Speaking out, as best I can
Oct. 29th, 2004 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
libertangoI want to talk some more about the Bush Administration's cowardice. This time up close, and very personal... At least for those of us on LJ.
Did you know that someone on LJ has been visited by the Secret Service because of something they wrote on LJ?
Or, check this out... Did you know that a writer of romance novels has been raided for doing research on a novel based in Cambodia, with a terrorist setting?
Now, you might say -- if you were gung ho and charitable enough -- that this just shows how vigilant and relentless the Administration is at hunting down the terrorist threat.
Bullshit.
What this shows is a complete and utter lack of being able to set priorities, and assess the threat.
Osama bin Laden is still on the loose, and still capable of inflicting great harm on the United States... but meanwhile, here at home, the First Amendment has to be considered an inconvenience, and America has to be protected from bloggers and romance novelists?
You have to ask yourself... Just where will the line be drawn? What is it you will write that will cause that scary knock on your door in the middle of the night?
So, why is this cowardly?
It's cowardly in the way all bullies are cowardly. Rather than tackle the problem that desperately needs to be addressed, it's a form of slugging out a punch on someone defenseless, because one can. It's the Administration saying, "We may not be able to get bin Laden... But we'll get those bloggers / novelists / liberals / secular humanists, by God!" It's using the force of government not to actually accomplish something, but to take out one's frustrations on a personal basis.
See... I've always considered civil rights and freedom of expression to be something nakedly in my own self-interest. I want everyone to have freedom of religion because I don't want to be discriminated against on the basis of my beliefs. I want everyone to have freedom of expression -- no matter how repugnant I may sometimes find such expression to be -- because I want to be able to speak my mind. I want a judicial system of trial by jury, with all due process, because -- God forbid -- if I ever find find myself in the dock of a courtroom, unjustly accused, I want every chance for vindication I can get.
Pastor Martin Niemöller, speaking about Germany in the 1930's, said this:
"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me."
Friends... I will make you a deal.
I will always speak out for you. I'm doing it right now, in my own humble way.
All I ask in return is that when the time comes... You speak out for me.
And, as part of that, I ask of you... Please do not vote for an Administration that makes these kind of dire thoughts necessary. Give them the boot they so richly deserve.
Did you know that someone on LJ has been visited by the Secret Service because of something they wrote on LJ?
Or, check this out... Did you know that a writer of romance novels has been raided for doing research on a novel based in Cambodia, with a terrorist setting?
Now, you might say -- if you were gung ho and charitable enough -- that this just shows how vigilant and relentless the Administration is at hunting down the terrorist threat.
Bullshit.
What this shows is a complete and utter lack of being able to set priorities, and assess the threat.
Osama bin Laden is still on the loose, and still capable of inflicting great harm on the United States... but meanwhile, here at home, the First Amendment has to be considered an inconvenience, and America has to be protected from bloggers and romance novelists?
You have to ask yourself... Just where will the line be drawn? What is it you will write that will cause that scary knock on your door in the middle of the night?
So, why is this cowardly?
It's cowardly in the way all bullies are cowardly. Rather than tackle the problem that desperately needs to be addressed, it's a form of slugging out a punch on someone defenseless, because one can. It's the Administration saying, "We may not be able to get bin Laden... But we'll get those bloggers / novelists / liberals / secular humanists, by God!" It's using the force of government not to actually accomplish something, but to take out one's frustrations on a personal basis.
See... I've always considered civil rights and freedom of expression to be something nakedly in my own self-interest. I want everyone to have freedom of religion because I don't want to be discriminated against on the basis of my beliefs. I want everyone to have freedom of expression -- no matter how repugnant I may sometimes find such expression to be -- because I want to be able to speak my mind. I want a judicial system of trial by jury, with all due process, because -- God forbid -- if I ever find find myself in the dock of a courtroom, unjustly accused, I want every chance for vindication I can get.
Pastor Martin Niemöller, speaking about Germany in the 1930's, said this:
"First they came for the Jews and I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists and I did not speak out because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists and I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me."
Friends... I will make you a deal.
I will always speak out for you. I'm doing it right now, in my own humble way.
All I ask in return is that when the time comes... You speak out for me.
And, as part of that, I ask of you... Please do not vote for an Administration that makes these kind of dire thoughts necessary. Give them the boot they so richly deserve.
