by WashDCDemocrat
Free speech? Not if you're important.
Washington was recently shocked with the resignation of two key figures: first, on June 7, Helen Thomas resigned from the White House Press Corps following years of presidential coverage. More recently, Gen. Stanley McChrystal resigned from his post as Commander of US Forces in Afghanistan (USFOR-A) and as Commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Both Thomas and McChrystal were excellent in their fields of work, but their words destroyed their careers. Helen Thomas remarked that Israel needed to "get the Hell out of Palestine," to go "home" to "Poland...Germany...and America and everywhere else." McChrystal and his aides gave divisive and disparaging remarks to a Rolling Stone reporter, which called out Joe Biden and many top officials.
So, why does this matter so much? For one thing, we are losing a skilled reporter and a veteran general. More importantly, however, we now have two more case studies to show that the more high profile you are, the less you can say. These are only the latest in a long series of gaffes by people in high places. Have we forgotten Barack Obama and his "special Olympics" remark? Or Gordon Brown's complaints about meeting a "bigoted woman" on the campaign trail? What about George W. Bush and the "Major League A**hole" comment during his campaign? (Actually, we could say quite a bit about Bush.)
The famous always are under the microscope. The successful must keep in mind that their careers - or the end of those careers - depend on what they say
1 comment:
First, I love that opening line...
Second, I 100% agree that it was unfair for Helen Thomas, a journalist independent of any government agency, to be forced into retirement for speaking her thoughts. Thomas had long been known for her spitfire personality, and (in my opinion), this remark should have been forgotten about after it had received its share of outrage.
However, former General McChyrstal's comments were made in a completely different context, they were made about his bosses, and ended up publicly showing a lack of respect, something the military frowns upon.
While the end results of the two situations were similar, the original context was different.
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