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Why is this even news?
This woman wants to make the shirts illegal?? You see? this is the slippery slope of our hate crime laws. Freedom of speech is freedom of speech whether you agree with it or not. Too bad if it offends someone. You can't please all of the people all of the time. Just because someone is offended by something shouldn't mean it is illegal. This woman just offended me but you don't see me asking to ban her piehole now do you?
| quote: | It’s hard to imagine a piece of clothing could stir up many emotions. But that’s exactly what’s happening in St. Catharines, where a T-shirt is raising both questions and the ire of demonstrators.
The offending covering sports the image of a bloody hammer and is emblazoned with the words, “She was asking for it”. Protestors who saw the message in the window of Cherry Bomb, an alternative clothing store, were outraged, insisting it encourages violence against women.
“To us, it's sending a message that violence is okay and that it's okay for the perpetrator to blame the victim," contends Gillian Dooley, who runs the only women’s shelter in the city.
But the store owners note they’ve been selling the traumatic “T” for a year with no complaints until now, indicating there’s a similar version out for women, with the same symbol, and the legend “He had it coming”.
And in an irony apparently lost on the objectors - the business is actually owned and operated by women. “I'm sorry we've offended people but there's a lot of people that don't see it in that light, don't see that a bunch of women are trying to promote violence against women,” reposts Kirstin Falle.
But Dooley doesn’t buy it – or the shirt. “We feel it should be classified as a hate crime and banned,” she demands.
The controversy has even reached Queen’s Park, where Attorney General Michael Bryant insists it’s up to local authorities to decide if the message contravenes the hate law.
In the meantime, the merchants of venom are reaping the rewards of that old adage about saying anything, but spelling the name right. The store only sold 20 of the shirts over the last year. Since the controversy broke several days ago, at least 25 have already been snapped up.
Apparently, many are literally "asking for it". |
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