I read this article earlier today on the Las Vegas Sun website and was a little disturbed about the article as a whole. First of all, let me say that I don’t condone the assassination of world leaders as a viable foreign policy. Robertson is a media personality, and media personalities depend on strong opinions to polarize their listeners and create an audience, which is exactly what Robertson was attempting, I believe. Regardless, such comments could inflame an already touchy political situation, and are probably not in the best of judgement.
That said, let me turn to the part of the article that really bothered me. For an individual who advocates freedom of speech so vigorously, The Reverend Jesse Jackson’s comments concerning censorship were somewhat ironic. It irritates me that he would have the audacity to advocate the denial of first-amendment rights to anyone, no matter how inflammatory the individual’a comments might be. The Reverend’s comments send a clear message: freedom of speech should only be given to those who agree with his views and ideas. This comment betrays the very ideals Jackson claims to uphold. If those in power were to apply this same attitude of censorship to Jackson, he would have been silenced long ago. Jackson’s comments beg the question “does the Reverend still read his Bible?” Perhaps a refresher on the golden rule would do the Reverend Jesse Jackson some good.