Does a college student have a right to free speech on Facebook? Buck Burnette exercised incredibly poor judgment when he apparently displayed either blatant prejudice or an ignorant sense of humor. But should he have been dimissed from the University of Texas football team?
The Austin American-Statesman has reported that Buck was dismissed from the team due to remarks he made on his Facebook page about President-elect Obama.
The backup center Buck Burnette apparently updated the Facebook page shortly after Obama's election and allegedly wrote that hunters should get their guns. The page has been deleted from Facebook but not before it apparently scarred some readers. Burnette apparently recognized his mistake and wrote an apology that said, "Clearly I was in the wrong for what I did and I apologize for being a sore loser."
The Austin American-Statesman has reported that Buck was dismissed from the team due to remarks he made on his Facebook page about President-elect Obama.
The backup center Buck Burnette apparently updated the Facebook page shortly after Obama's election and allegedly wrote that hunters should get their guns. The page has been deleted from Facebook but not before it apparently scarred some readers. Burnette apparently recognized his mistake and wrote an apology that said, "Clearly I was in the wrong for what I did and I apologize for being a sore loser."
Will the ACLU jump to the defense of the 6-2, 305-pound Burnette? If not, would they have defended a woman or a person of color if they were kicked off a college team for saying something stupid about President George Bush? This is not to condone Burnette's actions, which at best demonstrated horrible judgment. At worst it showed that he is ignorant. But the real question remains, does someone have a right to free speech in this country or not?
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14 comments:
He has a cavaliere attitude and only appologized because he was caught, in my view. But he probably has the same rights as everyone else...
Stupid is as stupid does!
6'2" idiot.
M-o-r-o-n
Okey, the guy is a jerk. But does he have the right to say what he said without getting kicked off the team?
Keep in mind this is Texas, home of all kinds of crazies. Consider the following:
CAR ACCIDENT IN TEXAS...
Turn up your sound; and click on the website below. The accident occurred in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area. This is a phone call from a man who witnesses the accident involving four elderly women. It was so popular when they played it on C.H.U.M. FM, they put it on the their website. The guy's laugh is contagious. Just close your eyes and picture what he sees.
Click here: http://www.chumfm.com/MorningShow/bits/march24.swf
Race rearing its ugly head again.
One of the people who claimed to have seen Burnette’s original post said he wrote "Hunters should get their guns because a COON broke into the White House."
I think people should have the freedom to say what they want, but you cant control what other people HEAR.
What I HEAR is HATE.
Talking about hunting someone like a wild animal is definitely racist. Buck is essentially commissioning a lynch mob to kill this black man solely because he's black.
Someone else may read this and write it off as stupidity. But for ME this statement is inflammatory, insensitive, hateful, and nefarious.
He got what he deserved!!! F him.
Secret. I am with you. It is bigotry. But I am not so sure a school should punish him. I have defended many a brother for speaking his mind and getting consequences. Just not real sure on this one.
May God have mercy on Mr. Buck's soul and enlighten him on the Lord's love.
J.J.
People are always saying crazy things about Bush and there is apparently nothing wrong with that. One football player makes a crazy comment about Obama and he gets kicked off the team. Seems like free speech applies to liberals, but not their adversaries. Obama should meet with this kid and get him reinstated ASAP. Obama is above playing the race card and will probably do this.
What a great move that would be on Obama's part. It would show the redneck's that he is truely a greater man then what he is being credited as.
SECRETS,
You are lame, dropping the race card at every chance you get. Liberals say worse about Bush all the time, with no punishment, which is appropriate. Figure it out please, because Obama will soon be President of the US.
Obama Mama
Obama Mama, let's not make it personal. No, racism is not good. But what no one wants to address is whether this is freedom of speech.
Obama Mama, you’re naïve and uninformed.
Read what he originally wrote. The term coon is an ethnic slur against black people. It’s derived from the practice of using coonhounds (dogs trained to hunt raccoons) to recapture escaped black slaves. It also comes from the term baracoons (a cage), where they used to place Africans, who were waiting to be sent to America to be slaves.
With regard to our new black President elect, he was able to transcend racial stereotypes but not racism itself. Racism is alive and well. And what that boy said is racist!!!!
I don’t recall reading about any liberals referencing Bush using racial slurs.
To address the issue of free speech, he has the freedom to say what he wants, but it doesn’t make him right.
I think there should be consequences for spreading hate.
And apparently I’m not alone in this feeling because others have lost their positions for saying similar things.
Story below.
The derogatory term "coon" was used, evidently accidentally, by a rookie radio talk show host who says he meant to use the word "coup" while discussing the possibility of Condoleezza Rice becoming NFL commissioner one day. The slip cost him his job, but Rice forgave him:
"On his show, Lenihan said: 'She's been chancellor of Stanford. She's got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She's African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that.' "
I don't feel da man should lose his job over a slip of the tounge. Even I do that. But the racist football player, he deserves what he gets. No mistake to type it on MYSpace.
Rommie
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