Another case of politically bred stupidity

[]LoL[Harm]

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" align=center dwcopytype="CopyTableCell"><TBODY><TR align=left><TD>Tim Robbins vs. the Baseball Hall of Fame<!-- #EndEditable -->
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Dale Petroskey, the president of the Baseball Hall of Fame, recently announced that he was canceling a scheduled 15th-anniversary celebration of the movie Bull Durham that was to take place at the Hall at the end of April because of antiwar comments made by Robbins. We think the following exchange says it all.

National Baseball Hall of Fame
April 7, 2003

Mr. Tim Robbins

Dear Mr. Robbins:

The President of the United States, as this nation's democratically-elected leader, is constitutionally bound to make decisions he believes are in the best interests of the American people. After months of careful deliberations, President Bush made the decision that it is in our nation's best interests to end the brutal regime of Saddam Hussein, and to disarm Iraq of deadly weapons which could be used against its enemies, including the United States. In order to accomplish this, nearly 300,000 American military personnel are in harm's way at the moment. From the first day we opened our doors in 1939, The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum--and many players and executives in Baseball's family--has honored the United States and those who defend our freedoms.

In a free country such as ours, every American has the right to his or her own opinions, and to express them. Public figures, such as you, have platforms much larger than the average American's, which provides you an extraordinary opportunity to have your views heard--and an equally large obligation to act and speak responsibility. We believe your very public criticism of President Bush at this important--and sensitive--time in our nation's history helps undermine the US position, which ultimately could put our troops in even more danger. As an institution, we stand behind our President and our troops in this conflict.

As a result, we have decided to cancel the April 26-27 programs in Cooperstown commemorating the 15th anniversary of Bull Durham.

Sincerely,

Dale Petroskey
President

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Tim Robbins

April 9, 2003

Dear Mr. Petroskey,

As an American and as a baseball fan, I was dismayed to read your letter canceling my appearance at the Baseball Hall of Fame due to my public criticism of President Bush. I had been unaware that baseball was a Republican sport. I was looking forward to a weekend away from politics and war to celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of Bull Durham. I am sorry that you have chosen to use baseball and your position at the Hall of Fame to make a political statement. I know there are many baseball fans that disagree with you and even more that will react with disgust to realize baseball is being politicized.

As an American who believes that vigorous debate is necessary for the survival of a democracy, I reject your suggestion that one must be silent in time of war. To suggest that my criticism of the President puts the troops in danger is absurd. If people had listened to that twisted logic we'd still be in Vietnam. I must remain skeptical of the war plans of Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, all of whom have never been in battle, one of whom skirted service in Vietnam for a cushy stateside job. It does not surprise me that these men, in their current federal budget have cut $844 million dollars from Veteran's health care. Yes, let's support the troops. For Life.

I wish you had, in your letter, saved me the rhetoric and talked honestly about your ties to the Bush and Reagan Administrations. You are using what power you have to infringe upon my rights to free speech and by taking this action hope to intimidate the millions of others that disagree with our president. In doing so, you expose yourself as a tool, blinded by partisanship and ambition. You invoke patriotism and use words like freedom in an attempt to intimidate and bully. In doing so, you dishonor the words patriotism and freedom and dishonor the men and women who have fought wars to keep this nation a place where one can freely express one's opinion without fear of reprisal or punishment. Your subservience to your friends in the administration is embarrassing to baseball and by engaging in this enterprise you show that you belong with other cowards and ideologues in the Hall of Infamy and Shame.

Long live democracy, free speech and the '69 Mets; all improbable glorious miracles that I have always believed in. Sincerely, Tim Robbins

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[Swifty_Johnson]

Actually they should have held the celebration, and just cancelled Robbin's appearence. That is their right.

Swifty

[Figtoria]

I love Tim Robbins.

He was so hot in that Robert Altman movie, "The Player."

[Allison]

Don't be too hard on the guy, Harm. He issued a statement about a week later which included the following:
There was a chance of politics being injected into The Hall during these sensitive times, and I made a decision to not take that chance. But I inadvertently did exactly what I was trying to avoid. With the advantage of hindsight, it is clear I should have handled the matter differently.<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O:P> </O:P>
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I am sorry I didn't pick up the phone to have a discussion with Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon rather than sending them a letter.

And yes, it's their right, Swifty, but you're missing the hypocrisy of it. Petroskey has said he cancelled the event because he didn't want to politicize baseball. But, his reasons for cancelling it were all political. It's absurd in the extreme.

[Eiru]

Ah, baseball! What a wonderful diversion from the problems we face in everyday life!

[Swifty_Johnson]

I didn't miss the hypocrisy of it, the event should have never been cancelled, just the appearance of Robbins at the event. Yes, Petroskey playing politics is just wrong, as he ended up punishing lots of people who did not share Robbin's extreamist views.

Swifty

[Allison]

I must be missing your point, Swifty.

You say it was wrong for Petroskey to play politics. But it would have been OK had he not cancelled the event, and instead just banned the stars for their political views? The hypocrisy still exists, under both scenarios.

[Swifty_Johnson]

No, to keep the event from being political, you ban the star that would make it political.

Swifty

[Allison]

Then you do miss the hypocrisy. If he had banned the stars for political reasons, because of their political views, that's hypocrisy. Banning the stars for politcal reasons doesn't take politics out of the event, it politicizes it.

If Petroskey's intention was to keep politics out of it, the only thing he could have done would have been to contact Sarandon and Robbins and ask them not to make political speeches. If he didn't trust their word, he could have asked them to sign a contract to that effect. If that still wasn't good enough, he could have issued a statement saying, in effect, "I don't believe they will respect my wishes for a politics-free event, so I've cancelled ... [either their appearance or the event]."

But, there is a huge difference between saying, "This is a politics-free zone, please respect that," and "This is a politics-free zone for you, but not for me."

[Swifty_Johnson]

The problem with free speech is, you cannot controll it.

If he was 100% positive that Robbins would make political statements, than he has ever right to bar him for the event. The only way to prevent him from doing it is to gag him the whole time there. With the money that Robbins makes, he can easily break a contract and pay the price. There is no hypocrisy there as the banning of the person PREVENTS the event from becomming political, which was the goal.

Swifty

[Figtoria]

The problem with free speech is, you cannot controll it.


Swifty


The fact that you can't control it is the POINT of free speech.


:)

[Boom]

The problem with the right to arm is, you can't control it.

Joke, don't wanna hijack the thread from 1st to 2nd amendment.

Anyway, it seems to me that if the Baseball Hall of Fame is setting a precendent that they do not wish to honor people who disagree with the president, that highly politicises the organization.

The Baseball Hall of Fame is an American Institution, not a Republican (or Democrat) organization. This is Neo-Mcarthyism. Liberal is a dirty word and liberals are no good.

[Allison]

You're still missing the point, Swifty.

If Petroskey had said that he didn't want to risk politicizing the event, no matter how small the risk, then he might have had a leg to stand on. But that's not what he said. His letter begins by stating his own political views. Then he condemns Robbins' political views. Then he says he's cancelling the event as a result of those views. According to his letter, he cancelled the event strictly because he disagreed with their political views, not because of what they might say at the event.

By stating political views as the reason for cancellation, Petroskey bears the sole responsibility for politicizing the event, even if he hadn't cancelled it outright.

Honestly Swifty, if the shoe were on the other foot, I don't think you'd have any trouble understanding this.

[spyder913]

yeah the only problem here is that they SPECIFICALLY said that he's not welcome to speak because his position is differerent than the baseball hall of fame. This polarizes the baseball hall of fame, which is what he says he doesn't want done by Robbins.

[Kegg OBeer]

This wouldn't be an issue if they had just invited Kevin Costner instead... Tim Robbins is a self-righteous prick anyways, and as a baseball fan I don't see how his appearance makes a damn bit of difference anyhow, so the point is really moot, hypocritical or not...