I Should Not Be Allowed To Say The Following Things About America (thanks to Elbert McDoolihan, aka Paranoid Dickweed)
I love this country. It's a place where you can express any idea you choose, secure in the knowledge that you will not be arrested or persecuted by the government. Of course, that doesn't mean you won't be vilified or persecuted by those individuals who think that freedom of speech ends when you criticize Our Sainted President.
WASHINGTON -- This is the way Machiavelli, the cynical Florentine philosopher of politics and power, put it in "The Prince" in 1513:
"Everyone sees what you seem to be, few perceive what you are; and those few don't dare oppose the general opinion, which has the majesty of the government backing it up. ... The masses are always impressed by appearances and by the outcome of an event -- and in the world there are only masses. The few have no place there when the many crowd together."
Few dare to oppose now, almost 500 years later. Even a clever descendant of Machiavelli's people, Madonna (news - web sites), herself a philosopher of daring, has decided the risk of opposition or the appearance of opposition is just too risky with American troops in the field. Last Tuesday, demonstrating that she is no Dixie Chick, the former Madonna Louise Ciccone announced that she was withdrawing an anti-war video to promote her song "American Life."
"It was filmed before the war started, and I do not believe it is appropriate to air it at this time," she said. "Due to the volatile state of the world and out of sensitivity and respect for our armed forces, who I support and pray for, I do not want to risk offending anyone who might misinterpret the meaning of this video."
Look, I do not expect that you will agree with everything I have to say, nor do I expect to agree with everything that you have to say. Nonetheless, we, as Americans still have the right to voice our opinions. Disagreement is a fundamental American right; boycotting and/or demonizing someone for their opinions should not be.
Freedom of speech should be taken to mean exactly that. Just because opinions may be ignorant, ill-informed, or merely stupid does not mean that we have the right to organize boycotts of those who think differently and dare to express themselves. Natalie Maines and Madonna may be guilty of quasi-criminal stupidity, but they have the right as Americans to express their opinions. Of course, we can also exercise an equally American right: we can ignore them.
True patriots know that a price of freedom is periodic submission to the will of our leaders—especially when the liberties granted us by the Constitution are at stake. What good is our right to free speech if our soldiers are too demoralized to defend that right, thanks to disparaging remarks made about their commander-in-chief by the Dixie Chicks?
When the Founding Fathers authored the Constitution that sets forth our nation's guiding principles, they made certain to guarantee us individual rights and freedoms. How dare we selfishly lay claim to those liberties at the very moment when our nation is in crisis, when it needs us to be our most selfless? We shame the memory of Thomas Jefferson by daring to mention Bush's outright lies about satellite photos that supposedly prove Iraq is developing nuclear weapons.
At this difficult time, President Bush needs my support. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld needs my support. General Tommy Franks needs my support. It is not my function as a citizen in a participatory democracy to question our leaders. And to exercise my constitutional right—nay, duty—to do so would be un-American.
Right; loose lips sinks ships. Unquestioning fealty to our leaderships is now our only option- after all, there's a war on....
