By Deirdre Spilman
Opinion Assignment Editor
Any good performer knows in order to get people talking, you need to add a bit of shock value to your performance – think the unholy trinity of Britney, Madonna and Christina on the 2003 MTV VMA’s stage.
However, there are those performers who are so desperate for fame that they will take it much farther than dancing around in lingerie on national television.
In her quest to feel the heat of the spotlight, Cincinnati-based comedian Ally Bruener enlisted her friend, Forest Thomer II, to do her dirty publicity work for her. And when I say dirty I mean disgusting.
Bruener suffers from muscular dystrophy and is confined to a wheelchair. The less-than-dynamic duo decided to advertise for her upcoming show in a public park in Cincinnati this past May, according to a June 14 cincinnati.com article.
They decided, in lieu of passing out flyers, to accost park visitors and make them completely uncomfortable. The idiotic hype-man (Thomer) went up to people and asked them if they wanted to “laugh at a crippled girl” while wearing a shirt that read, ‘I laughed at a crippled girl.’ Shortly after his appalling spiel, Bruener rolled on over to tell what I can assume was not a funny joke and plug her upcoming show.
Pretty classy stuff, right? Thankfully, authorities arrived on the scene pretty soon after and Thomer was charged with disorderly conduct. Not because of what he was saying, but because he kept on shouting it like a petulant toddler after he was asked to stop.
Even though citizens are entitled to a fair and speedy trial, the legal system is still dealing with this ridiculous case five months later.
This past Tuesday, the charges against Thomer changed for a second time, according to an Oct. 23 USA Today article.
“They violated my First Amendment rights (protecting free speech), and they know it,” said Thomer in the same article. “I think they messed it up and are trying to make it look like they didn’t.”
Of course. That is why all of the charges have fallen under the branches of disorderly conduct instead of disorderly speech.
“You can’t just arrest people or have them arrested just because you don’t like what they are saying,” Thomer said in a June 19 Yahoo News article.
Thomer’s comment makes sense. Now I understand why the Kardashian family isn’t currently holed up in a jail cell.
What is unbelievable is that after five months of free publicity this lunatic doesn’t realize that all of the hype is not about what he said. It is about the insane way he said it. Yes, his comments were despicable and his methods were far from orthodox, but the fact that he persisted after he was asked to stop is the real issue here.
However, it definitely shouldn’t be. Our society has become far too concerned with protecting people’s right to free speech. Think about the fact that the Westboro Baptist Church is still allowed to picket at funerals.
I am all for expressing your views when it comes to things that actually matter, but this is just wrong. Maybe Bruener and Thomer are OK with using the term ‘crippled,’ but they don’t represent the views of all of the people affected with muscular dystrophy. Too many people feel that the term is still offensive, including me.
Thomer and Bruner need to pipe down about the free speech nonsense and just accept the punishment coming to them. Even though I believe that the First Amendment is important to our society, people shouldn’t be allowed to offend others and then hide behind it.
A stint in jail and some censorship would do this loser some good.
