Take the Lizard for instance -- you know the fellow who does the voice-over for the Geico Gecko. Seems somehow he thought he had the freedom to leave a message of disapproval on the voice mail of FreedomWorks, one of those
Tea Party organizations who tell you it's all about freedom while polishing their hobnail boots, cleaning the weapons and making misspelled signs.A simple little lizard hardly has a chance against a TeaParty Tyrannosaurus and it's ability to intimidate Geico into firing him on the spot. Perhaps I shouldn't say forced, since Geico really had a choice here - just as I have a choice never to do business with them and recommend to everyone I know that they take 15 minutes to call Geico at 800-871-3000 and tell them that they just lost a potential customer. Here's your chance to be Dr. Ben Marble for a day. 15 minutes could save your country.
Retaliation -- that's what BigGovernment.com did to actor Lance Baxter. They published his phone number and asked their teabag terrorists to harass him and call his employer to demand his dismissal. Nice people! Just the kind of people you want telling you about what's wrong with America: too damned much freedom!
I tried the 800 number only to find it has been disconnect/or out of service.
ReplyDeleteBasterds!
Freedom...to tell us what they want us to do, yep Freedom to be stoopid too.
ReplyDeleteTry 800-861-8380, or you can go to Geico.com and e-mail their inglorious selves.
ReplyDeleteLizards don't have it easy these days, as I'm sure Dino would agree (what with the "If you're khaki, don't get wacky" and "If you're green, stay mean" commandments -- talk about contradictory messages, especially for color-blind creatures!).
ReplyDeleteBut even in this tough reality, it is disappointing how quickly Geico folded under the right-wing pressure.
Well, it's their right to fire and hire whom they please; thankfully, it is our right to voice our displeasure with their decision(s).
Hey --
ReplyDeleteThe Geico Gecko link didn't work. What the heck was THAT story about?
The funniest thing about the Tea Party was hearing Victoria Jackson give her "testimony" about what she's on tour with the Tea Party Express (that's the version of the Tea Party started by the California GOP lobbying firm ... ) She said she "felt her freedom slip away" ever since the election.
LOL.
Felt it slip away, eh? What precise freedom did she lose? Has anyone asked? Could she point to one if she tried?
I've asked that question to a number of people making the same complaint and all I got for my trouble was the tired chorus of liberaliberalibaral.
ReplyDeleteIn fact it's hard to give an example of any increment of freedom that wasn't deemed liberal and denounced by Conservatives, and it's hard to think well of anyone who sees equality as a loss of freedom.
The freedom they suppose is basic and guaranteed: the absolute right to make as much money as they can in any way they see fit without any responsibility, doesn't exist except in a state of primal anarchy. In such a state they'd likely be eaten before they made a dime.
And then there are those who think being forced to be a decent human being and allow the freedom they demand to people they don't like or their religion tells them not to like is a loss of freedom for them.
You can't reason with such people.
Funny about those "freedoms" everyone is losing - in spite of the fake story about the prez cancelling prayer day, I have yet to see a single church closed or someone's ability to practice their faith impeded by the governmnet, although I've seen quite of bit of hate spewing intolerance from these so-called lovers of freedom.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen one incidence of someone being prevented from travelling or moving.
Despite all the hysteria, not one of my guns have been confiscated and I can get ammo for any one of them, hmmm.
And now we get to freedom of speech - apparently you can yell things like the president is a nazi or God hates fags or any other hateful, out rageous thing you want, and that is freedom of speech. Some guy voices a differing opinion and he must be brought down.
Yeah, this is a great defense of freedom of speech. The guy asked some questions, didn't make any threats and didn't even raise his voice.
If Geico can't do any better than cave to a bunch of thugs then they deserve whatever they get. I certainly won't be using them.
Well FreedomJerks and their kin may be no less reprehensible, but was I fair to Geico?
ReplyDeleteYou decide. I got this in my e-mail this morning:
Thank you for expressing your concerns to us. We would like you to know that the work GEICO did with D.C. Douglas (aka Lance Baxter) has not aired in over a year. The views that Mr. Douglas has expressed are his own personal views and not the views of GEICO.
Again, we appreciate you taking the time to let us know of your concerns.
Sincerely,
David Simonton
---------------------------------
GEICO Internet Department
Oh dear! I hope the Tea Party doesn't include members of my own species! But that T-Rex is a bit of an oaf anyway -- I always thought he might be a right-winger, along with the stegosaurs, whom I despise so deeply that I refuse even to capitalize their name.
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, as I suggest in my comment on ABCIE's excellent post, I think the "freedom" many of these types see slipping away is the "freedom" to live in a country run by a white man. And Capt. Fogg's remark about their desire for "primal anarchy" is spot on: what they're peddling is a completely unreflective, ahistorical, vacuum-dwelling concept of the Absolute Individual. It's the sort of sh*t that makes Ayn Rand novels superficially attractive to so many people, I suspect: "If only I were allowed to be my awesome individual self -- but all these idiots and bureaucrats keep stifling my creativity and taking my money! Damn!"
Shaw, have you become a trilobite? That icon sure looks like a trilobite.
Public announcement: There is a job opening at the Zone for an amphibian who can do voice-overs.
ReplyDelete