Some people are strong proponents of expressing their right to be wrong

I have no problem with the concept of freedom of expression and the right of people to think or say whatever it is they believe – no matter how ridiculous or stupid it might well be.

Self-explanatory

But there are some individuals whom I suspect come up with views to express just for the purpose of – to put it bluntly – pissing people off! I can’t help but think those people give a bad name to the concept of free speech – which the rest of us are forced to defend no matter how trivial it becomes.

TAKE THE INSTANCE of a lawsuit now pending in U.S. District Court by a Chicago Bears season ticket holder. One of the perks for people who buy such a ticket plan is they get to spend time on the playing field during pre-game warmups.

This particular fan is upset because, as a Green Bay Packers fan, he wants to wear his green-and-gold jersey, along with all sorts of other items in Packers’ colors. Basically, he wants to make the presence of the Bears’ arch-rivals seen on the Bears’ own turf.

The Bears have denied this season ticket holder the ability to do that, and that is what has led to his legal action.

He thinks it’s his inalienable right to piddle all over the Bears’ party with his Packers’ jersey. He’s prepared to fight this out, and wants to make this an issue of great societal significance – a cause.

PERSONALLY, I THINK we ought to let the guy wear his replica jersey, and let him take all the abuse that Bears’ personnel invariably will dish out. Because, after all, free speech does not guarantee anyone the “last word” on an issue.

Either that, or require the goof to enter the stadium by walking through the Soldier Field parking lots while dressed in his Packers’ garb. Of course, he’d have to venture through the throngs of Bears fans who make a point of tailgating outside the stadium prior to the games.

It would be like a gridiron gauntlet. He’d have to take so much abuse, and I don’t doubt you’d probably get some drunken buffoon thinking he’s defending the honor of the orange and blue who would wind up kicking the snot out of this Packers’ fan.

Not 1st time Satanic Temple has expressed itself

Let’s see how much he’d desire to wear his Packers’ jersey at Soldier Field again!

THIS, OF COURSE, is far from the only incident of someone who feels compelled to piddle all over someone else’s party out of some belief they’re scoring ideological points for their “cause.”

Take the Illinois Statehouse, where the Christmas holidays has turned into a mass of public displays erected in the Capitol rotunda that were meant to pay tribute to the holidays of various religious faiths that are being celebrated in coming weeks (we’re currently in Day 4 of Hanukkah).

Now, it has evolved into a production of who can come up with the most ridiculous display. This year, it is one set up by the Satanic Temple chapter in Chicago, although its display (a sculpture of a woman’s hand tempting us with an apple) is far from the devil-worshipping images that I’m sure will come to minds of many.

The group says it is “a nontheistic organization that aims to encourage benevolence and empathy amongst all people.” Although I suspect its inclusion in the Capitol will peeve many more people than it will sway.

PERSONALLY, I’D BE inclined for dumping any holiday displays, even an overly decorated Christmas tree. The Capitol is supposed to be a place of business for our government – and not so much one of holiday partying.

Although the one that really manages to peeve my sensibilities is one that has been in place since 2008 – the “Festivus” pole. As in motivated by that old “Seinfeld” episode where we learn of the holiday celebrated by the Costanza family as an alternative to Christmas commercialism.

One TV gag continues to live on long after "Seinfield" cancellation

The actual point of the episode was to further show how much of a crank the character portrayed by actor Jerry Stiller was, but some people want to take it literally to create a holiday that worships a metal pole with no ornamentation or presents – and somehow devolves into a wrestling match meant to humiliate.

Maybe the appropriate response to all of this is to use the Festivus pole to club some sense into the heads of any of these people who think their actions are anything more than imposing their crackpot ways upon the rest of us.

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Hoosiers eating crow?!? The race to backtrack from “religious freedom”

I must admit to being surprised at how quickly Indiana government officials are backtracking themselves concerning the alleged “religious freedom” law enacted last week.

Indiana Gov. Dan Pence said Tuesday he expects the Republican-dominated Indiana General Assembly (the negative image of what we have in Illinois) to pass some measure by week’s end that will clarify the intent of the new law so as to make sure that people can’t wind up being discriminated against based on sexual preference.

WHICH IS THE fear of many of those who are now lambasting the Land of Hoosiers for having felt the need to lead the nation in passing such a law to begin with.

It was interesting to hear Peter Breen of the Thomas More Society speak earlier this week on WTTW-TV’s “Chicago Tonight” program about how the law doesn’t really make Indiana much different from Illinois in terms of the way people’s rights are protected.

Although the difference appears to be that Illinois has laws including sexual preference as a category of person whose rights are protected. Indiana has never felt the need to offer such protections within their state law. Which is a big difference, no matter how much some try to downplay it!

That is why some wonder if the law is meant to let people who have hang-ups with regards to gay people (particularly on the marriage issue) claim that their religious beliefs are somehow being violated.

AS THOUGH THOSE beliefs somehow permit people to act on their prejudices toward those they don’t like.

It actually reminds me of a “Sunday school” moment when I was a kid of about 8 when we were told that being a “good person” had nothing to do with whether one went to “Heaven” after death – it was about how strong one’s religious faith is.

Perhaps some people think being the last hold out against gay marriage is what will assure them a place in the hereafter; while presuming that everybody else is Hell-bound.

As though God is the ultimate bully who backs those who bully everybody else not like them. I’d like to think that if there really is a hereafter, certain people are in for the shock of their existence when they find out how wrong they truly have been in life!

BECAUSE THE WAY that Indiana’s political actions of last week made any sense was as a political statement; letting it be known they did not approve of having “gay marriage” forced upon them by a federal judge – as opposed to Illinois where the Legislature and governor enacted changes in the relevant laws.

Which themselves were only a couple of decades old and were part of an effort by a then-Republican-dominated Illinois government to make its own statement against gay marriage.

Now, Indiana officials have to back away from their hard-headed statement. Perhaps it was all the public condemnation they were receiving that caused the change of heart.

Not just that the band Wilco cancelled an Indianapolis concert, or that the NCAA was talking about never again holding the men’s basketball tourney in the Indiana capital city (the Final Four will be held there this weekend, and it wouldn't be practical to relocate the event at this late date).

NOT EVEN THE fact that several states (including New York) rushed to enact legislation saying they were prohibiting non-essential travel by their officials to Indiana so long as the new law remained in place. Not that it would have cost much. Because how many people make non-essential trips to Indiana at all!

Or even the fact that Mayor Rahm Emanuel is now hitting back against all those vapid “Illinoyed” ads that Indiana has concocted trying to claim that businesses should jump for the chance of a Hoosier mailing address so as to get lower tax rates.

The lower taxes might just be evidence that the state government doesn’t do as much as Illinois does, and that the public embarrassment of having the Indiana address might not be worth the cost savings.

And we can all think of State Line Road as being just another municipal boundary like Howard Street to the north – rather than the barrier beyond which oddball things happen when one ventures too far to the east!

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EDITOR’S NOTE: It may be nothing more than fantasy, but there are times I wonder if those northwestern Indiana counties ought to just shift themselves over to Illinois. While some Hoosiers would probably wet their pants with glee at the thought of being rid of Gary, we in Illinois would gain additional Congressional representation (and Electoral College votes) at the expense of Indiana. We’d see how quickly Indiana would quit wanting to live in such isolation from the rest of the Great Lakes states.