Memo To Conservatives: The First Amendment Does Not Entitle You To A Reality TV Show

[Purveyor]

The right to free speech isn’t just a fundamental American value; it’s enshrined in the first amendment to our constitution. If only the most loud-mouthed among us actually understood what it says. Here’s what the First Amendment offers: you can say, write or publish pretty much whatever you want, no matter how offensive (with a few exceptions), and the government can’t step in and censor you or put you in jail. Here’s what the first amendment doesn’t do: allow you to say, write or publish whatever you want, no matter how offensive, and also entitle you to a giant pay check from your starring role on a cable reality TV show.

This isn’t exactly Harvard-level legal theory, but many Republicans, Christian organizations and garden-variety tweeters enjoy spouting off about their love of freedom and the Constitution while remaining disturbingly unaware of what the Bill of Rights actually says and means. The right-wing passion for a set of ideals they claim to revere – but remain ignorant of – is not new, but it’s news again this week. They’re up in arms at the suspension of Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson for a series of homophobic and bigoted remarks he made to GQ magazine. Professional consequences for bigoted comments, they say, violate the constitutional right to free speech.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal said:

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.

Yes, everyone is entitled to express his or her views. Not everyone is entitled to keep their jobs, though, if they decide to express views that are entirely odious and potentially costly to their employer. Certainly the founders didn’t mean “free country” as short-hand for “free to be on the reality show of your choice.”

Jindal’s argument that liberals are tolerant of everything except intolerance is Tweedle Dumb to the similarly vapid adage “everyone is entitled to their opinion”. Everyone has opinions; but why, exactly, are all opinions deserving of the same deference and respect? Especially when they come from people who can’t tell the difference between promoting tolerance and respect of all human beings, and objecting when someone makes a comment that demonizes an already marginalized group?

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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/20/memo-to-conservatives-the-first-amendment-does-not-entitle-you-to-a-reality-tv-show/

[tina tron]

1. The Republicans have cornered the market on the victim game

something they always accuse liberals of doing. No substance and projection that is their only hand.