Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
— The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

Seems simple enough.  (Special thanks to James Madison.)

But there seems to be a bit of misinterpretation going on here.  Some people believe that the forty-five words of the First Amendment guarantee them the right to say whatever the hell they want, whenever the hell they want and you better listen to ‘em, dammit.

It just ain’t so, kids.

Case in point, Linda Ronstadt.  Linda is a Liberal and has been known in the past to speak her mind concerning political issues.  But that didn’t go over so big in Vegas and she was escorted from the premises of the Aladdin hotel.

Was that a violation of her First Amendment rights?

I don’t know – let’s see: Did Congress establish a law prohibiting her to speak?

The answer is obviously no.

Well, that about wraps it up. 

But was it censorship? 

Well, did the Aladdin stop her from saying anything?  No, they didn’t, they merely fired her for it.

So it wasn’t really censorship, either.  It was more a reaction to what she did than a preemptive strike.

But what it was more than anything was proof of what a cool country this really is.  I mean, think about it: This is more publicity that the woman has had since she was last seen on that album cover wearing a satin jacket and roller skates.  (For those of you too young to know what I’m talking about, too bad.) 

And Michael “Love Me or You’re Un-American” Moore gets another truckload of free publicity from the ensuing incident, so he can’t be too upset, either.

And all she had to do was exercise her right to freedom of speech.  I love this place.  Let freedom ring.

Of course, there is a price to that freedom; just because you have freedom of speech doesn’t mean anything you say is worth listening to.  And since enough members of that Las Vegas audience (whom she was being paid to entertain, not enlighten with her own political views) were offended by her statements, Linda had to suffer the consequences. 

Namely, she got fired.

And that’s pretty much what happened to The Dixie Chicks.  They shot their mouth off and some radio stations and fans decided they weren’t going to listen to or play The Chicks anymore.

Of course, there were the usual cries of First Amendment foul, but think about it: Number one, they were outside of the US when it happened, and the Bill of Rights doesn’t apply in the big bad world.  Secondly, there was no law by Congress, blah blah blah, so no violation, either.  And lastly, why is it that whenever someone shoots their mouth off and they catch hell for it, all of a sudden their First Amendment rights have been trampled? 

What this was for The Chicks was public outcry against a very unpopular political position.  In other words, it was the audience exercising their freedom of speech.  And what the audience said was, Shut the hell up.

Whoopi Goldberg is feeling the heat, as well.  She is no stranger to controversy and is not afraid to speak her mind.  Well, she did and now not only has she lost an endorsement, Kerry & Co. are trying to distance themselves from all the entertainers who were a little hard on Bush (no pun intended).

These are the very same people he was heaping praise onto only a few days earlier.  Freedom of speech can be a little tricky at times. 

Whoopi had an issue with speaking her mind a while ago when she was dating Ted Dansen.  She was being roasted one night by a group of celebrities and Ted came out in black-face and started making racist comments and jokes.

No one was amused.  It didn’t matter that Whoopi had wanted Ted to do it; it was designed to show just how stupid racial stereotypes are.  Ted and Whoopi were getting letters that were nothing more than venomous hate mail, so they figured they would approach the issue with a little humor.  Unfortunately, no one got the joke.

I’ve never met Whoopi, but I briefly met Ted Dansen.  He came across as the nicest guy you wanted to know and the thought of them receiving letters - in this country and in this day and age - that started off with “Dear Nigger Lover” is repugnant to me. 

But they decided to make a statement and they accepted the consequences and that’s pretty much what you have to do in a free society. 

But not everybody has their heart in the right place when it comes to making statements for social change.  It’s inevitable that there will always be people who are out there shooting off their mouths simply for the shock value.  All they are looking to do is grab a headline and score a little face-time on the eleven o’clock news.  It’s sad when someone lends his or her name to a good cause and later you find out the action wasn’t entirely altruistic.

Remember the problem they had with the Rock The Vote campaign a while back?  A bunch of rock stars were doing ads on MTV urging young people to vote.  Then we found out that some of the people in those ads didn’t even vote themselves.

There’s a mixed message for ya.

I’m sure that all the people in the ads thought voting was a good idea, but were they there because it was a good idea or because it was a little publicity for them?

You decide.

Freedom; ain’t it a bitch?  You can say whatever you want.  Think about that for a moment - short of threatening bodily harm or slander - you pretty much can say whatever you want in this country.

You might get fired or lose an endorsement deal, but you can still say whatever you want.

That’s an awfully powerful thing, don’t you think?

Before you answer, take this into consideration - It was a defining moment in my life and maybe some of you feel the same way.  It happened in a place called Tiananmen Square.  I remember the day the news broke: June 6th, 1989, tanks were rolling into the Square, and students who dreamed of democracy were being slaughtered.  They spoke their minds and paid the ultimate price for it.

I had to pull off the road for a minute when I heard the news.  I remember screaming, “What’s happening?” over and over at the radio while the announcer read the report. 

I couldn’t believe that these kids were all being killed because they wanted something that I take for granted everyday of my life.

My freedom. 

Now a lot of people say that the entertainers who stand up and speak their mind - the Linda Ronstadts, the Whoopi Goldbergs and on and on and on - they say that these people are brave.  They’re brave for speaking their minds and saying what needs to be said.  They are engendering social change.  They are real American heroes. 

Maybe.  Or maybe they’re people shooting their mouths off in a country where bad publicity can net you a damn near fortune in residuals.  And that’s not brave; it’s merely a smart business move. 

But a bunch of kids facing down tanks and automatic weapons in a peaceful pro-democratic rally that ends in a massacre all in the name of freedom? 

That’s brave.

And that’s my two cents.  Now gimme my change and shut the hell up. 
 
 

Chuck DiMaria is Los Angeles based musician, actor and antiMUSIC columnist (his resume goes on). Check out his website ChuckDiMaria.com for more of his writings, MP3s and more (be sure to read about his adventures in online dating!!) Plus be sure check out the site for his band Under Pressure.

Your turn. 

Fan Speak:


Click here for more Fan Speak