ARCHIVES

DEATH OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH

James Madison, the original author of the Bill of Rights, wrote ["the people shall not be deprived or abridged of the right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable."] This right was later included in Constitution of the United States. The First Amendment gives us the right to voice our opinions, feelings, and thoughts without fear that we will be silenced. It gives us the right to say things that could possibly offend someone. It is up to us, our right, to make the choice to express our words regardless of what someone else may think or feel. It is our responsibility to use our best judgment before we say what we want to say. Using hate speech is wrong and should never be defended. The person who uses hate speech is using their right of the first amendment in the wrong way but none the less is using their right. It is up to us to ignore them and recognize that are just hateful. What it all comes down to is the essence of what Freedom is and how the United States was born. It’s God’s gift of Free-Will. Freedom was born from Free-will.

If it was not for freedom of speech I would not be able to do what I do now. My entire 19 year career in the entertainment business would have never been possible. I love the fact that I am able to express my opinions and ideas without fear that I will be thrown in jail or worse. In 1992, at age sixteen, I began my own local television show. It was political satire and making fun of things in life that as the main blood of the show. We took full advantage of the First Amendment. There were those who were offended. I was NOT going to censor everything I said in order to make every single person happy. I made fun of myself and others but never is a cruel way. It is my belief that we should not take life too seriously and that we should laugh at ourselves. It is our responsibility to do it in a fair way and not full of hate. When hate us used it is no longer funny. For those who are offended I say "GROW UP!" It’s only words coming out one person’s mouth. Are you that much of a baby? It seems as though everyone is offended by everyone these days. I feel like we all should be wearing diapers and sucking our thumbs! Get over yourself. Why do care what Moe Snow says. He’s a jerk. Move on and go eat cake!

The firing of Don Imus was only the beginning. Since that whole fiasco many others have lost their jobs for expressing themselves in non-hateful ways. Let’s start with Imus. I personally was not a fan of Imus. Never was. I am the last person to come to his aid to defend him, however, things have gotten out of control. I am going to explain Imus and exactly what happened. Don Imus IS NOT A RACIST. He dislikes everyone equally. He is not a happy pleasant guy and everyone who knows who he is knows that! I mean look at him. If you didn’t know who he was and saw him for the first time wouldn’t you think "My God look at that guy, he’s scary. He looks so angry that if I say hi to him he might eat my face off my skull." On top of that he got paid to be offensive for 30 years! That’s his act for crying out loud! What he said was not the right thing to do. He should have known how what he said would have been perceived. I will say this though what Imus was trying to do was to sound cool in order to appeal to the younger hipper crowd. He said what he heard younger people say. He wasn’t calling the women whores. He was using "ho’s" in the same content that it is used in countless TV shows, movies, and music. For me as a TV and movie watcher I have heard this use before it it appears to me it is used in the content as meaning girlfriend. I have heard in the content of "bitches and hoes." Is it right? No. Women should not be called Bitches and Hoes. If it is to mean "Girlfriend" and not prostitute I don’t see the humor in that, what I see is women being disrespected. It certainly isn’t a racist term. It is a derogatory term. How about "Nappy Headed?" This makes smoke pour out of my ears. I have heard women use "Nappy Hair" or "Nappy Head" for years and years! I have heard many, many African-American women use this term just the same as I have heard white women use it.. It’s meaning is simple. The definition of nappy is fuzzy or kinky. In this case hair. What the HELL is so offensive abut that! Some people have fuzzy or kinky hair. It is what it is and is NOT OFFENSIVE. If someone points out that you have nappy hair and you do that is not racial nor offensive. They are pointing out the facts. If they use it in actual hate speech as a way to be hateful to you then that is crossing the line. I heard a ridiculous argument from one African-American woman who said that she was offended because she has nappy hair and that Imus is a racist. Excuse me? You just said you have nappy hair! Nappy hair is not just related to African-Americans. When I was a teen and had long hair and when I would wake up in the morning my hair would sometimes be tangled and NAPPY for the love of God! It is a non-offensive term. Should he have said it? No. Knowing how the press twists things around in order to get a story he should not have said it. Besides it was not funny. It was not being racist. Let me point out the team was made up of white and black girls.

Don Imus should not have been silenced for his opinion and for exercising his right to the First Amendment. He should never have been called a racist. That term should only be used for people who truly are racist. Today is you look at someone the wrong way who happens to be f a different ethnic than you right away you are a racist and who are fueling the fire. I think of Kanye West who came out on national TV and said "George Bush doesn’t like black people." Why Kanye? Because he’s white? That seems more like racist comment to me. That’s the type of comment designed to divide us. Yet nothing happened with him. He got a hit album and is everywhere. This double standard makes me sick. It can never be just one human angry at the other. Take a fist fight or altercation between a black man and white man. Maybe one of the guys did something that really pissed off the other guy so they got into fight. It had nothing to do with the color of their skin. Neither of the men are racist. Yet the news and community leaders such as the Rev. Al Sharpton will call it a racial incident only to add more fuel to the fire. I find it sick and disgusting. If someone made fun of my hair I might think of them as rude but that’s it. If someone calls me a racist then I am highly offended because they would be wrong. To top that off they are assuming they know what’s in my heart. To me that other person is the bigot. I don’t like Don Imus but boy have I been sad about this whole situation. The message that was given by his demise is disturbing. If you express your opinion or speak your mind and someone else doesn’t like it then you will be destroyed. After 30 years of exercising his right to freedom of speech Don Imus was silenced because he said something that someone else didn’t like. Do I think Imus should have been punished. Yes. We all must learn our lesson when we step out of line. The original two weeks suspension was very fitting and his public embarrassment was fantastic punishment. Those who run MSNBC and CBS are cowards and part of the problem. They have turned their back on the Constitution of United States and we as a society are allowing this. Along with the firing of Imus that dope Keith Olbermann came out with his list of people who should be fired for using their voices. He had a list of radio hosts such as Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. I don’t care if you like these guys or not they have the right to their opinions just as Al Franken had the right to his. Left and Right should agree on this. If you listen to Beck then someone else has the right to listen to Franken or visa versa. There are those who listen to both to get both sides of the story. To top it off they are just American citizens who happen to get their voice heard nationally, they’re not politicians or people who work for the government. If you are on a campaign to destroy another’s rights then you are the one who should be fired.

How about the forgotten firing of Norm MacDonald form Saturday Night Live. This is an early case of someone losing their job to freedom of speech. This was not a racial thing but of a top executive who didn’t like Norm’s opinions during his Weekend Update segment so he fired him. Fired him for his right to Freedom of Speech. Give me a break. Well this Moron learned his lesson because that didn’t sit well with the audience and the rating fell sharply. If you don’t like what else says don’t listen to them. End of story.

Since the firing of Imus others have lost their jobs as well. One radio host was doing a Chinese accent in some bit and offended others so he was fired. I find this to be unbelievable. It is an accent. Should I be offended when U.K. actress Helen Mirren does an American accent. Should I be offended when Dave Chappelle does a white person accent? For one thing not all white people sound like that. We are not all nerds. So am I offended? Hell no. It’s a joke. It’s not hateful. He’s not doing it to be racial he’s doing it to be funny. I do accents and voices of all kinds. Should I be worried about doing them because some moron will be offended and then I will loose my job or worse my voice!!!! Give me a break.

We are facing a very sad and dark place in this country. When you have to live in fear of your own voice and face horrible ramifications from others things are bad. I love comedy and to make others laugh. The essence of my comedy style is what started it all for me. My impersonations, My ability to do hundreds of voices which includes accents from all over the world and different ethics. I not should be punished for using them. I will offend someone at some time. I did many times during the run of my TV show. It happens. Not everyone will be amused by what you say or do. That’s life. Some people like broccoli and some despise it. That’s just the way it is. I say what I say to make everyone laugh regardless of color.

We all need to come together as a society( black, white, yellow, and green) and stop this insanity. We need to all agree that the press has no idea who we are and they just want fuel for their fire. They will feed us this garbage and try to pin us against each other in order to watch the fire grow stronger all the while they have their big HDTV cameras pointed at it. It’s like the slime of evil under the streets on NYC in "Ghostbusters II." only it’s the press and people like Al Sharpton fueling it. Al Sharpton is NOT a leader. He is a trouble maker. He was so offended by Don Imus that he and the other trouble maker Jesse Jackson had Imus fired yet they continue to cause racial tensions between us. Al Sharpton is using the African-American community to create racial problems because this is what pays his rent. If he really wanted to stop and end racism he would reach his hands to other side and he would preach about bringing us all together. He would talk to the African-American community about ending racism and say the same things Bill Cosby ( who is way more intelligent and equipped to be a community leader) is saying. No, instead he will have angry old guys destroyed for speaking their opinions instead of just shutting them off. Thanks Al for all that you do. Really.

Freedom of speech is one of our greatest freedoms. No wonder that is the First Amendment. If our forefathers were to come back in a time machine and saw what was going on they would lay their heads down and cry. This is not what they created. I can only hope that my fellow Americans, of all colors and ethnic backgrounds, will come together on this and fight for our right by turning our backs on the idiots destroying our freedom. I know I will NOT allow them to silence my voice. It is my God given right as well on my right as an American.