Jon Gruden's censorship: Why conservatives decry the consequences of free speech

[Nevilledog]

Link to tweet

Tweet text:
Amanda Marcotte
@AmandaMarcotte
Conservatives want to make Jon Gruden a martyr of "cancel culture." But the reality is that the real censorship is going on in schools, as the right tries to crush teaching of history or literature that acknowledges racism is real.

Jon Gruden's censorship: Why conservatives decry the consequences of free speech
Conservatives defend Jon Gruden to distract from the real cancel culture taking hold at schools across the country
salon.com
10:18 AM · Oct 13, 2021

https://www.salon.com/2021/10/13/jon-grudens-censorship-why-conservatives-decry-the-consequences-of-free-speech/


As soon as it was announced that Jon Gruden was stepping down from his role as the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders, the right-wing punditry exploded in outrage over the only oppression they'll accept as legitimate: The supposed victimhood of a bigot held accountable for the ugly things he says.

The whole thing started when a review of alleged workplace misconduct at the Washington Football Team, ordered by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, turned up an email in which Gruden, then a television analyst, made fun of the head of the players' union, DeMaurice Smith. "Dumboriss Smith has lips the size of michellin tires," Gruden wrote in an email to Bruce Allen, who was then the president of a team whose name was a flat-out racial slur. Soon a bevy of reports about gross stuff Gruden wrote in emails came out, including mocking female referees, snarling about the league hiring "queers," and grousing that players who protest racist police violence should be fired.

Gruden employed what writer Jamelle Bouie has mocked as the "racist bones" defense. The sheer amount of garbage that poured out of his keyboard, however, made it quite clear that Gruden could not continue to be in a high-level management position. Being the boss means being able to plausibly project the persona of respect for the people who work under you. Gruden can never do that again.

But, of course, in right-wing circles, Gruden's just another noble martyr sacrificed to the supposedly draconian demands of "cancel culture."

*snip*

[Johnny2X2X]

1. It's their way of saying...

Them saying you'd find something in everyone's emails, is just their way of saying that they say racist/sexist/homophobic stuff all the time.

You know, as a straight white man let me say this, it's really not hard to get through life without being a bigot. I'm in my late 40s and am confident I never used language like that in an email or in real life. It wasn't hard to not be a bigot, I didn't even have to make an effort to be a decent person. I've heard people use the f** slur before, but it's not been regular.

And furthermore, they're trying to normalize this, as if everyone says racist or homophobic stuff occasionally, they don't. The vast majority of Gruden's peers have probably never used this type of language in their lives and his peers are mostly crass, macho asshole football coaches.

Bigotry is not the norm.