What a great weekend for the Bucktown Seafood Festival at St. Louis King of France!
Since their inception in 2001, I have dismissed fried Oreos, but after having my first taste of one at the festival over the weekend, I will no longer bash the sweet delicacy! WOW - it was delicious! But since I’m not taking Ozempic, I will be careful how many I eat.
Walking about the festival was nice and the spectator’s sport of “people-watching” was excellent. After I got home I received a picture that was taken of me at the fest and off to my right side there was a man wearing a t-shirt that had an interesting message. It appears that I’m looking at the man and it sure appears that he is looking at me, but I honestly did not see him or his t-shirt until I received the picture later and noticed the man.
The man pictured at the Seafood Fest was wearing a t-shirt with the message: “Just a Regular DAD Trying Not To Raise Liberals.”
Okay, obviously a conservative dad who wants everyone to know that he’s a conservative and he is raising his kids to be conservatives. The first thing that occurred to me was the idea that this man is wearing a t-shirt with a political message at a festival on the grounds of a Catholic church and school.
I agree with the man’s right to wear the t-shirt with the political message, but why wear that at a kids’ festival? Why the need to let everyone know your contempt for liberals? The man with the political t-shirt is an example of how personal politics has become and too many Americans are defining their very being through their political ideology. Is there anything else that better defines you than your politics? And with the contentious nature of political discourse today it is easy to assume this man may have been attempting to incite people with his message. Again - why do that at a kids’ festival?
There were a few callers and texts into my talk show today on WWL-AM-FM, WWL.com, and the Audacy app that said, “Yea, but if that was a t-shirt about not raising conservative children would you be for it?” NO! I wouldn’t be for it. It’s not the political side the t-shirt panders to - it’s the fact that a father had to wear a shirt that bragged about how he is not raising liberal children. The people who ask those questions about balance and fairness are the very people who view everything through a tight political prism and have no comprehension of opposing something political regardless of it being right or left.
The other thing that occurred to me was the idea that a father, or mother, can drill conservative, or liberal, politics into their kids heads, but that is no guarantee that they will grow up and maintain the political indoctrination they were given growing up at home with their parents. If you’re a parent and you are really drilling a political ideology into your kids’ heads, don’t be surprised if they totally reject your direction when they get older.
I am totally different from my Dad, who was a staunch conservative. As a political Independent, my Dad and I got into heated political discussions and he thought I was an alien when it came to my political views. I’m sure many of you can relate to rejecting what your parents taught you about politics when you grew up and experienced the world on your own.
I support the right to wear a t-shirt with a political message, but if the message is likely to incite some people, why wear it to a kids’ festival?
