You have the right to be stupid. As far as I know, there's no specific law forbidding innate stupidity, and the acting upon thereof. Freedom of speech and Freedom of Expression insure your right to open your mouth and let a whole lot of stupid fall out. Vast amounts of stupid. Those rights insure that you can extend your stupidity into how you name you children, even if you chose to saddle them with the weight of Nazi-embracing names.
I'll state it upront: it is my not so humble opinion that these people are stupid beyond belief. They named their kids Adolf Hitler Campbell, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell, and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell.
Um, yeah. Stupid is not a strong enough word.
In my opinion, of course.
Little Adolf is turning 3, and the parents tried to purchase a cake from a ShopRite with his name on it. Like lots of parents do. Only in this case, the store refused, citing, "We believe the request to inscribe a birthday wish to Adolf Hitler is inappropriate."
I get that. And looking around online, LOTS of people get that and are cheering ShopRite.
While I think ShopRite is right, I also think ShopRite is wrong. I admit it, initially I was thinking "Hell yes! Go ShopRite!" But then I took the time to really consider what was happening...ShopRite has the right of refusal, but in doing so they gave a public voice to something insidious that shouldn't be given easy media access.
Look, those kids are going to be screwed over for the rest of their lives because of the names they've been burdened with. There's a good chance that once their peers learn to associate those names with the people that made them infamous, the kids are gong to get the crap kicked out of them on a regular basis. School will be torture. Even if they change their names when they hit 18, they'll suffer the damage for the rest of their lives.
But that's only part of it.
When their parents named their kids, they had to understand what they were doing. And by refusing to put the little boy's name on the cake, ShopRite then gave them a platform to spew their particular form of bigotry--and hell yes I think it's bigotry on a major scale--and gave them a public voice. People are talking about them. Most people are pointing and shaking their heads sadly, but some people are going to embrace their stupidities as righteousness...and that's sad.
If they'd just made the cake with no fuss, the parents would not have had a reason to raise a fuss and draw attention to their children, and to their racist, anti-Semitic views (of course it's anti-Semitic. What else could it be?)
The parents are claiming "it's just a name" but we all know better. Still...it brings to the center of attention someone who isn't old enough to defend or defy his parents.
The little boy is only 3 years old. Don't start dumping this on him yet. He's going to have enough to deal with when he's older. Don't give the parents a media platform. Don't give them what they obviously want. Save it for dealing with adults who deserve the outcry that results.
All right, looking back on what I just wrote... there's a whole lot of wrongness and very little right. One could easily argue that the store was more right than not because if you don't take a stand on a birthday cake, you might never take a stand.
I just keep coming back to two things; it's a little boy, and he has stupid parents.
They don't deserve the publicity. And here we are, giving it to them.
Sadness all the way around.
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