Up & Coming Weekly

January 03, 2023

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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4 UCW JANUARY 4 - 10, 2023 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Our right to be offensive is increas- ingly being seen as this pesky, little symptom of the First Amendment that must be either begrudgingly entertained or reluctantly accepted. People will casually write off being offensive as uncouth or unbecoming of a civilized society; they are, how- ever, mistaken. e ones who are an- noyed by our right to be offensive are the same ones who are likely to be ignorant of the fact that we are where we are today as a result of individu- als offending the orthodoxies of their day. ey are also likely unaware of the consequences that limiting of- fensiveness can have. One might ask themselves whether it's worth being offensive in today's era of wokeism, microaggressions, and cancel culture. e answer should be (and always will be) a re- sounding and resolute yes. Below are three reasons why we must embrace, and continue, our tradition of being offensive. First, we owe it to all of those who came before us and who sacrificed so much in the name of giving offense. We owe it to those who were mocked and ridiculed, booed and hissed at, beaten or imprisoned, exiled and ostracized, and hanged or burned at the stake all for simply offending the doctrines and dogmas of their day. Literal blood, sweat, and tears were given by countless generations so we could be where we are today. Secondly, giving offense has been the main driver of change over (at least) the last millennium. As pointed out above, our society has gotten to the point it is at today because indi- viduals thumbed their noses at the norms and orthodoxies of their day. Examples abound: •Copernicus offended Christen- dom when he said that the earth was not at the center of the universe, which eventually gave way to Galileo and his subsequent discoveries •Suffragettes offended the male- dominated society of the 19th and 20th centuries when they published literature and held demonstrations demanding the right to vote, and ul- timately this led to women's enfran- chisement •Rosa Parks offended a whole seg- ment of society when she refused to give up her seat in the front of the bus. By doing so she sparked a con- versation about the inequality of the doctrine "separate but equal," and a reversal of numerous Jim Crow-era policies ensued •e first openly gay magazine in the United States, ONE, offended norms and orthodoxies of the 1950s. But by doing so, and in its subse- quent struggles with the authorities, ONE helped give change to obscenity laws and increased First Amendment right for the LGBT community in its landmark Supreme Court case One, Inc. v. Olesen One can only imagine where we would be today had these courageous individuals not dared to be offensive. Lastly, and perhaps most impor- tantly, it is imperative that we con- tinue our long tradition of offending contemporary orthodoxies because the only other alternative is clamping down or dismissing speech and ex- pressions that are deemed offensive. e notion that any idea that is le- gitimately expressed can be silenced or banned on the grounds that it is merely "offensive" is censorship, and as one of our greatest founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, put it, "Censorship is the handmaiden to tyranny." So, if you are against tyranny, you have to be for offensiveness. As was stated at the start, the right to be offensive, which has been af- firmed to us as citizens by various Supreme Court cases (RAV v. St. Paul, Texas v. Johnson, Snyder v. Phelps) is increasingly being portrayed as a thorn in the side of modern society; as if the only thing stopping us from achieving an idyllic society is our individual right to give offense. It is time that that misconception comes to an end and we start to view this inalienable right for what it really is: the heart and soul of the First Amendment. STAFF PUBLISHER Bill Bowman Bill@upandcomingweekly.com OPERATIONS DIRECTOR Paulette Naylor accounting@upandcomingweekly.com MANAGING EDITOR April Olsen editor@upandcomingweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Hannah Lee assistanteditor@upandcomingweekly. com ART DIRECTOR Courtney Sapp-Scott art@upandcomingweekly.com GRAPHIC DESIGNER Isaiah Jones graphics@upandcomingweekly.com STAFF WRITERS Alyson Hansen Ashley Shirley Kathleen Ramsey Chayenne Burns Katrina Wilson R. Elgin Zeiber CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Michael Bruce, John Hood, Michael Futch, Cynthia Ross, Dan Debruler COVER Design by Courtney Sapp-Scott Individual photos courtesy of the musicians. MARKETING ASSOCIATE Linda McAlister linda@upandcomingweekly.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER/SALES ADMINISTRATOR Paulette Naylor Up & Coming Weekly www.upandcomingweekly.com 208 Rowan St. P.O. Box 53461 Fayetteville, NC 28305 PHONE: 910-484-6200- FAX: 910-484-9218 Up & Coming Weekly is a "Quality of Life" publication with local features, news and information on what's happening in and around the Fayetteville/Cumberland County community. Published weekly on Wednesdays, Up & Coming Weekly welcomes manuscripts, photographs and artwork for publication consideration, but assumes no responsibility for them. We cannot accept responsibility for the return of unsolicited manuscripts or material. Opinions expressed by contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. The publisher reserves the right to edit or reject copy submitted for publication. Up & Coming Weekly is free of charge and distributed at indoor and outdoor locations throughout Fayetteville, Fort Bragg, Pope Army Airfield, Hope Mills and Spring Lake. Readers are limited to one copy per person. © 2020 by F&B Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of editorial or advertisements without permission is strictly prohibited. Various ads with art graphics designed with elements from: vecteezy.com and freepik.com. Association of Community Publishers MICHAEL BRUCE, The Carolina Journal. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly. com. 910-484-6200 PUBLISHER'S PEN No offense, but the freedom to offend is necessary for progress by MICHAEL BRUCE, The Carolina Journal e Market House itself is considered an offensive symbol to some. It also serves as a hub to as- semble and air grievances in Fayetteville. Protestors in this April 2021 file photo were calling for police accountability. (Photo by April Olsen) e right to be offensive is often portrayed as a thorn in the side of modern society. (Photo courtesy Pexels)

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