Let's talk hypocrits

[Gonz]

If "the left" has a problem with what people say, they boycott. Seems American enough. Let the people speak with their wallets. If enough of them complain, then changes occurs. However, if "the left" is the target of a boycott, they get all huffy & bring up the past. Hypocrisy?

Let's see.

March 3, 2003

Screen Actors Guild Releases Statement
Regarding Free Speech

Los Angeles–Screen Actors Guild released the following statement today:

As our country again considers the possibility of war, it is the fundamental right of citizens to express their support or their fears and concerns. While passionate disagreement is to be expected in such a debate, a disturbing trend has arisen in the dialogue. Some have recently suggested that well-known individuals who express 'unacceptable' views should be punished by losing their right to work. This shocking development suggests that the lessons of history have, for some, fallen on deaf ears.

Over 50 years ago, this nation was faced with a monumental challenge: whether the world's greatest democracy was strong enough to truly allow its citizens the exercise of their rights of free speech and assembly during a time of international tension known as the "Cold War." Most of America failed that test, averting its eyes as the House Committee on Un-American Activities persecuted citizens, destroyed careers, ruined lives and gave rise to the notorious "blacklist".

During this shameful period, our own industry prostrated itself before smear campaigns and witch hunters rather than standing on the principles articulated in the nation's fundamental documents.

Today, having come to grips with its past, having repudiated the insult of loyalty oaths and examined its own failings, our industry, perhaps more than any other, understands the necessity of guarding and cherishing those rights for which Americans have fought and died.

In that spirit, the Screen Actors Guild Board of Directors, appreciating the value of full and open debate and devoted to the belief that the free flow of information, opinions and ideas contributes to the health of our nation, supports the right of all citizens, celebrated and unknown, to speak their minds freely, on any side of any issue, as is their Constitutional right. In the same vein - and with a painfully clear appreciation of history - we deplore the idea that those in the public eye should suffer professionally for having the courage to give voice to their views. Even a hint of the blacklist must never again be tolerated in this nation.

So, if you turn off your TV or don't go see the latest blockbuster, you're involved in blacklisting. They forgot that damned near everyone in Hollywood is on "the left" so who;s gonna boycott? Must be the American people. And that is bad. On the other hand

Some media sources reported that the League of United Latin American Citizens, which has 115,000 members nationwide and 250 councils in Texas, would organize a national boycott of future Nugent concerts.

San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center

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Original article is at http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/12/1551887.php Print comments.

Boycott Sponsors Of Rush Limbaugh
by peacey Wednesday December 18, 2002 at 09:25 AM
[email protected]

Tell Rush Sponsors you've had ENOUGH disinformation and hate!

Take ACTION!

Tell Rush Sponsors you've had ENOUGH disinformation and hate!

In direct opposition to the growing anti-war movement, Rush Limbaugh has stepped up his trademark misinformation and out-right lies in an attempt to hijack the public's perception of Americas increasing militarism. There is therefore, an urgent need for people of conscience to strongly oppose the spreading of fear and bloodlust to the minds of millions of Americans on a daily basis.

By contacting and boycotting his advertisers, we can make it known to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, that those who advocate the sacrifice of innocent lives for the benefit of a wealthy few, will not go unchallenged.

----

Limbaugh's advertisers are listed below.
Please contact them by phone, mail or email to express your outrage at Limbaugh's warmongering.

Then boycott any products or services sold by his advertisers and pass the message on. The San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center is a non-commercial, democratic collective of bay area independent media makers and media outlets, and serves as the local organizing unit of the global Indymedia network.

The NAACP's boycott, aimed at removing the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds, took on added momentum this month when the civil rights organization started sending protesters to state welcome centers in an effort to discourage tourism.

Why are these okay?

 

[Squiggy]

I'm not sure what you're going for, Gonz...I don't think all the way to Rush when I think right wing, nor do I go all the way to the left to define left wing. I get crazy sometimes when we're presented with extremist views from either side and start the discussion there.

 

[Gonz]

I'm saying boycotting is okay. I'm also saying that the activists/showpeople don't feel the same when they are the target.

 

[Squiggy]

I would call that human nature ....providing it wasn't an extreme reaction.

 

[Gonz]

Human nature be damned. If ya can't run with the big dogs, stay on the porch.

Let's save the gay whales & those who don't like gay whales are to be shot (speaking financially of course).

They take up causes & call for others to join them, continually. That is okay? The minute that they become a target for the same treatment, up comes ths dreaded *drum roll* McCarthyism & what a horrid thing it was. It was overboard & uncalled for in the USA but, damnit, this ain't it. This is people getting pissed that somebody who plays a president on TV is stepping into places he knows far less than he realizes & they are saying, STFU. The only way to say it is to turn off their TV's or their radio's or stop attending movies that star X. The moment their politics gets in the way of their paycheck they call foul. That is hypocrisy at it's finest.

 

[Squiggy]

Celebrity is always exploited or exploits itself by and for politics. Just as it is exploited or exploits itself in advertising. I don't think they have more or less right to an opinion than anyone else. They just happen to have a forum that reaches more people. That scares politicians....That said, I don't like when anyone drags an irrelevant point out of the history books and tries to feign a comparison to the events of the day. But I would hope that irrelevance is as easily detected by others as it is to me. I refuse to carry guilt for slavery, the holocaust, the genocide of the native Americans....etc. But sometimes the days events do smell of past experiences and become relevant. The diference between Rush and Martin Sheen is that Rush makes his politcal statements on his show and Sheen makes them via ads. In that, Rush's sponsors are directly supporting his politics while Sheen's aren't. Yes, I see your point about hypocricy by the screen actors guild's statement. But not the other.