Glenn is not exactly a sports aficionado, and he typically shies away from conversations on the topic. But on radio this morning, Glenn reacted to the controversy surrounding the negative tweets sent out by Miami Dolphins safety Don Jones about Michael Sam, the first openly gay player to be drafted by a NFL franchise. Regardless of how you feel about Jones’ tweets, Glenn couldn’t help but ask: “Can we stop driving people out of society for having a different opinion?”
Shortly after the St. Louis Rams selected Sam in the seventh round on Saturday, Jones tweeted “OMG” and “Horrible.” The tweets were ultimately taken down. As TheBlaze reported, Jones apologized for his comments Sunday and described them as inappropriate. He has been fined an undisclosed amount Sunday and has been excused from all team activities until he completes educational training related to his comments.
ESPN was carrying the draft on its network, and after the Rams selected Sam the camera focused on him kissing his boyfriend. As Pat and Stu described, it is not uncommon for draftees to be seen hugging and kissing family, friends, or significant others. Stu did admit, however, the coverage of Sam seemed a bit superfluous.
“They decided to stick with an extensive PDA between Michael Sam and his boyfriend,” Stu said. “It seemed like this more extensive than was usual. But [ESPN] probably stayed with it longer because, you know, the historic nature of it.”
When you consider the story from last week involving brothers David and Jason Benham being let go from HGTV because of their Christian views on marriage and abortion, Glenn wondered if we are still a nation that allows for the free exchange of ideas.
“Here's the thing. We have got to stop. I don't care if it's a gay person or religious person or atheist person. We have got to stop driving others that we disagree with out of the marketplace,” Glenn said. “We were saying this a long time before Barack Obama got into office. You've got to stop trying to boycott people that you disagree with… We are one step away from book burning.”
Glenn believes the outrage surrounding Jones’ remarks is just the latest example of the pendulum swinging too far, too fast.
“Stu brought up the thing about the pendulum I've been talking about it for a long time. The pendulum swings back and forth,” Glenn said. “You go from conservative to liberal, conservative to liberal. And it swings back and forth. But the swings are becoming so dramatic.”
“If you want to disagree with me, you can disagree with me all you want. That's your right. But let's make the standard of not driving the other point of view out of business, out of the public square, and into the shadows,” he concluded. “I have a right to free speech. I have a right to worship my god, and I have a right to practice that religion out in the open. And if you don't like it, that's fine. But what's happened is the government and the media have become one, and they are driving people out of the public square.”
Front page image courtesy of the AP
Morningstar via Investopedia