MEMO FROM THE EDITOR
MEMO from the Editor Muzzled in the Mall When members of the British Parliament suspect that one of their colleagues may have hidden motives for supporting or opposing a particular piece of...
...For candor's sake, then, let me state my interest in "Just Shut Up and Shop," Keenen Peck's article on Page 23 of this issue...
...He began digging behind Playboy and the other girlie magazines...
...Now that the issue has been settled, at least for this time and place, I can't think of much reason for venturing into a shopping mall...
...And if you can't find the magazine at all, have the newsdealer get in touch with our national distributor, Eastern News, or with our circulation director, Dawn Shawkey...
...Both games...
...For several years now, I have been a member of Friends of the Bill of Rights, one of the groups named in Peck's article...
...Then he said, joking, 'I don't know why they don't just burn them.' "After an extensive search, they were unable to locate either The Progressive or .Mother Jones...
...rises in the House...
...In that capacity, too, I have been sued by the mall owners for trespassing on their property and engaging in free-speech activity without their permission...
...Still, some intriguing questions remain unresolved...
...The setting was Managing Editor Matthew Rothschild's mini-farm some twenty-five miles north of Madison...
...In newsstand sales, as in life, position is everything...
...In that capacity, I have gone to a local shopping mall on about a dozen occasions to distribute leaflets—most often copies of the Bill of Rights—to weekend or holiday shoppers...
...Perhaps I'll have an opportunity to find out...
...Close to two dozen staff members, friends, and kin of In These Times, the Chicago-based socialist weekly, traveled to Wisconsin on a lovely late-August Saturday to confront the staff of The Progressive in the Fifth Annual Softball Grudge Match and Solidarity Celebration...
...What if, for example, I were to enter the mall—for purposes of shopping, of course—while wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the text of the Bill of Rights...
...But the margins were slim: 10-to-9 in the first and 25-to-24 in the second half of the twin bill, which culminated in a heroic eight-run ninth-inning rally...
...MEMO from the Editor Muzzled in the Mall When members of the British Parliament suspect that one of their colleagues may have hidden motives for supporting or opposing a particular piece of legislation, the cry of "State your interest...
...He told my daughter that two 'very religious' women employees hide The Progressive and Mother Jones because they don't like them...
...Needless to say, The Progressive won...
...Would they tear me from racks of useless merchandise, the stuff American dreams are made of, and expel me forcibly from the temperature-controlled premises...
...If your newsdealer is hiding The Progressive, don't hesitate to lift it to the front of the rack...
...These yearly encounters have, by now, assumed an all but legendary status in the annals of the American Left...
...Speaking of shopping, the following note came not long ago from Nancy H. Perreault of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma: "My daughter recently went to Steve's Sundries & Books in Tulsa to buy magazines, including The Progressive...
...Would they insist that my modest garment—Bill-of-Rights T-shirts have been advertised from time to time in The Progressive—is nothing but a leaflet in disguise...
...It wasn't in its usual place so she asked a salesperson to help her...
...Would that subject me to the mall owners' righteous (and court-approved) wrath...
...The food and drink were hearty, the company was convivial, and the play was enthusiastic and proficient, though so many softballs were lost in Rothschild's soybean field that pitchers from the home team ultimately resorted to hurling tomatoes and pumpkins from the mound...
...I would have thought, in fact, that the proprietors would welcome our attempt to enliven their dreary facility...
...As Peck points out, courts in various jurisdictions have reached diverse conclusions as to the protection of speech on private property...
...You could look it up...
...To our dismay—Peck's and mine and that of several friends and colleagues who joined in this effort, as well as the volunteer attorneys who represented us—the Wisconsin Supreme Court has ruled that when property rights are arrayed against free-speech rights, property must prevail...
...Though every piece published in The Progressivecommands the attention of the editors, I must confess to extraordinary personal involvement in "Just Shut Up and Shop...
...Would they subject me to the ultimate penalty: confiscation of the plastic that clutters my wallet...
Vol. 51 • October 1987 • No. 10
