Even big-mouthed celebs have the right to speak their minds

Chicago Tribune ^ | 4/18/03 | Renee Graham

[RedWing9]

It has been a good long while since I've had a sit-down with the U.S. Constitution, but if my junior high school memories serve me correctly, I don't recall the Bill of Rights guaranteeing free speech only to those who espouse one particular opinion. Yet that seems to be the disturbing interpretation preferred by those encouraging a backlash against some celebrities who have been outspoken opponents of the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

...

A `black' list?
A conservative Web site has published a list of more than 100 actors, musicians and filmmakers who, it claims, "use their celebrity status to push their anti-Bush/anti-American beliefs on the rest of the world."

...

This has gone beyond whether big-mouth, know-nothing celebrities should be hogging precious airtime that could otherwise be filled with yet another pontificating retired general. This is about the strange turn in the post-Sept. 11 national psyche that equates opposing war with opposing U.S. troops and that brands healthy dissent as tantamount to treason.

...

The Bill of Rights guarantees free speech to everyone, including celebrities who flash peace signs at awards shows or release music denouncing war. And to believe otherwise, or contend that their dissent is dangerous, may be the most treasonous, anti-American act of all.

[RedWing9]

Another authoritarian demands to be heard but yet can't handle the heat when what is spoken is screwy.

And, could it be the author is speaking of FR? Or another of the venerable who demand that those who use their bully pulpit be responsible for their actions???

P.S. The story was in the Tempo (entertainment/leisure) section and the columnist is attributed to the Boston Globe.

[RedWing9]

Chicago Bump...

[OldPossum]

The Bill of Rights guarantees free speech to everyone...

That is true, but the Bill of Rights does not guarantee the right to be heard, or if heard, without consequences.

[EllaMinnow]

Why can't these idiots get the point?

Of course they are free to say whatever they want. They need to understand that I am free to ignore them, criticize them, or boycott them as I see fit.

[Bigg Red]

What is it with these people that they don't understand that my shunning of this or that celebrity and encouraging others to shun him as well has nothing whatsoever to do with the First Amendment? Can they really be that stupid? Or are they just being disingeuous?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

The Bill of Rights guarantees free speech to everyone, including celebrities who flash peace signs at awards shows or release music denouncing war.

It also guarantees my right to speak against these idiots not buy their merchandise and urge others to do the same.

You can't have one without the other.

Isn't freedom of speech grand? Because there is no such thing as free speech. Everything has a cost, even, and maybe especially, speaking your mind.

[isthisnickcool]

The Bill of Rights guarantees free speech to everyone, including celebrities who flash peace signs at awards shows or release music denouncing war. And to believe otherwise, or contend that their dissent is dangerous, may be the most treasonous, anti-American act of all.

I can't recall any posts here at FreeRepublic saying that ANYONE else does not have the right of free speech. The author of this article does not get it. I might as well be as wrong-headed and complain that I was not allowed to speak on stage during the Academy Awards.

[johnfl61]

No one is saying that they don't have the right to put both feet in their mouth after saying stupid things.

[what's up]

Sure, they can talk all they want. It doesn't mean we have to listen to them or pay money for tickets to see them in a theatre.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

I guess it has been a long time since this woman read the Constitution, if she believes that it guarantees the right to say unpopular things without courting unpopularity.

[Petruchio]

What the author neglected to mention is that these idiots are crying because they are being treated exactly the same as they treated Dr. Laura.

[BilLies]

Or Rush Libaugh or Anita Bryant for expousing conservative positions and principles.

[chachacha]

What is it they don't understand about you can say what ever you want as long as your willing to take the consequences for sayin it.

Tell your teacher to go to H***. I bet there is a consequence

Yell fire in closed building. I bet the same.

Tell the police to kiss you Butt. I bet the same again.

Of courese I might still be in the old school. I forgot the new PC rules may apply these days. DUH!

[LibWhacker]

God, I'm sick of dumb leftists. Why do we have to keep making the point? The First Amendment guarantees only that there will not be any governmental interference in one's right to speak one's mind. It does not guarantee you will not be ostracized, shunned and ridiculed by your fellow citizens if you say something particularly stupid and obnoxious.

[nightdriver]

"..Yet that seems to be the disturbing interpretation preferred by those encouraging a backlash against some celebrities who have been outspoken opponents of the U.S.-led war against Iraq."

Hey! We are also free to encourage a backlash against those whose speech foments sedition and increases the danger to our troops.

Renee babes maybe should not trust her old high school interpretation of the Constitution but read it again - with understanding, this time.

[TheRightGuy]

the columnist is attributed to the Boston Globe

That tells me everything I need to know. Equivalent to BARF ALERT!

[SpyGuy]

"The Bill of Rights guarantees free speech to everyone"

Yup, and it also guarantees the rest of us Americans the right to exercises OUR free speech: the right to criticize the critics and the right to choose NOT to patronize them with our dollars.

Organizing a boycott or a blacklist (which Leftist activists do on a regular basis) is not in violation of the Constitution, unless it is done by the government.

Of course, the government's outlawing and prosecution of "hate speech" and "hate crimes" IS a violation of the First Amendment; even more so because it is always selectively enforced only against white people. But since the Leftists and Liberals are the proponents of "hate crimes" laws, you'll never see the ACLU or the major news outlets rally against them.

[mc5cents]

Isn't freedom of speech grand? Because there is no such thing as free speech. Everything has a cost, even, and maybe especially, speaking your mind.

Indeed.

This is worth repeating:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,...

NOT free. FreeDOM. An important distinction.

[Restorer]

The Bill of Rights guarantees free speech to everyone, including celebrities who flash peace signs at awards shows or release music denouncing war.

And to those who wish to publish lists of celebrities who flash peace signs at awards shows.