This is not another column about the war. Been there, done that, and nothing more has happened to change that. And I had planned to talk about Gummy (my moms had her teeth taken out today). But I need to talk about teaching an old (but fine and wise) dawg, new tricks aka how a wise dog got schooled. Big time. Scorch marks on my forehead, footprints on my a**.
Watching the nightly news – ESPN’s Sportscenter (had you fooled for a moment), Chris McKendry interviewed actor Tim Robbins regarding Cooperstown’s decision to cancel the Bull Durham celebration. (For you duh folks, Bull Durham, the movie, starred, Tim Robbins, the actor. It’s about baseball, not bulls.) Cooperstown said Mr. Robbins’s anti-war stance could “put our troops in harms way”.
WHAT !#%$#@%^
The liberals’ (Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Natalie Maines (Dixie Chicks), George Clooney, Sean Penn, etc. etc.) right to free speech is getting butt-kicked across the U.S.A. Because it’s patriotic.
WHAT !#%$#@%^
As a side note, HAS ANYONE HEARD (NOT READ, CUZ WHO CAN BELIEVE ANYTHING YOU READ J) ANY OF THESE PEOPLE OR ANYONE ELSE DEEMED ANTI-WAR SAY – I SUPPORT SADDAM HUSSEIN. I WANT THE TROOPS TO DIE. Hmm, that’s what I thought, but feel free to prove me wrong.
Anti-war means you are against the use of war to settle differences. That’s it.
It is not unpatriotic to be anti-war. I repeat, IT IS NOT UNPATRIOTIC TO BE ANTI-WAR.
IT IS UNPATRIOTIC TO ABRIDGE FREE SPEECH.
Worse, IT IS COWARDLY, ALTHOUGH NOT UNPATRIOTIC, TO COUCH (stupid (my adjective)) ACTIONS UNDER THE GUISE OF PATRIOTISM, WHEN IT’S A BOLD FACE LIE, YOU KNOW IT’S A LIE, YOU KNOW WE KNOW IT’S A LIE, BUT YOU’RE PRAYING NOBODY OUTS YOU. TELL THE TRUTH – “WE DON’T WANT YOU HERE MR./MS. _______ BECAUSE YOUR ANTI-WAR STANCE MAY OFFEND SOME OF OUR FINANCIALLY SUPPORTIVE ATTENDEES/MEMBERS AND WE DON’T WANT TO LOSE THAT BANK OR HAVE TO DEAL WITH THE MEDIA PROBLEM WHICH WILL OCCUR IF YOU COME”. Works for me, what about you?
So I was riled. And the more I thought about how anti-war people have been castigated … I became more riled. Free speech is a constitutional right. You, and I, and they can say what we/they want to say.
So leave them alone. LEAVE THEM ALONE. What you’re saying (Toby Keith) is against the constitution. How about if the tables are turned on you?
Then I got schooled.
Writing makes you think things through, whether you put it down on paper or not. You’re forced to consider the full picture because hopefully you want your words to be truth (please refer to It’s War, Ain’t that the Truth regarding the definition of truth). At idaberry that means exploring and speaking to all sides of an issue, reaching conclusions that may be diametrically opposed to where you started out.
The right to free speech is not limited to the side you agree with.
So just like the anti-war group, those folks who riled me have the right to say whatever they want as long as, per the Supreme Court, they are not “fighting words” (screaming fire in a crowded theater, when there is no fire). Some stupid behavior is not protected by the Constitution.
It’s hard to advocate free speech when somebody is saying something that crawls through the underlining of your belly.
I got schooled. Further.
If you advocate boycotting Toby Keith, the right to burn Dixie Chicks CD’s is a given (speech is free, but the cost can be high).
If you advocate not buying the products of the people who are members of these disinviting organizations, you have to accept a boycott of Susan Sarandon movies.
Don’t say it won’t work. This country runs on capitalism. One woman. I said, one woman, with one letter got Subaru to stop showing commercials on the show Married With Children. That’s deep. People respond to capitalism and fear.
Supporting free speech can get a little uncomfortable, can’t it.
I got schooled some more.
Forty years ago there were folks praising Jim Crow (free speech) and denouncing integration (more free speech). They burned crosses (not free speech), torched homes (not free speech), and lynched people (cold blooded murder, definitely not free speech). Some brave folks condemned their actions. Every word spoken on both sides is protected free speech. And if you support the idea of boycotting those who oppose your viewpoint, you have to support boycotting those who spoke out against Jim Crow. It’s a free world.
Free speech, to be truly free, must be accepted from those we agree and with whom we disagree. You can get riled. You can legally retaliate. But you can’t deny.
No one explained it better than writer Aaron Sorkin in the movie The American President. After the President’s girlfriend is repudiated for burning the U.S. flag during a protest the President addresses the media:
Everybody knows American isn’t easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad, ’cause it’s gonna put up a fight. It’s gonna say, “You want free speech? Let’s see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who’s standing center stage and advocating, at the top of his lungs, that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free, then the symbol of your country can’t just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest.” Show me that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then you can stand up and sing about the land of the free.”
I got schooled.
As much as I dislike the negative reaction to Natalie Maines and company the right of others to respond with their free speech has to be accepted. The right to boycott has to be accepted.
To deny such a fundamental right to protect a right is unrighteous and immoral.
Freedom must speak.
But that’s the problem. Under the guise and fear of patriotism, few are now willing to speak out for our right to speak for fear of being called unpatriotic.
School’s not out.
