Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department manager who was the target of vicious unwarranted attacks from the right wing, is suing the perpetrator, pundit Andrew Breitbart. Now, I’m not a lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that stupid and cruel videos are protected speech under the First Amendment. So it’s possible that the American Civil Liberties Union may come to Breitbart’s defense on this issue.
What Breitbart did was morally wrong, and the fact that the mainstream media was an enabler of his shenanigans shows that there’s a dearth of real journalism in America today. And while the right wing clearly does some nutty things (birthers, thirteenthers, calling the President a Nazi, etc.), these are all protected speech. Breitbart had his fifteen minutes of fame, and the mainstream media should marginalize him just like they marginalize Ed Forchion. Ms. Sherrod should let it go, and let Mr. Breitbart fade into the oblivion he deserves.
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