Can’t They Handle the Possibility of a Perception?
I was recently interviewed in the Vanderbilt alternative paper, The Torch, and I found a copy waiting for me after getting back from Portland. In addition to being impressed by the quality of the paper, I was struck by the front-page article by Meredith Trezise on how the College Libertarians were discouraged from holding a bake sale to promote legalization of marijuana, “‘Legalize It’ Bake Sale Smoked Out.” According to the article, the group was discouraged from holding the bake sale because college officials were “concerned about the possibility of the perception of marijuana in the brownies.” What have we come to when the concern about the possibility of a perception of a prohibited substance is sufficient to stop people from promoting the legalization of that substance?
Thank goodness it wasn’t a bake sale to promote the legalization of assisted suicide! Who knows what possibly-perceived ingredients the administration would have feared then.
I think the administration’s concerns were prompted by the libertarians’ efforts to sell the brownies at $50 apiece. Obviously, anyone who knows libertarians would have realized this was just hard-nosed capitalism…:-)
This is just another part of the trend toward a Nanny state, which has to protect us from even the possibility of perceiving that something that might be bad for us might be available. It’s disgusting. Bravo for the College Libertarians of Vanderbilt for making an issue of this.
I agree with the points made here, but in some cases mere possibility is enough to warrant banning something.
The mere possibility government power might be abused is sufficient reason to ban it!
After seeing your post, I should say that I stopped by that bake sale, debated seveal libertarian issues with a short redheaded girl working the table (She introduced herself, but this was several months ago and cannot recall her name off the top of my head), and can honestly say that I personally chose not to purchase anything on the basis that this girl, who was representing the Vanderbilt College Libertarians, had an incredibly weak understanding of libertarian thought and its philosophies, though she seemed quite sure of herself and frankly came off as both arrogant and ignorant, which is a bad combination. If you want your fundraisers to be more successful in the future, you should make sure the people representing your club have at least a decent understanding as to what libertarianism is before you try and get them to help run a fundraiser for the club.
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