Xoff's BlogCommentary on state politics by Bill Christofferson, who often uses Xofferson or Xoff to shorten his 14-letter last name.
Christofferson, a recovered journalist and ex-political reporter, has been a Democratic strategist and consultant for 20 years and is now retired. He lives in Milwaukee. |
Marquette Prof. John McAdams, taking a brief respite from defending policies that lock up 10 times as many black people, per capita, as white, has taken offense at my recent post about Charlie Sykes's bullying of former we energies exec Dick Abdoo.
I'll have to thank Illusory Tenant for pointing that out. Can't say I'm a regular reader of McAdams's drivel. (If you're attacked and don't know it, does it make a sound?)
He was so taken with the comment of one Sykes fan who responded to my post on this blog that he reprinted it in its entirety. He didn't however, bother to reprint my responses, so I'll do that here:
There's a name for what Sykes did.
It's called bullying.
It is one thing to disagree with someone. It's quite another to try to silence them.
That's what Sykes did.
McAdams accuses me of having a double standard because -- get this -- I criticized Sykes and someone else who posts on this same site, R King, criticized Don Imus.
I'm hardly responsible for what RKing writes. I didn't write about Imus.
It seems to me the real double standard at work is to think it's OK for Sykes to use his 50,000-watt voice to silence Abdoo, which is what happened in the case I wrote about.
I'd be happy to tell McAdams that, and how to spell my name, in a comment on his blog. But, it turns out Free Speech/First Amendment advocate McAdams doesn't allow comments on his own blog. (Nor does Sykes, who's hyping McAdams's attack, too.)
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This is how it works.
Mr. Sykes’s radio station solicits funds to support Mr. Sykes’s radio program. Mr. Sykes has listeners and this gives him a certain amount of influence. He uses that influence to support his agenda.
You and your industry solicit funds to support advertising campaigns. Those ads are heard and seen all across the state and give you and your industry a certain amount of influence that you use to support your agenda.
I see very little difference between you and your industry and Mr. Sykes. Except Mr. Sykes steps up and takes responsibility for what he says. Here is the sad truth. Mr. Sykes, you and your industry only have as much power as we give you. If someone allows Mr. Sykes to silence them, shame on them. Apparently they do not value their freedom of speech. If the voters in Wisconsin allow you and your industry to influence their vote, shame on them. Apparently their vote is not worth the time it takes to find out the facts and make up their own mind.
Note: I am not a Sykes fan. I don’t recall every listening to his program. I am fan of our Country, the Constitution and the State of Wisconsin.
?
What industry are you talking about?
I am a retired political consultant. I suppose you could call politics an industry, but that's a new one on me.
Missing the point
The whole point of these posts, Mike, is that there is a difference between using your freedom of speech to disagree with someone and using your freedom of speech to try to take away theirs, by intimidating them and shutting them up.
Surely you can see that.
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