Is it me or has America become the land of the boycott, home of the ban? Reality television has become very popular and part of the reason is because the shows are about real people. And here is the great part of that. Real people means real as in not fake, unscripted. Ok, ok, so maybe some of it is scripted but when did we stop allowing people to speak freely without worry that their careers and livelihoods will be threatened?
And please. Don’t throw out the, “I don’t have to support such ugly speech,” argument. No. You don’t. But then don’t watch. Turn it off. Tune it out. I don’t understand the bans and the boycotts. Not only don’t I understand them, I don’t like them. I hate the thought that any group is powerful enough to silence someone’s Constitutionally protected right to speak freely. Hate. Hate it almost as much as hate speech.
Phil Robertson is the latest victim of the politically correct society that we are becoming. Now please understand that I am in no way defending his beliefs or what he said. I am defending his right to believe whatever he chooses to believe as well as his right to say it.
Is it ugly? Yes. I say yes as someone who has gay loved ones. I say it as a firm believer in equal rights and a supporter of the GLBTQ community to have the same rights as hetero citizens.
Is boycotting his show or banning him going to change his opinion? Is he going to have an epiphany and go out campaigning for gay marriage? When Paula Deen was fired and her cooking products pulled did it change the fact that she used the N word 20 years ago? Did it somehow erase the hate that is still present in the world?
We have become a world gone crazy in terms of political correctness. We forget that people are products of their cultures and that while we, as a country, are evolving, not everyone has caught up. There are beliefs that are generational and cultural. Telling people that they are not allowed to believe something solves nothing. Telling them they cannot say it goes against the very things our country was founded on which is freedom.
Let’s not forget that we also live in a country that records everything. There’s always a tape ready to come out and expose someone. I have watched with interest the many tapes coming out now that show Phil Robertson saying some things that, well, let’s just say that we have different beliefs in God. But I’m not surprised. Is anyone? Really?
Hate is taught just as religious beliefs are taught. Don’t hate Phil Robertson. Hate what he was raised to believe. Hate what he was taught. Show him something different. Bans and boycotts don’t teach anyone anything other than to cover their tracks and be politically correct. It doesn’t change a person’s heart.
You don’t have to watch his show. You don’t have to buy his merchandise. But let’s stop stripping people of their right to speak freely just because what they are saying is not politically correct or what we believe. Enough with the bans and boycotts before one day it is your speech that is not protected. Then what?
