When is burning something appropriate free speech? According to the women on The View, burning your bra is ok, but don't burn your CD or it's 1933 Germany all over again. (Via Media Research Center).
Speaking about the Dixie Chicks, Rosie said, "Because, honestly, there was and there still is in some capacity sort of a McCarthy era-esque feeling about entertainers speaking out against the government in any capacity."
I actually think Joe McCarthy gets a bad rap, considering there wasn't a single person he accused of communism who wasn't. So, I'm not sure comparing anyone (or any time period) to him is a bad thing, but I'm pretty sure Rosie meant it to be.
In the Dixie Chicks case, they haven't faced any sort of government action against them. What they've faced is what most of us call choice. And we all know that we should be able to choose anything, right, Amanda?
I guess Rosie and Whoopi Goldberg would disagree. The fans should be forced to keep buying Dixie Chicks albums even after they insulted their fan base repeatedly.
Sorry, gals. That's not how it works in this country. See, you have a right to make an album and if I like it, I'll buy it. But if you stay stupid ass things that disgust me, I won't buy your work anyway because there are other people out there who produce things I like without insulting me. Got it? In the immortal words of Laura Ingraham, Shut Up and Sing.
It always amazes me that entertainers think they should be able to say whatever outlandish thing they want about political issues, then get incensed when there are repercussions to doing it. According to the gals on the View, you aren't really allowed to do anything if an entertainer hacks you off. You certainly can't burn the CD in protest of their views because then it's 1933 Germany again.
Rosie O’Donnell: "This is way before anything happened to the Dixie Chicks."
Whoopi Goldberg: "Oh way before."
O’Donnell: "Because, honestly, there was and there still is in some capacity sort of a McCarthy era-esque feeling about entertainers speaking out against the government in any capacity."
Elisabeth Hasselbeck: "Why then if you– for instance, I was a huge Dixie Chicks fan. Ok, I love the ‘Cowboy, Take me Away,.’ whatever that song was I used to listen to. I love it, even now I still, I still like it, but I'm not a fan anymore. So why if they, if they have a right to, to speak their mind and say what they want at their concerts that people pay for and don't intend to like go to a political statement or, you know, concert. Alright, ok, so why don't I have a right to not buy their records to say you shouldn’t buy their record either?"
Goldberg: "You have a right not to buy their records, but burning them in public brings on 1933."
O’Donnell: "Correct."
Hasselbeck: "But why is it, why is that not an ok-"
Goldberg: "Let me tell you, let me tell you why. Because in Germany, when they started burning art and they started burning books and they started burning things, when you start burning stuff in public, that is a whole other statement. You can say, you know what? I don't- But they were burning their records. And that’s why- You can say I don't like what they stand for. I don’t like what they did."
Hasselbeck: "What about when women burned their bras? That was a political statement. That was ok."
Joy Behar: "They're burning their own bras. They're not burning your bra."
[Applause]
Hasselbeck: "I’m just saying if you want to say burning, burning. I'm an artist, too. If I say something that's emotionally charged or politically charged and someone burned it-"
Goldberg: "Nobody has the right to burn it. They can say I don't like it, I don't want to hear it."
Hasselbeck: "But it’s theirs they bought it. They bought the CD. It's theirs."
Goldberg: "Then don’t listen to it."
Behar: "There's something symbolic about burning it."
Goldberg: "When you burn it, you take it to another level."
Hasselbeck: "But isn't this just protest in some way?"
Behar: "Think Ku Klux Klan, when they burn the cross."
Hasselbeck: "I'm not ok with that."
Behar: "Well, but I mean it’s the same thing. It’s the burning."
Goldberg: "It’s the burning of the thing. You really want to stay away from it."
[laughter]
Goldberg: "You know, the sheet thing. It’s not good."
Hasselbeck: "I got you there."
Behar: "It’s a complicated thing because we also, a lot of First Amendment people believe you should be able to burn the flag or step on the flag. It's a complicated conversation."
Goldberg: "I don't think burning anything because of the connotation that it has had, everything it has meant through the history of the world."
Hasselbeck: "Well, I mean bottom line is, it's just a fire hazard, so you shouldn’t do it. It’s not ok."
[laughter]
Goldberg: "Now that is a bright way to look at it."
So, are Rosie and Whoopi saying bra burning good (because it's yours) but burning a CD is bad (because it's yours)? And what about that sticky wicket, burning the flag? The Supreme Court says flag burning is just another expression of free speech. But if flag burning is just free speech, why isn't burning your own CD? Why the double standard?
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