Obnoxiousness Come By Honestly
Ira Collins’ outlook on life can be summed up in two words - one of which we can’t print. This is a family newspaper, you know.
The Coeur d’Alene man has caused a controversy by pasting stickers on his pickup that show a Scooby-Doo character giving the finger and providing a phonetic spelling of the Mother of All Dirty Words, the F-bomb. We’re not talking about Einstein here.
A neighbor, understandably upset by Collins’ boorish behavior, has asked city and county officials to do something. And they’re trying. The city attorney’s office is studying a Florida law targeting vulgar bumper stickers. Kootenai County Commissioner Ron Rankin has contacted the Idaho attorney general’s office to see if there’s something the county can do.
Before the powers that be make Collins a free-speech martyr and waste money in court, however, they should consider his mother’s claim. Patricia Collins believes her son has a constitutional right to be rude, and she’s probably right. Free speech means we must put up with a lot of things we’d rather not, including pornography, racist rhetoric, advertising for condoms and feminine hygiene products and, in this case, an Idaho redneck with a bad attitude.
On the other hand, Mother Dearest didn’t do her offensive-acting offspring any favors when she persuaded him not to remove the anti-social stickers. Collins was ready to scrape off his smutty creed until his mom started babbling about his constitutional right to free expression. Said she: “I’m not saying Ira was right in putting them on there, but that’s his personality.”
The acorn didn’t fall far from this tree.
We wonder what Dear Ol’ Mom would have said if sonny’s “personality” had involved some other form of loutish behavior, such as walking around with dog manure on his shoes or yelling obscenities outside church buildings? In fact, we wonder about a mother who’d defend her son’s right to keep a sign that offends common decency and will be seen by the neighbor’s granddaughter. And by the young mother with children who pulls up behind him at a stoplight. And by the grandmother who has the misfortune to follow him on the freeway.
Free speech should mean a person has the right to see, hear and read almost anything privately or with associates. Collins has abused this precious right by foisting his unwelcome message on his neighborhood and community.
His mother should have taught him early on that being neighborly is sometimes more important than exercising a constitutional right.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria/For the editorial board