A couple of folks sent me links to articles about Rush Limbaugh defending, for example, Bill Maher after Maher was fired from ABC. They were pretty self-serving defenses, much as Maher's have been of some of Limbaugh's excesses. When I was wondering about people defending the Free Speech of those with whom they disagree, I guess I wasn't thinking about that kind of thing. I suppose anyone who traffics in excessive partisanship has a personal interest in not seeing others getting fired for excessive partisanship.
Pundits on TV and radio are sometimes fired or suspended for saying vile or offensive things. I suspect they are more often fired for having weak ratings, and that the vile thing they said just hastened their departure. MSNBC axed Martin Bashir and Alec Baldwin for outrageous things they said. Would they have been ousted if anyone had been watching their shows? I think it's pretty common knowledge that when Maher was bounced off ABC, the network had already been looking for a way to get him off their schedule…in that case, not so much because of ratings as because the parent corporation just plain didn't want to be in the controversy business.
That's a very lucrative business these days. I wish there wasn't so much dough in being outraged and denouncing whatever you think your audience wants to see you denounce. We might get some honest debate…and people who saw value in arriving on common ground. But nobody wants to get to that because there's no money in it.
Don't write me on this topic. I'm going to stop thinking about this stuff for the holidays.