Thursday, July 22, 2004
Idiot
Another genius writes in to the NY Times:
Hey, you have nothing to worry about as long as you stick to popular speech.
If, on the other hand, you decide to make some unpopular speech, well, you take your chances. That's just what happens in a "free society", according Mark Kellner.
It's not like the First Amendment EXISTS to protect unpopular speech, which -- what? It does?
You mean we don't have mob rule? Even in Las Vegas (or Maryland)?
Oh.
But, then, how are thugs supposed to shout down anyone they disagree with? I mean, it's not easy keeping the rabble in line. We can't put every single free thinker on Bill O'Reilly's show so he can tell them to "shut up"--we need a mechanism for shutting them up en masse. Maybe some kind of propaganda effort to scare them into it.
Speaking of which: as far as the Ronstadt story itself goes, 201k is dubious. The A.P. piece--from which all subsequent reporting on the matter stemmed--was a highly unprofessional and suspect work. The fact is that there is only one source for every quote: Aladdin President Bill Timmins, who was the one who made the decision to have Ronstadt ejected.
This is no small matter. Literally EVERY description of the event that has been reprinted and requoted across the media spectrum came from Timmons. That Ronstadt "spoiled a wonderful evening for our guests...", that ""It was a very ugly scene.." and that "She praised him and all of a sudden all bedlam broke loose."
All of this--which has become the public record of the event--came from one source: the partisan boss who ejected her.
Why did A.P. find this single-sourcing from a interested party sufficient?
Has anyone read a description of the event from anyone OTHER than Timmons?
To the Editor:Yeah, that's how Free Speech works: you exercise your First Amendment rights, and then "face the consequences". It's called the marketplace of ideas.
Linda Ronstadt did not threaten only to sing during her Aladdin Hotel concert (editorial, July 21). Instead, she issued partisan comments that many in her audience found upsetting and unrelated to her music. You suggested that Ms. Ronstadt, in her paean to Michael Moore, was exercising the same rights as everyone else. Yes, she had those rights. She exercised them. She then faced the consequences. That's what can happen in a free market, and in a free society.
Mark A. Kellner
Rockville, Md., July 21, 2004
Hey, you have nothing to worry about as long as you stick to popular speech.
If, on the other hand, you decide to make some unpopular speech, well, you take your chances. That's just what happens in a "free society", according Mark Kellner.
It's not like the First Amendment EXISTS to protect unpopular speech, which -- what? It does?
You mean we don't have mob rule? Even in Las Vegas (or Maryland)?
Oh.
But, then, how are thugs supposed to shout down anyone they disagree with? I mean, it's not easy keeping the rabble in line. We can't put every single free thinker on Bill O'Reilly's show so he can tell them to "shut up"--we need a mechanism for shutting them up en masse. Maybe some kind of propaganda effort to scare them into it.
Speaking of which: as far as the Ronstadt story itself goes, 201k is dubious. The A.P. piece--from which all subsequent reporting on the matter stemmed--was a highly unprofessional and suspect work. The fact is that there is only one source for every quote: Aladdin President Bill Timmins, who was the one who made the decision to have Ronstadt ejected.
This is no small matter. Literally EVERY description of the event that has been reprinted and requoted across the media spectrum came from Timmons. That Ronstadt "spoiled a wonderful evening for our guests...", that ""It was a very ugly scene.." and that "She praised him and all of a sudden all bedlam broke loose."
All of this--which has become the public record of the event--came from one source: the partisan boss who ejected her.
Why did A.P. find this single-sourcing from a interested party sufficient?
Has anyone read a description of the event from anyone OTHER than Timmons?
