to note that the underlying principle is one which Michigan fans as well as Michigan haters can agree on.

In that regard, much as I agreed with his overall point, I was startled to find a hateful remark from Nick Gillespie. Even though he thinks the boy should have been left alone, Gillespie could not resist the urge to say something which has hurt my feelings, and which many Wolverines fans would deem deeply offensive:

I hate the University of Michigan as much as the next person (more, probably, since my older son just started college at Ohio State), but jeebus h. christ, what did we fake putting a man on the moon for again? Wasn’t it precisely to let our kids wear whatever stupid T-shirt that’s clean that day to failing public schools?

Wow. Is that hate speech or what? Not only does Gillespie openly admit to hating an oppressed group of people, but he seems to think it’s justified for everyone to hate them.

Where is the SPLC when we need them?

Just kidding, folks. As a libertarian I would defend to the death Nick’s right to spew hatred, but that does not mean that I am powerless! I am just a lowly blogger, without access to the same resources as Gillespie, but despite this obvious power imbalance, I still maintain that the best way to fight speech you don’t like is with more speech.

Whether Glenn Reynolds was aware of the power imbalance between Nick Gillespie and the little blogfolks like yours truly, I do not know. But he recently unveiled a new device called, simply,

“THE NICK GILLESPIE MEME GENERATOR“

Thus enabled, I am now speaking truth to power!

(Just don’t expect me to stoop to Nick’s level and admit to hating Ohio State…)

MORE: Fighting back against hate, the University of Michigan has invited the Oklahoma boy to a home football game.