Semper
Fidelis, Aliquando Insipiens
by Rob Cottignies
Firstly, that is Latin for 'Always Loyal, Sometimes
Foolish'.
Secondly, read this article.
That editorial was definitely written with a slant because
of how it presents the situation. 'Marine Vet' and 'A Marine Veteran' begin its
title and the article itself, respectively. The reader is already supposed to
be on this guy's side. The next three paragraphs, in order, mention Father's
Day and a kid's birthday, the Fourth of July and a military charity, and how
long Alejandro served in the Marines and the fact that he was discharged due to
disabilities.
After the article refers to the incident as
'outrageous', it finally tells the story- Alejandro wore a shirt which was
deemed offensive by Six Flags security but informed them it was not while
stating that he served in Iraq. He was then asked to leave the park, which
caused his wife and kid to start crying.
Veteran, holidays, family, tears: How are you NOT on
this guy's side against the unpatriotic meanie-heads at Six Flags?
Well, I am not, for one simple reason- he thought the
rules did not apply to him. Six Flags is a private business which allows it to
create its own rules, such as dress code. As written on their website under
Park Policies,
'Clothing with rude, vulgar or offensive language or graphics is not permitted
... Park admission may be denied if clothing is deemed by management to be
inappropriate.'
An argument against that might be asking who takes the
time to read a theme park's clothing policy. Ignorance of a rule is not an
excuse to break it.
Also, I was able to find the policies page in less
than ten seconds, as anybody else could.
…
I say that 'vulgar' and 'offensive' are up to
interpretation, and it WAS just a cheeky
T-shirt, but it clearly promoted violence. Because of this, Alejandro was told
to change the shirt or leave. My initial thought was that he should have turned
the shirt inside-out, thus saving time and money, but this is apparently not an
acceptable solution according to the company.
The way I see it, he had these options:
Option
A:
Go home to change the shirt and come back, allowing everyone to have a wonderful
day as intended.
Option
B:
Purchase and change into a Six Flags shirt, allowing everyone to have a wonderful
day as intended. If memory serves me, they have some excellent Bugs Bunny merchandise.
If he was still upset about the situation after
choosing either of these reasonable solutions, he could have contacted the
people at Six Flags who made the rules instead of shouting at those who enforce
them.
-OR-
Option
F:
Argue with security, throw a fit, attract attention, confuse and fluster his
family, and do his best to ensure that no one will have a wonderful day as
intended.
I think we all know which option he chose. And I labeled
it as Option F because it was an
extreme Failure on his part.
The fact that he is a veteran had nothing to do with
the situation. The fact that proceeds from the shirt went to a military charity
had nothing to do with the situation.
The situation was simply this: Mario Alejandro not
only wanted to break a rule but had the idea that the rule did not apply to him.
He thought he was exempt and special.
This makes me wonder if he enlisted in the military
for his country or himself, knowing that the general public is all-to-eager to
laud praise on soldiers. Doesn't the military teach people to not act privileged
but follow established orders and rules for the greater good? It is a shame
that nobody spoke up to take Alejandro down a peg during his rant.
…
The military is (unfortunately) a necessary entity
which should be honored and respected, but when soldiers act the way Mario
Alejandro did, it poses the question, 'Do we give them too much?'
There are probably thousands of military-related
charities out there. I am not saying they are bad but surely part of their
money-raising marketing plans involve tugging at the public's heart strings. (To
be fair, the same could be said about many charities.)
These days, one cannot attend a sports event without
the military being honored during the National Anthem or simply by pointing out
a group of veterans to applaud.
…
One of the saddest military-related displays I have
seen was when Chris Rock hosted the Academy Awards in 2005, during Operation
Iraqi Freedom. He opened the show by saying that it was dedicated to the
troops. A bunch of celebrities stood up to applaud, but this
"dedication" ultimately meant nothing. How did a gathering that makes
rich people richer honor soldiers away from home fighting a war that most people
did not understand? Sure, the awards show was a display of freedom available in
this country, but I think they did it simply to attract attention to
themselves, like Mario Alejandro.
To close, another article. This one is lengthy and
intense but worth the read. I especially like what he says in point number
one...