Only in America could a professor faces charges for displaying a Firefly poster

I swear some people have absolutely no sense of humor, either that or they couldn’t get a clue if it was stapled to their freaking forehead.

Such is the case of Professor James Miller and his run in with the campus police at the University of Wisconsin (UWS) when they apparently saw something illegal about Miller displaying a poster of Nathan Fillion’s leading character in the cult sci-fi classic Firefly and removed it from his door.

Not one to let stupidity go unanswered Miller posted another poster that said “Warning: Fascism” on his door which not only got him another visit from the campus police but also got him reported to the “threat assessment team” and threatened with criminal charges.

So what was the Firefly poster that started this whole thing?

Here it is folks.. the big bad nasty threatening poster.

The UWS campus police reasoning for removing the poster?

Walter responded that “the poster can be interpreted as a threat by others and/or could cause those that view it to believe that you are willing/able to carry out actions similar to what is listed.” Walter also threatened Miller with criminal charges: “If you choose to repost the article or something similar to it, it will be removed and you could face charges of disorderly conduct.”

Later on September 16, Miller placed a new poster on his office door in response to Walter’s censorship. The poster read “Warning: Fascism” and included a cartoon image of a silhouetted police officer striking a civilian. The poster mocked, “Fascism can cause blunt head trauma and/or violent death. Keep fascism away from children and pets.”

Astoundingly, Walter escalated the absurdity. On September 20, Walter emailed Miller again, stating that her office had removed the poster because it “depicts violence and mentions violence and death.” She added that UWS’s “threat assessment team,” in consultation with the university general counsel’s office, had decided to have the poster removed, and that this poster was reasonably expected to “cause a material and/or substantial disruption of school activities and/or be constituted as a threat.” College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Interim Dean Raymond Hayes has scheduled a meeting with Miller about “the concerns raised by the campus threat assessment team” for this Friday.

via The Fire

Morons. Really, there is not much else you can say other than Morons.

Makes me wonder what they’d do if they saw a Lazarus Long quote.