Freedom of Speech--and I mean it.

Friday, 21 October 2005

Freedom of Speech--and I mean it.

The last few days, it seems like every time I turn on the TV, there's some idiot out there, who has made an entire news story out of "Of course, I believe in Freedom of Speech... here's what I want you to say."

In Toledo, we have Nazis being beaten up. Now, usually, this is the kind of thing that I'd buy a season ticket for, but, since I'm feeling especially patriotic, today, I guess I'll just sit here and believe in Free Speech. Yes, even for assholes. The thing about Nazis is that they always seem to pick the place where they're guaranteed national headlines. They marched through a Jewish neighborhood in Chicago, a while back, and now--if the pictures can be trusted--a largely Afro-Carribean neighborhood in Toledo. They never march through an all-white farm neighborhood. They go where the cameras will follow. Now, a few of them have had their eyes blacked and their noses pinked, and they're playing the martyr card. So, I would like to suggest the following, if you happen to be "chosen" for one of these marches.

1. Be sure you have your "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" sign posted very clearly. Refuse them service.

2. Pull down the shades, stay inside, and ignore them.

3. In the event that anyone tries to interview you for the news, the appropriate response to any question about Nazis, KKK, or Mormons is: Nazis? What Nazis? We don't have any Nazis here.

There. You haven't beaten anybody up for disagreeing with you, and you haven't encouraged the mainstream press.

We have Freedom of Speech, here. The real kind, where they don't ban anything. And I like it.

In Europe, they ban all sorts of things--swastikas, nazi paraphenalia, now the hammer and sickle--and what do they have? A notable resurgence of neo-nazi activity, and governmental intitiatives to make French children learn German. Ha! Might as well just wait.

In the good ol' US of A, we have Freedom of speech, and as a result, 9.5 out of ten people you see wearing the swastika are gay men playing dress-up with their partners.

I appreciate the irony.

Then, whichever horrid little news magazine it was I was watching, last night, did a story on the White-Supremist version of Hansen. The general premise being that these kids don't know what they're singing about, and is it right to let them go on singing about it, anyway... with a large dose of "are we quite sure this isn't child abuse, can't we take these kids away?" implied.

This is not child abuse: the children were clearly surrounded by people who protect them and dote on them, and were clean and well-cared for. Of course, they're going to get into a load of shit, after they graduate from home-school, and play "meet the real world," but by then, they won't actually be children.

The over all tone of the news program scares me.

You can't take children away from their parents because you don't agree with what the children (or the parents) are saying. Can you imagine the impact that would have on Freedom of Speech? Or, if your imagination happens to be bad, let's try your memory. Do you remember the impact that it did have?do you remember the laws against "indoctrination" in the old, Communist block? The idea that children could not be allowed to practice religion? That if you're under eighteen, you couldn't possibly have an opinion of your own.

The cost of Freedom of Speech is that some children are going to wind up spouting garbage they learned from their parents.

And it's worth it.

It's worth every penny to stay off a slope that allows the government to use children for leverage to silence parents. In any circumstances.

The government should never, never, never, be allowed to say to anyone, "If you say that, we're going to take your children and put them in foster care."

And even more importantly, the government should never, ever be allowed to say to a single one of its citizens, you're too--young/old/black/white/Jewish/Christian/Liberal/Conservative/fill-in-the-blank--to have a valid opinion,so, please shut up, now.

The constitution doesn't say, "say what you want, so long as you fit the following profile."

I support the right of a twelve year old girl to say what she wants. To believe what she wants. Whether that happens to be Democrat, Republican, or Nazi. 100%. She has the right to say it. The government does not have the jurisdiction to interfere. Not this government.

No, not even if 95% of the voters want to take the children and the other 5% want to jail the parents, too.

I also support her right to change her mind, later. Even if her parents happen to disagree.

She can say John F. Kennedy committed suicide, for all I care, and I will still support and defend her right to say it.

Because that's what freedom of speech is: the right to say the unpopular, the absurd, the hyper-political, the non-sequitur, or punny and still be a full Citizen.

posted by: SianNorah at 20:08 | link | comments (2)
political views, my campaign for everything

Comments:

#1 21 October 2005 - 22:56

Hmm, is all I have to say to that. There are only fourteen billion different shades of gray/grey involved there.

Take, for instance, international terrorism. Do you have the Freedom of Speech saying how exactly you'd like the local metropolis leveled in the name of whatever goofy deity you worship? Uh, no, you definitely don't. That'll not only get you slapped around by the local populace, but it'll put you in jail, and indicted, or whatever the hell happens...I'm not quite sure the actual process, but your freedom is no longer assured. Conspiracy, treason, whatever.

Especially now that our country is getting so politically correct, where colorful language can be construed as assault (assault=threats, in legal lingo) and put you in another fine detention facility. It's all relative, yes/no/maybe?

Which is the problem. To the Neo-Nazis, it's free speech. To the people in the community they're marching through, it's assault.

Am I saying I can fix it? No, no no no no no. What I am saying, is that it isn't as nearly black and white as 'say whatever you want, it's legal'.

I think it's been far too long since you've had someone argue with you, Sian. You're getting lazy. You need someone to abuse, to get to the real brilliant stuff.

And I'm just the ignorant, angsty liberal teenager to abuse. And then you went and disparaged my beatnik.

It's on.