QandO

July 21, 2004

Ignorant rant
Posted by McQ

Well hopefully not on my part, but certainly on Michael Moore's part. In case you missed it, Moore felt compelled to defend his fellow traveler, Linda Ronstadt in a letter to Bill Timmons of the Aladdin Hotel (my next stop the next time I visit Vegas).

In the letter Moore, as usual, gets it wrong, or perhaps better said, only half right (which is also typical of Moore).

What country do you live in? Last time I checked, Las Vegas is still in the United States. And in the United States, we have something called "The First Amendment." This constitutional right gives everyone here the right to say whatever they want to say. All Americans hold this right as sacred. Many of our young people put on a uniform and risk their lives to defend it. My film is all about asking the questions that should have been asked before those brave soldiers were sent into harms way.

You notice he also got a plug in for his film.

What did he get half right? Well the fact that you have "the right to say whatever" you "want to say". What he forgot, of course, is that you are also responsible for whatever you say and your words can have consequences. "Fire", crowded theater, etc.

He also cites the First Amendment. Like many Constitutional pseudo-scholars, Moore seems ignorant of the fact that the First Amendment right to free speech protects your speech from government interference.

Let me say that again. The Founders ensured, through the First Amendment, that you would enjoy the right to speak out against your government and the government would do nothing to stop you.

Now I don't recall Bill Timmons being in charge of a government agency called the Aladdin Hotel. What Timmons did was perfectly within is rights as a property and business owner. He removed someone who had upset his customers (much like Ms. Goldberg and Slim Fast) and essentially made her take responsbility for her unwelcome remarks. Moore, as does Ms. Goldberg, thinks this is a violation of their right to "free speech". Both are wrong.

For you to throw Linda Ronstadt off the premises because she dared to say a few words in support of me and my film, is simply stupid and Un-American. Frankly, I have never heard of such a thing happening. I read that you wouldn't even let her go back up to her room at your hotel! Are you crazy? For crying out loud, it was a song DEDICATION! To "Desperado!" Every American loves that song! Sure, some people didn't like the dedication, and that's their right. But neither they nor you have the right to remove her from your building when all she did was exercise her AMERICAN right to speak her mind.

Thunder buns is wrong again. Timmons has the exclusive right to remove Ronstadt (or any other disruptive influence) from his business. Un-American? Nope, very American. In fact the right to property is one of the most important rights Americans have. She exercised her American right to speak out and Timmons exercised his American right to make her leave his property. I don't see the problem.

Some day the Mound of Mendacity will get something right ... but I wouldn't hold my breath until then. If you do you're going to be very, very blue.

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