In the dumbest smear perhaps in history, one that proves the left struggles with basic language comprehension, The International Business Times claims Glenn compared Paula Deen to MLK. They needed quite a few {...} in between words to make that connection, but since when has a blatant falsehood ever stopped the left from attacking Glenn? Uh, never.
Beck, however, defended the 66-year-old chef, stating that her past use of the word was a “violation of political correctness, nothing more.” The New York Times bestseller continued to ask, “How can people advance if we suppress any thought?” adding, “I’m not putting the N-word into any category of great thought.” Beck did, however, compare Deen’s situation to that of historical figures such as Christopher Columbus and Martin Luther King Jr.“Where would the world be if Columbus and Magellan and other world explorers believed conventional wisdom and believed the world was flat. … Where would we be if Martin Luther King didn’t speak and challenge segregation? Where would we be if everyone in the world thought in the box?” Beck asked.
Now, it would be pretty stupid of Glenn to say that Deen was the same as MLK, right? We all know Glenn doesn't always say things in the most politically correct or eloquent manner, but does anything really think he would compare the foremost civil rights leader of our time to the cheese sandwich lady?
So what's the full context? Well, in a monologue using the Paula Deen story as a jumping off point - Glenn was talking about why it's important to make sure all voices are protected under free speech, not just the ones we all agree with. Why? Because sometimes you expose some real hatred, and other times you have profound ideas that might be controversial come to the surface.
Here's a longer version of the transcript the International Business Times decided to selectively pull - do you notice how many sentences are between the reference to MLK and Paula Deen are? (SPOILER: there are 189 words from the reference to MLK to Glenn talking about Paula Deen).
Okay, not cowardly. (Bill Maher) said that on ABC television six days after the World Trade Centers came down. He was fired for that 15-second clip. I was newly on talk radio nationwide, and I defended him. I defended him – not a popular stance, not something I did for ratings. Can you imagine…put yourself back. If you don’t remember this, put yourself back in those days. And here’s a guy on talk radio you’ve never heard of before saying wait a minute, wait a minute, you don’t fire him. He has the freedom to say those things.I took serious heat from Conservatives on talk radio for defending him then, but I stand on principle. And when you go down the road of suppression – suppression, discouraging people from speaking their minds, striking terror in the hearts, and being a slave to political correctness by making them all go away, you’re engaging in McCarthyism, and we regress as a society and become less free. Well, we can’t become much less free and still be free at all.
How can a people advance if we suppress any thought? How can we advance if we train people not to rock the boat? I want you to know, I’m not putting the N-word in any category close to great thought. But if man isn’t free to speak, if he is afraid to speak words, whether they are politically incorrect or because they are offensive or because they’re just not fashionable scientific thought, whether it be Darwinism or climate change or creationism, we stop being the nation we want to be and start being the nation people should fear.
Where would the world be if Columbus and Magellan and other world explorers believed conventional wisdom that the earth was flat, or they were told that’s it, you’re not going anywhere; to jail with you? Where would we be if Martin Luther King didn’t speak and challenge segregation and racism? Where would we be if everyone in the world thought in the box?
That’s why it’s important we defend our right to speech, and whenever you see it under assault, even the most and maybe especially in its most vile, disgusting speech, you have to stand up and make sure you defend people’s right to say it. That’s why I defended Bill Maher. That’s why I defended the Daily Show creator just a few weeks ago. She said something stupid, and I said back off. She has a right to say it.
That’s why I defended Shirley Sherrod. That’s why I defended the artist that did Piss Christ. That’s why I defended Keith Olbermann the whole time he was boycotting me. And that’s why I defended the “chink in the armor” guy at ESPN, the writer who was fired for using a phrase everybody uses.
I’m not defending what people say or what they do or how they live their life, but I am defending their right to do it, to say it, and to live their life that way. I for one am an American that is sick and tired of knee-jerk, PC mob reaction to the fragments and soundbites of people. Paula Deen could very well be a racist. I don’t know, but you don’t either. And here’s the thing, I don’t really care what Paula Deen said years ago in her private life. It has no impact on me or society whatsoever.
"Now, so you have the context of this monologue, I was talking about we have got to stop punishing speech; we have got to stop saying don't read these things," Glenn said.