Lesson Learned, Consolation Prize Earned

OK, so this week I got to relearn a lessen about keeping a backup of my work, because the majority of my last blog entry is gone.

Damn.

I may be able to retrieve it by emailing Google, but I'm not sure it's really worth it. Rather than rewriting it tonight, I thought I'd share a link to video of John Oliver saying almost exactly what I've said (via my facebook page) regarding Dr. Oz. Namely, that the recent letter to his employer at Columbia University had nothing to do with taking away his freedom of speech, but that as a promoter of anti-scientific ideas, he has no place in an educational institution. Regardless of their personal opinions, they were not trying to stop him from being an entertainer, they just wanted him to stop claiming to be a scientist while misrepresenting science.

I'd also like to make a comment on the freedom of speech argument that so often gets thrown around regarding offensive television shows. As John said above, the idea of freedom of speech protects you from government censorship - technically, you can say whatever you want, whenever you want. Setting aside the separate rules for broadcasting (whether or not you agree with them), and that still does not mean that the corporations whose infrastructure you're using have to provide you that platform. Now, I'm not an American, but I'm pretty sure that (for example) when A&E backed down and reinstated Phil Robertson to Duck Dynasty in 2013, it had nothing to do with his freedom of speech, and everything to do with not wanting to alienate their audience. In fact, the public outcry could easily be interpreted as a case of the people censoring A&E's freedom of speech, since they were the ones who made the decision to remove the offender from their broadcast.

In the same way, Harpo or Sony would be completely within their rights to remove Dr. Oz if they so desired. I understand that he makes them a lot of money, and the recent controversy only makes him more valuable, so it's not very likely, but it's completely within their rights, isn't it? Especially if the US government is treating corporations like people.