Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Nichols is a Stilwell junior in creative writing.
Last week, four Utah teens were given a police citation for rapping. You may be thinking to yourself, “Of course rapping is illegal in Utah.” Surprisingly, however, their crime was not the genre, but the venue.
The rapscallions, mimicking a popular YouTube video that has already spawned a deluge of copycats over the years, performed the hip-hop classic “Big Mac” at a McDonald’s drive-thru. When they repeated the rap rather than place an order, the manager came out and told them to knock it off. An employee apparently took down their license plate number as they left and police tracked them down at a high school volleyball game, according to CNN.com. They were cited for “being disorderly in public” as well as for “being painfully unoriginal.” (The latter citation was made by the Creativity Cops, who were out of their jurisdiction because they don’t exist.)
While many may dismiss this as a silly trifle of a story, I think there are deep, serious issues at play here. Free speech issues. I think these kids should take this First Amendment case all the way to the Supreme Court. I know it’s a long, complicated process to reach the Supreme Court — involving pistol duels, death races and a trivia lighting round — but this case would have a chance.
What was really the crime here? What is so disorderly about the majesty of song? These youths merely wanted to lighten up the day of those poor souls in the fast food industry. All they got in return was American Fork, Utah’s finest hunting them down and embarrassing them in front of their schoolmates.
Apparently, if Osama bin Laden had performed a folk song about filet o’ fish at a Long John Silver’s, we would have found him years ago.
And why did the employees react so negatively? As a veteran of the restaurant industry, I can safely say that any impromptu performance by a customer, even if I’d heard it before, would inspire me to laugh and enjoy it. Any break in the monotony of the average fast food shift would be a welcome respite, not a case of “creating public fear,” which is part of the definition of the law they apparently broke.
It’s almost as though people are addicted to being miserable. Rather than embracing these unique happenings, there’s a tendency to be annoyed or even angered by people who simply want to do something different. We want people to stop making such a scene so we can continue hating our jobs and making it through the routine we’ve established.
As long as they aren’t dangerous or genuinely disruptive, public displays of silliness should be not only tolerated, but accepted as a gift from people who are trying to brighten our day.
So next time you’re at work or walking to class and you see somebody do something wacky such as hand out fliers that say, “Throw this away,” don’t just frown, put your head down and forge ahead. Stop for a second and smile. Save the 911 call for something less enjoyable.
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Nichols: Lighten up about drive-through rap
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