Offensive clothing isn’t criminal issue

Published 9:00 pm Monday, May 27, 2002

A lot of things in this world are offensive. Being interrupted while speaking. Getting cut-off in traffic. Non-pedicured feet in summer sandals. Nosy co-workers who won’t stop inquiring about your dating life. The list goes on. And, while we’re at it, feel free to add vulgar T-shirts to the list. Just don’t feel free to outlaw them.

While we certainly sympathize and understand why Mill Creek resident John Robinson was offended by seeing what he considered an obscene T-shirt while out shopping last summer, his efforts to get city officials to ban such clothing items within city limits goes too far.

What’s next? Tank tops? Skirts? Definitely those baggy pants.

The need to use foul language or display obscenity on clothing shows a possible lack of intelligence and creativity, but neither is unlawful — fortunately, for many people. An absence of gracious, polite behavior is not unlawful, either, for which Mr. Robinson may be lucky. When he saw the "obscene" shirt, he told a reporter, he confronted the man wearing it and said, "That’s disgusting, and so are you for wearing it." To which the man "just grunted and walked away." That man may not have had the presence of mind to use better judgment in what to wear, but at least he had the maturity to avoid what could have become a volatile situation.

People who use such language or wear it, in this case, might think they’re making a point. Or they might be angry. A few kind words could do much to diffuse such anger and plant the seeds of civility.

Many of us would like a return to Mr. Robinson’s polite hometown of Buffalo, N.Y. in the 1930s, but such Rockwellian dreams will only come true when people start guarding their own behavior and words instead of scrutinizing everyone else’s.