Don't worry; you have the right to be Despicable | Eastern North Carolina Now

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Don't worry you have the right to be Despicable


    Good taste and appropriate conduct is not mandated by the Constitution, it is controlled by our Societal Norms. The paraphrase the old cliché about defending your right to be an A$$HOLE tells us something about our government, but not much about our society.

    What prompted this article is the recent picture by a comedian about President Trump. At least something has finally risen to the level of absurdity that even those on the far left condemn it. Nevertheless, before we get to high on the horse about this incident, let us not forget that despicable behavior is not limited to the far left or the far right. For the last eight years I have been the recipient of numerous emails which are just as despicable as this recent event. The difference is that they all came from the far right fringe of my acquaintances.

    Just for clarification, almost all of the people in my email contact file are people I have met personally. Not counting the various vendors, suppliers or business related contacts they all have various opinions about a wide variety of issues. While they may not all be in agreement with me on political, religious, social, or lifestyle choices, to my knowledge none of them are anarchist, subversives, or revolutionaries. Some are strong in their beliefs, but almost all realize the line between proper social discourse and outright despicable behavior.

    Having said that, I get quite a few emails forwarded from various people with some pretty outrageous memes and textual articles about various subjects. Some love to include semi- nude women with a cute joke, some follow a particular political bent. Still others love to fill my inbox with pictures of their children, hobby or latest trip. All of this is within the boundaries of having a varied group of contacts in my email address book.

    Occasionally an email or contact will send me something that rises to the level of inappropriate by my somewhat broad standards. When I say inappropriate, I use the Justice Potter Stewart test for obscenity in 1964 case Jacobellis v. Ohio.

    "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core pornography"], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that."     Wiki Link

    When that happens, I can cheerfully just hit my 'Personal Filter Key' , which is my conduit to the digital world. It works almost every time. There are a few occasions where I have to repeat the procedure because some of my email contacts will take advantage of the modern age equivalent of GOSSIP and FORWARD the message back to me and everyone else that received the original. I don't take any of this as a personal insult or reason to start a feud. I understand that this is perhaps the modern day equivalent of a front porch meeting with neighbors and friends.

    I have found it remarkable that this same technique works in almost all situations in my life. When confronted with an unpleasant occurrence, I can choose to ignore it, engage in a discussion, or let it simmer in my brain's "things to do later" cubicle. The only thing I have control over is my reaction to the event.

    I have never been a big fan of the "boycott this or that" solution to unpleasant things. I don't carry a written, mental or Engraved Tablets of things I will not buy, support or participate in. I suppose I have an internal list but I have never actually tried to document it. One of the main reasons for this is that keeping such a list attributes too much power to the offending person or thing and that may be their main objection.

    I believe in the FREE MARKETPLACE in both economics as well ideas. As some have no doubt noticed, I have no problem with expressing a strong opinion occasionally but I assume that the reader also has a DELETE key or in the case of a website they are just a mouse click away from the next offending post.

    Where I do try to draw the line is when someone tries to take away my ability to exercise my ability to have free thought and speech by law. The attempt to stop something you do not agree with is a fine line with legal ramifications that go way beyond the mere state opinion or philosophy. It goes to the very foundation of a free society.

    When I pick up the paper on Sunday Morning and see that XYZ is playing a concert at ABC coliseum, I can choose to go or stay away. Some of the best songs, movies and books I have enjoyed have been from people I profoundly disagreed with over some minor or major issue or issues. Hell, I eventually overcame my aversion to Hanoi Jane after a chance encounter with her and Ted Turner when they were a couple in Atlanta. She did some pretty despicable things in her youth, and I don't know if she has properly apologized for her behavior, but I am not living the rest of my life waiting for a personal apology from her to me.

    This latest furor over the despicable picture in question will die down and many people will never go see the comedian again or watch a show she is on. It is possible she may have gained some fans because of the stunt, which is all it was. But you can almost bet your last dollar that most people will watch a CNN non political entertainment or documentary if the show they are presenting is of interest regardless of the politics of CNN. If we went through life boycotting everything that we disliked we would need a trailer carry the Engraved Tables of the things we will boycott.

    What really amazes me about the whole discourse is that the Liberals who have an innate hatred for Capitalism advocate a wide boycott of all advertisers of every talk show host or event that they disagree with. I call them "Fascist Capitalist" because when it comes to political disagreement they have no problem using the free market system to punish those who they wish to censor . (I apologize for using FIVE curse words in one sentence-----NOT) Do you think that somewhere deep in their psychic they are Capitalist only when it suits them? Media Matters list all the advertisers on the Sean Hannity show so their buttercups can boycott them. Back up the train, you will need more than a pull behind trailer to carry this list.

THESE ARE SEAN HANNITY'S ADVERTISERS


    Here is a simple example from my neighborhood paper.

    I receive a copy of the weekly paper Braselton News every Thursday. It is an unsolicited and unpaid publication with local news and obituaries as well as some local articles. Within the last few months the paper was purchased by another company. The co-publisher is not a big Trump Supporter. As a matter of fact he is an ardent non supporter. Most of his editorials are not related to the local community but his brand of politics. That is his right as the publisher and I have no problem with that. A recent editorial by him explained why is he not on the Trump Bandwagon.

    Now you must remember that the paper is free, delivered without subscription every Thursday in my driveway. I have made no attempt to discontinue the delivery of the paper. I suppose I could write him an Email explaining that due to his political philosophy I no longer wish to receive his newspaper. The other alternative would be to write all his advertisers a letter of disapproval of his political positions. Or perhaps I could just cut out the list of advertisers and not buy anything from them.

    But in the final analysis, I found I could scan the paper for anything of interest and then deposit it in my appropriately placed recycle bin in the garage. Did I mention that the paper is delivered in my driveway? Between my driveway and my garage door entrance (about 50 feet) to the house about half way is the aforementioned Recycle Bin. I can usually complete my scan before I get to the bin and then appropriately deposit his words of wisdom as well as his advertisers in the bin, I don't plan on boycotting any of his advertisers. It is his opinion and he has a forum to use. It is not too difficult to separate editorial page from the rest of the paper. Now I ask you, wasn't that fairly simple and straight forward? It did not even increase my blood pressure on mercury point.


    The paper is also available on line or as a pdf download. Here is the edition I referenced above.

    The Braselton News

   As you might suspect, the next edition had a letter from a reader to the publisher listing his points of disagreement with the original editorial. To the publisher's credit, he printed the letter with the writers name. That seems to be the way to carry on a debate in newsprint. In keeping with my unblemished record of never writing a letter to the editor or publisher of a newspaper,
I DID NOT WRITE THE LETTER. I admit that I have occasionally veered off-course with online publications.

    I did not finish reading either the editorial or the rebuttal letter. A quick scan of the headlines revealed all I needed to know about the content which held no interest for me. I suspect and have some proof based on my readership that many people who read BCN will never get this far in this article because they don't like the title or they don't like Bobby Tony and his sermons. That is the beauty of critical thinking and free choice.

    Conclusion: You don't have to agree with the publisher or the owner of a company to use their product or buy from their advertisers. If you or I always agreed on everything one of us would be unnecessary.GUESS WHO! The only effective way to make changes in the status quo is by revolution or ballot. A revolution can be a long protracted bloody battle, but the ballot occurs every two years or so. The entire system is based on individuals acting in their own best interest with the understanding that it is the right of others to do the same. Only when we refuse to allow others the same that we ask for ourselves does the system break down into a revolution.

ENJOY YOUR DAY


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Comments

( June 13th, 2017 @ 10:53 am )
 
I know the chef and the owner and neither will not disclose any of the recipes. Having said that, I think I will chance being identified as a far left wing diner at this fine establishment, regardless of of the editorial position of the newspaper.

For the record, both the owner and the chef are somewhere to the right of me on the political spectrum. They have to look over their left shoulder to see Genghis Khan.

Here are the pictures from that rag's review.

( June 12th, 2017 @ 11:05 am )
 
You can not go back. Study their menu and recreate it at home.

You must 6 degrees of separation from the "Brazelton Rag".

If you can not do this, we must "Impeach" you for your "non antifascist" behavior ...
( June 12th, 2017 @ 8:46 am )
 
Boy, what a dilemma I have now. My Favorite Bar opened another location which is an upscale restaurant in the center of Braselton. It was featured in that rag that I wrote this article about. What do I do now? I have eaten at Local Station several times, it was great, I loved it. I had planned go back again. But now that The Braselton News wrote an article about it and I don't like the political beliefs of the Co-Publisher, I have a problem.

Beyond that, does that mean I cannot go to my favorite bar because the owner allowed them to review his new location in a paper that allows the co-publisher to write his opinions in the OPINION page?

It gets worse, is it possible I am morphing into a SNOWFLAKE just because I disagree with the co-publisher's editorial. I just don't think it is fair for me to have to make these decisions, they interfere with my peace of mind. I have to go now, I just noticed that my neighbor is walking his dog and I do not want him to leave a deposit in my front yard.

It's hard being the watchdog for opposing opinions.WOE IS ME

( June 11th, 2017 @ 9:46 pm )
 
Bobby Tony, Keep straying with your online musings. BCN is a record of your more than occasional brilliance.



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