One of the most precious gifts that we ever had in this country was freedom of speech, the United States, being the melting pot of nationalities of the globe, allowed any person of any race, to say what they felt without fear of punishment, or criticism from anyone else. It’s a travesty that there really is no such thing of freedom of speech anymore, when good people have an opinion that differs from some others, they are slammed and crucified, they loose their jobs and are basically ruined!
Look at Jamie Foxx, he made a joke about Bruce Jenner ( he is after all a comedienne ), and all hell breaks loose, one cant help but wonder if the one that led the witch hunt to begin with, was transgender, or had someone close to them that was. Giuliana Rancic made a joke about Zandaya and her poor choice of hair styles, as expected, another witch hunt began, Giuliana was made out to be a big, bad, racial slurring wolf and she was put through the wringer. Another great example is Paula Deen, she admitted that she used a word that wasn’t socially acceptable and the fallout was vicious, the woman lost endorsements, lost support, lost millions of dollars, I wonder who was the first to lead that witch hunt?
Donald Sterling, basketballs Clippers owner was banned for life by the NBA and fined 2.5 million dollars over racial remarks he’d made, the real clincher was that he was being secretly recorded by a woman with a very clear agenda. It seems that the old rule of sticks and stones breaking bones and names never hurting someone is a joke as well, if he had taken a baseball bat to one of the players, as bizarre as it is, it probably wouldn’t have been nearly as bad for him as this situation was. Try to imagine for one minute that everything you say behind closed doors, is secretly recorded and made public, every last one of us would be crucified, but because he was in the public eye, it went even worse for him. What about the catalyst, the woman who recorded him without him knowing about it?
The fact remains that there are people out there who, be if for deeply religious beliefs or for moral reasons, do not support homosexuality or transgender issues, people who let them live their lives but don’t feel that such issues should be so publicized or promoted. There are also people who do use improper choices of words for others, that offend, and like it or not, they are entitled to their opinions. What is more important at the core, someone being called a name that they don’t like and setting out to ruin the person that said it, or our supposed right to freedom of speech? There will always be people who say things that others don’t agree with, always be name callers, but I truly hope that the witch hunts will stop, that those same people always sitting around day in and day out, just looking to stir the pot, will find something more constructive to do with their time.
It’s damned tiring to turn on the tv, or read the paper every day and see another story about someone in the public eye being ruined for what they said. Society needs to understand that you can’t force everyone to view things the way that you want them to, people are entitled to their own opinions and feelings, no matter what the topic! There are a lot of people out there that need to stop trying to shove their own agendas down everyone else’s throats, being mature enough to know that words are just that, words and that everyone can’t agree on everything, is a precious, rare thing.
thesmartcritic 