People Don't Understand The First Amendment

William C. Walker Jr.
May 31st, 2018

Debate over the first amendment is brought back to the forefront this week after a pair of divisive statements from two female comedians. The first was a racist tweet from Roseanne Barr where she compared a former Obama administration advisor Valerie Jarrett to an ape.  The result Barr's very popular rebooted show Roseanne was cancelled by ABC. It's a decision that most applauded ABC for it's swift and decisive action in the face of an act that was blatantly racist.  The second act this week was from Samantha Bee while on her show Full Frontal on TBS. Ms. Bee during a segment criticizing the Trump administration immigration policy called Trump's daughter and advisor a "feckless c***".  If you can't figure out the starred out letters the word starts with a C and rhymes with bunt.  Yikes! Needless to say the act did not sit well with the White House or many right-wing conservatives. Well they wasted no time in comparing Bee's actions to Barr's and screamed hypocrisy for TBS not following a similar course that ABC chose.

Now I'm not going to spend a great deal of time on the differences between the two comments, other than there's a clear difference between vulgarity and racism.  Barr's comments were very clearly racist comparing a black person to an ape has been used by racist from the moment blacks stepped foot in this country.  Bee's comments while vulgar it wasn't racist, in fact one could say it's similar to a vulgar statement Trump made while on an Access Hollywood bus.  This is about those that choose to try and defend both under the statement "It's the First Amendment they can say what they want".  It's clear to me that a lot of people don't seem to understand the First Amendment.  Mainly that people seem to think that The First Amendment protects those who exercise it from zero consequence.  While the First Amendment does indeed protect those from persecution from the government it doesn't mean that there's no consequence from that person's actions.  For example Roseanne had every right to be an bigot and spew her hateful speech, and her employer ABC had ever right to terminate her employment due to her actions.  Just like Samantha Bee can call Ivanka Trump whatever she wants, but she also has to deal with the consequence of her losing sponsors over it.

The First Amendment remains extremely important especially during a time period in this country when those who are in power are openly at war with the press. I just hate when those try to use the First Amendment as some kind of defense for a bigot like Roseanne Barr.  Players in the NFL that are exercising this right to protest police brutality for example is one that exemplifies true patriotism, which is why it was put in the constitution in the first place.  Even in the face of the consequence of the NFL threatening them fines for doing so,  The right to say what you want  will always remain in this country, you'd like to see people use it in very positive and productive ways, like these NFL players, and like those that protested against racism during the Civil Rights movement.  I don't want it to continued to be used as an active shield for those that like to spew hatred and venom, though I want those that choose to do so to understand by all means you have to right, but you also have the right to suffer the consequence.

Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself

William C. Walker Jr.
May 31, 2018

So just under 3 years ago I made my attempt to enter the vast ecosystem of internet media by writing my own blog.  The last post was September 14, 2015, the subject a Dallas Cowboys game, a topic which for those who know me would say was an obvious choice.  My attempt under the blog titled Dialectic Ramblings a title I chose because my original idea for a title Coherent Ramblings was taken.  A title that I felt best suited me, especially when it came to debating or discussing various topics.  Again to those that know me my wife in particular would take note of how I would go on these very thorough and energetic rants regardless the subject.  My thought hey these are ramblings but ramblings that make sense, "COHERENT RAMBLINGS" perfection.  Yet as I've mentioned the blog title was taken so a new title was required.  What could it be?  Well from my point of view I wanted to keep to this theme of the oxymoron of Coherent Ramblings how bout logical.  Logical Ramblings however didn't have enough my punch, and very much like my style when writing poetry I wanted something more unique with a sound of something grandiose, something that makes a person run to the dictionary.  So I looked up the definition of logical and one of the synonyms that stuck out was the word "dialectic". So of course I had to know what it meant, the definition states:

Noun- the art of investigating or discussing the truth of opinions,
           inquiry into metaphysical contradictions and their solutions

MIND BLOWN! It's perfect where had this obscure word been hiding, of course it captured the essence of what I wanted to say.  So what happened?  I started my blog and remembered at the time writing a few political post, commenting on highlights of the latest Game of Thrones episode, and my personal favorite constructing a March Madness style tournament for all of the superhero movies that had been out to date.  The winner of said tournament chosen by poll in the end Captain America: The Winter Soldier came out on top beating The Avengers.  Point is consistency wasn't the best from trying to find a permanent job to trying to plan a wedding and a whole host of other distractions the blog itself died.  So why am I trying this again?  Well because even though it wasn't as consistent as I would've liked I enjoyed it when I did.  I love writing and doing things that utilize my creativity, and while this is just a reboot of sorts I'm hoping you enjoy it as much as I do.  So in this new version of my blog I decided to take the advice of my queen. Who said to me regardless of the subject I seem to go from zero to one hundred!  Whether we're watching Family Feud and I can't believe the dumb answer this person gave, to how much I want Jason Garrett fired as the head coach of the Cowboys, to my opinion on how there's varying degrees in the #metoo movement that all get swept up under one umbrella.  Point is I'm passionate about the things I discuss and I hope people will have find it fun and entertaining, and most importantly thought provoking.  So in my Jay-Z voice ALLOW ME TO REINTRODUCE MYSELF my name is William C. Walker Jr. (LOL) and I hope you enjoy my blog.