By now if you pay any attention at all to the media in it’s various forms, you’ve seen the sh*t hitting the fan over the Duck Dynasty Debacle. Maybe you’ve managed to avoid it, and if you want to continue avoiding it… move on to your next blog now.
If you’re still reading, to recap very briefly, the Patriarch of the now very wealthy Duck Decoy making family, Phil Robertson, spewed off his appalling opinions regarding homosexuality in an interview and A & E suspended him from the show. People are clamoring… Hey, what about freedom of speech??… others, like myself, are cheering. First of all this whole deal has nothing to do with Freedom Of Speech. Secondly, in my opinion there is a difference between freedom of speech and freedom to criticize people (and his particular criticism was VILE) simply because they are different than you. There’s no specific law telling you you can’t go pee on your neighbors geranium pot, but you wouldn’t do it out of decency, would you.
I found this on another website and I say.. BRAVO.
So…. WHATEVER HAPPENED TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH?!”
I can’t count how
many times I’ve explained this, but I’m going to keep doing it. Was Phil
Robertson put in jail or fined by the government? Then his freedom of
speech is fully intact. That said, should A&E actually be suspending
him for his comments that in no way shape, or form should’ve surprised
them, it’s in his contract that they can. A&E is Phil’s private
employer, and at some point during negotiations
for the show, his lawyers were given a contract that included a clause
saying A&E can terminate him at any point if he does anything that
negatively affects the network or Duck Dynasty. That is standard,
perfectly constitutional procedure, and something Phil agreed to in
exchange for $200,000 an episode. And if he suddenly doesn’t agree with
those conditions, then he’s a sinner who gave false testimony.