A Little Less Talk and A Lot More...Accountability

Ok... so the joy of being lucky enough to live in the society that we do is that we all have a right to speak our minds.

And with so many veins of information available to us through radio, television (all 500 channels of it) and possibly the least controllable of all, the internet, it’s easy to see and hear a lot of those minds spoken.

For the most part those voices simply become “white noise” that just fades into the background, unless something truly out of the ordinary or controversial is said.

Cue Hank Williams Jr.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eF6vCv13bw

Now for those of you who may not be aware of who he is, Hank Williams Jr. is a country music icon and the singer of the Monday Night Football anthem (of which he simply adapted from his song “All My Rowdy Friends”).  And as you can see he is...opinionated.

Comparing Barack Obama to Hitler is quite possibly the stupidest thing that has ever been said... and that says a lot, especially with the very well documented comments of Glen “Nazi Tourettes” Beck still around.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JngI1_8beoA

Of course, the outrage over the comments by Williams Jr. has him quickly suggesting that we have all misunderstood what he was trying to say. Obviously it is OUR fault that he directly compared Obama with Hitler, right Hank?

Then there is the fallout.  As is reported in this Reuters article ( http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/04/idUSN1E79228L20111004 ), ESPN dropped the song of which Hank is famous for these days as a reaction to his ridiculous statement.

Instantly, free speech champions and redneck, whiskey drinkin’, football lovin’ son of a guns everywhere start screaming at the Sports broadcasting giant that they are infringing on his rights to speak his mind and that the very first amendment gives him protection to do just that.

What these people forget, and ALWAYS seem to forget in these cases, is that while we most certainly have the right in a free society to speak our minds and say what we wish, it does NOT mean that we are immune to the consequences of what we choose to say.

Evelyn Beatrice Hall said “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it”. And in this case it holds very true.  You Hank are most certainly allowed to compare Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler.  That is your right as a free man (and a redneck, whiskey drinkin’, football lovin’, son of a gun for that matter) and I most certainly defend it (perhaps not to my death...but that is more about me wanting to live than it is a lack of conviction in my belief).

However, it is MY right to punish you for those ridiculous comments by writing this blog to announce what an ignoramus you are, by refusing to listen to your music, by no longer ensuring that I am in front of my TV to see the opening of Monday Night Football, hell to stop drinkin’ whiskey myself if I so choose.

The bottom line is quite simple. Free speech is meaningless if you aren’t willing to be accountable for it too.

Of course after all of this there is still one pressing question that needs to be asked, but frankly I don’t think we will ever find the answer for...

What made Fox News think he was qualified to speak on the political climate facing the United States or rather... what made them think we CARE what he thinks, anyway?