Monday, March 05, 2007

Do You Want Your Free Speech Straight Up, On the Rocks or Watered Down with Your Pablum, Sir?



Are the people of our country man enough for the First Amendment anymore? Or have we become such regressed weenie babies that we want our government to protect us from all real or perceived slights of speech?
Has it come to this: a nation of snivelling hysterical crybabies?

"Boo Hoo, Ann said a bad word, Mommy! Boooo Hoooo!"

Tell me truly.

Ann Coulter made in my opinion a stupid comment at CPAC over the weekend. Some allusion to John Edwards in the same breath with faggots.
It was 150-proof Coulter on the rocks, with a twist of venom.

It was her concoction of hard speech--and not to my personal taste. I prefer red whine myself.

It said much more about her than it ever could about Edwards. I was unimpressed and frankly thought to myself that she must be pretty hard up for attention. Rather than picking up her drink offer, I walked away from the bar. And stayed sober, noting that she is often not my cup of tea. But still, I can take Coulter in small doses from time to time, as an after dinner apertif on a full stomch, like an occasion grappe.

But to many others you would have thought she had announced a suicide bomber had just entered the room with KoolAid laced with vodka and arsenic.

People--liberals and conservatives alike---drank up her offering and started getting drunk and sick all over the room, like drunken, debauched sailors.
The drink she fixed was just too strong for a room full of regressed adult cry babies who can no longer hold the liquor of free speech and know when to stop drinking other peoples concoctions. Cry babies who think they are entitled to having a perfect world where no one ever offends their sensibilities.
When will will we learn we can walk away from the bar and stop drinking when we've had enough? That's part of our First Amendment freedom and responsibility? The burden is on us and not just the person who offers us the drink?
But we endlessly wail " Booo Hooo!"

We'd now rather make everyone else responsible for our happiness in free speech, than taking responsibility for ourselves in the market place of ideas.
And yes, it takes two hands to handle a whooper like Coulter served up.

I propose a 12-step program for people who get perpetually falling down drunk and self-righteous at other peoples' disingenuous words: Free Speech Anonymous.

***************

What in this country don't we get about the First Amendment? I mean, do we have any idea what it is and what its implications are to free speech?

Praytell.

Again, do we have any idea of the rights and the responsibilities First Amendment freedom bestows on individuals in a country as free as ours? The operative work here is "individual." Not lemmings, weenie babies or herds of hyenias or government buracracies.
It's freedom to consenting adult individuals in a grand, free country like ours. In our country this freedom of speech not only doesn't guarantee that we'll never be offended. It assures us that we will be offended--early and often. And we'd better come to understand that sooner rather than later, or be prepared to give up our freedoms and status as adults who are called upon to develop the character quality of discernment.

We now demand---people of all political persuasions---that every word, every speech, every system of belief--be sanitized for our consumption. No one is allowed to offend us or,
God forbid, our children. And if they do, "Off with their heads!"

Note that the responsibility for not being offended is always "out there." We only know how to respond one way when we're offended--- whine and faint away in horror and righteous indignation. "Somebody else do something!" I'm too weak to walk away, change the channel, focus my attention on something else. Don't ask her back as the speaker.

Boo hoo, Ann Couter said the word"faggot." "Off with her head!" "I'm so offeneded. Boo hoo!"

Whether you agree with her or not, or her choice of words, this is free speech in action. And, in this country, it requires an adult individual response from the receiver, as well as the giver.

We'd better know. And if we don't, we'd better take a crash course to find out. The free speech correcters are getting louder and more demanding in their march towards political correctness and loss of individual freedom of speech. The weeniebabies are getting louder and louder.

And would put us all into a controlled speech straight jacket.
The First Amendment is not for the fainthearted. It's strong freedom and requires adults to handle it wisely. To learn to take what we want and leave the rest. And not get slobbering drunk every time someone says an unbecoming word.

More on this post and others soon.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I don't think that people are necessarily "boo hooing" over her comments. I think most rational people wonder why in the world the conservative movement listens to a woman who is now claiming what she said was nothing more than a "school yard taunt". She's a bully, plain and simple, and way, way past the time when school yard taunts are considered part of the game.

This sort of thing happens on both sides of the aisle, and each side claims to be offended. I seem to recall many people being offended by John Edwards' choice of bloggers - and most of them seemed to be religious conservatives (William Donoghue and the like) who were outraged and hurt that the Edwards' bloggers wrote things about religion that they didn't like. In fact, the clammoring for their heads stopped only when the women resigned (by their own choosing) from the campaign.

Webutante said...

Who says it's way past time for school yard taunts? Fact is, it obviously isn't past that time in the real world.

I don't particularly care for what she said, but defend her right to say it. And I would defend the Edwards bloggers right to say what they said, though I found it ridiculously immature.

Doesn't the First Amendment assure us that we can all be offended by somebody's free speech? And that we all have opportunity to make
fools of ourselves if we wish? Or paragons of truth and light?

And it let's you and me disagree as to what's worth listening to and what's not. What's worth fighting for or not.

What a wonderful freedom and responsibility.

Rita Loca said...

And dont forget to enjoy it! Here, in Venezuela, newspapers are being fined for saying less, and TV stations are being expropiated by the government for speaking out against the regime!

Anonymous said...

If Ann Coulter, a 45 year old woman, wants to run around saying that her comments amount to nothing more than school-yard bullying, that's fine by me. I hope she defends her comments that way every single time she gets on TV. It makes her look even worse, and more childish, if that's possible.

As for me, as a mom of two elementary school age children, I try to teach my kids not to call other people names, though I know that it happens, and I'm guilty of it myself. But that doesn't mean we should be encouraging grown ups to talk and/or act that way, for pete's sake!

But if you really want to talk about freedom of speach, why don't you investigate and blog about the "Denver Three" being thrown out of the tax-payer funded campaign rally by WH staff? Why did they have to check their freedoms at the door??

Webutante said...

There's a difference between encouraging name calling and admitting that, yes, it is within the rights of free speech. I don't necessariy like it all the time, but still it is part of life. And learning to deal with it as an adult, is a part of growing up.

Thanks for your comment. Not familiar with the Denver thing. Write more if you like. Don't have time to focus on everything.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Webutante said...

Sorry that I lost your link and had to cut and paste your comment.

Anyway, thank you for this. I know you're busy and have your own blog, but if you have time to elaborate on this issue in Venezuela, I would love to put it on my front page. If it's too much trouble then don't worry about it.

God bless and thank you.

Anonymous said...

I lived in Egypt for two years, and let's just say the regime ther doesn't take too kindly to criticism. Although, in fairness, they've been slowly opening themselves up to more public comment in the media. But the recent case of the blogger jailed in Alexandria is a good indication of just how little the Mubaraks tolerate critcism.

Here are some links to the Denver story:
http://www.denverthree.org/
http://test.denverpost.com/opinion/ci_5341085

Rita Loca said...

It may take me a few days to get it to you in english. I will get it to you though!

Webutante said...

Thanks so much, Jungle Mom. Would love to have you write about the devastating effects thug is having on free speech and anything else you want to include, at your convenience.