Freedom of Speech

Turn on the TV, read the newspapers and mags, tune on talk radio, I can assure you, we are guaranteed at least one mention about freedom of speech. And so it should be. The mere fact I am allowed to post this blog without fear of being jailed, tortured, or mysteriously disappeared, well, that is a big deal. Where I come from originally, you are lucky to survive after writing the word "hunger."

The founding fathers came from a land where freedom of speech was not a guarantee. It must have been a thrill to experiment with this newfound freedom. To be able to express out loud what is on your mind and be alive the next day, what a concept!

Thus a nation was born, where liberals could spar with conservatives and your lives were not at stake. Our nation took baby steps to guarantee this freedom of speech. The precept itself was written into our Constitution. Of course, we had our blunders throughout the way (the Salem witch hunts and McCarthy's blacklists come to mind). But all in all, we have had it pretty good compared to most nations around the world. I can google titles ranging from feminist-pro-choice-lesbians trying to save the rainforests to aryan men for a pro-God nation, and not expect a mid-night visit from a men in black.

And so it has become, it has become ok to say nigger this, spic that, cracker that, and so forth. Call your women ho's? Hey, bring up the Founding Fathers card and get away with it scot free!!! Freedom of speech has become our get out of jail free card. And just for good measure, throw in the "our soldiers are out there in Iraq fighting so that we can say what is in our minds" card, and we get cheers from all sides. What a bonus!!!

I can get on top of my soapbox and manage to insult everyone plus their mother, and bless my heart, our Founding Fathers and our soldiers in Iraq lift my box higher so all can hear my invectives being spewed out loud. We have become an Equal Opportunity Nation of Offenders.

I must acknowledge, I have gotten caught up in the freedom of speech bandwagon. I have heard myself say, "well, I would never call anybody mean names, but y'know, it's freedom of speech, they can call others whatever is on their minds." For years, I have had this, it's-ok-for-them-to-say-that-even-if-it's-offensive-mentality, because: didn't our Founding Fathers escape imperialist Europe for this? Then Carlos Mencia came along. I watched and laughed, and laughed, and laughed. Ha ha ha, ha ha ha... boy is he funny! And he started receiving the expected hate mail. People offended by his prejoratives. But oh no, he would tell us, we live in the US of A, we have unlimited and unfettered freedom of speech! It is a free for all!

I kept watching Carlos Mencia's show and kept on laughing, ha ha, ain't he funny, ha... I could not laugh anymore. He managed to insult my friends, my family, the notions I hold dear, the notions I do not hold so dear but others do, and yes, the people whose views I disrespect or think condescendingly of. Through it all, he kept reminding us about freedom of speech and our soldiers in Iraq. Suddenly, he was not funny anymore. Did our Founding Fathers really sit down and say amongst themselves, "let's make sure we include freedom of speech in the Constitution so that years from now, Americans can call their women ho's"? Do I really believe that every morning, when our soldiers wake up after 1 or 2 hours of sleep, the first thought that comes to their minds is "hell, these ambushes and my life on the line, it's all worth it so Carlos Mencia can make fun of __________ (<--- fill in the blank with the ethnic, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or other minority group of your choice).

Is this what freedom of speech has come to?

In other countries, people have been killed for telling the world they are hungry, illiterate, have no health care, or their children die before reaching the ripe old age of 5. The brave ones that have spoken out are "disappeared" and years later, their bodies found in common graves. Our Founding Fathers came to this country because they wanted to express their political and religious beliefs without their powdered wigs being found thrown on a bottomless pit the next day. When they sat around the table discussing our future Constitution, they imagined future Americans from all walks of life being able to come together , having intelligent discourse, everyone expressing their views, all of them being able to approve or disapprove of our government's actions (or lack thereof), and then, everybody going home for a good night's sleep.

And our soldiers in Iraq, give me a break! Those courageous albeit underpaid men and women in uniform, they fight day in and day out so that tyrannical forces do not take away our ability to speak against government, so our phones are not wiretapped, so we can google the word "terrorist" and not be taken to a foreign underground prison, so that we can gather round like-minded people and not be black-listed on airport passenger lists, so that our library reading material is not saved in a mystery data bank. We need to wake up! Freedom of speech has become the government's blindfold. While we bicker over what is or is not insulting to others, the government is taking away the real freedom of speech. Journalists being paid to promote government programs, Cheney becoming a 4th branch of the government so that he does not have to release his obscure papers, the executive not being scrutizined by the other branches of the government, and the list goes on and on. Isn't that what we should be screaming our lungs out about?

Let's stop offending one another: it's un-American. Let's tell this government we have caught on. Let's bring about real Freedom of Speech.

Copyright 2007.