Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

babylonsister

(171,066 posts)
Sat Feb 18, 2012, 12:44 PM Feb 2012

Stupid Whiners

http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/2/17/134236/665

Stupid Whiners

by BooMan
Fri Feb 17th, 2012 at 01:42:36 PM EST


One of the more tiresome things is the rant we always hear from a-holes who get fired for making offensive remarks in our media. It's always the same. They claim that people are taking away their First Amendment rights. It may have seemed otherwise for the last decade, but Patrick Buchanan never had a constitutional right to live on a cot in the Green Room at MSNBC. The fact that I just linked to an article he authored is proof that the government has not abridged his right to complain about our country becoming less uniformly white and Christian. In fact, there are white supremacist websites all over the InterTubes where you or I can go if we want to read racist crap. NBC would be foolish to employ any of those writers.

In Pat's twisted mind, he has a constitutional right to be employed, and at a high salary and with a guaranteed audience. He's wrong. But we have a constitutional right to boycott anyone who does employ him. We can boycott any company that advertises with his employer. We can say that his views are repugnant and offensive, just as he can say the same thing about our views.

MSNBC took way too long to fire Buchanan.
And we weren't trying to take away his right to speak. We were trying to take away his ready-made audience. If he's as good as he thinks he is, he can build his readership up without the help of a syndicated column or a permaspot on cable teevee.
1 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Stupid Whiners (Original Post) babylonsister Feb 2012 OP
People like Pukechanan tell you of their COLGATE4 Feb 2012 #1

COLGATE4

(14,732 posts)
1. People like Pukechanan tell you of their
Sat Feb 18, 2012, 04:16 PM
Feb 2012

great love of and admiration for the Constitution, but have absolutely no idea of how it works. There is no 'private' First Amendment right - the First Amendment only prohibits the government (not private people or firms) from restricting his speech.

Latest Discussions»General Discussion»Stupid Whiners