Morality in Media is one of many religious organizations that spearhead campaigns against pornography. On their site, they provide ten point Action Steps for their members. Step five suggests, "Make complaints to businesses that distribute or advertise pornography. If retail outlets, cable TV systems, hotels, or newspapers in your community distribute or carry ads for pornography, tell them (politely but firmly) that they are hurting your community"and consider taking your business elsewhere." http://www.moralityinmedia.org/
Some people will argue that by "taking your business elsewhere," you are in fact squelching free speech. And they would be wrong. The fact is, the anti-pornography groups that boycott advertisers or retail outlets are actually expressing the ultimate form of democracy by voting with their dollars.
In a liberal democracy like the U.S., free speech is considered sacred. We encourage and embrace our individual right to say whatever the hell we want. And, from time to time, someone publicly says or does something so repugnant that the community turns against such behavior and the offender receives a backlash. The community finds such behavior so outrageous, so offensive, so destructive that the offender is essentially shunned.
You can’t really call it censorship because censorship is actually a legal act preformed by government. People naturally restrain themselves all the time. Often for good reason. A public shunning is a form of natural self-restraint. And a boycott is one such expression of a public shunning.
As we all know, free speech is not an absolute right. Most American’s can quote Justice Oliver Wendell Homes. Actually, they often misquote him by saying something like, "You can’t shout fire in a crowded theater." Here is the actual quote, "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic…" The key to his statement is not the shouting of fire, it is making a false statement which could, "bring about substantive evils that congress has a right to prevent."
Additionally, congress has a right to prevent or restrict media outlets from airing pornographic or obscene programs. Both criminal and civil fines are levied in violation of these laws. There are also libel laws in which an individual can sue to protect themselves from defamatory comments. Nonetheless, when it comes to free speech, we live in one of the most tolerant societies on the planet. And that is a good thing.
Our liberal free speech laws allows for a robust political debate. As a result, public figures and officials have a different set of standards in order to prove libel than the general public.
For example, if someone published an article and claimed I had been in prison, even though I had only spent a few hours in jail for a crime I was never convicted of, I could have a libel suit. Whether they knew they were defaming me or not does not matter. I would first send the author a letter demanding a full retraction and to put my time in jail into full context. If it was not forthcoming, in order to clear my name, I would then go after them with all my legal rights to defend myself in a civil court of law. In a just society, the truth must win out over false, defamatory statements. Free speech is one thing, but we are not allowed to falsely demonize our neighbors.
However, public officials are different. Falsely demonizing public officials is tolerated when there is no clear proof of malice. In other words, the victim must prove that the abuser knowingly, falsely defamed the public figure. That leaves a lot of room for stupidity. "I didn’t know" is the perfect out for any malice case. It also leaves a lot of wiggle room for comedians, entertainers, commentators, and other assorted clowns to claim they were just joking.
"the First Amendment rights of free speech and expression outweigh the public official’s rights unless the public official can prove that the defendant acted with actual malice. Actual malice means that the defendant who communicates a defamatory statement does so knowing that the statement is false or very likely false." http://www.enotes.com/everyday-law-encyclopedia/libel-and-slander
Remember when Larry Flynt hammered Jerry Falwell with lies about Falwell sleeping with his mother? Of course it was completely false and Flynt absolutely knew he was lying. However, all he had to do was claim he was joking and Falwell’s libel suit was over. He knew what he was saying was false, but argued that no one in their right mind should believe him. People v. Larry Flynt
In response, religious groups across the country protested 7/11, and other mom and pop convenient stores, to have Flynt’s magazine Hustler and other pornographic materials pulled off the shelves, or relegated to dark and heavily supervised corners of the stores. Any parent can understand the need to keep obscene images and speech away from their children. Much like any Jew would find anti-Semitic hate speech to be offensive and obscene.
Which brings me to Glenn Beck. Over the last month I have been writing on Beck’s numerous false accusations about Van Jones. I pointed to the fact that Beck kept incorrectly stating that Jones "is a self-avowed communist and black nationalist." I used the very same article that Beck had referenced on several occasions to clearly point out that Jones had stated he had changed his political philosophy and has become pronouncedly pro-capitalist. http://www.broowaha.com/article.php?id=5092
Following Beck’s assertions on FoxNews, I found several articles that made many of the same misleading claims. They even went as far as to demand that Jones be fired because he is a communist. I brought up in a comment thread, on one such article, that Jones WAS a communist and IS now a capitalist. The author of the article simply responded, "I stand by my statement."
I later brought up the fact that the Pulitzer Prize winning non-partisan political fact checking site Politifact.org wrote, "Beck repeatedly claimed Jones is an avowed communist. We found that Jones was up front that he was, in fact, a communist for about 10 years. But he ultimately changed his politics and his approach. More recent statements show Jones has transformed into a cheerleader for eco-entrepreneurs."
I have never heard Beck or his lewd minions retract their statements about Jones being a communist. As you can see, Jones was "up front" about his communist beliefs in his youth and then being transformed by eco-entrepreneurs. However, Beck claims he had done an exhaustive investigation into Jones, yet continues on with his red-bating comments about Jones currently being a communist. He continues to make dozens of false and misleading claims in order to distort the truth and bring down political targets.
It is one thing to get the facts wrong. It happens all the time in the media. Honest journalists and news organizations make retractions. However, when a popular T.V. personality rises to the level of demagoguery, Americans need to wake up and take a serious look at that. What I am talking about is someone, as Webster puts it, "who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises in order to gain power."
Glenn Beck has been actively using popular prejudices -like calling president Obama a racist – and has been making dozens of false and misleading claims about public officials for some time now. And in doing so, he has gain a small but extremely vocal group of followers to effectively spread a steady stream of lies about their political opponents.
Demagoguery is the worst kind of political speech. It is political smut. It relies on making false statements to whip up prejudices. The methods of a demagogue include, but are not limited to, using half-truths, straw man arguments, demonization, personal attacks, unrelated facts, false authorities, and other related fallacies in order stir up emotions to gain an audience.
Former president Truman once wrote an article that criticized president Eisenhower’s administration for not doing enough to tamp down McCarthyism and the spread of insidious demagoguery.
"It is now evident that the present Administration has fully embraced, for political advantage, McCarthyism. I am not referring to the Senator from Wisconsin. He is only important in that his name has taken on the dictionary meaning of the word. It is the corruption of truth, the abandonment of the due process law. It is the use of the big lie and the unfounded accusation against any citizen in the name of Americanism or security. It is the rise to power of the demagogue who lives on untruth; it is the spreading of fear and the destruction of faith in every level of society."
McCarthyism was mostly about red-baiting, but liberal-baiting of all stripes was included, which is exactly what Glenn Beck does. Beck hammered over and over again the lies and distortions that Van Jones, "is an avowed communist …." In spite of the fact that Jones had recently published a best selling book that is decidedly pro-capitalism. Beck not only is distorting the facts, he is clearly taking a page out of the demagogues playbook.
Let’s go back to my example of the libel suit where someone goes around falsely stating that I was in prison. I used that scenario because Beck has claimed, on numerous occasions, that Jones became a radical "self-avowed communist and black nationalist while in prison." That fact is, Jones never did time in the big house. In fact, Beck is alluding to the time Jones spent a few hours in jail after being falsely arrested, while working as a legal observer at a peaceful protest. Jones, and others, won a small settlement for his illegal arrest.
As far as I can tell, Beck and his supporters never seem to provide a full and factual accouting of Jones’ brief time in jail and what lead up to his false arrest. Instead, Beck appeals to popular prejudices by depicting Jones as a black man that’s been to prison. Even though Jones is a Yale law graduate and has been never convicted of a crime in his life.
"In this country, McCarthyism did more damage to the constitution than the American Communist Party ever did"wrote historian Elle Schrecker. Demagoguery is doing more damage to public discourse lately than any other factor. And Glenn Beck has been the most out front and vocal demagogue of late. He takes advantage of the liberal free speech laws in the country by spreading lies and demonizing his political opponents until they are destroyed.
Demagoguery is an immoral tactic which is simply repugnant. It is political porn that needs to be socially relegated to the dark corners of the free market. It is one thing to criticize your political opponents. It is entirely another thing to spread lies and distortions while appealing to prejudices. It is dirty politics at its worst and needs to be shunned by the general public.
Just so we are clear, I am not talking about having the government step in and attempt to censor Glenn Beck. He has a First Amendment right to say any foul obscene falsehood he likes, or can get away with. However, we have a right to reject such blatant immorality and boycott those that choose to support his filthy demagoguery.
Boycotts are as American as apple pie. In fact, according to some polls, nearly 80% of Americans have participated in a boycott at one time or anther in our lives. In the late 18th century, progressive abolitionists boycotted sugar in an attempt to end slavery. Remember when liberals joined the farm workers and boycotted grapes? Or how about the time the rightwing destroyed their Dixie Chicks Cds? It is all the same, and it is the ultimate expression of free speech. It is democracy at its best.
That is why I support the boycott of Glenn Beck’s advertisers. As far as I am concerned, in order to gain an audience, Back has moved far beyond common decency, and has entered into the obscene. He has become a classic demagogue and is undermining honest and civil public discourse in this country. Which as history has taught us, is a very dangerous thing. And so, as an individual act of free speech, please join me in supporting the boycott of Glenn Beck advertisers. http://www.colorofchange.org/beck/
Dean Walker
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