Drunk, Dumb & Dumber
Gabriel Garnica
Before you believe that the above title is the name of a questionable law firm, I will assure you that, tragically,
it has increasingly become the title of a far more questionable national policy regarding the Christian roots of
this great nation.
The Drunk Excuse
By now, most of you may have heard of the Dana Jacobson incident. Jacobson is a sports anchor at ESPN who,
at a celebrity roast, cursed Jesus while trying to impersonate someone with a sense of humor. After complaints
from and discussions with various groups, ESPN suspended Jacobson, who has apologized several times,
including recently upon her return to work.
Now I am as forgiving as the next guy and I appreciate Jacobson’s effusive regrets regarding her words, but I
ask what would have happened to her if she had cursed Mohammed or Martin Luther King? What if she had
ridiculed Muslims, gays, African-Americans or even illegal immigrants?
Most likely, Dana Jacobson’s next and permanent task would have been anchoring the Dana Jacobson Personal
Sports Hour in her living room to her cat, dog and a few close friends. However, Jacobson’s drunken mockery
dealt with Christians, so she received a suspension and a slap on the wrist.
I understand that Jacobson was drunk, but that does not excuse the fact that her remarks were deeply offensive
and insensitive to a large, albeit often ignored and mocked, segment of the American population. We do not tell
drunk drivers “Hey, we know you ran over five people but, after all, you were a bit tipsy so please avoid doing
that in the future!” If we did this, we would be sending the wrong message that it is not that bad to drink and
drive. If you publicly offend any of the groups mentioned above while drunk, you will also find out that it is not
acceptable to drink and spew most of the time either, except if your spew mocks Christians, in which case
apologies and suspensions, if that, are in order.
Allow drunkenness to excuse something and you have begun the slow roll toward allowing anything to excuse
it. Being drunk does not excuse any crime. It does not excuse offending the groups noted above. It does not
excuse offending people at your job or in your social circle. It does not excuse someone from acting
inappropriately on a date, not to mention date rape. Had Jacobson insulted African-Americans like Imus did,
“Reverend” Al Sharpton would have been all over her bosses to get her fired. Didn’t he do as much regarding
the Kelly Tilghman comment about Tiger Woods? If you recall, Tilghman made an ill-advised comment that
the only way Tiger’s competitors could deal with him would be to “lynch” him. Despite the fact that Tilghman
and Woods are friends and both parties put the incident to rest and behind them, Sharpton saw racial discord
meat and jumped at the chance to fan the fires for, what a surprise, the benefit of once again portraying himself
as the African community’s defender. Where, pray tell, was “Reverend” Sharpton demanding an apology from
Jacobson for cursing Jesus? I guess it is not as politically and socially beneficial to defend Christ, so why
bother?
We do not have the time or space to list all of those people whose big mouths, drunken or not, led them to
publicly offend the wrong group leading to their exile, sometimes permanent but always dramatic. When you
fire someone for saying something, even if drunk, you spread the message that what they said will not be
tolerated for any reason. Having said this, I must be drunk for thinking that any media outlet would ever fire
someone for offending Christians.
The Dumb Excuse
I have come to believe that we will see simultaneous lunar and solar eclipses, Donald Trump giving a speech
about humility and Rose O’Donnell refusing to speak all on the same day before we will see Bill Maher go 24
hours without bashing Christians. Unlike, Jacobson, who at least was drunk when she said something stupid,
Maher says something stupid just about every time he opens his mouth, and most of the time he opens that
mouth he mocks Christianity and those who profess it.
Despite Maher’s serial stupidity and moronic ramblings, HBO does not move a finger to at least pretend that
what he spews cannot be tolerated. Now idiots like Maher and his liberal hypocrite friends will argue that this is
what free speech is all about, but why is that same free speech not waved as an excuse for offending the other
groups cited above? Could it be that this society views offending those other groups much the same as yelling
“fire!” in a crowded theatre?
In case you have not noticed, liberals, seculars and atheists use free speech as an excuse to bash Christians just
as passionately as they ignore it in protesting even the slightest offense to the groups they favor. Anyone who
wonders why this society is going downhill intellectually, culturally and morally should just watch Maher’s
smug, elitist drivel pretending to tell us what is and is not right with our society, country and world. Judging
from the geniuses on The View and smug, arrogant fools like Maher and Kathy Griffin, it is obvious that
ridiculing Christianity is the cool, deep thing to do. It is interesting, by the way, that half of those mocking
Christians, such as O’Donnell, Maher and Griffin, are merely frustrated, disenchanted Christians themselves
who are upset that their childhood faith does not conform to their view of the world. “If you can’t change them,
mock them” seems to be the mantra of these dumbness dispensers.
I firmly believe that public stupidity only exists in societies that encourage it through passive, tacit acceptance,
encouragement or agreement. When imbeciles receive awards and recognition because they can say stupid
things, we can draw our own conclusions what that says about the society they thrive in.
The Dumber Conclusion
This nation’s greatness can be firmly traced to its Christian roots, long acknowledged and stressed by its
greatest leaders. It can reasonably be argued that its continued greatness depends to a large extent on
maintaining those same connections and respect for those roots. We do not accept offensive words and conduct
due to intoxication, stupidity or misunderstanding. To do so would be to begin the steady decline toward social,
cultural, political and moral chaos.
If we are to be taken seriously as a society, then our words and conduct should be consistent with our roots, our
philosophy and our foundations as a nation. Increasingly, we are substituting a life of liberty in the pursuit of
happiness with a life using liberty as an excuse to pursue stupidity. If losing our national greatness due to being
drunk or stupid is dumb, then losing that greatness due to distancing ourselves from what has made us great is
even dumber.
***
FamilySecurityMatters.org contributing editor Gabriel Garnica, Esq., is a college professor and licensed
attorney whose regular commentary also appears on New MediaJournal.us, The Daley Times-Post, and
Michnews. He holds a law degree from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from St.
John’s University in New York.