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Post by swarm on Oct 3, 2011 18:32:39 GMT -5
ESPN has dropped Hank Williams Jr. and his MNF opening after the country singer compared Obama to Hitler. content.usatoday.com/communities/gameon/post/2011/10/ready-for-some-controversy-hank-williams-compares-golf-with-obama-to-hitler/1Look, we get it. Obama is a total joke as a President, but that doesn't make him (or anyone else) Hitler. When will people STOP comparing people to Hitler? NOTHING ever good comes from it yet it still happens all the time. And honestly, what Hank said isn't even that bad. But in today's PC world, big corporations are put into really bad positions when something like this happens. If they don't drop Hank, all the bleeding heart Libs go nuts and boycott ESPN, bringing a bunch of bad pub to them. You can't say anything anymore without people freaking out and it's just not something ESPN can afford to fight. It's stupid for him to put himself and ESPN is that position. Poor choice of words for sure. I totally feel like Hank W and everyone else should be FREE to say what they want, but in the super sensitive PC world we live in, he put ESPN in a no win situation. |
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Post by Jon E Diamond on Oct 3, 2011 19:09:09 GMT -5
While I get tired of the politically incorrect BS taken to the extreme, I find it terrible and wrong to compare Obama to Hitler. Obama is a human being who made a mistake in office (okay a lot of mistakes, and he's still making them, but that's a different story). If you are foolish enough to compare Obama, Bush, Clinton, or any US president to Hitler, you deserve everything you have coming to you.
With that being said, if he or anyone had compared Bush or Clinton to Hitler, they may not have been so quick to ban him from MNF.
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Post by marktaggart on Oct 3, 2011 19:26:14 GMT -5
What ESPN did was as bad as Hit.....waitaminute. I've always said the Hitler comparison in any situation is just plain lazy and lacks creativity; he could've gone for the "love child of Jimmy Carter and Hugo Chavez" slam dunk but I suppose Hitler is just easier. I understand all that Jack Daniels tends to numb the wit, though.
We either have free speech or we don't. It's an all or nothing thing. He has the right to say that, and ESPN has the right to sever ties with him because of it. I definitely want EVERYONE to have the right to voice their opinion, no matter how unpopular; that gives me a fair chance to know what someone is really thinking and who to avoid. Tell them they can't and that's when people are at their most dangerous. Hidden and unspoken motives kill, loud zealots and ne'er do wells left unchecked never know when to shut up. That makes them quite a bit easier to defend against.
PS: Jon E is right: Had he said that about the last president he'd have been in the clear. In fact, he might have gotten a raise. Don't get me wrong; I'm no fan of that guy either (FAR from it), but I have noticed there is a double standard at play.
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Post by swarm on Oct 3, 2011 19:34:59 GMT -5
While I get tired of the politically incorrect BS taken to the extreme, I find it terrible and wrong to compare Obama to Hitler. Obama is a human being who made a mistake in office (okay a lot of mistakes, and he's still making them, but that's a different story). If you are foolish enough to compare Obama, Bush, Clinton, or any US president to Hitler, you deserve everything you have coming to you. I agree with your whole post, but in Hank's defense, he didn't really compare Obama to Hitler in the sense that would normally be found offensive. He simply made a comment about two enemies playing golf together and compared Obama playing with House Speaker John Boehner to Hitler playing with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Really innocent, honestly. The problem is the one word word he used "Hitler" and he used it when talking about the untouchable Obama. With that being said, if he or anyone had compared Bush or Clinton to Hitler, they may not have been so quick to ban him from MNF. Exactly. It's the Liberal PC double standard. Bush was called Hitler for 8 years and Republicans simply said it was inappropriate and childish. They also said people had a right to their silly opinions. We don't have to speculate. We know how we would have responded because Bush was called more hateful things than Mr. Obama ever will. And those on the right did not react like hysterical 8 year old girls. That's a liberal thing. The show Family Guy, written by a Liberal homosexual can compare McCain/Palin to Nazis and that's ok. Repulican's shrug it off. I tend to find that Republicans are more mature than Liberals. They definitely have thicker skin. Extreme Liberal followers of Obama simply make the most noise, and draw a ton of negative attention to anyone who even remotely supports anyone who says anything against the things they support. And that unfortunately puts a lot of innocent bystanders in tough situations. In this case, ESPN. It's nothing new. Say anything you want about Bible-thumpers, right-wing nuts, tea-baggers or rednecks...But don't you dare say anything about minorities, gays or liberals. It is not right to be calling anyone foul names, but it'd be nice if there was at least a level playing field when it comes to holding people and their insensitive comments responsible. But, there isn't. But that's the PC world we live in. Sad. |
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Post by TTX on Oct 3, 2011 19:51:05 GMT -5
Have to agree with everything that's said. It's a reflection of the U.S. today and it's not a positive one by any means. We saw Bush compared to Hitler (and Bin Laden...my workplace still has a cartoon with the two being compared on it) The worst US President simply can't be compared to those two. However, the reference definitely seems a lot more innocent, but ESPN would have gotten more of a whiplash for keeping him.
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Post by marktaggart on Oct 4, 2011 13:10:48 GMT -5
Hey, like a "good American" I (stupidly) commented on this last night before seeing the clip in question. He didn't compare Pres-O to Hitler! He first stated he didn't like ANY of the Republican frontrunners then he said having Boehner and Obama playing golf together was like Hitler and Netanyahu hanging out. He never actually designated which one was which. There was no direct comparison, but there was a direct overreaction. Again, invoking the "H" guy is never a good idea, but it seems quite a bit of much ado about absolutely nothing.
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Post by Phoenix on Oct 5, 2011 10:31:31 GMT -5
I thought it was awful . Bush got compared to Hitler, difference is most all of those people were loons protesting in the street. Hank Williams jr. is a celebrity. I didn't vote for Obama, i don't like a lot of political things he does...but i don't hate him, and he's not comparable to Adolph Hilter. The extremists in our country are destroying. It's been going on ever since Bush became President in a dsiputed election, and cable tv perpetuates it day in and day out demonizing each other. We use to have President's who were elected with 55-60% of the vote, and the country came together behind them. I'm afraid we'll never see those days again.
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Post by Mike M on Oct 5, 2011 10:54:56 GMT -5
We use to have President's who were elected with 55-60% of the vote, and the country came together behind them. I'm afraid we'll never see those days again. Based on this President's poll numbers, never say never. Regarding Williams' comments: they were dumb when considering that he's a public figure. He certainly had the right to say what he said, but public figures (especially those of conservative sympathies) are held to a higher standard. While I agree that President Bush was unfairly (IMO) labeled with a great number of offensive monikers, I really wish that the political community (along with the media) would knock off the b.s. over-the-top name-calling. Pipe dream, I know. |
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Post by payback on Oct 6, 2011 16:35:21 GMT -5
I think his comparison actually made sense -- he didn't compare Obama to Hitler, but Hank Williams Jr. isn't some naive 16 yr old. He should know that mentioning the current president (whoever it may be at the time) and a man who was responsible for murdering 12 million people isn't something you should be doing on television. It's just common sense. When can people just stop saying the name Hitler?
I don't think it has anything to do with being a Republican or Democrat. Any corporation who is affiliated with someone who says that in a public forum has to cut ties. I'm pretty sure people on both sides of the political spectrum wouldn't be too happy with those comments. Hank should have known better and used a better comparison.
I don't even like the term PC. It doesn't have anything to do with politics. It really is just being considerate of people. Yes it is taken to extremes at times, but so is everything else.
Moving on from the political stuff, I think they should bring back the old school MNF football theme. I liked it better than Hank's "Rowdy friends" song anyways.
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Post by swarm on Oct 20, 2011 8:58:19 GMT -5
Bryant Gumble (a black Democrat) calls David Stern (a white Republican) a "plantation owner" and nobody calls for his job.
Nobody.
Just sayin'
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