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Kathy Griffin is bitchy, gossipy, name dropping
funny. Wildly successful, hangs out with amazing folks.
She was well aware of Don Trump for years and had been critical of his business practices. Then she posted a poorly conceived joke about him
and all hell broke loose. Blackballed, fired from CNN, cancelled engagements,
and under investigation from the DOJ for conspiracy to assassinate the
President of the United States – a charge that potentially carries a life
sentence. Add to this opioid addiction, suicide attempt and recent lung cancer
and you have the making of a Lifetime movie. Through it all she remained
resilient and optimistic.
I knew from the moment the controversy started
she would be targeted by Trump and company but the way her so called friends reacted revealed how shallow
those alliances were. All, this reaction was shockingly out of proportion to
the crime of satire.
Yes, satire. Normally, in the realm of politics
and culture Kathy Griffin hardly
gets noticed. She's viewed as smart ass comedian with minor success. That makes
her the perfect target for an attack on free speech, someone not particularly
influential or threatening.
Turns out, it's a bad idea to oppose the
Don, people discovered and she had very blunt opinions about him. Also, since the Joe Palmer/ Scooter Libby scandal, the government has been trying to erode freedom of speech and it seized on
the opportunity to go after her with the tacit assistance of
the very media that claims to defend civil rights.
Targeting the court jesters is a dangerous sign
of oppression. Free speech is about expressing unpopular ideas, pointing out
hypocrisy and phoniness. The Emperor has no clothes but the kid saying so will get the
shit kicked out of him.
Now that the Don is no longer in power, people are
coming out of hiding to offer her sympathy-- a weak attempt at apology-- for
all the tribulations she has gone through. She survived a hell of a ride and
she deserves praise for her perserverance despite the mass cancellation she
incurred by those too timid to call out the naked emperor and his false
followers.
"My little story is historic," she
said in a CBS News story in 2019. "Whether you like it or not, it's the
first time a sitting United States president has used the full power of the
Oval Office, the first family, the right-wing media and, more importantly, two
departments within the Department of Justice to open an investigation on a
private citizen who did nothing wrong. Didn't violate the First Amendment,
didn't break the law. "
The
joke was a mistake but the mistaken reaction put the right to
speak our mind at further risk.
Kathy Griffin, free speech, Don ald Trump, CNN, DOJ
