Forget about Saddam; it's Robbins and Sarandon we must fight

The Seattle Times ^ | 4/11/03 | Steve Kelly

[shotgun]

I just sent Mr. Kelley the following:

Mr. Kelley,

I just finished reading your opinion article regarding the Baseball Hall of Fame and I have a few questions to ask you.

1) Was the Founding Fathers intent for the First Amendment that it only be invoked by those who disagree with the position of the government?
2) Why is it that every time someone disagrees with celebrity opinion that person is said to be the second coming of Joe McCarthy?
3) Does the opinion of the President of the Baseball Hall of Fame, which by the way is a private organization, count? After all if Mr. Robbins and Ms. Sarandon can use their celebrity status as a bully pulpit and espouse their opinions, why can’t Mr. Petroskey?
4) What is the importance of the past work history of Mr. Petroskey?
5) When celebrities participate in the so called peace movement why don’t you mention the political affiliations of them or the organizing groups?
6) While the scandal and history of baseball is well documented, what about the scandal of Hollywood?

True freedom of speech works both ways, because one does not care to listen to the opinions of another it is not censorship, but that persons own expression of freedom. This week we saw this great nation’s sons and daughter liberate a nation of people who have suffered for daring to even question why things are the way they are, meanwhile safe in America, the incessant whining about the oppression of celebrity opinion gets louder because other Americans exercise their freedom to tune out.

Respectfully

[Lx]

I posted this on another thread but it's more appropriate here.

[altura]

There are so many good replies on this thread, I wish someone would send the whole thread to the paper.

[jim35]

"<>" Yes, true enough. And also, enough is enough. The commanders have been given orders to try to stop the looting now, but don't forget, the shooting may interrupt those efforts. But you are indeed correct. I'm only saying that it's not unexpected for these people to be going on a rampage after so many years of hell. It's ok with me, though, if they loot gov. buildings, and private holdings of the late, unlamented regime.

[Jael]

You are right. That movie wasn't that great. They could of left all the sleaze out and had a decent movie.

"The Rookie" is a great one.

But, my favorite baseball movie of all time is "The Sandlot"!!! It's so great, so fantastic!

[doug from upland]

Yes, its true they can invite and disinvite whoever, but it does matter whether the reason has validity.
======================================================

Nonsense. Freedom includes being allowed to be a jerk. If you are a jerk, however, you may have less friends, less fans, and less economic success. Your actions may have consquences, but as long as they are legal, you have a right to those actions. Jennings was a jerk for what he did but he had the right to do it. Toby Keith ultimately probably benefitted from the controversy.

[jim35]

Is that a "yes?" Just curious. I wouldn't want to abridge your free speech, the way DU did mine, when I was kicked off the site for espousing my opinion. All opinions, no matter how poorly thought out, are allowed on this site. Even 4th grade level insults. BTW, I managed to get past the 4th grade. You can too, if you keep trying.

[jim35]

<"Yes or No question: Can something someone in this country says regarding their support for President Bush kill U.S. troops in Iraq?">

Firstly, yes, I am sane.

Secondly, yes, if statements made by our own people encourage the enemy to believe that we are weak, and divided, it may encourage a them to fight harder, and surrender later. This could get our boys and girls killed.

[optimistically_conservative]

Let's see how many McCarty-ists Steve missed:

TakeBackTheMedia.org MichaelSavageSucks.com SavageStupidity.com Coalition Against Hate Radio CAPITAL (the Council of Asian Pacific Islanders Together for Advocacy and Leadership) ...

Found this interesting tidbit at StopDrLaura.com:

THANKS: There are so many people to thank for standing by us and helping from day one. We'll try to list some, but I'm sure we'll miss many. The StopDrLaura.com co-founders: John Aravosis, Joel Lawson, William Waybourn, Alan Klein and Robin Tyler. Our local organizers in over 34 cities, including Andy Thayer, John Selig, and Corey Johnson who did a lot of national work in addition to working in their local cities of Chicago, Dallas, and San Francisco. Organizations like the Horizon Foundation, Communication Works, TomPaine.com, Don't Panic, and the Human Rights Campaign (which gave us a generous donation). Celebrities like David Lee of "Frasier" fame, Susan Sarandon, Pat Schroeder, Christopher Landon, and Bruce Vilanch. Great reporting by Mike Signorile, GAYBC, the LA Times, Hollywood Reporter, New York Times, Variety, Access Hollywood, Broadcasting & Cable, Gay.com and Reuters (among many others). And the assistance of friends like David Goldman, Stuart Paul, and so many others who helped this campaign become a success.

Seems hypocritical for activists Sarandon and Robbins, that have abridged the free speech rights of others, to now complain about their tactics being used against them.

I wonder what a journalist with a little research could turn up?

[jim35]

Oh, that is just rich! Not a big surprise, though, to see proof of leftist hypocrisy.

[Ga Rob]

I agree it is a credibility issue.Maybe some jumped up and down with the Jennings/Toby Keith thing...I didn't. I understand the way it is. Like someone said earlier, the HOF did not want to alienate it customers.

I guess kinda like ABC/Jennings did not want to alienate it's "customers"....leftists.

[doug from upland]

Good. We basically agree on the issue of free speech. In this case, we'll disagree on Petroskey being a jerk. I love to see this payback.

[Jael]

A big difference is that Peter Jennings lied about Toby Keith. And it did wonders for Toby Keith. He's on top now, especially after his performance at the awards.

And no one on the left mined then.

[optimistically_conservative]

"Maybe he should make all of them sign a loyalty oath."

Weren't loyalty oaths the things the Democrats made their candidates sign saying they would never allow desegregation?

[Alberta's Child]

The HOF made a business decision -- pure and simple. They would have reacted the same way if they felt that a lot of Americans didn't like people with two b's in their last names.

Madonna recently refused to air her much-anticipated anti-war music video, for the exact same reason. Should we give her a lot of grief for violating her own right to free speech?

[Jael]

Maybe you should take a look at what Jane Fonda's comments did.

Either way, the guy has the freedom to cancel the sorry twosome.

[Alberta's Child]

Celebrities like Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon can't have it both ways -- If they use their celebrity status to attract attention to their positions in areas that are not relevant to their profession, they can't turn around and complain when they get disinvited to events that are not relevant to their political views.