My ears perk up when a senior American journalist starts his argument with the caveat, “I think people should be able to wear whatever they want, but …”
But that’s exactly how CNN host Don Lemon began a discussion with fellow host Chris Cuomo on Thursday evening. The two journalists were discussing the decision of a California chef, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, to ban MAGA or “Make America Great Again” hat wearers from his restaurant. The journalists offered some troubling arguments.
First off, let’s be clear: As a legal rule, Lopez-Alt has the right to deny entry to MAGA hat wearers. He is a private owner of a place of public accommodation and can thus exclude anyone he wishes unless he does so on the basis of their color, race, religion, or nationality.
A quick aside: I believe a gentleman ought not wear a hat indoors, especially in a restaurant. This is a basic rule of British etiquette, but unfortunately one that is ignored by too many in our great nation (including my grandfather).
But Cuomo and Lemon made this a broader discussion: Ought we shun people who wear MAGA hats? Are they guilty of some offense against decency?
Cuomo is convinced MAGA hat wearers must yield to opponents. Referencing Lopez-Alt’s ban, Cuomo explains, “This isn’t so much about whether he has the right, it’s about whether or not it is right. And here’s my problem on this issue. Ordinarily I’d go down the line, look, be bigger than that. But I don’t want to fall into the trap of underselling the significance of the trigger of the expression to people. I think the more appropriate analogy to say is if people were wearing shirts in that said, ‘I hate black people,’ would he be okay to say, ‘Don’t come into my place with that’? And I think most people would say, ‘Yeah.’ That’s how people like [Lopez-Alt] see the MAGA hat. So does that make it okay? I think that’s the right question.”
To assert that “Make America Great Again” is an equivalent sentiment to “I hate black people” is, in my mind, absurd. A MAGA hat says nothing more about its wearer than “I support President Trump or some significant element of his platform.” And the scale of MAGA hat wearing necessarily means that there is a significant portion of otherwise law-abiding pleasant people wearing that hat. Trump’s approval rating remains above 35 percent of the adult population. That’s tens of millions of people who might wear the MAGA hat. How many of these believe in the most exclusionary elements of Trump’s rhetoric? I would venture a marginal few. That denies the rationality of any inferred implication of inherent MAGA offensiveness.
Don Lemon offered a similarly concerning interpretation of the MAGA hat. “Your clothing tells a story,” Lemon continued, “Maybe [the MAGA hat] means birtherism to people … maybe it means Mexicans are rapists to people … and so you cannot erase those things from the story of that hat … It just can’t be about what you want it to be about. There are symbols and things in society that you have to take as a whole.”
I guess if the schedule gives you a Lemon, you make bull$h!t.
Liberals are “triggered” by people who wear clothing that indicates they want our nation to be strong and prosperous. Actually, the left opposes the groundswell of support for Trump. Their usual MO is to try to suppress everyone’s freedom of speech in order to control what can be supported in public.
I’m sorry I missed their little skit; I love watching to adult whiny crybabies talking about how a hat frightens them.
So, how does Lemon keep the imposition of gay wedding cakes in his head while holding to this self-ban of MAGA hats?
Or of the right of women to dress like sluts but not the right of Trump supporters to wear their hats?
Or the right of women (of all sexes) to wear “pussy hats” but not wear Trump’s MAGA hats?
If he had any brains he’s have a whale of a headache!
@Nan G: Suppression of thoughts other than liberal-think justifies it all.
Well, guess what?
The “owner” of this eatery is RETRACTING his ban on MAGA hat wearers in his place of business!
He’s also deleted his tweet about banning those wearing MAGA hats.
He’s also APOLOGIZED for even claiming he’d turn away a customer who had a MAGA hat on!
And his workers are refusing to comment, but will serve ANYONE.
https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/02/01/san-mateo-restaurant-apologizes-trump-maga-hat-ban/
@Nan G: I hope the same thing happens to this restaurant that befell the Red Hen in Virginia. Forgiveness is sometimes lost on some people.
@Nan G: Thats too bad I was going to go there order the most expensive meal on the menu then go to the restroom pull out my hat and put on a Trump 2020 shirt on and stroll out to eat.
The annoying thing about the hats, and about all such public partisan displays, is that sometimes people just want to get the hell away from politics, which has become far too invasive and far too intrusive. There’s nothing quite like the introduction of politics to quickly ruin any social occasion.
Also, if you wear this bright red hat around on your head with a contentious political statement printed on it, you’re making a decision to pointlessly push a lot of people’s button. Some of us resent the idea that America isn’t great. It’s sort of like saying, “Make us proud of the flag again.”
@Greg: That can mean many things I must be careful of because of other peoples inability to control their emotions? So no sagging pants, no short skirt, no tattoos, Everyone needs a uniform everywhere same clothes same shoes same hats all chosen by the those unable to control themselves, Lets let them control others. Hmmmmmmmmmm FU.
@kitt, #8:
There are appropriate and inappropriate settings for a lot of things. This isn’t about what we’re allowed to do, so much as about respecting what’s appropriate and inappropriate.
Unfortunately a lot of people no longer understand the principles underlying simple courtesy these days, which likely explains the vicarious pleasure many take in this scene from the movie Kingsman. “Manners maketh man.” (William Horman)
@Greg:
So, do you feel the same about someone wearing a rainbow shirt? How about one with the picture of Che on it? What about one with the Remington deer head on it? What’s wrong with expecting people to simply mind their own business and allow others to have their own opinions and beliefs? I guess since the rise of the butt-hurt, whiny crybaby, those days are long gone.
I don’t have a MAGA hat and, up till now, haven’t wanted one. I’m looking for one now. I’m sure I’m not the only one. How’d THAT work out for you?
And that’s exactly like looking at that black guy and thinking, “I bet he wants to rob me.” It’s called bigotry and prejudice and the left has brought it back into fashion again.
@Deplorable Me, #10:
It’s that attitude and not the hat that can become the problem. For me, it won’t work out one way or the other. I have no such attitude.
@Greg: For me, I don’t let a bunch of whiny crybabies tell me what I can and can’t wear.
So, do you feel the same about someone wearing a rainbow shirt? How about one with the picture of Che on it? What about one with the Remington deer head on it? What’s wrong with expecting people to simply mind their own business and allow others to have their own opinions and beliefs? You forgot to address the question.
Like I said, I think it’s the setting that determines whether something is appropriate or not. In some settings, I don’t want to be made to think about contentious issues. Politics is too much in our faces already. I also find it annoying when people bring ill-mannered, out-of-control children into restaurants.
@Greg: When we start letting people who kill babies because they might be a life style impediment tell us what is “appropriate” we are in great trouble.
That’s a dishonest statement. It deliberately misrepresents why principled people make a conscious decision to support every woman’s right to have sovereign authority and control over her own body.
Perhaps I’m becoming psychic. I can anticipate some remark concerning the need to behave as conservatives deem appropriate, thus avoiding the need for any freedom to make such decisions in the first place.
Just like how so many lovely couples pay a sitter $12/hour (or more) to have a sweet special evening out only to find themselves surrounded by families whose children are loud, unruly pains-in-the-neck throughout the entire meal, movie or concert.
I think this was a more pointless pushing of people’s buttons:
Some of you?
Probably more of you agree with Gov Cuomo who claimed America was NEVER great.
@Greg: I think it’s the setting that determines whether something is appropriate, wearing a hat indoors is never appropriate for a man . But wearing it until indoors is perfectly acceptable, no matter the type. How it makes others feel is beyond the wearers control, if the wish to be free of anything they may encounter let them stay home. Once they step out of their door they just should learn others have rights to wear what ever they choose where they choose just as they do.
Toughen up buttercups, learn to deal with life and there are different opinions in this world.
@kitt: That’s Awesome. Thank you.
@michael massie: I would understand a man not doffing his hat to a woman shouting out her abortion.
@Deplorable Me:
I wold say to the progressives , triggered by my love of America. “kiss my as* you —— ——!+. I am old But still will fight for the greatest country ever!
@Greg:
For 8 years we were told that below great was a new norm, people allowed to trample on the flag ordered not to fly it on their own property.
Our educational system sucks, not so great
We dropped from #1 ecomomy, not so great
Homeless, healthcare, hunger ect ect ect
Now we are back to #1 in energy production
#1 growing economy
Get Core out of our education and go back to where children learn then build on that repetition The teaching method is ADD not our kids. Teach test move on teach test move on what is retained? Doesnt matter, they passed the test, done with that, move on.
Core has dropped us to under 11th place, not so great.
Reading, writing and arithmetic, reading comprehension, creative writing, Mathematics, science, logic, discernment, history.
@Greg:
No it isn’t. REAL medical situations are already covered by the law. The only reason some scumbag like Cuomo needs to sign a broader law with wider protections is to cover abortions for any reason at any time.
No, that’s where we differ. I don’t care how you behave as long as it doesn’t infringe my freedoms. However, when you promote the idea that there is some reasonable excuse for someone to attack another person based on what kind of hat they wear, that is an infringement.
Liberals seem to have a real fear of the free expression of thoughts, indicating to me they don’t have much confidence in the worth of their own ideology.