Last night, before the Monday Night Football game between Indianapolis and Tampa, ESPN announced that they would drop Hank Williams' Jr. and his "Are You Ready for Some Football" opening segment. "Are You Ready" has been a staple of Monday Night Football broadcasts for 20 of MNF's 41 years on ABC and now ESPN. The song was dropped by ESPN in response to comments Williams made on the bastion of conservative blasphemy (Fox News Channel) Monday morning discussing a summer golf game between President Obama and Speaker Boehner. He compared the pair of Obama and Boehner playing golf to Adolf Hitler and Benjamin Netanyahu. ESPN in a statement said that although Williams is not an ESPN employee, his face associated with the company due to his song on MNF. Therefore, they decided to drop the song at least for this week. There is no word on whether or not the song is gone permanently or it will eventually return later this season.
My issue is not with ESPN dumping the song. It's their organization. They can do what they want for whatever reason, and no matter how you shake it, any time you compare anybody to Hitler, especially the president, you're asking for trouble. So on those grounds, I have no problem with ESPN making the decision that they did. My problem comes from the fact that this is yet another example of the disgusting double standard of American politics. ESPN quoted Williams in his response to being dumped, explaining his rationale for the analogy. They stopped quoting him after he said "I have always respected the office of the President." However, he didn't stop there. If you read the full quote, he goes on to say "Every time the media brings up the tea party it’s painted as racist and extremist – but there’s never a backlash – no outrage to those comparisons." That's my big problem, and unfortunately, liberals will continue to blindly argue that it's OK to bash the tea party, using whatever colorful vocabulary, ornate signage, or hurtful comparisons you want. I don't agree with Williams' comparison at all, and like I said, I had no problem with ESPN pulling the plug, but Hank Williams is right with what he said that you didn't see quoted on ESPN. You see this double standard all the time, yet nobody bats an eye. Free speech is free speech. Unfortunately, with the way politics in this country works, you are only allowed certain free speech rights if you are of a certain ideology, and that's not fair.
When you think about it, though, the comparison is pretty apt. Republicans, led by Boehner, have wanted to kill all the blacks in America for decades - not unlike Hitler and the Jews in Williams' comparison. Meanwhile President Obama, easily the most influential black leader, represents not only the population that elected him but, in a profound way, represents his entire race - not unlike Benjamin Netanyahu as the head of the Jewish state of Israel (the country formerly known as Palestine). Why Obama - our Netanyahu in this comparison - would want to cavort with Boehner - the only reasonable modern-day Hitler comparison - I don't know.
ReplyDeleteOr wait! Was Williams yet another in a long line of teabaggers and Republicans to compare Obama to Hitler? That's right, I forgot that Hitler wanted to provide his people with healthcare, end corporate tax loopholes, and smooth out his country's belligerent reputation in the world. On second thought, that's quite the insightful comparison.
Also, Nick, just because you deny that teabaggers spit on and yelled racial epithets at black members of Congress doesn't mean it didn't happen. What event supported by indisputable evidence are you going to deny next? The moon landing? The Holocaust? The sinking of the Titanic?
Furthermore, his assertion is wrong anyway. The "media" (which, by the way, includes Fox News - which presents the teabaggers with the reverence of Jesus fucking Christ - making his assertion incorrect without requiring any further dissection) only present the tea party in a "racist and extremist" light when they do something racist or extremist - like, say, spit on black members of Congress when they're trying to go to work.
You just generalized the entire tea party based on the actions of just a few nutjobs. That's like saying the Black Panthers intimidating voters in Philadelphia is representative of the entire Democratic party (oh right, it's OK when guys on your side do it...don't ask questions just take it). Here's source material...from YOUR Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/14/AR2010071405880.html)
ReplyDeleteYou make my point without even trying.
I'm aware of that incident. But your comparison is wrong. Cite for me an example of a "Black Panther Party" candidate running in a Democratic primary. You can't, because Black Panthers don't necessarily identify with the Democratic Party (I'd be willing to wager that if Herman Cain somehow one the Republican nomination, there'd be some Black Panthers "intimidating" white folk, too). However, I can cite a litany of candidates for Republican party nominations who dub themselves the "tea party candidate." Come up with a cogent example before you claim victory.
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