What starts out as a great story about a young college student trying to live the American Dream just became a cautionary tale for our time.
You ready? A student at West Hills College Lemoore wanted to put a little extra scratch together so he decided to make and sell tacos on campus. Hey, good for him. Kid’s an entrepreneur, a go-getter. Good for him.
So he started making tacos and put out an ad campaign all over campus. He even came up with an ad campaign that was approved by the administration. His little slogan read, “You have to be macho to eat my taco.”
It turns out that some people who love to be offended announced they were offended by the slogan. They claimed to be offended because as one student said, “Eat my taco, kind of just sounds wrong.”
So enough people who like to complain complained and political correctness ruled the day and the school told our entrepreneur he could no longer use the logo.
KMPH reports:
Dean of Students Jose Lopez — who initially approved the flyer — later revoked it. “I read it all and to me it was fine but when I asked students what part of it here is offensive…I guess it just really came down to one word here.”
He said the phrase, “eat my taco,” is sexual.
The Dean suggested he change it to “eat a taco.”
So, because some weenies have their heads so firmly wedded to the gutter, our entrepreneur can’t sell his macho tacos. Now, to give some credit to the Dean, he said he would reimburse the entrepreneur for the costs.
But this is where the story takes a turn that makes it so awesomely worse and indicative of our time. When asked how he felt about this, our entrepreneur didn’t just take it on the chin. No, chins aren’t made for that anymore. Our hero seems to be paving the way for a lawsuit.
He was quoted in the news saying:
“I’ve been irreparably harmed by this because now that the administration pointed out what they deem this to mean, I’ll never be able to prepare or enjoy a taco again, because I’ll always have that perverse image in my mind.
Ha! How awesome is that? Irreparably harmed!?
Your Honor, my client will never be able to eat a taco again! Oh the tragedy that can only be solved by some mad cash. If this perverse image subjected into his mind also extends to burritos, hot dogs and other food groups this lawsuit could be worth a fortune.
You could say it’s political correctness run amok meets rampant litigiousness. But on the other hand, it’s kind of a happy ending. The campus gets to pat itself on the back for being sensitive and the kid ends up with some green in his pocket which was the initial goal. Unfortunately, it also spells doom for our country.
What a bunch of weenies! Oh wait, is that offensive?
September 24, 2011 at 3:56 am
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September 24, 2011 at 4:17 am
We have this ability to make any word offensive… you know? Before tacos were tacos, they were just tacos.
September 24, 2011 at 4:57 am
HA! Let him get good and hungry – I bet he won't think twice about being "irreparably harmed" when his stomach is growling. 🙂
September 24, 2011 at 10:49 am
People wear pink colored lenses these days.
September 24, 2011 at 11:49 am
a touch off topic: Why,in a world where there are no absolute truths (or so we pretend), can we not make the reverse arguement that because it is just another person's perception that is offended, that it isn't actually offensive and that the problem is with the person perceiving the offense and not the reality?
September 24, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Ha! Great turnaround on that Sherry.
September 24, 2011 at 3:45 pm
How about "Eat My M***O T***S". Would that be better?
September 24, 2011 at 8:23 pm
He would have had no problem if he had just stated that "eat my taco" was a homosexual saying. He probably would have been praised.
September 25, 2011 at 1:58 am
Good point, SherryTex. In the law, the issue is whether a reasonable person would be offended, not a hypersensitive person. To all the PC weenies out there, I woud say "Sometimes a taco is just a taco".
September 25, 2011 at 6:34 pm
It is really hard to blame those who interpreted it as sexual, because even if it was unintended in this case, there are other businessess that completely intend sexual connotations with their food. In my town, a calzone shop opened near the university called "Lovshack" with sexually suggestive names for their various varieties of calzones and had some decor that suggested sexual puns (such as a huge rooster in the front window). To make sure nobody missed the point, they had a promotion at the beginning where you got a free condom with every calzone purchase. It was DISGUSTING. They also went out of business very quickly even in a very liberal college town. Then of course there is a new line of premium ice cream bars with vaguely "sexy" advertising called "Magnum" which is also a condom brand. The tagline for the ice cream bars is "For pleasure seekers" and the logo resembles the logo of the Magnum condom brand. It's subtle enough to go over the heads of kids but be recognizable to most adults. The concept is so disgusting I would never purchase them.
But I do feel for the taco guy who was grossed out by the way people interpreted his slogan.
September 26, 2011 at 3:46 pm
Elizabeth:
Oh, great. I bought a box of Magnum ice cream bars a while ago because I had a coupon for it. I didn't have a clue about the condom connection. Ewwwww…
September 26, 2011 at 7:22 pm
"because some weenies have their heads so firmly…"
Sir, you disgust me.
September 28, 2011 at 7:51 am
He should just switch it to Spanish—"Se tiene que ser macho por comer mis tacos" can't be interpreted sexually unless you're really reaching.
Pinches maricones (frickin' Nancies).