A blatantly discriminatory, oppressive program has been stopped in its tracks here at UK.
What was this aberration of fairness and equality, you ask?
Well, the ever controversial UK baseball team held a promotion earlier in the season whereby anyone bringing a religious bulletin to a Sunday afternoon game got tickets for half price.
This, to my mind, is a seemingly innocent program.
But the custodians of political correctness at the Lexington-Fayette Human Rights Commission and one hyper-sensitive UK neurotic … oops, I mean, neurologist … Robert Baumann decided this program was just too much to bear. They fired up the typewriters immediately to file a complaint against the University.
Presumably, this discount discriminates against those who aren't religious and who shudder at the thought of stepping foot into a (gasp!) church.
Not only is this positively petty, it is also an exercise in colossal ignorance.
First, the program did not say that the bulletin had to be one from a Christian church. I suspect that if someone brought in a bulletin from a mosque, a synagogue, a Church of Satan or wherever, they would not have been denied the half-off bargain.
But what about those angry atheists out there who feel trumped out of the deal?
Well, to my knowledge, no church I have ever attended has closed its doors to anyone who wants a bulletin. So, if you have a profound hatred for anything religious, you could waltz into the church, snatch a bulletin, leave quickly and go enjoy the baseball game. Nothing hard about that.
In short, the promotion was not discriminatory because everyone has equal access to a bulletin.
Now here's where things get good.
Our esteemed city newspaper, the Lexington Herald-Leader, ran an advertisement promoting the program. So Mr. Baumann, with the help of his cronies at the Human Rights Commission, decided to file a complaint against the paper, basically saying that they helped promote discrimination.
The Herald-Leader probably could have ignored the claim. But, of course, that isn't what happened. True to its spineless nature, the most liberal paper on earth caved in immediately, and publisher Lewis Owens almost went down shamefully on bended knee to beg the Human Rights Commission for forgiveness.
Said Owens: "We were surprised that an advertisement containing this language got into the newspaper without being detected." Of course, Mr. Owens isn't being genuine here. There was nothing alarming about the ad.
Old Louie went to work immediately on those dangerous miscreants in the Herald-Leader's advertising staff who allowed the ad to run. The paper now plans to have special religious diversity training for all employees and a very special round of politically correct indoctrination for new sales representatives.
I'm sure the Herald-Leader foamed at the mouth when presented with the chance to mandate more sensitivity.
But it gets worse.
The Herald-Leader is offering a total of $15,000 in free advertising space to the Human Rights Commission so it can promote a bunch of diversity drivel over the next three years. This is an attempt to placate the group and Mr. Baumann so they'll shut up and go away.
It's saddening to see the Herald-Leader, guardians of that First Amendment freedom of the press stuff, whimper and grovel at the feet of such ridiculous people.
It all goes to prove one thing: If you are useless whiny baby and you bitch loud enough, you'll get your way everytime. You might even get some free stuff thrown in as well.
The way I see it, I should get in on the act right away.
I'm going to complain today about those horribly oppressive offers at many area restaurants, where kids under 12 eat free. I can't get in on the deal, so I figure I'm being discriminated against. Maybe I'll get a free meal. If the Herald-Leader advertised any of these offers, and I lean on them at all, I could get a bunch of free space to promote my agenda as well.
There could be a bright spot in all of this yet.
UK officials have yet to settle over this incident, though they say they are going to. It would be nice to see our administrators show a little gumption (for once) by invoking a bit of religious tone and dealing with Mr. Baumann and his partners in extortion over at the Human Rights Commission in the proper way - by telling them to go to hell.
Editorial Editor Trent Knuckles is a political science senior.
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