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April 23, 2006
Upholding Our Freedom of Speech...When Convenient
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
U.S. Constitution - Amendment 1
Although Americans recognize that our freedom of speech is a Constitutionally protected right, we also acknowledge that this freedom has limitations: for example, society doesn't legally permit me to joke about having a bomb while in line at the airport or to use sexual, racial and religious slurs at the workplace. As an American, I accept these practical limitations on my freedom of speech for the sake of preserving the common good. I will not however, tolerate my freedom of speech from being unfairly eroded. Sadly, this is the case with America: while we fight for Democracy abroad, our own citizens are increasingly being restricted from expressing their political views here at home. Worse yet, the rest of us are allowing these restrictions to go unchallenged while those who do speak their minds are harassed, threatened, or punished.
Last month, during a lecture to his highschool geography class, Jay Bennish ranted against capitalism, against American violence abroad and compared President Bush's 2006 State of the Union speech to previous speeches made by Adolf Hitler. Bennish finished his rant by reassuring his students that they needn't agree with him. To those who openly challenged him, he added "I'm glad you asked all of your questions because they're all very good, legitimate questions." Several days later, Bennish was placed on paid administrative leave by his school district for not including an opposing viewpoint during his rant.If you're curious about how administrators learned of Bennish's lecture without actually being in his classroom, you're not alone. One of Bennish's students, 16-year-old Sean Allen, surreptitiously recorded twenty minutes of his teacher's lecture and then took the recording to local conservative radio stations who broadcast the entirety of the child's recording. That recording can be heard here.
Within twenty-four hours, Bennish had become a national story. Right wing "pundits" ripped him apart. Bombarded by the press, he went back to live with his parents and received death threats. At his school, nearly 100 students protested in favor of Bennish, staging a walkout from their classes. Sean Allen, meanwhile, was invited to meet with Bill Owens, the Governor of Colorado -- who was impressed by the boy's "courage" -- and began appearing regularly with Sean Hannity on TV.These are not isolated incidents. And they seem to be growing more frequent. The frontline of the culture war has shifted. The battle that Republicans wage to control what you say has moved into our schools, our airlines, our malls, our churches and onto the campaign trail itself.
This year, a Republican UCLA graduate offered students money to tape liberal professors in class. He used the recordings to create a list he called "the dirty thirty" which spotlighted to those university teachers who didn't espouse a proper Republican agenda. Right wing activist David Horowitz went one step further and wrote a book exposing and embarrassing liberal professors for the political views they expressed outside of the classroom. If you're not sick to your stomach just yet, wait: there's more.
U.S. Constitution - Amendment 1
Although Americans recognize that our freedom of speech is a Constitutionally protected right, we also acknowledge that this freedom has limitations: for example, society doesn't legally permit me to joke about having a bomb while in line at the airport or to use sexual, racial and religious slurs at the workplace. As an American, I accept these practical limitations on my freedom of speech for the sake of preserving the common good. I will not however, tolerate my freedom of speech from being unfairly eroded. Sadly, this is the case with America: while we fight for Democracy abroad, our own citizens are increasingly being restricted from expressing their political views here at home. Worse yet, the rest of us are allowing these restrictions to go unchallenged while those who do speak their minds are harassed, threatened, or punished.
Last month, during a lecture to his highschool geography class, Jay Bennish ranted against capitalism, against American violence abroad and compared President Bush's 2006 State of the Union speech to previous speeches made by Adolf Hitler. Bennish finished his rant by reassuring his students that they needn't agree with him. To those who openly challenged him, he added "I'm glad you asked all of your questions because they're all very good, legitimate questions." Several days later, Bennish was placed on paid administrative leave by his school district for not including an opposing viewpoint during his rant.If you're curious about how administrators learned of Bennish's lecture without actually being in his classroom, you're not alone. One of Bennish's students, 16-year-old Sean Allen, surreptitiously recorded twenty minutes of his teacher's lecture and then took the recording to local conservative radio stations who broadcast the entirety of the child's recording. That recording can be heard here.
Within twenty-four hours, Bennish had become a national story. Right wing "pundits" ripped him apart. Bombarded by the press, he went back to live with his parents and received death threats. At his school, nearly 100 students protested in favor of Bennish, staging a walkout from their classes. Sean Allen, meanwhile, was invited to meet with Bill Owens, the Governor of Colorado -- who was impressed by the boy's "courage" -- and began appearing regularly with Sean Hannity on TV.These are not isolated incidents. And they seem to be growing more frequent. The frontline of the culture war has shifted. The battle that Republicans wage to control what you say has moved into our schools, our airlines, our malls, our churches and onto the campaign trail itself.
This year, a Republican UCLA graduate offered students money to tape liberal professors in class. He used the recordings to create a list he called "the dirty thirty" which spotlighted to those university teachers who didn't espouse a proper Republican agenda. Right wing activist David Horowitz went one step further and wrote a book exposing and embarrassing liberal professors for the political views they expressed outside of the classroom. If you're not sick to your stomach just yet, wait: there's more.
We tolerate schools sending home students for wearing political t-shirts that might offend others. We tolerate airlines kicking passengers who wear political t-shirts off of flights. We tolerate school guardians physically abusing students for wearing political t-shirts. We tolerate arresting people for wearing t-shirts that advocate peace at public malls. We tolerate religious "leaders" telling us that we must not criticize the President during a time of war because dissent equals treason. We tolerate the Bush campaign ejecting teachers from his rallies because they wear t-shirts with political messages of dissent.
I hear too many Progressives and Liberals complain about the sorrowful state of America. Folks, what else needs to happen before each of you becomes so disgusted with the news that you're willing to stand up, get involved and start working for the ideals in which you truly believe? If you're waiting for abortion to become illegal, your opponents are well ahead of you. The future depends on us. Start demanding action and excellence from those around you: if your leaders can't or won't hear you...speak louder, especially under penalty of scrutiny. In doing so, you inspire others to do the same.Even President Bush defended Jay Bennish and the rights of others to criticize him. So thank you, Mr. President.
And in the unlikely event that you're reading this: I am ashamed of you as a leader and as someone who purports to be compassionate Christian man. The six years you've led this country have been financially, morally and spiritually the darkest times since I've been alive. I support your immediate resignation, your impeachment for repeatedly lying to the American people about how wiretapping requires a court order, about there being WMD in Iraq, and about punishing anyone in your administration for leaking classified information. You owe an apology to this nation's citizens, natural spaces, students, veterans, teachers, poor and to the entire city of New Orleans.You are a President in title only; in action you are a selfish and arrogant prick who refuses to admit to mistakes, the son of a far smarter man who helped you fail on grander and grander scales until you squandered the biggest treasury surplus in American history, ruined our international good standing, and presided over the most divisive period in America's recent years after running on a fictitious platform of being a "uniter, not a divider."
Are you - as Jay Bennish would have us believe - "eerily similar" to Adolf Hitler, Mr. President? No, Sir: I don't believe so. Hitler took far less vacation time than you did during the war he created.
