North Star Writers Group

Australia’s state air carrier, Qantas, stopped a customer seeking to fly from Melbourne to London, where he resides, because of a t-shirt that read Bush - World’s #1Terrorist.

Allen Jasson, a 55-year-old Australian technology expert, refused to change the shirt when the carrier told him it was offensive and demanded that he change it or be barred from boarding a London-bound plane.

Mr. Jasson refused to switch, saying he was standing up for his free speech rights and was thinking about legal action.

Qantas issued a statement, quoted by Reuters, that remarks made verbally or on a T-shirt with the potential to offend other passengers or threaten aircraft security “will not be tolerated.”

The airline, however, undercut its own argument by allowing Mr. Jasson to travel on a flight within Australia while wearing the same disputed item of apparel. The shirt apparently was not a problem on a domestic flight, so why would it be one on an international route?

Does anyone believe that a real terrorist intending to do harm would make any kind of public display of a Bush critique? From all the reports I read about the 9/11 terrorists’ activities in this country, they were taught and did their best to blend in with the local populace, even to the point of shaving their beards and not attending mosque regularly.

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, however, this type of arbitrary censorship is happening with distressing frequency in nations that are presumably free and democratic, including the United States. During the 2004 U.S. election, people wearing anti-Bush t-shirts or displaying critical bumper stickers on their cars were evicted from his stump speeches, some being arrested.

Just before Mr. Bush’s 2006 State of the Union speech, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested in the House of Representatives for wearing a t-shirt that read: 2245 Dead. How many more? To be fair, the spouse of a U.S. representative was also removed (although not arrested) for a t-shirt that read: Support the Troops - Defending Our Freedom. Capitol Police eventually apologized to both women and the charges against Ms. Sheehan were dropped.

Many of us might find the slogans emblazoned on a t-shirt or a bumper sticker simplistic and often rude, but they are a form of shorthand for expressing complex opinions and feelings in a compact space. They are also a time-honored American tradition. George Washington used campaign buttons in his presidential race.

Those who wear a t-shirt with a political statement do the opposite of keeping a low profile. They want to make their views known, no doubt in lieu of taking violent action, which perhaps we don’t appreciate enough. Is expressing a strong opinion to be forbidden now? If so, then we certainly are not waging this so-called war against terrorism on behalf of freedom, despite any claims to the contrary.

Speaking up and speaking out is the very essence of true freedom that is based on a profound spiritual right. The innate desire to express thoughts and feelings freely is one of the characteristics of the souls that we are. Our creator made us this way - gabby and opinionated. The spiritual characteristic of free expression is what makes repression of speech so intolerable no matter where or how it is exercised – precisely because it violates one of our most fundamental rights as souls.

If we start fearing the ideas framed in t-shirts, then the terrorists have won. Slogans are not nearly as scary as those who presume to determine if, when and where we can display them.

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