Bobby Jindal And The Invisible Hand
He then discussed the Duck Dynasty controversy. “You may think that I was defending the Robertsons simply because I am the governor of their home state, the great state of Louisiana,” he said. “You would be wrong about that. I defended them because they have every right to speak their minds.”
And oh boy! Did they ever speak their minds! No one stopped the Duckies, and in fact a national magazine published every word of a long interview with the Robertson patriarch saying some of the most hateful things ever, using his outdoor voice.
But do continue, governor.
“The real issue is that “liberals” are doing everything in their power to “silence debate.” The new left in America is completely intolerant of people of faith,” Jindal said. “The left no longer wants to debate. They simply want to silence us.”
And I want to know exactly who is silencing you, Bobby, because I can still hear you. Name names of these liberals, give me dates and places, and tell us how you were silenced, otherwise it didn’t happen. Take your time.
“As you well know,” he continued, “the same thing happened again this week, with another demonstration of intolerance from the entertainment industry. HGTV was working on a new show featuring the Benham brothers — twin brothers who graduated from right here at Liberty University in 1998…”
“HGTV cancelled the show this week, allegedly, because they learned that one of the brothers protested at the Democratic Party convention, and the other had protested at an abortion clinic.”
“If these guys had protested at the Republican Party convention or here at Liberty University,” he concluded, “instead of cancelling their show HGTV probably would’ve given them a raise.”
We’re back to cause and effect. Jindal and his ilk (opportunistically?) forget that no stopped the Benham twins from saying what was on their minds. These celebrities said what they wanted to say, in public, on the record, and no one stopped them. And to this day they can continue to say all the nasty things that they want to say (and have, and there’s two of ’em!), and no one can stop them.
On the other hand, the networks have a business to run, and they decided that hosting a show with twin bigots—who have offended one of their key demographics—is bad for business. The cancellation of that HGTV show is that Invisible Hand of the Marketplace at work, which I think is something that Jindal is in favor of.
To paraphrase Fran Lebowitz, your right to wear a lime-green polyester leisure suit ends where it meets my eyes. You can say whatever spiteful thing you want, but I can choose to turn the teevee set off; I don’t have to look. And that, Bobby is how capitalism and free speech work. Maybe you could have told the students that?
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By: Tengrain
Fully caffeinated with twice the sugar, unabashedly liberal. Award-winning Americans United blogger, blogs at Mock Paper Scissors, and sometimes at Crooks and Liars.
You can follow @Tengrain on Twitter, or you might see him enjoying coffee somewhere in Seattle at any given moment of the day.
20 responses to Bobby Jindal And The Invisible Hand
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Anomaly 100 May 11th, 2014 at 19:35
He is super-slick!
gil reyes May 12th, 2014 at 07:54
Yeah..Like A big pile of dirty grease
Anomaly 100 May 12th, 2014 at 08:13
Just like that!
Anomaly 100 May 11th, 2014 at 19:35
He is super-slick!
gil reyes May 12th, 2014 at 07:54
Yeah..Like A big pile of dirty grease
Anomaly 100 May 12th, 2014 at 08:13
Just like that!
mea_mark May 11th, 2014 at 19:49
Quite simply, the constitution guarantees free speech, it does not guarantee any public platform. If you want your voice heard, make it so people want to hear it. In that way you will find a platform.
mea_mark May 11th, 2014 at 19:49
Quite simply, the constitution guarantees free speech, it does not guarantee any public platform. If you want your voice heard, make it so people want to hear it. In that way you will find a platform.
Obewon May 11th, 2014 at 20:15
The free market flipped the bird at Jindal’s hillbilly Liberty U Fallwell clones by cancelling their homophobic misogyny. They’re so out of touch with today’s demographic reality that not even RWNJ Christian networks appear interested in their fables.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/08/showbiz/tv/benham-brothers-hgtv/
Obewon May 11th, 2014 at 20:15
The free market flipped the bird at Jindal’s hillbilly Liberty U Fallwell clones by cancelling their homophobic misogyny. They’re so out of touch with today’s demographic reality that not even RWNJ Christian networks appear interested in their fables.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/08/showbiz/tv/benham-brothers-hgtv/
Tengrain May 11th, 2014 at 20:20
You know, Jindal can call a press conference, he can address graduates, he can say any damn silly thing that pops into his mind and it will be reported. I think what gets him (and the other theocrats) is that there is nothing that compels us to listen to them. That’s what they want.
Regards,
Tengrain
Anomaly 100 May 11th, 2014 at 20:32
I tried to watch Duck Dynasty once.I tried to watch it with an open mind, thinking there must be something about the show that folks find interesting. It was just awful. I last 5 minutes and even that was painful.
Tengrain May 11th, 2014 at 20:20
You know, Jindal can call a press conference, he can address graduates, he can say any damn silly thing that pops into his mind and it will be reported. I think what gets him (and the other theocrats) is that there is nothing that compels us to listen to them. That’s what they want.
Regards,
Tengrain
Anomaly 100 May 11th, 2014 at 20:32
I tried to watch Duck Dynasty once.I tried to watch it with an open mind, thinking there must be something about the show that folks find interesting. It was just awful. I last 5 minutes and even that was painful.
fahvel May 12th, 2014 at 04:38
a new holiday is needed: “Stupid People’s Day”. Just think about it – there’d be an eternal festival, a never ending flow of “happy Stupid Day stupid!!!! Drinking and partying et al with no time for anything yucky – and also not a single thought expressed.
gil reyes May 12th, 2014 at 07:52
Heyyyyyy!!!! I’m all for that! An official Stupid Day would be awesome..All the RWNJ’s would have a free day where they could say and do all the stupid things they already do and we could all just chuckle and say”Awww,I forgot its Stupid Day!! You go Stupid!! Its Your Day!!”
fahvel May 12th, 2014 at 04:38
a new holiday is needed: “Stupid People’s Day”. Just think about it – there’d be an eternal festival, a never ending flow of “happy Stupid Day stupid!!!! Drinking and partying et al with no time for anything yucky – and also not a single thought expressed.
gil reyes May 12th, 2014 at 07:52
Heyyyyyy!!!! I’m all for that! An official Stupid Day would be awesome..All the RWNJ’s would have a free day where they could say and do all the stupid things they already do and we could all just chuckle and say”Awww,I forgot its Stupid Day!! You go Stupid!! Its Your Day!!”
KarenJ May 12th, 2014 at 13:41
Wasn’t it Jindal himself who said something about “the Stupid Party”? Where does Jindal get off suggesting those two bigoted twin brothers had a RIGHT to their HGTV program? That’s just plain stupid, and so’s anybody who falls for that kind of “reasoning”.
KarenJ May 12th, 2014 at 13:41
Wasn’t it Jindal himself who said something about “the Stupid Party”? Where does Jindal get off suggesting those two bigoted twin brothers had a RIGHT to their HGTV program? That’s just plain stupid, and so’s anybody who falls for that kind of “reasoning”.