The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently ruled that
wearing a Confederate flag t-shirt is a punishable form of workplace harassment. More
recently still, it considered a case that involved a complainant alleging that
a coworker was guilty of workplace harassment due to the coworker repeatedly
wearing a cap adorned with an insignia of the Gadsden Flag. The Flag is famous
for its depiction of a coiled rattlesnake under the words “Don’t Tread On Me.”
The complainant, an African-American, stated that he found the cap offensive
because it was designed by a slave
owner.
An
unbiased examination of the historical record clearly proves that the Gadsden
Flag was designed for use in the Revolutionary War, in an entirely non-racial context.
Moreover, it was obviously intended to be a message to the redcoats, the
British army that was virtually all Caucasian. There were no allegations that
racist words or actions were directed towards the claimant (other than the
wearing of that hat!). That said, keep in mind that these are cases determining
the rules that all employers, public
or private, must follow, or they will
be subject to crushing legal liability.
Many
employers probably won’t allow their employees to wear “Trump 2016” apparel
now, either, in light of the rapidly chilling workplace climate. What if
someone claims to be “harassed” by a “Trump 2016” bumper sticker he/she saw on
a coworker’s car in the employee lot? I feel aggrieved whenever and wherever I
see “Hillary 2016” merchandise, but I don’t want it banned and I don’t expect
someone to pay me for the mental anguish it causes me.
What’s
next, will the color red be banished from places of business and/or public
property like it apparently was at the Democratic National Convention? If
anything invented, built, designed, owned, used, touched, breathed on, or
thought about by slaveholders in the distant past is taboo, why are we all
still wearing jeans and t-shirts? Cotton, anyone? I mean, hello, right?!
What
sane and prudent employer is going to risk being accused- by the Federal
government- of allowing legally actionable “hostile environment harassment” to
take place? It is a tragic farce that we have devolved to the point where the
mildest expressions of certain points of view are considered unacceptable, yet
every other Facebook post and television show is laden with f-bombs and worse.
That we are allowing some people to demand that they not be exposed to
opposing- or differing- ideas and opinions, is proof positive that we are
heading for dark times, indeed. At this rate, anything other than synthetic,
state-approved, expression will soon be verboten.
And
everything will be fifty shades of (non-Christian) grey.
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