Okay, I just wanted to get this off my chest (and I wanted to start writing again, so lookout birds, right!?).
Yesterday evening, I came across an article while checking news feeds and found something interesting/disturbing. But maybe not disturbing for the same reasons it disturbs you or, apparently, others. (Here is a link to the article: Tracy Morgan via Metafilter)
Here's the deal: This guy says some stuff in his comedy routine that other people find offensive. Was it outlandish? Yes. Was it provocative? You bet. Was it true? Who knows. Foolish? Absolutely! The bottom line is that it was in a COMEDY ROUTINE, so we don't even really know if he meant it. On top of that, it was his opinion, so who is anybody else to say he cannot hold it.
The reason I am peeved about the whole thing is that after he said it some political action group starts calling for him to be fired for his other job because of the opinion he expressed. My question is this: Is it not within every Americans' right to hold--and even express--whatever opinion they choose? I was under the impression (mostly because of social studies class) that being able to think and express whatever silly thing you wanted was one of the great freedoms of this country. There are people out there who believe that all thought and speech should conform to the sensibilities of what most people want. These are the people who would have you punished either legally or financially for disagreeing with them. I believe these people to be small-minded bigots.
When it comes down to it, I guess the question I think we should be asking about this is: What if a person could get fired from a job every time they said something that someone else disagreed with--at any time and anywhere, not just while they were at that job? What would happen to unemployment rates in this country? Should I start calling for people, like those trying to punish a comedian for stating an opinion, to be deported to a country where they can enforce their will on others because I do not agree with what they are saying? According to the logic they seem to be using, if they are using any at all, I get to call for them to face hardships if they say something that I disagree with.
That is not what I am going to do, because I believe in a free America. Even if a truly free United States is just a concept that has probably never been truly realized, I can still hope that someday we will make it a real place to live, right?
-A. Leith
p.s.- USA! USA! USA!
