Free Speech Warriors…Hello?? Is This Thing On??

Posted on by J. Hubner

Remember when the Right was all about free speech? Back when trolls like Alex Jones and that Milo whatever his name was were banned from Twitter for their hate speech? All these camouflaged, bearded weekend warriors on the far Right were screaming about silencing voices? Well now those same couch potato pundits are laughing at people like Colbert and Kimmel being fired by their corporate overlords because of the “nasty” things they’ve said. What did they say? Well it wasn’t saying that little kids weren’t actually mowed down in their classrooms, or that gays should be stoned. No, both late night hosts made jokes about the current commander-in-chief. So in order to get in his good graces these corporations fired their popular late night hosts because a President got his feelings hurt.

And at 2am our time that President “tweets” on his little Far Right social platform that NBC needs to do the same to their late night hosts. Why? Because they put his feet to the fire as well nearly every night. He’s using power and business connections to halt free speech.

Is that what we’re about now? If we don’t like what someone else says then we make them disappear? The Right was more concerned about not being able to go out to Applebee’s on a Friday night to get their chewy steak and lukewarm Coors Light during Covid lockdowns than the whole of this entire shit show we’ve been seeing transpire for the last 9 months. Like bratty kids, as long as they get what they want then they could care a less about anyone or anything else. But take away their Friday night mozzarella sticks and ogling the underage waitress and democracy is crumbling.

Gotcha.

You cannot compare people getting banned from a social platform to people losing their jobs over things they’ve said or tweeted. Not even close. Hate speech cannot include mere opinions about someone or something someone has done. Hate speech is saying an entire school shooting was made up in order to take away our guns. Hate speech is saying a whole group of people need to die because you don’t like what they stand for. I hate Nazis. I hate bullies. I hate people that use the Bible in order to justify their hatred against LGBTQ community, minority communities, and groups they don’t agree with ideologically. But I’m not going to try and get them fired for their beliefs. I abhor what they say and stand for, but since this is the United States we ALL have the right to say whatever stupid thing exists in our brains.

That is, unless it becomes more than speech. Or it turns to threats. Then, well what happens happens and it happens because of the repugnant things you preach. I’ve heard so much vitriol and nasty speak from the Right over the last 10 years, well actually since Obama got in office that it’s become the semi-norm for them. Not just ghouls online in the comments section but from actual elected officials. And when did it all go to a whole other level? Well I guess it was when the President started making fun of the handicapped and inciting violence at his campaign stops. That’s when so many citizens started to let their racist/homophobic/misogynistic freak flags fly. Bush was a national and international disaster as a President, but this current situation we’re in makes him look like freaking FDR.

All of this is to say that if you’re yucking it up over the current situation where comedians and talk show hosts are getting fired because of the fact they’re holding those in power accountable through funny monologues, then when it starts happening to everyone you’ve got no leg to stand on. You’re whining about being silenced will go unheard by the rest of us that have been ringing the alarm bells for awhile now. Eventually you won’t be able to hide from this in your homes. It will end up at your doorstep. And when those officials in masks and armed to the gills ask for names of those not loyal to the cause, will you give up the names of friends and family in order to get another couple months of mediocrity and reality TV? Eventually, you’ll send a text or email to someone questioning a certain act by the government and they’ll get it. And they’ll be back at your front door. But you’ll have no more names to give and it won’t matter because you’re the name they want.

It should tell you something when the powers that be want to erase our history, at least the not-so-great parts. Slavery? Nah, didn’t happen. They wanted to be enslaved. Holocaust? C’mon, we’ve talked about that enough. We were heroes and winners in every conflict we’ve fought in. Always there to stop the great Red Scare. And Nazis? Well there was good Nazis and bad Nazis like in everything. And books? Well unless it’s about patriotism, the love of our Lord, or just funny toothless quips about life it doesn’t need to be in school libraries.

If they want to control how we see the past and how we shape our minds through literature then they aren’t acting in our best interests as one of the greatest, free countries in the world. These are bad actors in an even worse movie that you’d shut off 5 minutes into it.

Wake up, free speech warriors. Here’s where you open your mouths and say something.

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” – George Orwell

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18 thoughts on “Free Speech Warriors…Hello?? Is This Thing On??”

    1. They’ve disguised authoritarianism as Patriotic, and have covered the ugly truth under a American flag. As long as the God-loving, gun-loving hypocrites are happy with their fast food and reality TV then they could care a less. It’s control hidden under a fake freedom mask. I’m so fed up and pissed off at what’s happening right now. Complacency will take down democracy.

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      1. I asked my friend Jake, in South Dakota, why so many people hate their neighbors and family members?

        He said in South Dakota, families will ostracize people for being gay, or being in the wrong religion, or listening to the wrong music or wearing the wrong clothes. He said they consider video games toxic. He feels like he does not belong, but he owns a house and cannot leave. This is all so alien to me.

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      2. Yeah, that sounds like the current America I know. It’s not AS bad in Indiana, at least in my area. South Dakota is so much more rural, so I can see how alienating that must be for folks that aren’t part of the conservative right. It’s probably 85% right wing here, with splotches of blue strewn out in Indiana. But we have zero say election-wise. Between farmers and gerrymandering the left will never have any voting muscle here.

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      3. And I will also say that I get along with my neighbors, despite political and social differences. Nobody has made issues about our politics or our lack of religious affiliation. I’m very thankful for that.

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      4. That is good. In my younger days, politics was something never discussed in public or “polite company”. I can maintain a friendship under those circumstances, but when people start to talk politics, it is outside my comfort zone.

        You may not be aware of this but I have resumed my friendship from my former co-host down in California, on normal social media channels. We have never discussed politics. I believe she is a conservative but it has never entered our friendship and hopefully never will.

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      5. I know that politics has always been a bone of contention, but it used to be that only when it was brought up. My dad always said two things you don’t talk about at work are politics and religion. If that rule is followed you can have decent relationships, even with people you don’t agree with on either of those issues. We’ve turned those two things into everyday speak and how we identify ourselves. It has become a dividing line between people. As someone who strongly supports the LGBTQ community as my oldest is gay(I was a supporter before that), I can’t align myself with those that think gays are committing sin or are damned to Hell or whatever they say. It’s gotten to the point with me that I’ve cut ties with relatives and some friends. If you can’t respect my kid’s right to be who they are then I can’t respect you. Bottom line. I can’t respect that kind of worldview anymore. I’ve always been one to keep to myself, and still do. But if someone says something hateful and try to write it off as their “belief”, I’ll let them know what I truly think of them. I’m done turning the other cheek when it comes to hateful rhetoric.

        I am glad that you’ve reestablished a relationship with your old co-host. I do find it funny that they are conservative, given that they made money on OF with their feet. lol But hey, to each his own.

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      6. She’s also super religious, which adds to the funny, but hey. Obviously her family, friends and church did not know about her side-hustle. I don’t know if her kids figured it out yet. With the many many gifts from Amazon arriving every day, I would imagine they have questions.

        Regarding LGBTQ, I think for me, what I saw happening to people was very similar to bullying. Hardcore bullying. I have always taken the side of the bullied. Like many people as old as we are (old as dirt), I once made “gay jokes” in the 80s. I am not that person anymore. I will admit that I did, but I regret that and today I stand strongly and proudly with the LGBTQ community. They can count on me for any kind of support, including standing up to cyber bullies.

        People can change and I am one. There are words I used in the 80s that I would never utter again.

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      7. Yeah, I think there’s quite a few people that have their secrets they keep from family and friends they feel would judge them for. It’s sad, but also it should really make you think about what you’re doing or what you’re hiding it from. One of those two things may not be right for you.

        And hey, I’m the same way. I’ve said pretty thoughtless things as a younger person that I completely regret today as far as the gay community is concerned. And I think that I’ve always been fine with how people want to live their lives in regards to who they love and who they want to spend their lives with. Unfortunately kids don’t have the life experience to realize how hurtful words can be. And, it was the 80s. Like you said, old as dirt we are. We’ve grown up and matured(in some aspects, anyways…lol)

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      8. Oh for sure. I mean, here I was following this OF model. I received plenty of judgement, but at least our friendship was a real thing. She doesn’t have to talk to me anymore, but she does.

        The “R” word is something that I personally didn’t use, but used to see a lot. Star Trek IV: “I know he’s a Rooskie, but he’s a r****d or something!” Shocking to hear today, but that is how mainstream it was.

        I hope we have matured in the important ways. I hope we have stayed young in others! Draw! Paint pictures! Play with toys and read comic books. Don’t let go of those things. But we are wiser now. We know that words can hurt. We know that hurt can last a lifetime.

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      9. And really, those things we took with us from childhood to adulthood have newer, deeper meanings for us now. As a kid you enjoyed a comic book on face value. As an adult and know that comic book creators like Lee, Ditko, and Kirby were creating these “kid books” from some pretty deep places, it makes revisiting them that much more enjoyable. I still look at things with young eyes and enjoy movies, books, of course music, and the Airplane! movies.

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      10. A good point there. I remember David Lee Roth talking in his book about how those old Van Halen songs had a lot of anger in them, and that anger came from his Jewish background and experiencing antisemitism. I never would have known that, but I do now.

        For me though, when I read those comics it tends to recapture the feeling of sitting on my bed reading them as a bullied kid, and how the comics (and music) gave me an escape. I could escape to Cybertron, while listening to songs about being a Powerslave, and know that the bullies couldn’t touch me until tomorrow.

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      11. I get that. I was never really bullied, more so just ignored for the most part as I didn’t fit into any sort of clique. I was always, even from kindergarten, a kid obsessed with music and using toys as an escape. I didn’t play sports so those were my worlds. I had a very small group of friends that branched out into other things like sports. I don’t know if that was a shield from bullying, or it was the fact I was built like a linebacker that I was just left alone. Play and imagination were extremely influential in keeping me content as a kid. I’d spend my Friday nights cleaning my bedroom, or rearranging it altogether…all the while playing Van Halen’s Women and Children First or Dio’s Holy Diver on my GE boom box. I didn’t know that about Roth, but it sort of makes sense in hindsight. “Atomic Punk”, “On Fire”, “Light Up The Sky”, “Loss Of Control” are all heavy, angry songs. Hell, even stuff like “House Of Pain” and pretty much the whole of Fair Warning were dark, angry songs. Makes sense. And Eddie and Alex grew up with PLENTY of racism thrown at them, so the anger was coming from all angles.

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  2. Good on you for going on the record, John. I fear such forthright concern may well become dangerous, sooner rather than later.
    From the outside, that’s the terrifying thing: the breathtaking speed with which US democracy has been dismantled (or rendered ineffective), supercharging a descent into authoritarianism. The private army (ICE), the invasion of States, the bullying of media…
    The appeasement of a dictator-king is truly shocking, both within (Hello, are there any Democrats still with blood in their veins?) and internationally (the mutual fawning in the UK was stomach-turning) while he continues to push the boundaries of who he can bully. (The Aus ABC journalist confrontation was truly shocking; threatening a country that has sent thousands to fight and die at the side of the US sickening.)
    I say again, good on you for speaking out. But also, do consider locating like-minded citizens. Now is the time to construct safe communication channels, before the brown shirts are actually in your street.

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Published by J. Hubner

Complex Distractions is a little corner of the universe where music and conversation reign supreme. Intellectual discussions and essays written about heady records, both big and small, that despite what you might think can truly change your life. Spinning the records for the good of mankind.