The Phil Guy
“I may disagree with all my heart what you’re saying, but I
will fight for the death to allow you to say it.” (surely misquoted by some important
politician from way way back)
A lot has been written over the past few days on the Phil
Robertson story. Here’s my take:
In the 1970’s my mom became a big fan of John Denver. She bought his albums and we went to see him
in concert (opening band was the “Starland Vocal Band” whose only big hit was
the song “Afternoon Delight”). We
listened to his albums all the time and really enjoyed the fact that he was
clean-cut and sung songs about Faith, Family and Friends. One of my favorite songs of his was the song “Matthew”
(go figure) where he talks about a farm-hand friend who found the “Family Bible”
after a tornado. After buying his albums
and going to see him in concert, though, my mom read an interview with him
where he mentioned that he wasn’t a Christian and she was taken aback by this
news. Seems she had bought into the
image that John Denver had created through his songs and persona (who cares
about the fact that his real name was Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. and he would
later be convicted of hoarding gasoline, plus I think he was a bit of a
pot-head).
The Decapitated Heads of the Starland Vocal Band (maybe that's why they never had another hit)
This revelation that John Denver wasn’t what he was cracked
up to be meant that we didn’t listen to John Denver for awhile. I think my mother may have even written him a
letter. We were a good Christian
household and being duped by this popular folk singer made us step back a
bit. Were we supporting a fake-named
pot-head non-Christian by buying his music and seeing him in concert? It was a while before strains of “Annie’s
Song” and “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” and my favorite song “Matthew” were
playing from our record player. But,
still, the “faith” parts of the songs felt a little more hollow after that...
Folksy!
Years later Miriam and I used to watch “Tool Time” with Tim
Allen. A funny sitcom we thoroughly
enjoyed. Tim Allen was great in it and
we knew he had a past where he was a stand-up comedian, but didn’t know much
about it. (Also knew he was convicted of
selling drugs, spent time in prison, had issues...) One night we ran across him doing stand-up
and found his routine to be pretty filled with foul language and, once again,
we felt a bit duped by the image he portrayed as a clean-cut father who gets
into trouble, and the one he portrayed on stage telling off-color jokes. (side note:
His real name is: Timothy Alan Dick)
Not that folksy...
And, finally, I remember when my BFF Jason handed me a videotape (or DVD)
going off on the misogyny and gross-ness of Professional Wrestling. It was 90 minutes of just the most guttural
slime of professional wrestling. Knowing
that I was a fan of the WWE, Jason thought I would be interested and so I took
a look at the documentary and it was, in fact, pretty damning to the
organization. I felt a little sick
afterward...then I remembered that the show is fake and it’s, basically, a soap
opera. So if you’re going to take the
WWE to task for their weekly fake violence, you need to take to task all the stupid-ass
soap operas and police procedural shows, etc.
And, besides, I never actually bought WWE merchandise or anything
(though I DID go to a WWE show after they had cleaned up their act). I may have watched it but, you know, I didn’t
really monetarily SUPPORT it.
WRASSLIN! (otherwise known as a male soap opera)
When the Phil Robertson story broke in December 2013 – it was interesting
to see how the actions of his employer (A&E Network) to suspend him from
the show caused a huge uproar in the cyber-universe. Suddenly people were taking sides. Bloggers were blogging. Facebookers were Facebooking. “A&E is committing suicide!” Read one headline. “First Amendment being damned!” Said another.
“He did nothing wrong!” And on
and on and on and on and on... Who cares
that there are hungry and hurting in our streets. Soldiers are dying in a war half a world
away. U.S. drones accidentally killed 13
members of a wedding party. NSA
continues to spy, un-checked on the American people. A reality TV star has been SUSPENDED for
words in a magazine interview! That
takes precedence over other headlines.
Little known fact: Actually stands for "Apples & Edamame"
But...there are two issues I see going on here. Issue one is the suspension of a television
personality. Issue two is the “First
Amendment” argument. Issue one, to me,
is pretty cut-and-dried. When Alec
Baldwin and his MSNBC Television show were cancelled after he hurled a
derogatory slur at a photographer, I thought:
“What an idiot.” When Martin
Bashir resigned (or was forced to resign) after hurling some insults at Sarah “Quitter”
Palin, my initial thought was: “Idiot.” Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Bashir are adults. They understand that words have consequences;
they spoke the words and paid the consequences.
I did not fly to my Facebook home page and scream FIRST AMENDMENT!! FIRST AMENDMENT!! FIRST AMENDMENT!! Like I have seen so many others do in regards
to Mr. Robertson. I didn’t create a meme
that stated: “I’m with Bashir!” or a meme that said: “Baldwin Mis-quoted!!” I shrugged my shoulders and moved on. Any organization or company that hires an
employee can, pretty much, suspend or fire said employee for anything. If that employee wants to fight it in court,
so be it, but I think we can all, pretty much, agree that this is a reality in
your job, my job, anyone’s job. As
A&E stated, they did not feel that Mr. Robertson’s stated beliefs were representative of the company so they suspended him.
Martin said some not nice things...
Then there is issue number two: The First Amendment. And this is the “bigger picture” issue in my
mind. Simply put, you are free to say
whatever it is you want to say, but you are not immune to the consequences of
that speech. It’s the old “crying fire
in a movie theatre” argument. You can
certainly do it, but if people are killed in the process and there was no
fire...well...you’re going to be in a bit of trouble. I’m fully within my rights to go up to a 400
lb football player and call him a whiny-ass-little-baby and he’s, pretty much,
within his rights to punch me in the face.
I have to decide if I want to, or can live with, the responses to my
speech. I’ll post this on my blog site
and am fully aware that people may disagree with me, “yell” at me, compliment
me, etc. They’re fully within their
rights to do so. Certainly if I get a
lot of mean comments coming my way I’m not going to go stand in a corner and
say: “You’re infringing upon my rights!” You’re not.
You’re voicing your opinion which is what I’m doing.
What we're talking about...
Let’s get back to that old “First Amendment” thing. I read a conservative author’s points about
A&E and the First Amendment and then another and then I watched clips from
Fox News and others also saying this is a First Amendment issue. Is it?
Is it not? I don’t know – but whether
it is, or not, if you’re bringing it up in regards to this Phil Robertson
thing, I call bullsh*t on that. BULLSH*T! Why?
Because why didn’t you bring it up when Alec Baldwin was fired? Or Martin Bashir? Or the band Pussy Riot was jailed? Or those kids staging a peaceful sit-in that
were sprayed with mace? Why didn’t you
bring it up when the Dixie Chicks were losing bookings and vilified in the
press? What about when Linda Ronstandt
had a concert cancelled because the owner of the club didn’t like her
politics? Where were you when Richie
Incognito was suspended by the Miami Dolphins for harassing a fellow player by
leaving racist and offensive voice-mails on the guy’s phone? Aren’t these all, in reality, first amendment
issues? Wasn’t Martin Bashir just
voicing his opinion? Or the Dixie
Chicks? Or....
Yeah, they were vilified for their beliefs....and where were the First Amendment Supporters then? Probably at a Ted Nugent concert...
Then, of course, we have Fox News and their annual “War on
Christmas” – doesn’t anyone have the right to change the name of a Christmas
Tree to a “Holiday Tree?” Isn’t that a
first amendment right? Yes, they can
certainly complain about it, but isn’t it truly a first amendment issue? A festivus pole? Changing the name of a holiday parade so that
it’s more inclusive? Don’t they have a
first amendment right to do that?
Certainly they do! But don’t act
like they’re infringing on YOUR belief system because you don’t like it.
Just like John Denver, I truly believe that there are a
number of people out there who are huge fans of “Ducky Dynasty” and are kind of
taken aback by one of the member’s opinions on gays and how blacks were treated
before the civil rights movement. The
image of what they had seen on TV or read in books or heard in interviews was shaken
a bit when they realize that maybe what they’ve been sold isn’t really what
they bought.
But for those that continue to say this is a “First
Amendment” issue – remember this: the “First
Amendment” applies to everyone.
Conservative, Liberal, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Communist,
Socialist, etc. The rich, the poor, the
brilliant, the stupid. Picking and
choosing when to pull out the “FA” card just because it suits your argument or
makes you feel better about yourself is a complete and total bullsh*t
move. You can’t just argue First Amendment
when it suits you and write damning articles about a network
or what not when, repeatedly, there have been other situations that would
certainly qualify that you chose to ignore because it didn't fit your religious or political view point.
Much like the quote that started this blog, even if you
disagree with the person speaking, you should still fight for their right to
say it. But if you only fight when you
feel that it bests your argument or is something you agree with...then I call
bullsh*t on that. And that's my First Amendment right.
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