It's not about free speech

The Internet including Facebook as well as public figures and politicians have all expressed their opinions about the Arts and Entertainment network suspending Duck Dynasty's patriarch, Phil Robertson, for his comments made about homosexuality in an interview with Gentlemen's Quarterly magazine. All of them, including this newspaper's editorial in last night's edition, have missed the point.

The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States states that "Congress shall make no law...abridging freedom of speech."

This furor is not about a Constitutional prohibition against free speech because there is none, nor has there ever been. This is about a privately owned company establishing its own rules and taking appropriate action whenever it feels those rules have been violated.

We don't have, nor have we ever had, the freedom of unfettered freedom of speech. Speech intended to incite a riot has historically not been allowed, we don't have the freedom to yell "FIRE" in a crowded movie theatre, hate speech is banned in many parts of the United States and the list goes on. The point here is that while local and state governments and private companies and corporations can control what people say, Congress cannot and has not.

The Duck Dynasty program aims at a particular audience, one many people aren't a part of. The surprising thing about the suspension was A&E's misreading of that audience. It's hard to believe they thought a majority of their viewers would be upset at Robertson's diatribe against homosexuals. In fact, I'm sure a majority of the viewers of that program supported his perspective. I'm surprised this newspaper took the perspective that Robertson was suspended because "Hollywood was outraged." Hollywood, like almost all other profit-making concerns, is worried primarily about the bottom line; what makes them money and what loses them money. Since Duck Dynasty is a highly rated show with a sizeable audience, it's a cash-cow for the A&E network. Because of that, I feel certain that some decision-makers with the network will be punished over their knee-jerk reactions to suspend Robertson. Certain groups of people believe certain things. If you're in favor of gun control, you're likely not a card-carrying member of the NRA. If you have racist or prejudicial feelings about people of color, you're likely not a member of the NAACP. The point is we don't belong to things or watch things we disagree with politically, socially, or religiously.

So to suspend Robertson for saying what he said was a miscalculation on the part of the network. He's a born-again Christian and was quoting different passages from the Bible to demonstrate his value system. That doesn't make him any more immune to criticism than if he was quoting anything else but criticism and suspension are two different things.

Did the A&E network have the right to suspend him? Absolutely. Do the viewers of Duck Dynasty have the right to protest that suspension? Absolutely. We live in a market-based economy and this will all eventually come out in the wash. If there's too much protest from their viewers, the network will rescind their suspension of Robertson, punish those responsible for that suspension and the show will go on. If there's sizeable support for the suspension, they'll do just the opposite. That's the way you make money in this society.

And it doesn't have anything to do with freedom of speech.