The Right's Selective Free Speech Outrages

It's curious to read or hear complaints about "political correctness"  and non-government-involved"free speech" issues by people on the right, then observe how these same people ignore those suppposed infringements on their precious "freedoms" when they involve an issue they support.  

For example, I'm fairly sure I won't read about how unfair it is that Dick Metcalf lost his job because he wrote a column in a gun magazine about regulations and the 2nd Amendment:



From the New York Times:  BARRY, Ill. — The byline of Dick Metcalf, one of the country’s pre-eminent gun journalists, has gone missing. It has been removed from Guns & Ammo magazine, where his widely-read column once ran on the back page. He no longer stars on a popular television show about firearms. Gun companies have stopped flying him around the world and sending him the latest weapons to review. 

In late October, Mr. Metcalf wrote a column that the magazine titled “Let’s Talk Limits,” which debated gun laws. “The fact is,” wrote Mr. Metcalf, who has taught history at Cornell and Yale, “all constitutional rights are regulated, always have been, and need to be.” 

The backlash was swift, and fierce. Readers threatened to cancel their subscriptions. Death threats poured in by email. His television program was pulled from the air. Just days after the column appeared, Mr. Metcalf said, his editor called to tell him that two major gun manufacturers had said “in no uncertain terms” that they could no longer do business with InterMedia Outdoors, the company that publishes Guns & Ammo and co-produces his TV show, if he continued to work there. He was let go immediately."



Another example is the right's most recent "free speech outrage" over some millionaire and his family who shoot ducks and get paid gazillions of dollars pretending to be red necks.  

Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty made some filthy remarks about the gay community; told his interviewers how happy African-Americans seemed to him during the Jim Crow era in the south; and, just  recently, we found out that he advocates child rape. (Yeah, that's harsh, but what else would you call it when someone encourages grown men to marry 15-year old girls?  I've read many times how people on the right apply that term to the Prophet Muhammad for doing exactly the same thing.)

Martin Bashir lost his job for suggesting that Sarah Palin receive the same treatment as some slaves received when she stupidly compared the ACA to slavery.  

He publicly apologized and lost his job.  

The fake red neck good ol' boy still has his job after slandering an entire group of Americans, the gay community; after denying the tragedy of what southern African-Americans experienced under Jim Crow; and after suggesting men should get their wives while they're still young girls.

Apology for his slander?  None.  And he kept his job.



When You Defend Phil Robertson, Here's What You're Really Defending 







Here's another example of the GOPers censoring speech they don't like:


Bill Moyers Documentary Blacked Out in NC 
JANUARY 4, 2014  

Legendary journalist Bill Moyers has created a new documentary about North Carolina’s politics in 2013 titled North Carolina: State of Conflict. As of press time Saturday, UNC-TV does not have the show scheduled to air in our state – essentially blacking out the documentary to all but those who are able to access it through the internet.




The rightwingers who valiantly stood up for Phil Robertson believe in the unalienable right of free speech (even when the government is NOT involved), but ONLY free speech for what THEIR ideology supports.