Friday, August 05, 2011

Obama Disappoint Mint Free Speech Irony

Boxes of breath mints, like this one pictured at Vice Chancellor for Communication Margie Nichols' office on Wednesday, were taken off of the shelves at a University of Tennessee bookstore after state Rep. Joe Armstrong asked the bookstore to remove them. (Saul Young/News Sentinel)

The Knoxville New Sentinel made made me laugh after they reported on a Congressman demanding that these breath mints be removed from University of Tennessee bookstore shelves.  The Congressman claimed his demand was not a violation of free speech.  A UT law professor took exception when he proclaimed,

"Free speech is free speech. If you make fun of the president in a mint, it is just as much free speech as it is if you make fun of the president in a political cartoon."

Which is true, of course.  But then at the bottom of the Knoxville News Sentinel article we read this message:

Comments on this story are now closed due to flagrant violations of our user policy.

One’s “free speech” is another’s “user policy.”

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