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Journal damn_registrars's Journal: When did A&E become a public entity? 12

A lot of conservatives are up in arms over the A&E network suspending the Duck Dynasty dad for his homophobic rant in a magazine interview. The conservative line - hawked by the likes of Palin, Jindal, et al - is all about how his first amendment rights are being infringed upon by "the left".

However, as I understand it, the first amendment says you have freedom of speech - but it does not say that anyone has to listen. You can't get thrown out of a public park for saying hateful things (provided they are not calls for physical violence) but if you come into my house I can force you to leave if you insult me. The A&E network does not agree with what this guy said, so they kicked him out of their house. He is still free to go speak his mind elsewhere.

In other words, his freedom of speech was not infringed upon. A private entity told him they did not want to do business with him. If I went into a 7-11 and insulted the cashier I could expect much the same response.
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When did A&E become a public entity?

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  • So much this.
  • Butt-hurt is the Right's fallback position for everything.

    They live to be victims. Victims of a "war on christmas" or "violation of religious liberty" everytime someone says, "Happy Holidays". If someone asks a right-wing political candidate what they read, it becomes a "gotcha" question. If gays are allowed to marry, it becomes an "attack on the institution of marriage" as if two women going to city hall and getting a license is going to cause wives to start running out on their husbands.

    There was a sto

    • There was a story this week on a "parody news" website about a schoolkid who was suspended because he wished his atheist teacher merry christmas. Of course, it wasn't true, but that didn't stop the Top Conservatives on Twitter from howling in outrage and death threats from pouring into the fictional teacher.

      Are death threats against a fictional person a crime? If you sent a death threat to an actual person you would have cops at your door.

      And by the way, I am so proud that I have no idea what a "Duck Dynasty" is.

      Yeah, you're not missing out on that much. I know some people who are really excited about it but it doesn't do much for me. A lot of guys with long beards and attractive wives. They sure have found a way to turn it in to quite a marketing machine, though; I think Duck Dynasty might be this year's "Angry Birds", considering how many worthless trinkets I've seen in every

  • I've never seen that show but read of the controversy.

    There are a hell of a lot more Christians in the US than there are gays which is why A&E are fucking morons. What's more, he didn't say that being homosexual is a sin (and he's right, it isn't), he said homosexual acts are a sin, and he's absolutely correct as far as the Christian bible is concerned.

    He also mentioned a lot of other sins that probably the majority commit but I see no brou-ha ha about that. The fact is that the Duck Dynasty guy is a si

    • There are a hell of a lot more Christians in the US than there are gays which is why A&E are fucking morons.

      The term "Christian" means so many different things to so many different people that it doesn't have much meaning at all any more. That said you do have a good point that there is potentially a lot more revenue available from people who call themselves "Christians" than from those who call themselves LGBTQ or are sympathetic to the same. Some have suggested this might be a publicity stunt on the part of A&E, although it is hard to imagine these guys getting more market saturation than they already ha

      • The term "Christian" means so many different things to so many different people that it doesn't have much meaning at all any more.

        There, that is your arrogance, right there. It has TREMENDOUS meaning for those who identify themselves as Christians. This is true even if it does not serve your purposes of taxonomy. The taxonomist is the most onerous of oppressors, along with the statistician.

        • The term "Christian" means so many different things to so many different people that it doesn't have much meaning at all any more.

          There, that is your arrogance, right there. It has TREMENDOUS meaning for those who identify themselves as Christians. This is true even if it does not serve your purposes of taxonomy. The taxonomist is the most onerous of oppressors, along with the statistician.

          Sure, the term means a lot to those who use it; I'll concede that to your argument. However being as there is so much variance about what it means to be a "Christian", I stand by my statement that the self-applied label here means little to nothing. Of course, that is not unique to Christianity or even to the faiths of Abraham; I have met people who self-apply the term "Buddhist" in ways that seem peculiar and many, many, people who use the term "Atheist" in ways that are not compatible with (amongst oth

      • by mcgrew ( 92797 ) *

        You may be right about it being an attention getting stunt. I'd never heard of Duck Dynasty before the uproar.

  • It is astonishing that at least two people who want to be president have such an appalling lack of understanding of a core concept such as freedom of speech. I expect to get plenty of conservative backlash of this, but really; freedom of speech is pretty straightforward and it is immensely straightforward that this guy's freedom of speech was not in any way violated.
  • Yeah I don't get it either. Duck Fuck is free to say whatever he wants.

    And A&E is free to fire his ass.

    Why anybody is complaining about this glorious state of affairs is beyond me.

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