Category Archives: Free Speech

After Imus

Conservatism, Free Speech, Political Correctness, Race, Racism, Republicans, The Zeitgeist

Libertarians will tell you that there is no such thing as free speech, only property rights. In other words, you have no right to deliver a disquisition in my living room, unless I allow it. Your speech rights depend on whose property you’re on. Similarly, Imus’ speech rights depended on the good graces of those holding title to the news network that employed him: CBS.

A libertarian would not dispute that CBS was perfectly entitled to terminate Imus, and thus curtail his speech on their behalf. But this case is not strictly about the libertarian law—most cases rarely are. One cannot neglect the backdrop to, and implications of, a termination that was, on its face, perfectly legal in libertarian law.

It began with a tasteless comment, which, I believe, was not intended to be racially offensive. Imus, rather, was probably trying to be hip, not hurtful. Imus lapsed into Wigga mode in an attempt to get down with the hoodniks.

Cora Daniels, author of Ghettonation: A Journey Into the Land of Bling and Home of the Shameless, examines, in a Newsweek interview, how “the hip-hop lifestyle and behaviors attributed to inner-city neighborhoods—celebrating gangsters and violence, revering fancy cars and bling, flaunting women’s bodies—has permeated American culture and created a widespread ‘ghetto’ mentality.'”

From soda-filled baby bottles to black men calling each other the ‘n’ word to MTV’s ‘Pimp My Ride,’ Daniels chronicles the pervasiveness of ‘ghetto’ thinking and shows how people from all walks of life engage in and celebrate ideas, language and behavior they should find repulsive.

Neither was this about what the conservative representative on The View, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, called market forces. Imus’ show, I believe, was doing well. But because of the racial lobby, the advertisers, and subsequently the proprietor, froze in fear of being labeled racists. Fear and cowardice drove CBS to forsake a product for which there was demand.

Speaking of Elisabeth Hasselbeck: she’s a real lightweight in the contemporary tradition of the conservative, female teletwit. Her “conservative” credentials include support for breast cancer prevention and research, the Amber Alert Initiative, the war, Our Leader. And being blond and bubbly, of course.

Indeed, conservative thinking is constantly evolving in the age of the idiot. Many prominent conservatives, Michelle Malkin and Bill O’Reilly come to mind, celebrated this frightful coup of mob over free speech. The fuss these conservatives are making, moreover, over hip-hop lyrics is a red herring. A result of complete confusion, the premise of which is that these lyrics ought to also be censored. In that, conservatives resemble Democrat Tipper Gore and her comical attempt in the 1980s to censor rock lyrics.

The media tell us the Imus Affair has inaugurated the beginning of a debate about race. For a change. Prepare, then, for members of the besieged majority to be constantly bashed by the racial lobby—professors, journalists, assorted shakedown artists, and Paula Zahn. This, despite the fact that there is nothing remotely racist about Americans. In fact, they’ve been thoroughly brainwashed to believe mankind is one big brotherhood.

Also, watch how debate will become more timid and dishonest as it is in Canada, where there are anti-hate speech tribunals. To seek a remedy against speech they don’t like, the Canadian clones of Sharpton and Jackson need only to turn to the courts. In these kangaroo courts, none of the traditional legal defenses applies. Truth, the absence of intent to harm, etc.—forget about trying to mount a legal defense. You are guilty until proven innocent.

It is my guess that the Imus watershed will lead to a similar speech-limiting code in the US, the Bill of Rights be damned.

Capitulating On Canada (But Only a Bit)

Canada, Democracy, Drug War, Free Speech, Individual Rights

In response to readers’ responses to “Canada: Crap County“:

To be fair, in many aspects, Canada is less regulated than the US. Their SEC, for example, has nothing on our soviet-style apparatus. They do not conduct the kind of war on drugs we prosecute. Writers here are right: subjugation exists on a continuum and we are sliding toward enslavement. Still, as far as regular folks go—people like us who are not likely to come to the SEC’s attention, and care more about keeping our property and guns than toking it up—the US is far and away the better place.
When you go through customs, Canadians will want to tax you; Americans to ensure you aren’t a terrorist. In the US, although heavily circumscribed, the right to self-defense still exists. In Canada one can’t even purchase mace—it’s illegal, as is self defense—practically. As an outspoken writer, I’m safe in the US. So far, at least. In Canada, there’s a “human rights commission.” As in Europe, it prosecutes and can bankrupt those it deems guilty of “hate” speech. I’ll be staying in the US.

Letter of the Week: Prosecutors on the Make

America, Free Speech, Government, IMMIGRATION, Individual Rights, Religion

James Huggins writes:

David Koresh was living in peace and bothering nobody, as I recall. That family up on Ruby Ridge in Idaho was living in peace and bothering nobody. Richard Jewell down in Atlanta was living in peace and bothering nobody. What do they, and no doubt many others, have in common? They were all a little weird and a lot “different.” Therefore, all were fair game for media assassination and perfect targets for ambitious prosecutors and federal officers.

Remember, prosecutors are politicians and are usually using their jobs as stepping stones to higher elected office. Ranking police officers are political hacks who owe their jobs to politician bosses. People who are not perceived positively by the public, such as white supremacists, religious fanatics, good ol boy rednecks, or rich white boy college students in a black town are perfect grist as these elected swine grind their way upward to better things. The only trouble is that it is not against the law to be a white supremacist, religious fanatic, good ol boy redneck or a rich white boy. Aren’t they protected by the constitution just like your average Muslim Jihadist or illegal Mexican migrant?

I don’t know too much about Mr. Jeffs. I am against polygamy and against older men having their way with young girls. But, in this day and time I would have to look long and hard at the evidence before automatically condemning any person on the say-so of a prosecutor.

As far as the Muslims are concerned, if they are practicing polygamy in this country, I’m sure they won’t be hindered. The big mistake these fundamentalist Mormons made was not publicly supporting Al-Qaeda and actively demonstrating for open borders with Mexico.

—James Huggins

Further reading: “‘Mad Dog’ Sneddon Vs. Michael Jackson” And “Patricide & Prosecutorial Misconduct“

The Solomonic State Censors Speech

Free Speech, Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Lebanon

Thanks to reader Dr. Frank Zavisca for sending a link to what appears to be an endorsement here of the arrest of “Javed Iqbal, suspected al-Manar TV agent,” for broadcasting al-Manar television from his home.

According to the New York Times, Iqbal’s

“house and storefront were raided by federal agents, and Mr. Iqbal charged with providing customers services that included satellite broadcasts of a television station controlled by Hezbollah — a violation of federal law.
Yesterday, Mr. Iqbal was arraigned in Federal District Court in Manhattan and was ordered held in $250,000 bail. The Hezbollah station, Al Manar — or ‘the beacon’ in Arabic — was designated a global terrorist entity by the United States Treasury Department in March of this year. Hezbollah was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department in 1997.”

Al-Manar, as footage provided by Michelle Malkin clearly demonstrates, is unadulterated, vicious propaganda — a one-stop shop for every anti-Semitic canard in the book. However, and as Glenn Reynolds of InstaPundit notes, “There’s a pretty good argument that this sort of prosecution violates the First Amendment.”

Although “The Beacon” does appear to be far and away worse than MTV, reader Frank’s libertarian (American) instincts are alive and well: “If you believe in freedom of speech,” he writes, “you would have to support [the right to access this channel].”

The notion that government (often pressured by sectional interests) should decide what speech Americans access is offensive and un-American, although it’s in the best of European and Canadian traditions, where the state has long since adjudicated speech. That Americans have accepted government’s role in screening such subject matter is even more disturbing.

Compiled by Malkin for “Hot-Air,” the horrible segments al-Manar broadcasts are indeed atavistic — a medieval throwback. But it’s good for people to see this stuff for themselves.

Avi Jorisch, author of “Beacon of Hatred: Inside Hizballah’s al-Manar Television,” warns that “al-Manar’s programming puts American lives at risk, both in Iraq and elsewhere, and hinders the prospects for peace and stability throughout the region.” Jorisch wants Washington to “expand its efforts to alter or silence the station’s message.”

Most Americans will recognize al-Manar’s message for what it is. That we have a sizeable community in the US that believes or is open to this message — that Jews use Muslim children’s blood to make matzoth, or that Israel was behind 9/11 — is a separate matter, to be tackled through immigration policies, not by limiting American liberties.