Virgin Actively denies member his Constitutional Rights

Why would anyone feel offended or threatened by a political view expressed on a t-shirt? The natural reaction to opposing a political view is to similarly express your own view or discuss and debate your differing views.  But to feel threatened by an expression of solidarity to a political entity, speaks volumes for the lack of tolerance people from different beliefs, in South Africa and elsewhere, have for each other. The t-shirt issue at the Houghton Virgin Active highlights this intolerance, and is exacerbated by the fact that the Management, sorry REGIONAL MANAGEMENT of Virgin Active for Gauteng actually folded and supported the view of the complainants who voiced their disapproval of the offending t-shirt, and thus expelled the individual wearing the t-shirt, from the club.

To unpack this a little, let’s look at the three parties in the centre of the debacle. BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) is a local political group that supports the plight of the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank. The other party is faceless individuals who we will assume supports the people and the Government of Israel.  The third group is the management of Virgin Active, who in their infinite stupidity relented and took sides with the faceless individuals. And I say infinite stupidity, because as a public company, they actually denied an individual his right to freedom of expression. The individual wearing the t-shirt had the guts to publicly show his support for a people being bullied, murdered and discriminated by the Zionist Israeli government. He knows that he is right when he voices his opinions on the matter. Conversely, although these faceless individuals silently and without identity support the Zionist government, their reluctance to voice their support publicly shows that they know the Zionist government’s oppression of the Palestinian people is wrong, yet they will support it anyway. Branding it as a sensitive issue (as claimed by the faceless individuals) is clearly a lack of reasoning for a meaningful debate on the matter.  The third party, Virgin Active, although have rules and regulations governing attire and admission, don’t have a rule preventing someone from wearing attire that supports a specific ideology or affiliation. His, the t-shirt man’s right to Freedom of Expression takes precedence over any of the club’s rules or regulations. Therefore, Virgin Active, once again find themselves in a legal pickle over the denial of an individual’s constitutional rights.

In support of BDS and the people of Palestine, I’m going to get myself one of those t-shirts and work up a sweat at my nearest Virgin Active.