OFF: Freeedom of Speech

[Ted Jackson]

>>> paul at GROMIT.DLIB.VT.EDU 2/14/2006 2:35 PM >>>

Lovely sentiments, Mike.  The thing that amuses me about this fracas is
that it is so easy to froth against "arab governments" and "arabs in
general" and all other manner of (increasingly racist in this thread)
stereotypes because the target is easy to caricaturise and point the
finger at: it's an easily identified bogeyman that it's easy to get
everyone to hate.  (BTW, numerically speaking, isn't your average muslim
face going to look South-East Asian, not Arabic in this thread?)


I'll stick my neck on the block here and say that
I'm a lot more concerned by so-called Christians who blindly support
wars of agression and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan even though
such wars are clearly in opposition to the teachings of Christ.
All 'W' has to do is be seen going to church on Sunday, and
every Jesus-freak in the US will vote for him no matter what he
does or how many laws he and his lackeys break.  We're under
attack by religious fanatics here, but most of them are white
and live in the suburbs...



But, if freedom of speech is so worth fighting for, I'm wondering why
aren't we doing it at home.

Yep, why aren't I and like-minded Americans not camping out in
front of the White House?  We raised hell during the Vietnam
war, but then young people were subject to a military draft.
I guess we won't do anything until it's too late...


Anyone remember the old geezer in his
eighties that was manhandled out of a Labour party conference speech and
subsequently arrested on (if memory serves) anti-terrorism charges, just
because he shouted a single word of dissent from the back?  How about
how the freedom of speech inherent in the right to demonstrate has been
virtually obliterated by the criminalisation of such acts as trespass?
What about the misuse of "war on terror" legislation by police to harass
minority political and ethnic groups?  Also, just the other day ID cards
by stealth was passed in the Commons, and they're field-testing the
automated tracking of movement of cars on the roads by license plate
recognition.

We've already got video cameras at most busy intersections.  Just a matter
of time before they put GPS gear in every car...



 If you drive a car, they will be able to know where it
goes.  If you have a mobile phone, they can know where it is (to within
~150 feet).  The RIP Bill mandates that communications companies keep
tabs on who you are calling and e-mailing; you can face jail time if you
refuse to hand over encryption keys.  We used to vilify the Stasi for
doing this sort of spying back in the days of the Evil Empire, but
apparently *now* this kind of mass surveillance of your population is
all very vital and necessary in the "war on terror" to hear it told.


Yah, but cheer up.  Bush says we're winning the 'war on terror.'
It won't be over in our lifetime, he tells us, but we're winning!
WTF kind of crystal ball do you need to see that?


When everyone is calling on newspapers and media to "stand up for free
speech" and publish a bunch of cartoons "because they can," why aren't
they also asking them to publish about the messier side of the Iraq
conflict "because they can?"

I don't think they 'can.'  All the media in the US are owned by huge
conglomerates who, buy the way, sell arms or are invested in
in armaments producers.  Or big oil companies, who seem to be
making $ hand over fist right now...


  Instead of fixating on the latest
goings-on in the Celebrity Big Brother house, why can't we be informed
of the latest goings-on in the world of corporate welfare, war
profiteering, and tax loopholes?

Because that would require sensitive thought.  We'd rather just
ignore a problem until it's so big we're forced to do something
about it...


Why (in the USA) can George W. Bush
get away with staging orchestrated "Town Hall" meetings in which only
those that pledge to follow the party line and cheer on cue are allowed
admission and have the media actually screen such blatant propaganda?

For the same reason the opposition party allowed this horrible
invasion of Iraq to happen.  They were afraid they'd be turned
out of office.  The polls told them that enough no-neck idiots
over here would support the invasion because it was an
element of a 'war on terror...'


It's all very well to demand we and our newspapers stand up against
"arab governments."  How about being just as vigorous in standing up to
our own, though?  Surely that's more important (albeit more difficult)?
IMO, this cartoons outrage is just hypocrisy.  There are worse problems
closer to home.

"Future generations are relying on us!"

They sure are, and I'd hate to be one of them...


theo