"Why The Racist And Homophobic ‘Duck Dynasty’ Comments Have Nothing To Do With Free Speech"
CREDIT: @BoycottAETV
On Wednesday,
Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson made comments in a GQ interview
condemning homosexuality as sinful
and comparable to bestiality, as well as claiming that African
Americans were better off under Jim Crow laws. A&E, the network that
airs the program, has since suspended Robertson from filming, prompting
conservatives to rush to his defense. Even some prominent lawmakers are
insisting that his free speech is in danger.
Bobby Jindal (R), governor of Louisiana, which is where
Duck Dynasty is filmed, argued that TV networks no longer believe in the First Amendment:
Phil Robertson and his family are great citizens of the
State of Louisiana. The politically correct crowd is tolerant of all
viewpoints, except those they disagree with. I don’t agree with quite a
bit of stuff I read in magazine interviews or see on TV. In fact, come
to think of it, I find a good bit of it offensive. But I also
acknowledge that this is a free country and everyone is entitled to
express their views. In fact, I remember when TV networks believed in
the First Amendment. It is a messed up situation when Miley Cyrus gets a laugh, and Phil Robertson gets suspended.
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA), similarly claimed on Twitter that it was “wrong” that Robertson is being “penalized” for his faith.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) offered on Facebook that “free speech matters”:
If you believe in free speech or religious liberty, you should be deeply dismayed over the treatment of Phil Robertson. Phil expressed his personal views and his own religious faith; for that, he was suspended from his job.
In a free society, anyone is free to disagree with him–but the
mainstream media should not behave as the thought police censoring the
views with which they disagree.
Former half-term Alaska
Gov. Sarah Palin (R) was similarly worried about the fate of free speech:
Free speech is an endangered species. Those “intolerants” hatin’ and taking on the Duck Dynasty patriarch for voicing his personal opinion are taking on all of us.
In addition, a Facebook page called
Stand with Phil Robertson
now has over 700,000 “Likes” — more than double what it had Thursday
morning — and directs visitors to a “petition” that collects information
for the Tea Party-affiliated Patriot Action Network and urges A&E
to apologize to Robertson. The conservative group Faith Driven Consumer
has its own petition asserting that Robertson was “discriminated against” and should be reinstated immediately. A Twitter profile called simply @
BoycottAETV now has over 11,000 followers, producing memes with messages like, “Freedom of speech is not just for liberals!” Even
Herman Cain thinks “this crap is out of control.”
These outraged messages have largely defended Robertson’s anti-gay
comments as an expression of his religious beliefs without acknowledging
his remarks that African Americans were better off without full civil
rights. On that point, they have been notably silent. Moreover, nothing
about this situation has anything to do with “free speech.”
Robertson is a free man. He has not been arrested for his beliefs. He
could continue to say whatever he’d like and, given the current media
frenzy, it would probably be quickly published in many other places.
Robertson could even take to his own website and publish whatever he
wants to say, and individuals could share it through social media the
world over. His freedom of speech has been in no way encumbered.
A&E, as a company, enjoys constitutional protections as well, and
is under no obligation to provide a platform for messages it disagrees
with.
The network’s statement
suspending Robertson from filming was telling in this regard: “His
personal views in no way reflect those of A&E Networks, who have
always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community.”
A&E is not Robertson’s employer, lest it be forgotten that the show
Duck Dynasty is about his actual business, Duck Commander, which produces duck calls and other related (and
not-so-related) products.
What actually is taking place is that conservatives are taking
umbrage because a fellow conservative’s beliefs are being publicly
criticized. This happens all the time. When
Chick-fil-A head Dan Cathy, whose company
gives millions of dollars
annually to anti-gay groups, said that homosexuality is “twisted up
kind of stuff” that is “inviting God’s judgment,” LGBT groups called
for awareness-raising and boycotts while conservatives rushed to
show their “appreciation.” The exact opposite happened when companies like
Starbucks and
General Mills announced their support for marriage equality: LGBT groups
offered praise, while anti-gay groups vowed to
dump their products.
All of this is emblematic of free speech. Free speech allows citizens
to say things that are offensive and unpopular and it allows other
citizens to disagree, as well as to choose whether to provide an ongoing
platform for those remarks. If anything, the claim that Robertson’s
free speech has somehow been inhibited is just a straw man to avoid
addressing the merits of what he actually said: that all gay people are
going to Hell and that African Americans don’t deserve a seat at the
lunch counter.
No comments:
Post a Comment