by LaxRef on Mon Mar 03, 2008 10:18 pm
FWIW, I went to a large university where they instituted a policy that you had to have at least short sleeves when in the gym. Their stated reason was that "some people felt uncomfortable with people walking around with bare shoulders." I countered that I was uncomfortable with people walking around with their shoulders covered, but for some reason my discomfort carried less weight than the discomfort of these unnamed students.
I also pointed out that it was patently ridiculous that I could go to class wearing a muscle shirt, where it was arguably inappropriate, but I could not go to they gym wearing one, where that is accepted attire in most gyms in the country. But some knucklehead in the administration had made up his or her mind and there was no changing things.
This, incidentally, is a fundamental problem with discourse in this country: people make up their minds, then ignore arguments against their own position even when they carry the full weight of logic--or, worse yet, they take those logical arguments as personal attacks. I like to think that I am willing to adopt my viewpoint based on logical arguments, and I do so on a regular basis, especially when it comes to debates on the finer points of the rules (which--surprise, surprise--I think are heaps of fun).
-LaxRef