back to article Truck nuts swing onto US freedom of speech agenda

The lower portions of the US are distracting themselves from the Washington debt-ceiling car crash by asking whether the use of "truck nuts" constitutes obscenity or is a question of free expression. The constitutional freedom issue has swung into the national consciousness after a South Carolina woman was ticketed for hanging …

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  1. CyberCod

    Free speech?

    Last time I checked, testicles don't talk. I'm sure if I printed this:

    http://www.avitable.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/jfc.jpg

    on the side of my vehicle, with or without the text accompaniment, that I'd be pulled over and forced to remove or cover it. Do you think the first amendment should cover my ass in that instance?

    They're a garish and unsightly redneck gag. I'd be happy to see them banned from ALL roads.

    1. CD001

      Ummm...

      ----

      Do you think the first amendment should cover my ass in that instance?

      ----

      Ummm - yes?

      I thought that was kinda the point?

  2. Fred Flintstone Gold badge
    Childcatcher

    The wheels are coming off..

    OK, you have to be consistent here. If you ban truck nuts you have to ban wheel nuts as well.

    I must admit I'm totally baffled by some of the arguments floating around.

    First of all, sorry, this is nuts. Is THIS really worth police and court time while the country is on the verge of defaulting instead of its traditional printing of more money (which is coming to an end if I see how China is acting)?

    Secondly, I have already seen the inevitable "think of the children" argument - excuse me while I finish yawning, be right with you. AFAIK most kids at age 3 can already comfortably distinguish between real nuts and fake ones, so what are you going to do with a young boy? Tell him not to watch his own body in a mirror because it's offensive?

    Honestly - I think this ticket was pure .. jealousy. Because whoever gave that still needs to grow a pair..

  3. badsequence
    WTF?

    Obscene?

    So if the truck nuts are obscene and not fit for public view should all farms that have Bulls that graze in view of public have their testes tucked away inside a diaper or use the classic black bar from old tv hanging from their tails? What about at the circus should we cover elephant balls also! Also this just in the American sheeple now beginning to realize what the rest of the educated world already knew that we as a country are circling the drain! from now on I'm going to claim I'm Canadian when I travel outside the US Eh!!! Hundreds of years from now when kids go to school and learn history the first 2 decades of the 21st century history of the US will be titled EPIC FAIL.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    If you ban truck nuts...

    Then how are people supposed to know that the banjo players have arrived for Billy-Bob's shotgun wedding.

  5. Ian Michael Gumby
    Boffin

    Just to put things in perspective...

    First, most if not all of the commentards have never set foot in South Carolina. (And why would they want to?)

    I wanted to put this in perspective... South Carolina is chock full of self righteous Southern Baptists. While there are other religions represented in the state, go in to any rural South Carolina town, you will see a plethora of Southern Baptist churches. (Note they are segregated too.) Even if the town is broke, has high unemployement, these churches for the most part are the best looking structures in town.

    One of their Universities in Columbia SC has the gamecock as their mascot.

    So why aren't these people finding it offensive to see 'I (heart) cocks!' bumper stickers?

    Or co-eds walking around in tight shorts with 'cocks' written across their bum?

    I kid you not.

    The reason being is that these same people who find 'truck nuts' offensive recognize the term 'cocks' to refer to 'gamecocks' (a bird) and not a slang term for male genitalia. I kid you not.

  6. Sly
    Mushroom

    Welcome to the USA's hypocrisy...

    We'll let all manor of violence and innuendo influence our children, but show some gender specific skin and you're the spawn of satan. skin has been an art form as long as humans have existed. Violence is just that... violence. I live in the country and am constantly amazed at the stupidity of those in authority. I say celebrate the human form and frown on the violence. That's the way it should be. so what if someone wants to put a cod sack on their truck... you don't see privacy fences around the stud corral just because the bull/horse/etc has a full set and flaunts it.

    If you're offended by the fact that someone has some balls... well... sounds like a personal problem to me. Piss off!

    *I would never put a set on my vehicles though... I prefer to be understated instead of overstated.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Trollface

      as for myself

      re: "I prefer to be understated instead of overstated."

      That's why I would put them on my truck.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Blue

    This is one of the mamufacturers:

    http://www.bullsballs.com/

    Would Steve Jobs approve?

    http://phoneballs.com/

    If you're in Eagle, ID, in June:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGR7lE0Vfjo

  8. Greg J Preece

    Everything that's wrong with humans

    "Genitalia is offensive."

    You'd better cut yours off then. Wouldn't want you having any offensive children.

  9. Joe User

    Numbnuts in South Carolina

    WCSC quoted local police chief Franco Fuda explaining, "Genitalia is offensive. As a law enforcement officer, I'll advise that if it warrants a citation, I'll issue a citation."

    Next law on the books: All male horses, cattle, pigs, dogs, etc. must be fitted with fig leaves or be fined for flaunting their naughty bits in public.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    what's hilarious...

    is the same folk demanding the tasteless "all I need to know about islam" truck banned and burned, are the same folk who now support hanging nads.

    So it's okay to offend people unless it's you?

    it's called "society". look it up, A bunch of people living in close proximity with *agreed upon rules and limits* to help everything get along.

    Justifying being a selfish tw@t as "freedom" is bad enough. Justifying "I can be a selfish tw@t but you shall be arrested for it" is the true evil.

    Go suck a truck nut. Offended yet? demanding this not be published? But y'all said no one has the right to not be offended? oh wait...social "just us". A little cultural apartheid never hurt anyone.

  11. ShadowDragon8685
    Go

    Truck nuts - Stupid? Maybe.

    But are they protected free speech? I very much think so, even if I think they're silly. Frankly, I think my country (yes, I'm a yank - I'll get my coat, but not until I'm done,) swings very much in the wrong way on what is or is not protected free speech.

    Hatemongers (I won't name any names, but you probably can guess the ones I'm thinking of within three tries,) get a free pass to cause all the emotional mayhem and havoc they want, inciting others to hatred in the process, but moral busybodies see truck nuts and think that those, not hatred spewing from a firehose, is worthy of being suppressed? The priorities on display are skewed.

    As for the truck nuts being "offensive," if someone thinks that, then chances are they're the sort of person whose parents refused to allow them to take health classes or sex ed for fear of "sinful thoughts," and who now inflict that woeful ignorance on their own progeny. Crass, yes, rude, yes. Offensive? I don't think so - but even if they are offensive, they're hardly the most offensive thing being slung (literally, in this case) in the name of free speech.

    If something being "offensive" is enough to get it banned, then I can name about five groups that need to be disbanded by force of arms - but that won't happen, and it shouldn't. Neither should truck-nadgers be punished by force of law.

    Oh, and aside, for those who think that it's "protected free speech" to cut the truck nuts off someone's truck, remember that, "My right to swing my fist ends at another man's nose." That's not free speech, it's *vandalism*, destruction of property, and theft (if you remove said truck-nuts from their rightful place on the trailer hitch of the vehicle in question,) and should be punished appropriately. Same for those who think that someone having a bumper sticker they disagree with or find offensive should be punished with a bucket of paint.

    The freedom of speech/expression isn't meant to protect speech or expression that's popular, it's meant to protect that which *isn't.*

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