Fred in Skirts wrote:My question is what happened to free speech??...
... If all she was doing was expressing her opinion then what of it.
At issue here is basically the same thing I grappled with during my debate with Food City over whether or not they were going to fire me for wearing skirts on my off time. Though they didn't fire me, I did basically hit the proverbial "ceiling" with regards to advancement, and despite how "good" everyone claims I am at repairing equipment, not one effort was made to retain me after my notice was tendered.
Some will argue that it comes down to ABC's (we'll just consider them "the employer" [0] for this example) right to stop funding a program, who's main character (the main "employee") said something that the network disagrees with, and which could cost them ratings and thus, advertising revenue. The same could be argued for Food City letting me go for skirt wearing, should it ever go viral. Their fear might be that the ultra-conservative demographic here might get their groceries somewhere else.
Oh wait a minute we do have free speech as long as it does not offend the liberals and Demorats.
Though I try to stay "middle of the road" with regards to political issues, I have to say, in my experience what you write here does indeed seem to be the case. The "left" is quick to come to ABC's defense in firing who they deem as "racist", supporting the networks "right" to do so, and yet cast stones at a conservative or Christian business for letting go on someone because the employee might have over-promoted some left wing cause, such as LGBT, abortion, etc etc...
I myself was hurt deeply when my former employer gave me so much grief over something as harmless as what I wear when I'm NOT at work. My view of "America" changed after that. It no longer struck me as a land of tolerance and virtue, rather I struggled with the thoughts and notions as the country I love being full of pure hatred and bigotry. It deeply effected my patriotism, and generally soured my view of western society.
However, even with all of that in mind, I still respected my employers right to do what they had to do to protect their bottom line. About 15,000 employees depend on K-VA-T for an income, and it would be selfish of me to force their hand in embracing what I do at the risk of lost business which would have led to store closures. Despite the constant advice I received to obtain legal counsel, I always refrained from such action, as I somewhat discussed here: (
click or link)
At any rate, I wouldn't fret... Something tells me this wont be the last time we'll be hearing from Roseanne Barr. I wouldn't be surprised if the FOX network picked her up, for perhaps someone produced additional "Netflix only" episodes.
[0] I understand Roseanne, like many other Hollywood stars operate on contract, not a traditional "employer/employee" relationship as the everyday Joe does, I only use these terms to help illustrate my point.