I am sooo offended!

From the Oregonian 3-14-09:

A mask similar to one President Barack Obama himself wore in a "Saturday Night Live" skit prompted a Portland school principal to ban a boy from performing while wearing it at his elementary school talent show after deciding the rubber likeness of the 44th president was "inappropriate and potentially offensive."

Dru Lechert-Kelly, 11, a fifth-grader at Llewellyn Elementary School in Southeast Portland, decided to dress up like his role model and dance to a popular YouTube song that features an Obama look-alike dancing to a parody called "I Can Do Whatever I Like."

Local school says no to Obama act

This kid is a Romanian orphan son of two liberal gay SE Portland guys. The article goes on to worry relentlessly about the fear that someone might be offended by young Dru's depiction of our President. SINCE WHEN WAS FREE SPEECH LIMITED BY THE "POSSIBLITY OF OFFENDING SOMEONE" CLAUSE? This line of thinking is analagous to banning the monkey bars for fear that a child could be "hurt" by playing. I believe the reverse is true. The child will be hurt by not being able to play, by not being able to express himself, by not being allowed to move beyond a rigid set of politically correct strictures defined by a narrow group of fearful citizens more motivated by their need to avoid conflict than the responsibility to support free speech as defined in the constitution. (deep breath...)

When did we as a nation, state, city etc. become so terrified of the notion of offending someone? I presume the next step will be to ban MAD Magazine as my parents attempted to do when I was a callow youth with a collection of MAD and Playboy in the attic. If the goal is to protect our children from the dangers of thinking as well as playground accidents then we are in deeper shit than even the personal injury lawyers can imagine.

I am afraid we are in danger of becoming a nation of of pussys (in the sense of lacking the courage to speak, act or express our true feelings). Speak up! Act up! (remember these guys?). Don't let "them" do this to "us"!

Oh, bye the bye, a number of years ago I yanked both of my kids out of the aforementioned Llewellyn school due to great disappointment with the antics of the principal. Some things just don't seem to change.

Be a true American! Get out there and offend someone today!