During the broadcast of his AM talk radio show Thursday evening, former one-term Republican Congressman Joe Walsh live-tweeted that he was being censored by his radio station from having an “honest conversation” about racial slurs. Walsh felt that the station was practicing a double standard by allowing him to use the term ‘redskin’ when discussing the ongoing controversy over the name of Washington’s NFL franchise, but would not let him use his airtime to say other racial slurs, particularly the N-word.
Apparently, Walsh persisted in trying to use other racial slurs on-air, even after the general manager told him the words were verboten and to cease his attempts. Walsh then claimed his show was pulled off the air early and he was sent home. His status as of Thursday night was uncertain, but he tweeted that he should know something by 5 PM Friday, when his show next airs.
Below are his succession of tweets detailing the events.
The station keeps cutting me off. I don’t know why
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) June 19, 2014
And here comes to the General Manager. It appears I can say Redskins, which is supposedly offensive, but when I say other words, commercial
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) June 19, 2014
I’m trying to have an honest, adult conversations about words without resorting to alphabet soup phrases(C-word, N-word, etc)
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) June 19, 2014
If Redskins is just like the “n-word” why can I say Redskins on-air without being dumped out into a commercial?
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) June 19, 2014
And just been informed I am off the air until further notice
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) June 19, 2014
Just got kicked off the air until further notice. Tried to have honest discussion about racist terms and management censored my language.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) June 20, 2014
About to drive home. Yes, management took me off the air tonight. I’ll explain more in a little bit. Thanks for support.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) June 20, 2014
Found out if I said Redskins or Cracker or Redneck Bible Thumper, I could stay on. But if I said Nigger or Spick, they cut me off.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) June 20, 2014
Tried to talk about racial slurs tonight. Radio station sent me home. Don’t know what’s going to happen next. We’ll find out Friday at 5pm.
— Joe Walsh (@WalshFreedom) June 20, 2014
Where should we begin? First off, we already know that Walsh is going to claim he had his 1st Amendment rights trampled on by the radio station’s management. He tweeted that he was censored. It always seems like Tea Party-types, a la Sarah Palin, claim that their free speech is being taken away whenever someone is criticized over their words, or somebody gets a TV show or radio gig canceled for saying something dumb and/or offensive. Here’s the deal. Walsh can say whatever he wants without fear of reprisal from the federal government, as long as he is not issuing a direct threat at somebody. However, that freedom doesn’t provide him the right to be given a forum to speak. He has the freedom to say what he wants, but his speech is not free from consequences.
Another thing — what is it with white conservatives and their specific desire to say the N-word? Not only that, but say it without anyone getting offended? It seems like there is just this insatiable appetite with certain right-wingers that can’t be tempered until they can spout off racial slurs willy nilly in front of minorities without the fear of retaliation. Recently, we saw Glenn Beck and a conservative ‘artist’ bemoan the fact that they can’t get away with saying the N-word or homophobic slurs, blaming it all on political correctness and the “thought police.”
Finally, there is the whole false equivalency thing with Walsh’s argument. Like it or not, the name of Washington’s football team is the Redskins. While the term is offensive and the team should change its name, you aren’t going to see the level of discomfort or anger by saying ‘redskin’ right now, especially since their is an ongoing debate on the use and appropriateness of it. To just make a blanket proclamation that because you can get away with saying one slur due to the special circumstances surrounding it, you should then be able to say any other slur without consequence, is taking obtuseness to a whole other level.
Then again, we aren’t really dealing with someone who is known for subtlety of thought, empathy towards minorities or taking responsibility for his own actions. This is a man who squelched on his child support while he was in Congress. Then, after being soundly defeated by Tammy Duckworth in 2012, he tried to get the court to lower his child support payments because he was “unemployed through no fault of his own.” One of the big reasons Walsh was defeated in 2012, besides the revelations he was a deadbeat dad, was his claim that Duckworth, who lost both her legs serving in Iraq, isn’t a true war hero.
Since leaving office, Walsh has continued to make moronic and offensive statements, possibly to gain attention, but also just as likely because he doesn’t know any better. After the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, Walsh said that all young Muslim men needed to be racially profiled. A month prior to that, he said that Americans are stupid and lazy and Democrats just want to keep blacks and Latinos dependent on the government so as to keep them “on the government plantation.”
It seems like a very real possibility that Walsh will be fired. However, with his track record, one has to wonder why the radio station hired him in the first place.
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