Huh huh, fire.

An actual conversation I recently noticed, observing but taking no part in. I changed the names for fun, not to protect "innocence."

Beavis:

‎#1. Why is anyone asking Hank Williams Jr. about politics? Well, this is consistant Beavis doesn't like any entertainer giving opinions about anything that actually matters.
#2. He never said which was which in the analogy. True, but he immediately followed it by saying "They're the enemy." Asked who, Williams said: "Obama. And Biden. Are you kidding?"

#3. Even if you find the comparison offensive, what happened to free speech? (I grant ABC/ESPN/DISNEY has the right to play what they wish, but to pull him and make the statement that "This is why!" is scary.)  I would like to know which part of the first amendment states that "private companies shall make no law." In any case, the settled law on speech is that it mainly concerns "prior restraint." This means, in this instance that williams was free to say whatever he wished but is under no protection from recrimination by his employer/client/patron whatever you call this relationship.

ESPN pulls 'Are You Ready' opening from MNF

espn.go.com

The Hank Williams Jr. song that has opened Monday Night Football for 20 years will not be part of the opening tonight after Williams made comments comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler on Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends.

• • SS: Even free speech has it's limits. Try hopping on a commercial airplane and yelling "I have a bomb!". Or finding the most muscle bound guy in a bar at 2 a.m. and telling him his gf's ugly. Hank probably could have made his point much better by choosing his words more wisely.
    
  • Mrs. Beavis: Your dinner is getting cold. You couldn't post this at home? We have internet here. I get the bill every month. Just so ya know.
    
  • Ron Paul's Fluffer: Well, if I gave a shit about basketball, soccer, golf or NCAA womens sports, I'd turn on ESPN.
    
    But I don't.
    
  • JH: You compare someone to Hitler ONE time.....
    
  • Ron Paul's Fluffer: Furthermore, this just makes corporate media look like a bunch of facist dickholes.
    And if they look like facist dickholes, they're probably facist dickholes.
  • Butthead: Good call Ron Paul's Fluffer!
    
  • Butthead: The corporate media worked very hard a couple years ago spreading fear to get this man elected! Can't be putting anyone on tv who says any bad words about him
    
  • Screech: Comparing usama I mean Obama to Hitler is not even in the same league of yelling I have a bomb on an airplane. Free speech is free speech, if you don't like it move to north Korea.
  • Butthead: Woo hoo!
  • Bobcat: heres my thing....why does he look like a corpse? i mean cake on the make up why doncha!!
    
  • Beavis: You mean the Chocolate Messiah or Bocephus? In one case, being president seems to prematurely age just about everyone who takes the job. In Hanks case, that'd chalk it up to a few decades of hard living... And I gotta disagree with saying he compared Obama to Hitler. He never did say which side was which. I'll admit, it wasn't the smoothest of comparisons, but his basic (if poorly stated) point that these are supposed to be opposing sides, so why are they out having a good time together (because when the back slapping/glad handing starts, that's when the principals get tossed aside, and the American people get screwed in the name of "bipartisanship") is a good one. Either way, ESPN shouldn't be acting as a defacto censor by penalizing him for speaking his mind. And "fire in a crowded theater" doesn't apply here. There is no clear or present danger in calling the president Hitler. Even if you find it distasteful, it's protected.
  • SS: Screech its exactly the same thing. For freedom of speech to work, we as people have to exercise that right with responsibility. We have the right to bear arms, but not to point and shoot wherever we want with no regard to others, whether we like them or not. A pastor might have the opinion that one of his parishoners is an asshole, but if he exercises his right to "free speech about that person in the pulpit on sunday morning, he probably won't be giving sermons at that church much longer.
  • Beavis: And this isn't even in the same ball park as mishandling a firearm...
    
  • Bobcat:  Beavis im talking about hank and the shithouse of make up on his face....bernie looked better
    
  • Beavis:Welcome to the HD era I guess.
    
  • Butthead: Shit...not even the same Goddamm sport!
    
  • D: You know the deal Josh,,,,he's considered a "spokesman" for MNF on ESPN and since they didn't like what came out of his mouth, he gets released. How many DJ's you know been dumped for what they said on the air? ESPN didn't want to be associated with those comments in any way and made the break and made it clear "why" they made the break.
    

What bothers me about this exchange is the hypocrisy and naked partisanship of it. We have never really had an absolute right to free speech in this country. When crisis rears its head, free speech or the right to dissent, is one of the first things to be targetted. Any student of history can recount this sad tale, the Alien and Sedition Acts of the 1790s, suspension of habeas corpus and repression of copperhead publishers during the Civil War. The repression, including but not limited to the Espionage and Sedition Acts, during and after the First World War was particularly important because of its brutality and remoteness of the conflict. Repression of free speech and dissent took a more insidious turn prior to and during the McCarthy era as well because the weapon was economic, dissidents were simply fired on suspicion of un-American acts or ideas held.

It is hypocritical to bash Disney for dissociating itself from williams because of dumb remarks, freedom of association is also protected under the same amendment guys. Williams is a well known republican partisan, he played at their convention in 2000 and has been active in republican campaigns since, but this never troubled Beavis before. My friend Beavis prides himself on consistency, but I don't recall him coming to the defence of the Dixie Chicks or anyone who questioned the invasion of Iraq. No, no one went to jail for dissenting from bush era militarism and few people lost jobs because of their beliefs. But in our Orwellian right-wing, partisanship excuses hypocrisy and righteous indignation is only pointed toward people who point out hypocrisy or racism. It is an atmosphere of "I am always right and can use any device which proves my point, anyone who points out that 2+2=4 is the one with the problem." So saying "the chocolate messiah" is not racist and only exposes the rotten character of anyone who might assert that it is. The other inconsistancy is that Beavis usually adheres to the idea that workers have NO rights, on the job or otherwise.

But the main thing, for all of them seems to be confusion as to what free speech is. This wasn't the heavy-handed government cracking down on dissent, this was a chickenshit corporation jettisonning a known partisan for making a dumb crack that will likely offend quite a few customers. And the kind of dingbats who would think comparing Obama to Hitler is okay are gonna watch MNF regardless. And that damn song has been terrorizing my ears for twenty years. Can you think of another brand that has stayed the same for two decades? And uh, williams isn't exactly out of a job or deported or had his assets confiscated. The final thing to note is that this sort of talk doesn't really fly on commercial television, hence the failure of rush, savage, and finally even glen beck on tv.

So, I'm not defending a giant corporation. I'm not going to defend multi-millionaire country singers either. I am attacking hypocrisy and some reaallly screwed up priorities.