I don't know about you, but I've become very tired of the so called furore over the Duck Dynasty guy, who gave an interview to the press where he made a number of questionable remarks about gays and other groups. I'm sure if he had been on the other side with his views, nothing would have been heard about him. But the TV program was lobbied by the various groups on the receiving end of his remarks and the management consequently made a number or foolish decisions including banning him from the airwaves. For what? Having views that were distasteful? Surely the First Amendment allows free speech, or has that now been banned from the Constitution? I've never watched the program but obviously seen a few trailers for it. It's not my cup of tea, but I do think we are in pretty poor shape if unpleasant views given to one medium are to be punished in another because they don't fit the template of modern thinking. As I heard one pundit say some time ago about our schools and colleges: "They encourage complete diversity in everything apart from thought!"Saturday, January 11, 2014
Right Track - Robertson
I don't know about you, but I've become very tired of the so called furore over the Duck Dynasty guy, who gave an interview to the press where he made a number of questionable remarks about gays and other groups. I'm sure if he had been on the other side with his views, nothing would have been heard about him. But the TV program was lobbied by the various groups on the receiving end of his remarks and the management consequently made a number or foolish decisions including banning him from the airwaves. For what? Having views that were distasteful? Surely the First Amendment allows free speech, or has that now been banned from the Constitution? I've never watched the program but obviously seen a few trailers for it. It's not my cup of tea, but I do think we are in pretty poor shape if unpleasant views given to one medium are to be punished in another because they don't fit the template of modern thinking. As I heard one pundit say some time ago about our schools and colleges: "They encourage complete diversity in everything apart from thought!"
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Freedom of Speech solely refers to a government protection from arrest and incarceration, not a freedom from any and all consequences. Any private employer has the right to protect themselves from the speech of their more visible employees. If I curse at my boss, or tell a customer that I think they are terrible, should I claim that my freedom of speech was violated when my employment is terminated? No. Phil Robertson said some ignorant statements, as is his right to say them. He was then "suspended" while they sorted the facts, but the "re-instated" him once they did, with no missed air time. I don't think this was ever as big of a deal as both sides made it out to be.
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