The same way that right wing zealots forcing a miniseries about Ronald Reagan off the air is censorship. The way the current White House blackballs media folks who ask the President hard questions in press conferences so what do you know, he only gets softballs. Or we could talk about more serious times where individuals are threatened if they publish accurate news accounts and censor themselves on pain of death. You can call it what you like.
What does any of that have to do with this cartoon? It was a tasteless cartoon that poked fun of a fallen soldier and his grieving family, calling him an "idiot" and portraying him as a dumb redneck. People were understandably upset (not just conservatives) so they pulled it. What exactly is the issue? I can't believe this is even being debated. I find it ironic that people were so upset about Rush Limbaugh comparing the torture of Iraqi POW's to a Britney Spears concert (btw, I was upset too) yet this kind of thing doesn't seem to bother them. I guess it doesn't matter how sick and tasteless it is...as long as it supports your agenda.
You brought up "censorship". Now you bring up the other baggage. I didn't endorse it. You said I endorsed it. Nice try at changing the subject after you changed the subject to censorship. Censorship by coercion or explicit censorship is censorship. "Pat isn't with God,'' he said. "He's f -- ing dead. He wasn't religious. So thank you for your thoughts, but he's f -- ing dead.'' That's from Pat Tillman's brother. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/05/04/SPG5K6FD091.DTL&type=printable
No argument. Similar to Falwell's famous "blame the gays and abortionists for 9/11" speech. I think both Falwell and Rall should be free to say whatever they want. And I dislike some media-authority deciding what I should or should not see based on some emails to the editor... It just irritates me when I see people bowing to a "P.C." attitude. You are not supposed to agree with everything! If it offends you, don't read it! Kind of like the p*rn discussion I saw on this board a while back...
This is a strawman and you know it. In today's America, with roughly 22 companies controlling all media outlets (I'll look the figure up when I get home), if only a few of them decide not to carry a particular piece or segment it is effectively censored. It's just a clever way around the ol' 1st amendment. I was not supporting Rall's cartoon, but I am totally against them pulling it just because it is "controversial". I am sorry if this came across as me disrespecting Tillman.
I wanna like Ted Rall. I really do. I love "tasteless" cartoons, especially if they have a left wing edge, but also when they don't. It's a cartoon. Nothing should be sacred. My problem with Ted Rall is that he's just not that smart or funny. His politics are on the left, but big deal. They're dumb. There's nothing worse than a political cartoon written by someone who usually doesn't know what he's talking about. Tom Tomorrow, he's smart. He can say something super offensive and its cool with most everyone because he uses actual quotes. He researches. He attacks people on all sides of the political spectrum. Smart and funny. Boondocks is really good too.
Actually I didn't bring up censorship, rhadamanthus did in the post that I quoted. I also didn't say you endorsed it. How did I change the subject? I'll I'm saying is that no one forced MSNBC to take the cartoon down. They did it on their own. If they were forced to take it down, of course that would be censorship, but again...no one forced them to, despite any dark conspiracy theories put forth. Speaking of "changing the subject", what does that quote from Tillmans brother have to do with any of this? Surely your not suggesting that he would approve of this cartoon.
I think that's a disingenuous take on censorship. Absolutely nothing, but if we're going to derail the topic, why not.
i'm not disagreeing with you there, but again i will say this is different. this is not just something politically incorrect...this is something that is slandering a dead man who just died for his country. i think there is a fine line between slandering a person, especially with this sort of bad timing, and being politically incorrect against a group of people. it may sound stupid but thats how i feel.
