I was going to talk about Sandy Berger this morning, but I think I'm going to wait and see what sort of excuses the Democratic spin machine comes up with before I throw in my two cents. After all, when I was in Nuclear Power School, I used to stuff classified documents down my pants by accident all the time. It was a very common sight to see my fellow Petty Officers doing laundry and pull out a schematic from their shorts. Uh-huh. Ashcroft will be blamed for this---you read it here first.
But moving on:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
That's the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. That's not the abridged version, either. It's one long sentence that has done more to define our country than probably any other sentence written since 1776. With the recent (in the past year or so, anyway) diatribes of Michael Moore, Sean Penn, Linda Ronstadt, Whoopi Goldberg, The Dixie Chicks and others concerning their free speech rights and censorship, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what the First Amendment does not guarantee:
1. The right to be heard. There is a common misconception on the Left that says any opinion and any speaker has a right to be heard. If you read above, that is not the case. You have the right to say anything you want; the public has the right to ignore you.
And, for the record, this is NOT censorship. The word censor comes down to us from the Romans, for whom the word censor actually represented a person. The Censor was in charge of the census and oversaw public morality (probably quite a challenge in Rome). Thus, the word censor can only correctly be used with regard to government action. Clear Channel's abandonment of Howard Stern, although possibly a breach of contract, is not censorship because no government body took him off the air. FCC fines are another matter and another debate we'll take up some other time. So when Michael Moore had trouble finding a distributor for his latest steaming pile, that was not censorship as he claimed---it was capitalism at work in a free and open marketplace. Of course, we can't expect someone of Moore's limited intellectual horsepower to understand that.
2. The right to employment regardless of what you say. Whoopi Goldberg learned this the hard way about two weeks ago when she made some rather tasteless remarks about the President at a fundraiser in New York. Two days later, Slim-Fast fired her from her position as their spokesperson. Many companies make their spokesmen sign a morality clause stating that they can be fired for being asshats in public. Once again, this is not being censored or blacklisted; employment is not a guarantee in a free society.
3. The right to be loved by the public regardless of what you say. Exhibit A: The Dixie Chicks. Right before the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the blonde Chick made a statement during a concert in London about how ashamed she was of GW Bush. She was well within her free speech rights to say this. Upon their return to the States, they learned that many radio stations had stopped playing their music. Once again, this is not censorship. Free speech sometimes has a cost, and sometimes that cost is the public deciding that you're a little too stupid to be making political comments on stage.
Sean Penn is another wonderful example of this. After his grand tour of Iraq in late 2002, he claims that he lost several movie deals. I guess he felt that he deserved them. Once again, speech has consequences and the First Amendment does not protect us from public consequences, only governmental ones. Spicolli will have to catch the next tasty wave, I suppose.
Posted by Matthew at July 21, 2004 07:40 AMAYE !!!
And adding to that gripe. Why is it that Holywood types (move stars, musicians, et. al) think that being famous automatically qualifies them for political commentary ? I guess they think since they have millions of fawning fans who listen to their music or watch their TV show, the same fans will listen to their diatribes!
And then when they fail spectacularly at something they have no clue about, they whine about censorship, and political correctness, etc. etc.
Actually I am even against it in reverse with the "let's sign a petition to boycott "xyz" artist because they are anti - (insert topic here)". Sure it's your free choice to boycott whoever you want. But like in the Dixie chicks case, I say ... "Who the fark cares what the Dixie chicks think about the latest foreign policy issue". If I want that info, I'll listen to the President, or the Secretary of State, or read a newspaper. In fact I think if we and the media quit paying attention to these idiots, completely ignored them, and not made such a big deal about it, they will probably quit their blathering.
I once heard a great line on the Simpsons. It was so perfect.
"Rock Stars: Is there anything they don't know ?"
Homer Simpson
OK, now you're stealing my thoughts. ;) I had a post with this exact flavor stored as a "draft" (finals were getting in the way of finishing it)... *deletes post*.
I think that after the whole Linda Ronstadt business, with Yahoo! News making her out to be a martyr, we should all be about sick of this. Celebrities, shut up and do your jobs... I'll ask you if I want to know your opinion.
Posted by: Tony at July 21, 2004 11:21 AMIf celebs want to contribute to the political process, run for a public office. The sad thing is that many of the just became old enough to vote crowd uses Mtv as a source for political info. In 1992 my best friend in high school voted for Clinton, primarily because he watched MTV 4 hours a day (I watched it quite often for entertainment). I asked him why he voted that way. He told me that he agreed with Clinton's platform and ideas. I asked him to tell me which ones, he said all of them. I then asked for an example, he couldn't give me one. He got frustrated and stated "He's been on MTV and Arsenio, so he listens to people our age". I said of course he on those shows, he needs kids votes if he wants to have a chance at winning. I don't know the demographics of that election, but it would not surprise me that Clinton got a large portion of the under 21 vote.
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