Back in the 1980's, there was a group called the Moral Majority, run by the late preacher Jerry Falwell Sr. I was not a fan of the Moral Majority, they wanted to ban music and entertainment options that I enjoyed. What was their ruse for banning and cancelling things? Protecting Traditional Family Values under the guise of Christianity. It was easier to ban things in the 80's, all the Moral Majority had to do was concentrate on a few network TV outlets, radio networks, and some large record companies.
Moral Majority by the Dead Kennedys (1983)
You call yourself the Moral Majority
We call ourselves the people in the real world
Trying to rub us out, but we're going to survive
God must be dead if you're alive
Today, there's radio, satellite radio, network TV, streaming TV, cable TV, and the music business has splinted into a hundred different directions. Opponents of Free Speech have to work HARDER to get their message across, meaning radicalizing their message.
One of BEST places to get a cross section of entertainment options is the streaming network Netflix. They have a little sprinkle of all types of entertainment, including Bollywood, Korean, and Latin options, which aren't always easily accessible in American markets.
Somehow, someway, the increasingly delusional Kevin Fallon thinks Netflix is the PROBLEM???Fallon rolled out with this article: How Did Neflix Fuck up the Dave Chappell Backlash This Badly? Long story short, Kevin Fallon believes there is room for the musings of Hannah Gadsby on the comedy landscape, but not for Dave Chappelle.
"Not only is (Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos) refusing to denounce anything in the (Chappelle) special. Not only is he actually defending the special. He is mounting a full-on, rah-rah Free Speech manifesto around it." - Kevin Fallon
Ummm, yeah. A network with Hannah Gadsby and Dave Chappelle on it? That's the definition of a Free Speech Platform. Kevin Fallon should be celebrating strong Black voices. At our core, we are a free speech website, what would I ban, or denounce, currently on Netflix? Nothing.
[That's not entirely true. Back in 2015, Adam Sandler's Ridiculous 6 rolled out on Netflix and it was atrocious. But here's the point, I wasn't offended by it, I didn't care about its message, I didn't catch any subtext, it was just bad. It was rated at 0% by the Critics and 34% by the Audience on Rotten Tomatoes. Was it so bad that I considered cancelling Netflix? Almost. But both Netflix and Adam Sandler have stepped their game up since that debacle. But I never considered writing an article asking you to boycott Neflix, I just considered dropping it for another streaming network with better content.]
What is going on with Kevin Fallon and his ilk is that they are trying to use the Moral Majority model of censorship in an increasingly cluttered media landscape. What is their ruse for banning and cancelling things? Protecting Americans from Hate Speech under the guise of LGBTQ+ RIghts.
It's really that simple.
If you really believe in Free Speech, you can see the similarities in the attack models of both Fallon and Falwell.
True hate speech is but a tiny sliver of all speech, Fallon is trying to expand the definition of hate speech to everything right of center. A generation ago, Falwell tried to expand the definition of non-family values to everything left of center.
Comments