Long before the Chik-fil-A protests, the Westboro Baptist Church protesting at funerals of fallen US Soldiers, even before Cindy Sheehan camping out near former President George W. Bush's Crawford, Texas ranch, a man from New York was attacked for his "free speech."
His name was Jadakiss.
In 2004, he released the song "Why?" which features the now infamous lyrics "Why do n---- push pounds of powder? Why did Bush knock down the towers?"
Since I don't believe in censoring words, I am giving it out here. However, back then, half of US radio stations banned the song and/or bleeped out the word Bush.
On the Bill O'Reilly show back then, Jadakiss was ridiculed and slammed for those words and no one defended his free speech rights as they did during this year's Chik-fil-A outcry.
O'Reilly said back then that the Bush administration should sue him for the words, accusing him as a “smear merchant” and saying the Bush had a right to file a lawsuit for slander.
In a small way, O'Reilly was right and emotional, too. Regardless of what he said, if Jadakiss had NO PROOF, then he could have been sued for slander. To this day, a law suit was never filed.
There are reasons for this.
Yet, thinking of both the METAPHORICAL AND LITERAL interpretations that exist IN ART, I would give Jadakiss the benefit of the doubt for what he said in a metaphorical way.
And that is how it was.
I do not, again do not believe that Bush or any member of his administration planned to "knock down the towers."
But neither did Jadakiss.
This is what a USA Today article quoted him in July of 2004.USA TODAY-JADAKISS
“Jadakiss doesn’t really believe Bush ordered the towers destroyed-he says the line is a metaphor and that Bush should take the blame for the terrorist attacks because his administration didn’t do enough to stop it.
'They didn’t follow up on a lot of things properly,' says Jadakiss. 'It’s the President of the United States. The buck stops with him.”
In a note, Jadakiss also told USA Today back in 2004 that he registered to vote for the first time, supported John Kerry and wanted the mininum wage raised and more jobs created.
He is an American in every sense of the word.
Yet, when O’Reilly brought him up, Jadakiss was the one smeared and treated like garbage.
This is straight from the horse’s mouth. Would O’Reilly be offended if he understood that I may have called him a horse? I don’t know.
This is what he said back then. Fox News
“Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thanks for watching us tonight.
The smearing of America continues. That is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo." While the federal government is punishing lewd behavior on the public airwaves, something far worse is going unchallenged by the Feds. Slander, libel, and defamation have now become profit centers with weasels putting out vicious falsehoods and running to the banks with their blood money.
The latest atrocity is a rap song by a guy named Jadakiss, who is just a pitiful pawn being run by the huge Vivendi
Corporation, a French company that's distributing some of the most vile entertainment "Talking Points" has ever seen.
Here's Jadakiss's contribution to the Arts:
JADAKISS, RAPPER: Why would n***** push pounds and powder? Why did Bush knock down the towers? Why you around them cowards? Why Aaliyah have to take that flight? Why Halle have to let a white man pop her to get a Oscar? Why Denzel have to be crooked before he took it? Why they didn't make the CL6 with a clutch? And if you don't smoke, why the hell you reachin' for my dutch?
So, according to this smear merchant, President Bush is responsible for murdering 3,000 people and actress Halle Berry won an Academy Award because she had sex with a white man. This is freedom of speech?
So, it's impossible for famous people to sue and win defamation judgments, and the Vivendi Corporation knows it. Thus, slanderers are running wild, saying anything they want, no matter how despicable and getting paid for doing it.
The laws need to be changed. Somebody defames a public figure, that somebody in the corporation behind the smear should be held liable.
Both President Bush and Halle Berry should be able to sue Vivendi and Jadakiss for millions. Enough's enough. You have a movie grossing millions of dollars. It's filled with provable lies. You have best-selling books that defame and injure for no purpose other than profit. You have so-called music that spews hate and encourages criminal activity. And you thought Howard Stern was bad?
The Factor, of course, is boycotting everything Vivendi produces because it's a French corporation, but I urge every responsible American to make sure you're not holding its stock, symbol "V" victor on the New York exchange.
I also urge congress people and senators to draft legislation that would impose fines on companies that distribute provable defamation. That's the only way to bring the smear merchants down because business is good in their evil world, and they'll justify anything and everything.
There's no talking to these people. You got to hit them where it hurts — in the wallet.
And that's "The Memo."
O’Reilly has every right to get pissed off and call him out on his show, just how Jada kiss had every right to throw his own punch and call out Bush.
If anything, this was democracy at its finest, but to attack another in favor or against his speech rights is child’s play.
Many people want to call on the president of Chik-fil-A’s words as freedom of speech.
However, when there is speech that goes AGAINST yours, people get attacked.
Where were these same people so emotional on Cathy’s free speech rights when Jadakiss said his words?
The truth is that in America, people will always defend the speech that they agree with and attack the free speech they disagree with.
I find it ridiculous as an American that in 2012 people have not moved on.
In America there are two types of speeches: free speech and hate speech and under the constitution both are protected. As Americans, we have to accept that.
Speech is only criminalized when it incites violence or causes public danger. Such as speeches given to hate groups that later create DOMESTIC TERRORISM, as in the Sikh Temple attack in early August of 2012.
All speech is not good speech,just ask the Southern Poverty Law Center and they will tell you who are the groups that should be watched on so that they do not harm other people.
Is hate speech right.correct? No, but it is the devil we have to live with if we want to be a full democracy and not a partisan one.
However, if it is used to cause harm those need to be held accountable and given a trial for endangering the public-if it gets to that point.
But I do believe that we can move on and educate others to teach the difference between bigotry and speech.
Let us reflect today on the errors we have commited as Americans and begin a new era where we can prevent hate speech so that there can be less Americans dead and free of prejudice.
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