Tom Smothers, one half of iconic 1960s comic team the Smothers Brothers, made his millions by playing the straight man to his brother’s seemingly slow-brained humor. It was an amazingly popular show with a future; until political ideologies between the brothers and producers clashed.
After their television fame had come and gone and the spotlight extinguished, Tom stepped up his political involvement behind the scenes as an ardent activist against the Vietnam War and ongoing civil rights clashes on home turf. A valiant crusader, he publicly berated Bill Cosby so often that Cosby punched Smothers in the head at the Playboy Mansion – where no one was worried about equality or war.
But Smothers made a statement that should be a fair warning today in the current climate of censorship at a whim: “The only valid censorship of ideas is the right of people not to listen.”
Déjà Vu
We are back to square one with the swift and brutal firing of Roseanne Barr and the actors on her wildly popular show, Roseanne. And as you can imagine, Flyover folks on social media were calling for a complete boycott of the ABC network in response.
From Brenda in Fort Wayne, Indiana:
“It was a tweet, by a comedian, who’s show centers around Trump lovers, Hillary people, a diverse family make up with mixed race children. Jeez…what a bunch of crap.”
And from a patriot in Wisconsin, Dawn Morey:
“NO, just put Roseanne back on the air and let everyone say what they want, NOT JUST LIBERALS. We have freedom of speech, let the ratings decide. BUT, stop the DOUBLE STANDARD!!!!!”
And isn’t that the rub? Not that Roseanne tweeted a poor choice of words, inflammatory at best and racist at worst, but that the behavior is only unacceptable if the perpetrator supports President Trump. Let’s review some of the recent greatest hits from Democrats:
From white liberal Bill Maher on his show, Real Time, while speaking with Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE): “Would you like to come work in the field with us?” to which Maher replied, “Work in the fields? Senator, I am a house n*****.”
Where’s Bill Maher? Still on HBO.
Joy Behar, one of the co-hosts on ABC’ The View, called Christianity a “mental illness.”
Yeah, she’s still on The View.
And her lovely co-host, actress Whoopi Goldberg, sported a t-shirt depicting Trump shooting himself in the head. How do either of these women still have a platform from which to spew hate and violence?
I will give credit to CNN for firing Kathy Griffin after she posed with a severed head depicting Trump. But even in jest, the assassination of our president should be a criminal offense.
The Red Tide Will Roll
Conservative social media warriors in the Heartland have decided to scrap their grandma-instilled manners and attack this double standard of injustice head-on. They have publicly and unashamedly taken a stand for the hard-working, good people of every color and creed and are rising-up, in unprecedented numbers, to protect and defend their America. Middle America is no longer silent; they roar. And I couldn’t be prouder to live in the center of it all.
