{"id":2305,"date":"2011-07-28T06:00:08","date_gmt":"2011-07-28T12:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=2305"},"modified":"2011-07-28T06:00:08","modified_gmt":"2011-07-28T12:00:08","slug":"dollywood-lesbians-the-neidermeyer-complex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/?p=2305","title":{"rendered":"Dollywood, Lesbians & the Neidermeyer Complex"},"content":{"rendered":"

You may know him as The Maestro<\/em> — Bob Cobb — from several memorable episodes of Seinfeld<\/em>.\u00a0 But, before Mark Metcalf was The Maestro<\/em>, he was Neidermeyer, the tightly wound ROTC officer in the 1978 John Landis-directed classic, Animal House<\/em>.\u00a0 Neidermeyer, who was a thorn in the Deltas’ side, always exerted his “authority” in ham-fisted ways.\u00a0 Give someone a little bit of power and too many times he uses it in a completely moronic way like Douglas Neidermeyer.<\/p>\n

Sadly, the Neidermeyer\u00a0Complex is alive and well in our land today.\u00a0 The latest example comes from that bastion of family fun and frivolity known as Dollywood.\u00a0 Located in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Dollywood\u00a0is indeed a great family attraction.\u00a0 When we lived in SW Virginia, we would make at least one 3-hour trip to Dollywood\u00a0every year.\u00a0 Christmas-time at Dollywood is particularly impressive.<\/p>\n

What’s not so impressive is the Neidermeyer-like\u00a0job that a Dollywood\u00a0ticket-taker did several weeks ago.\u00a0 It seems that a lesbian couple, Jennifer Tipton and Olivier Odom, were visiting Dollywood’s Splash Country<\/p>\n

“water park July 9 with friends and their friends’ two children when she (Odom)\u00a0was asked by a person at the front gate to turn her shirt inside out because it was a family park.” (full article here<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Both Dollywood\u00a0and Dollywood’s Splash Country have dress codes.\u00a0 The pertinent part of Splash Country’s “Policies and Dress Guidance,” addressed as a FAQ entitled “What should I wear when I visit?” simply states:<\/p>\n

Only swimsuits are allowed on the water attractions.\u00a0 No swimsuits with buckles, rivets, or any sharp objects, no denim, corduroy or cutoffs allowed.\u00a0 Shirts are not permitted on the body slides (no exceptions).\u00a0 Thong swimsuits are not permitted.\u00a0 Shirts with profanity are not permitted. (FAQ here<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While the main Dollywood theme park does have a more extensive dress code (here<\/a>), that dress code would not have applied at\u00a0the water park.\u00a0 Other than “shirts with profanity,” there are no additional guidelines concerning what types of shirts — often only used as a cover-up while walking into and out of a WATER PARK — can be worn inside Splash Country.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, what profanity-laced shirt was Ms. Odom wearing as she attempted to enter the water park?\u00a0 You might want to sit down for this or avert your eyes if you are a particularly sensitive type.\u00a0 The message on the front of the shirt that caused such an uproar said:\u00a0 [Marriage is so gay]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Shocking!\u00a0 No wonder they made her turn her shirt inside out so that the offending message would not be seen by the families at Splash Country.\u00a0 Wouldn’t want them to see such profanity.\u00a0 However, as I have been at similar water parks, I can speak from first-hand experience that there are far more offensive and revolting sights to be seen!<\/p>\n

In\u00a0trying to defend such a Neidermeyer-esque, bone-headed move, Dollywood spokesman Pete Owens said:<\/p>\n

“Dollywood is open to all families, but their dress code policy is to ask people with clothing or tattoos that could be considered offensive to change clothes or cover up.” (see here<\/a>)<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That’s interesting.\u00a0 Neither Dollywood’s\u00a0nor Splash Country’s dress codes or guidelines even refer to tattoos.\u00a0 Is Mr. Owens seriously trying to argue that visitors to Dollywood\u00a0who have tattoos may have to cover them up before they can enter the park?\u00a0 When was the last time that happened?\u00a0 With more and more men and women sporting tattoos, this policy — which is not on their website — is completely non-sensical.\u00a0 Talk about pulling a Neidermeyer.<\/p>\n

But, let’s say for the sake of argument that clothing that “could be considered offensive” was grounds to ask someone to change (who has an extra shirt when they come to Dollywood?) or in the case of Ms. Odom, to turn\u00a0her shirt inside out?\u00a0 Who gets to decide what “could be considered offensive?”\u00a0 Will we have Neidermeyer\u00a0types stationed at every entrance to Dollywood, on the look-out for that which would offend?\u00a0 If that’s the case, we will have mighty long wait times just to walk into the park.<\/p>\n

No one can reasonably argue that Ms. Odom’s shirt contained profanity.\u00a0 While I disagree with the message on her shirt, it in no way can be considered profanity.\u00a0 If it is, then we have so diluted the meaning of that word that any and everything — especially messages we don’t agree with — will now be considered profanity.<\/p>\n

Most likely, the overzealous Dollywood employee\u00a0who exerted his or her authority to make Ms. Odom turn her shirt inside out was motivated by their objections to gay marriage.\u00a0 (For the record, I am opposed to same-sex marriage).\u00a0 Some might be tempted to say, “Good for them.\u00a0 We need people to take a stand against that which is offensive.\u00a0 I would have done the same thing.”<\/em><\/p>\n

That maybe all well and good, but I seem to remember seeing a fair amount of shirts being worn at Dollywood and other public places which\u00a0may fall into the suspect category of “highly offensive.”\u00a0 Some of these shirts have messages that even depict violence.\u00a0 Many of the shirts not only have pictures, but are accompanied by written messages that many within our culture find blatantly offensive.<\/p>\n

So, if you want Dollywood\u00a0to ban [Marriage is so gay]<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0shirts as offensive, then you will have no problem in them banning the Christian-themed shirts that so many students and adults wear to proclaim the life-changing message of the Gospel and the Cross.\u00a0 You can be a Neidermeyer and exert your authority to ban messages that you find offensive (I’m not talking about crude or profanity-laced messages).\u00a0<\/p>\n

Or you can be someone who is tolerant (not accepting) of messages on shirts that you personally disagree with.\u00a0 The next time you reach for your Christian-messaged shirt to wear to Dollywood or Disney World, just remember the old adage:\u00a0 “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You may know him as The Maestro — Bob Cobb — from several memorable episodes of Seinfeld.\u00a0 But, before Mark Metcalf was The Maestro, he was Neidermeyer, the tightly wound ROTC officer in the 1978 John Landis-directed classic, Animal House.\u00a0 Neidermeyer, who was a thorn in the Deltas’ side, always exerted his “authority” in ham-fisted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,18,19,21,27,35],"tags":[1070,1074,1079,3370,1096,1097,3380,431,495,1128,1136,1139,1143,1154,3392,3399,889,1170,1175,1179,1182,1185,1188],"class_list":["post-2305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-freedom-of-religion","category-freedom-of-speech","category-freedoms","category-homosexual-agenda","category-religion","tag-animal-house","tag-bob-cobb","tag-christian-shirts","tag-christianity","tag-dollywood","tag-dress-code","tag-freedom-of-speech","tag-gay-marriage","tag-homosexuality","tag-john-landis","tag-lesbian-couple","tag-mark-metcalf","tag-messages-on-shirts","tag-neidermeyer","tag-religion","tag-same-sex-marriage","tag-seinfeld","tag-splash-country-water-park","tag-tattoos","tag-the-maestro","tag-theme-park","tag-tolerance","tag-water-park"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LP7G-Bb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2305\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fromlaw2grace.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}