One of the major myths about the United States of America is that there is unlimited free speech. There are limits, the most common known ones being yelling “fire” in a crowded theatre, or threatening to kill a public figure. Another myth is that entities cannot severely regulate speech. This is also false. Governments have limitations on restricting human speech, but corporations have much more latitude. Try telling sexual dirty jokes in the office and see how quickly you are forced to endure torture that makes the waterboarding at Gitmo seem tame by comparison—a visit to the human resourced department. Being talked to death is still legal in America.
The biggest myth of all is that there is censorship of liberals in America. Liberals scream at the top of their lungs about how America is becoming a police state, and that civil rights are being violated, and that civil liberties are being washed away. Despite all of this, Hollywood liberals, who scream with the best of them, are not being thrown into gulags.
Where there is disagreement is in what constitutes censorship. Government cannot force people to be “nice,” but corporations can. The free marketplace works. Organizing boycotts is not censorship.
When Julia Roberts stated that “If you look up the word republican in the dictionary, you will find it between repugnant and reptilian,” I decided that I would not pay money to see her movies any more. Simply stated, that comment is bigoted. Now I understand that many on the left associate bigotry only towards gays, blacks, arabs, and other sympathetic groups (Jews used to be in this category), but hatred of conservatives, christians and even white people is still bigotry. If Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson can boycott any food company for producing vanilla extract (ok, I made that up, but they are running out of causes), then I can boycott Julia Roberts for making ideologically bigoted comments (If people say she was joking and that I should “lighten up,” ask them if black people should lighten up when anyone other than Richard Pryor or Chris Rock uses the n-word in a joke)
Rosie O’Donnell today suggested that the British Government deliberately had their own soldiers kidnapped to create a rationale for starting a war with Iran. Now Rosie O’Donnell did not offer any proof for these outrageous, incendiary comments. For one thing, she does not have to do so. She is not required to provide an opposing viewpoint. Her program is not a democracy (liberals who want to enforce the fairness doctrine to stop Rush Limbaugh should realize it would silence Rosie O’Donnell as well). She has every right to spout her viewpoints. So how does she get stopped?
First of all, do not attack her physical characteristics. Whether or not she is “fat,” or “ugly,” is subjective, and serves no purpose other than to further deepen the public discourse. It plays down to her level. If she were as gorgeous as Angie Harmon (Did Jason Sehorn hit the jackpot or what? No wonder he retired from football. If I were married to Angie Harmon I would not want to leave the bedroom, much less leave home and go to work. Every time on “Law and Order,” she threatened to execute a criminal with her bare hands, I could picture her cracking a whip while wearing a black leather…)
Sorry, I disappeared for a sec. Ok, back To Rosie, Queen of Morona. ABC has “the view.” ABC is owned by Disney. If enough people were to sell their Disney stock, or boycott Disney theme parks, or simply stop watching ABC altogether, the network would feel the heat and fire her. For those of you who simply cannot live without watching Eva Longoria traipsing around in her undies on ABC’s Desperate Housewives (she needs a hot lesbo scene with Angie Harmon), have your friends Tivo it. Or they could watch it for you. Think of it as a tv version of Al Gore’s “carbon credits” (now see how intelligent that comes across?).
Getting Rosie O’Donnell fired is not censorship. She should not be banned. However she can be fired. This worked with Bill Maher. Liberals who howl that this is a bullying tactic seem to be ok with it when it is a conservative being forced off the air, such as Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
Martin Luther King Jr. stated that the goal is not to try and win over the bigots, but the mass amount of silent moderates. I do not need a poll or a focus group to know that most people find Rosie O’Donnell’s comments today disgusting. This is because most Americans find any kind of hateful speech disgusting. We are a nation of good people, and we do not like verbal bombthrowers. We like civility.
This is why when Moveon.org and the Deaniacs show 2 million screaming nut jobs, the republican party prays that they keep speaking. The other 268 million Americans, even some who agree with their message (whatever that message is, not sure if even they know), do not like their bullying tactics. We do not ban Moveon.org from speaking. As I said, republicans want them to speak more. However, we can fire them by voting against their candidates. They are 0 for 26 in elections (They will eventually win one, and then claim they were right all along), and the demagogic party will either embrace them and continue to lose elections, or lock them in a political asylum until after the election.
I was once told that my house was not a democracy. However, in one sense it was. I had free will to make choices. I could do my homework, or I could get a royal rump-kicking. I weighed the options, and homework did not sound so bad. People have the right to be jack@sses. Forcing them to confront that enough people feel this way is not censorship. It is the free market. So go ahead and yell about having the right to burn the American flag. Just do not claim censorship when most Americans detest your action.
When Sean Penn criticizes the violence of George W. Bush, remind Sean Penn that he was the guy who physically beat Madonna. Dubya does not beat Laura. Civilized people do not beat their spouses. When Ted Kennedy pounds the table of righteousness, ask him who was driving the car. When Alec Baldwin threatens to stone Henry Hyde’s children, ask him why Kim Basinger divorced him (not everyone appreciates violent rages). People have a right to speak. They also have a right to not only not be taken at face value, but be challenged when their behavior and deeds do not match their words.
The goal is a better world…a better society. Rosie O’Donnell was once on VH 1, and she was known as the “Queen of Nice.” While it might be fun to drive her into the ground for all the bullying she has done, a better result would be to have the marketplace fire her from enough jobs until she either disappears from the public eye…or better yet…decided to go back to being the Queen of Nice.
So Rosie can continue being the Queen of Morona or she can knock it off. If I burn a Minnie Mouse doll in effigy, no one would care. If 100,000 people young girls did this…it would send a message to Disney. Once she is fired, the world can get back to watching actual news, such as the fact that15 noble British soldiers are being held hostage by Iranian lunatics. Whether or not ABC prefers to tell that version of the story or Rosie’s version in the coming days could determine their fate as a network…if enough Americans give in to their power of greatness and demand goodness.
eric
Excellent article, well-written and meaningful. Thanks for the great read.