Mastodawn

Ken White Jan 14, 2023

I got more pushback than I anticipated on one argument in my post about the Ninth Circuit decision about the MAGA-hat-wearing-teacher: the idea that a MAGA hat is not self-evidently outside acceptable public conduct.

I certainly have a reaction to seeing someone in a MAGA hat — I figure they’d probably hate me, and I probably wouldn’t care to hang out with them — and I know some people have stronger reactions. But . . .

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Ken White Jan 14, 2023

…I can’t wrap my head around the concept that openly supporting a former President, who got 75 million votes last time, who is still hugely popular among Republicans, is not only completely acceptable in my social circle or yours, but is completely unacceptable in a way that the law should enforce. It’s just not in the realm of reason. It’s one of the more striking examples I’ve encountered recently of in-a-bubble thinking.

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Ken White Jan 14, 2023

….. It’s actually scary to me that some people think that tens of millions of people should be treated as as-a-matter-of-law outsiders. It’s a terrible, terrible way to run a society.

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M.S. Bellows, Jr.Jan 14, 2023

@Popehat Except MAGA isn't a person, it's a political philosophy. And the hat's being worn by a teacher, whose students presumably include people attacked by the MAGA philosophy.

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Ken White Jan 14, 2023

@msbellows It’s the recognized slogan of a candidate. And note that here the hat wasn’t worn in front of students. It was worn to and from a teacher event and taken off at the event.

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M.S. Bellows, Jr.Jan 14, 2023

@Popehat Perhaps the problem here is an unexpected ambiguity in the terms "acceptable" and "public conduct." What's acceptable in a teachers-only meeting wouldn't necessarily be acceptable in the classroom. And while I agree with the Court that in this case the hat was free speech, I'd argue that "legally protected" ≠ "acceptable" under common social standards (which is why the employee chose to "troll" by wearing the hat to a diversity training in the first place).

I'd call this "legally protected socially revulsive conduct."

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Cat West

@msbellows @Popehat The essence of Maga is that the person supporting it believes they have the Right to take away your rights, use violence to achieve their political goals, and act as gangs/mobs to harass/intimidate others. So, swastika is not too far off.