I did not vote for Donald Trump, I'm not a fan of Donald Trump and I don't support a lot of what he's doing while President.
If you're on the left side of the political aisle none of that is going to matter to you because of what I'm about to say.
What Kathy Griffin is going through right now is not a violation of her free speech rights, nor is it "bullying" nor is it some type of artistic crisis. Nor should anyone feel any special obligation to defend her.
We've known for a long time that the media has a tenuous relationship with free speech. (Many, not all, of them view the 1st amendment as applying to the press ONLY and not to the cattle-class) And we know that politicians of all ideological stripes tend to agree with political speech that defends their political aims while supporting the silencing of speech that runs counter to their platform.
So it's not a great surprise that the courtesan class is starting to rally around Ms. Griffin. Good for them.
Nor should Ms. Griffin be thrown in jail, or otherwise punished by the government of the United States of America. THAT would be a violation of her 1st amendment rights* (which the media will deem she has as a comedian) which should not stand.
You don't punch Nazi's, you don't ban rallies by the Alt-right and you don't arrest comedians for doing stupid things that aren't funny.
But that doesn't mean that said speech comes without consequences.
And Ms. Griffin is feeling those consequences right now. In short, she has committed temporary career suicide. For a time she'll be a pariah unable to do much in the way of productive work while she, and the left-leaning media, work overtime to try and rehabilitate her image (ProTip: Keep Jim Carey far, far away from your defense).
Once some time has passed however the left will forgive, as they do, and she'll be back doing whatever it was she did before, but there will probably be a much, much smaller audience for her. Think of the Dixie Chicks, post Natalie Maines England melt-down, except with even less talent.
The problem is that a very large part of humanity thinks that free-speech is the exclusive providence of their side. You can't offer an opinion if you don't believe in anthropogenic climate change and you can't have a say if you don't think the Catholic Church should have to offer insurance plans that cover abortion. If you believe in a deity you are not allowed to speak in the public square etc. From the other side everyone from Planned Parenthood should be arrested, the GLBTQ community should zip it and anyone who does not speak English should "leave America" (never mind that America doesn't have an official language, but that's another post)
And yes, each side can list a litany of offenses, while ignoring the offenses of their side, usually on Twitter, which they think is proof of case that the other side is 'in the wrong' while they walk the pristine path of free speech righteousness. This is a lie, of course, because both the left and the right suffer from the same version of selective speech suppression as the other.
Most of us will go back to work on Monday and this will be just a small diversion in our daily lives. Probably more than anyone has thought about Kathy Griffin in a long time. The politicians and their courtesans in the media and 'activist' groups will continue to go on and on about the stupid 'artistic' decisions of a Z-list comedian who most people couldn't pick correctly out of a police line-up.
The United States is being led off the cliffs of insanity by a rather small group of low-functioning idiots whose only talent seems to be to get the screaming horrors every time they see something coming from the other side.
The best solution to this: Change the channel, mute all mentions of them on Twitter, don't comment on your friend's Facebook post and, should you see them in person, turn around and walk away.
You can't reason with them. It's like explaining physics to a pig.
Goodbye Ms. Griffin, don't feel the need to notify me when you emerge again on the public scene. Truth be told I didn't really pay attention to you before. As a matter of fact, most Americans didn't.
It's to our shame then that, from that perspective, you actually might have won this round.
Shame on us.
*although a cursory investigation by the Secret Service would not be. Provided they don't arrest her.
*although a cursory investigation by the Secret Service would not be. Provided they don't arrest her.
