I remember several years ago ESPN network experimented by using Rush Limbaugh as a commentator for NFL weekly programs. He was free to add his “colorful” insights about players and team matchups. That lasted less than a month. Rush ventured into mentioning Donovan McNabb, a very good black quarterback with Philadelphia. He said Donovan was held up by the league as a “black success”. Limbaugh was fired for venturing into the “black arena”. So much for free speech. The last time I looked, the NFL is 80% black. It was a political issue and the minority right wanted Limbaugh gone.
Last night, Hank Williams Jr. always sings the introduction to Monday night NFL football. ESPN did not allow Williams to do the intro because he had made a political comment about Obama. Obama has been playing golf with the House Leader, John Boehner. They are strange “bedfellows”. They are polar opposites. Hank Williams compared Obama/Boehner to Hitler golfing with free world Israel leader Netanyahu. Oops. We have a verbal link of Obama to the most hated leader ever. Williams picked the wrong comparison to make his point; but trust me ESPN will fire Williams. It is a political issue and the minority right will want Williams gone.
Public TV is doing a special on “Prohibition”. The 10% of the population (the Women’s Anti-Saloon League and the Women’s temperance Union) pulled off a protest coup. They got our Congressional leaders to pass an amendent banning booze. This was 1920. The minority right changed 13 years of American history. America was dry for 13 years. In the meantime, the law forced cheating, stealing and mobsters like Al Capone to became “kings”. Eventually the 90% of the population got their rights back, but it is amazing what the minority could do even 100 years ago.
History is full of situations where good people fail to act when minority factions disrupt our society. The result is usually bad.
The lesson, Grasshoppers, is “don’t let your rights slip away because you were afraid to fight for what you believe”.
Love,
Dad