From the network that continually yells "Fire!" in a crowded room full of wingnuts day after day. Megyn Kelly, who is an attorney, seems to be a bit confused about that whole "freedom of speech" thing if this little rant at the beginning of her show this Wednesday is any indication.
Kelly did her best to help right-wing extremist Pamela Geller to continue to play the poor oppressed conservative victim card and pretend that there's anyone out there stifling her right to free speech because they criticized the actions of her group immediately after the shooting this week -- while simultaneously telling her critics to shut the hell up and to "wait a beat" until "after the crime scene has been cleared."
I think the crime scene has been "cleared," Kelly. Like that would make an ounce of difference to this harpie anyway. I've also seen Geller on at least six or eight different television appearances over the last few days -- and I'm sure I've missed a few -- so just how exactly is anyone preventing her from spreading her bile?
If that's what being told to sit down and shut up looks like, I'm sure there are a lot of liberals out there who are never allowed on television that would love to have their "freedom" "oppressed" in the same manner.
From Fox's blog: Megyn: If This Is Where U.S. Stands on Free Speech, the Jihadis Are Winning:
On "The Kelly File" tonight, Megyn Kelly reacted to the disturbing fallout from a terror attack on a Muhammad cartoon contest in Garland, Texas.
Almost immediately after the attack, people began criticizing the organizers of the event, not the gunmen, for using their right to free speech to incite violence.
"Over the last 72 hours, we have heard the event organizers condemned as being too provocative, too stupid, even for inviting their own attempted murder," Megyn said.
"If this is where American sentiment stands on this issue, then the jihadis are officially winning," Megyn said, pointing out that the terrorists' goal was to shut people up.
"There may be a time and place to discuss whether this kind of discourse is helpful to our country, to our fight with the jihadis and so on," Megyn said. "But within hours of an attempted murder of the very folks under attack, the reaction is, 'Well, you asked for it.'"
"Well, they did not ask for it. In this country, we have every right to say what we want to say about Muhammad or anyone else for that matter. And the rest of society can condemn this group's speech as a matter of decorum, but how about waiting a beat until the crime scene has been cleared?"
Megyn asserted that by rushing to attack those who were targeted, the press drew a moral equivalence between those who speak words some find offensive and those who would kill over such words.
Uh... no they haven't. Every outlet out there condemned the shooting and defended Geller's right to say what she said. That doesn't mean they don't have a right to criticize her at the same time.
The "jihadis are winning" as long as we've got propaganda outlets like Fox out there doing their best to help them keep our population terrorized. They ignore the majority of the shootings that happen every single day in the United States, but as soon as you can attach the words terrorism, or Muslims, or Jihad to the crime scene, it's suddenly a national emergency that we must remedy immediately or we're all going to die.
And one last note on Kelly whining about Geller and her right to free speech -- what John Cole said..
Just because you have first amendment rights guaranteed by the Constitution doesn’t mean that actions don’t have consequences. Crazy people react… crazily. Saying obnoxious things can have real world consequences. Pointing that out doesn’t make me a wimp or a coward, it makes me sentient.
Go read the rest.
