Say What?

Jimmy Kimmel’s return to late night TV was a triumph for free speech. He called the suppression of speech “UnAmerican.” He used that freedom of speech to continue parodying The Don and his administrations dangerous unconstitutional actions. Kimmel was taken off the air because he had the audacity to suggest that the motivation of Kirk’s assassin wasn’t easily pigeonhold into their leftwing terrorist fever dream; the constitution protects his right to say this. The irony is profound. If Fox News was held accountable for every distorted (and out right lie) it has committed, it wouldn’t exist.

Kimmel was a victim of the right’s cancel culture. The party of free speech turns out to support only the speech that supports its vision. This is dangerous. Kimmel’s return was a true victory and gave us a moment where serious pushback put a pause in the unrelenting march toward autocracy. Taking control over the media and who and what can be said is necessary to achieve their autocrats goals.

I imagine in their fantasies, having state controlled TV, like in Russia or Hungary, would be a dream come true.

The Disney Corporation righted a wrong. It was emboldening to see the pressure put on them push them to retract from their ill conceived position. Rumor has it that the defining moment in the decision to let Jimmy Kimmel speak was not decided in the conference room. It was an a protest by furry Disney characters who are not allowed to speak threatening to start yapping it up that forced Bob Iger’s hand.

Let’s hope this leads to a united movement to not kowtow to the dismantlers of our democracy. Only time will tell if this is the beginning of the people standing up or a one off leading to further capitulation.

The Don, after his ludicrous speech at the U.N., where he whined about not getting the contract to renovate the U.N. years ago said the U.N sucked and ranted on about the hoax scam of climate change and declared he had stopped seven, wars, still found the time to weigh in about Disney/ABC’s decision to let Kimmel back.

“Why would they want someone back who does so poorly, who’s not funny, and who puts the Network in jeopardy by playing 99% positive Democrat GARBAGE.” “I think we’re going to test ABC out on this. Let’s see how we do. Last time I went after them, they gave me $16 Million Dollars. This one sounds even more lucrative,” he continued, referring to a $15 million settlement ABC News paid to Trump’s presidential library last year to settle a defamation suit. We must push back with the same or more force that he wants to push his unconstitutional agenda.

As for Brendan Carr, the evil enforcer of the FCC, he may have lost one fight, but he is still all in for deterring free speech. “Bring it on, he said. There are a lot of Democrats out there that are engaged in a campaign of projection and distortion. They are completely misrepresenting the work of the F.C.C. and what we’ve been doing.”

On a hopeful note, Joe Rogan: had this to say: “I definitely don’t think that the government should be involved, ever, in dictating what a comedian can or cannot say in a monologue.” Ted Cruz and Rand Paul also made it clear that they were opposed to Carr’s actions.

Now that the right has taken the mantle of “cancel” culture and is doing their own version of “woke,” it’s important that we don’t fall into the trap of bothsideism. For the left, woke means fighting oppression and seeking equality; for the right, woke means oppressing those who are not on board with a White Christian Supremacist agenda and an administration that is dismantling democracy right before our very eyes. For the left, the movement came from the people; for the right it is coming from the government.

I have no problem owning up to the fact that the left’s purity tests, at times, shut down freedom of speech and sadly helped The Don get elected. Many students at college campuses and work environments, who were conservative and even moderate, feared expressing an opinion that would summon the “woke police.” Despite this, I don’t they are equivalent. Let me use two examples to elucidate my position.

The MeToo movement put men on notice that their sexist and predatory behavior was not acceptable. Did some suffer unfairly? Probably, but women have been the object of sexual discrimination and sexual assault since, well, since forever! During his campaign and currently The Don and his people continue to promulgate that women’s place should be in the home making babies.

Until recently, women who were raped were rarely believed. Law enforcement snickered at them thinking “They probably deserved it” or some other taunt. Men needed to be taken to task for their transgressions. Frankly, the fact that men were scared of being outed was a good thing; finally, they would have to be mindful of their statements and actions. The MeToo movement was a push back against oppression and the devaluation experienced at the hands of a male dominated society. It was a movement for equality, the foundation of our constitution. Its purpose was to hold toxic masculinity accountable.

The taking to the streets of millions of Americans because of the murder of George Floyd in 2000 was another example of the fight against oppression and inequality. All over the country, people of all creeds, races and genders, protested in response to a brutal murder of a Black man. So much is made on the right about the horrendous murder of Charlie Kirk, how gruesome it was. Was it more gruesome and horrifying than watching a man who was guilty of nothing having his life snuffed out for 8 minutes with the world watching? My point isn’t to make comparisons, as all murder is awful, but to point out that Republicans had little to say about Floyd; some went so far to blame him, in the same way men claim that women are at fault when they are raped.  

The push back after the George Floyd murder was powerful. People were being held to account for their racist remarks and actions.

My point here is that women and blacks, and members of the LGBTQ community have been devalued and oppressed; they have struggled to have equal rights to White heterosexual men. Calling out people for their racist, sexist, homophobic and transphobic comments and actions is a good and necessary thing. 

D.E.I. programs were well intended, but many failed to achieve the desired result; canceling white men didn’t move them closer to opening their minds; unfortunately, it worked to move people to the right. Changing ingrained cultural norms, particularly ones that are about sharing power is a sysiphean task. The movements are essential and ethically and morally correct, but forcing it down people’s throats, rather than allowing for more conversation doesn’t work.

That being said, the inability to come to terms with racism and sexism continues to be a great stain on our country. In fact, The Don and his henchman will do anything they can to whitewash the reality of the Black experience. They are working to erase the transphobic community. They want women in their homes.They are doing everything in their power to pressure universities and organizations to dismantle their programs.. The government is now the new “woke” police.

Despite Kimmel’s victory, The Don and his henchmen have are using Kirk’s murder to declare war on the speech of those who do not support their ideas. 

Here’s the despicable Stephen Miller:

 “With God as my witness, we are going to use every resource we have at the Department of Justice, Homeland Security and throughout this government to identify, disrupt, dismantle and destroy these networks and make America safe again for the American people.” The “networks” he refers to are any institution that supports liberal  causes.

The administration is using their bully pulpit to push institutions to punish naysayers.

Matt Dowd, not anyone’s idea of a radical left winger, was fired by MSNBC for making this remark: “Hateful thoughts lead to hateful words, which then lead to hateful actions. You can’t stop with these sort of awful thoughts you have and then saying these awful words and then not expect awful actions to take place.” Dowd was referring to Charlie Kirk, but never suggested that his killing was justified. Dowd was just expressing a truth: If you incite violence you shouldn’t be surprised that there is violence. MSNBC should be ashamed of its actions which empower The Don to believe that he can pressure and manipulate big media companies.

Karen Attiah — editor of the Washington Post’s Global Opinions, and its last full-time Black opinion writer — was fired for social media posts in which she said she refused to “tear my clothes and smear ashes on my face in performative mourning for a white man that espoused violence.” She didn’t espouse violence or celebrate Kirk’s death, but apparently describing who he was is a firing offense.

The Don is still on the warpath.

“Despite a very high popularity and, according to many, among the greatest 8 months in Presidential History, ABC & NBC FAKE NEWS, two of the worst and most biased networks in history, give me 97% BAD STORIES. IF THAT IS THE CASE, THEY ARE SIMPLY AN ARM OF THE DEMOCRAT PARTY AND SHOULD, ACCORDING TO MANY, HAVE THEIR LICENSES REVOKED BY THE FCC.”

The Don is using Kirk’s murder as an opportunity to control free speech. All over the country there is a movement for conservatives to consolidate their power in the media. In fact, the night Kimmel returned, 20 % of the country could not see him because two powerful media companies Nexstar and Sinclair, who control many media markets, refused to put Kimmel’s show on the air. Other efforts are under way to consolidate the right wing’s power over the media.

F.C.C. Director Carr justifies his assault on free speech by claiming he is protecting  the “public interest.” The ruse here is that shutting down media organizations protects Americans against bad actors. I don’t think most people want to have the government telling what they can watch. This is another ploy, like declaring an economic emergency to justify tariffs or using the 1787 Enemies Alien Act to round up immigration.

When ABC’s Jonathan Karl recently asked The Don about the hate speech issue his response: (Pam) “Bondi would probably go after people like you  because “you have a lot of hate in your heart.” This statement is a perfect distillation of the hypocrisy and projection of The Don. The man spews hate from every corner of his being and encourages his followers to emulate him.

The Don and his administration are co-opting the narrative and attempting to control who can say what. If you puppet their agenda your speech is protected; if you don’t you are a target. Their intent is to make as many Americans think that the “radical left” is spreading hate, fomenting violence and the true threat  to democracy when it is really them. I hope the pushback of the people which allowed Kimmel back on the air is a harbinger of a wave of us standing up to the bully and has taught us not to capitulate in advance.