- Reviews & Essays
- Freedom of Speech is Not Enough
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In America we pride ourselves on our Constitution and our Bill of Rights. We point to our heritage of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press and we tell ourselves that this makes us superior in some way to the rest of the world.
Yes, we do have free speech. We can post pornography to an internet site without fear of reprisal. We can write seditious statements on bulletin boards. We can argue the finer points of the Constitution and speak as if what we had to say might make a difference.
We have freedom of speech, but that freedom has become impotent. This country has reached a point in its history where individuals no longer matter much. Power is held by corporations and the very rich, usually in concert with each other.
Those that hold power in this country know that free speech can only be harmful to them if it is readily available to the masses. But the only way to reach truly large numbers of people is through the mass media. In the last few decades the mass media has been consolidated, sanitized and emasculated.
A few corporations own the vast majority of our newspapers, radio and television networks. The concept of an independent press in America is dead. Essentially all of our media outlets are in thrall to big business and/or the extreme right. Or they are so spooked at the prospect of incurring the wrath of the extremists running our government that they are no longer viable sources of information.
Our 'news' is mostly cheerleading and vanilla-flavored special features. To learn what is happening in our country, one must diligently search the foreign press and independent sources on the world wide web.
But the people of America usually don't have the time, the energy, or the inclination for such diligence. They sit in front of the tube at 6:30 and turn on ABC or CBS or worse still, Fox. And they get the word as it is handed down from on high.
When was the last time you saw photo-journalism related to American loses in the Iraqi conflict? You haven't seen them because the administration doesn't want you to see them. You don't see corpses being taken to Dover Air Force Base. You don't see the wounded. What you see has been sanitized and is fit for family viewing. And is tailor-made to arouse the least controversy.
In fact, the Iraqi conflict is hardly covered at all any more, even though most experts agree that that benighted country is in the middle of a civil war, mostly caused by our presence there.
Freedom of speech isn't worth much if you can only preach to the choir. If speech can't be heard by large numbers of people, than that freedom is at best of limited value and at worst is worthless.
We can write our little essays and commend ourselves for being read by a few hundred people all over the world. But what have we accomplished? The American news media reaches hundreds of millions of Americans and tells them practically nothing. And what it does tell them is usually slanted to the right.
The powers-that-be no doubt look at the ravings of a few moderates and liberals on the www as a kind of safety valve. Let them blow off steam, they think. It is no danger to their power. We are off in our little never-land talking to ourselves.
Don't for a moment think that what we do or say on our little porn sites have any impact at all on the world. While we run contests praising freedom of speech, our government is taking away the freedoms that count.
Historians of the future, perhaps a thousand years from now, may point to the first years of the 21st Century and say 'here- here is where the American experiment in democracy ended and fascism took its place'.
Like Rome before Caesar, revolutionary France before Napoleon, or Germany during the Weimar republic, we are a democracy drifting towards dictatorship while the citizens cheer.
Enjoy your freedom of speech while you have it. Eventually it may well be gone.
All hope isn't lost. We are living in this emerging Orwellian society, but the barn door isn't closed, the horse isn't gone quite yet.
The extreme right, although extremely adept in acquiring power, haven't a clue how to govern. That is why most recent polls display the unhappiness of the American people with the way things are going.
Those of you whose Senators and Congressman have yet to go over to the dark side: protest to them, make them aware of your feelings. Insist that your freedoms - speech, education, health, pursuit of happiness - be maintained and/or restored!
Contact your newspapers! Insist that unless they report the real news you will stop buying their drivel. And then stop buying their drivel. And pass it on!
Boycott the major newscasts! Latch on to those few networks that give you the most pure information. (I watch BBC America myself.) Something that these major corporations understand and care for more than political philosophy is profits. And pass it on!
Freedom of speech on the internet can be really effective only one way. If we use it as a means to infect our friends and relations with the desire to know the truth. And then convince them to pass it on!
If we can't reach the masses from the top (through the mass media) then we must reach the masses from the bottom, one-to-one, and pass it on.
Freedom of speech isn't enough. We need action. We need commitment. Now. Or kiss your freedom of speech goodbye.
- COMMENTS
GoesGruntabout 3 years agoSaid more than fifteen years ago and probably more true today than it was then. It's a sad commentary on our so called 'democratic' society that messages like this one remain largely unheard. Worse yet, this isn't a problem that can be attacked with sound bites and slogans.
Tw0Cr0wsabout 9 years agoSen.Dianne Feinstein is calling for the internet to be censored.
Sen.Dianne Feinstein is a well known long time California Liberal Democrat.
When will the rest of you understand that it is nearly all of them that are working against freedom?
The ones that are not are the ones usually called unelectable.
Liberal and Conservative are a game they play (mostly to confuse us), the simple truth is they all want complete power over us.
Anonymousover 18 years agoEveryone should be concerned no matter what political party you side with. I am an American and as a American I believe the freedom of speech and more impotantly the freedom of press is are most vital tool to keeping America a democracy.
If you think that withholding information and censorship is OK than I don't care what anyone calls themself or how tightly someone wraps the flag around themselves, believe me, you are in no way defending this country. The constitution that makes this country so great was written by men that understood that those in power should always be questioned (and I'm talking about both sides of the fence).
If you don't question authority you can't say your a patriot. If you can't think for yourself your not a true patiot. The point that was being made is, we are not getting info that has been put under a microscope and double checked before it is aired for everyone to see. The repoters are doing there job by reporting what they are spoon feed eather from the left or right. i.e. We find out after trillions of our dallor are spent and family members are shipped of to another county and killed that the flimsy intell we got was bad and that there was no "wepons of mass distruction" (a phrase that was hammered into everones head) and we have no real reason to be over there. And it a shame that if one reporter or station would have stood up for this county and tried to look into this a little more would have came to this conclusion so we would'nt be spending money on Iraque's and spend our money in America where it belongs.
Is there anyone out there that would like to say this is a good thing raise there hand!
My point is if the president (which ever president it may be) says something than that's fine, but why is it unpatriotic to look into the facts of what he says? Or question him on it or anyone else for that matter. I would say it's unpatriotic if we don't. And latley the American press has'nt. I'm not saying nobodys doing it because there are a brave few who believe in America. But for the most part the "facts" we get from the news are simple press releases and not investigated first hand. And without the facts we as a nation can not make a well informed descision which in turn renders our contitution useless. Because "We the people" are the government a ussually misinformed Government lead by suggestitve thinking.
I question because I am a true patriot.
You don't because you are not.
I love this country but do not ask me to for sake humanity for patriotism just because the party I belong to says so.
Do you?
Anonymousover 18 years agoTypical far left-wing vomit. Poor, whinny little twit. Call 1-800-WAAAAAAAANH to see if anyone cares about your juvenile, uninformed drivel.
BigHandover 18 years agoIt's so sad to see how things are in USA, because we know that in a few years (at most) it'll be exactly the same over here. I see people defending the war in Iraq saying that USA (and the coalition of the bribed) do not lose as many as in WWII, but could you please explain me what are you doing there?
I know, some European countries are with you (including my own) but the only reason we're with you is that we're bullied there by you guys. Or rather, by your leaders.
It restores hopes when excellent writers like thebullet raise their voices in earnest. Thank you.
Anonymousalmost 19 years agoThis essay is typical Liberal drivel. "Oh, no! The big corporations are coming!" Never mind that half of what you own comes to you at affordable prices because of large companies. Most people in America work for small businesses; that's where the majority of the taxpayers/voters are. But, hey; if you don't like big business, vote with your pocketbook; just don't buy their stuff.
If you think that the major media outlets are controlled by the extreme Right, then you must be seriously out on the far, far, Left fringe. Most Conservatives find the mainstream media to be Left-oriented; most Liberals think they are "fair", with the exception of FoxNews, the only outlet which does try to prevent both sides of the issues.
Look at recent events. How can you consider CBS (Rathergate) and Newsweek (flushing the Koran) to be controlled by the Right? In both of those examples, those were actions undertaken for the express purpose of damaging the Republicans. Where do you get Right-wing out of that? And by the way, BBC is anti-American and Liberal in its bias. Their information may be "pure", but it's pure Left.
Now, actually, I'll give you that the mass media have been consolidated, sanitized, and emasculated. But they did that to themselves. Their focus shifted to breaking the story first, reporting the same news over and over, and following the political agenda which served their collective purposes. (And for that matter, I'm not pleased with the media consolidation within given markets, either. A little competition is a good thing.)
And no, you don't see much reporting on Iraq, of late. That's because we're winning that war; it's getting harder to find American atrocities to sensationalize. We've been building schools, hospitals, and infrastructure. You haven't seen much of that in the news. We've been fighting terrorists, and winning. The media calls them "insurgents", and neatly forgets to report that a significant percentage are not of Iraqi citizenship.
That "benighted country" has just had its first free election in more than the lifetime of many Iraqis; they're setting up their own form of democratic government. The "civil war" you refer to is terrorists comprised of an ethnic group which doesn't want to share governmental leadership, and assisted by foreign nationals who perceive themselves as having a vested interest in preventing a free Iraq from being successful. And by the way, Iraqi soldiers are taking an increasingly larger role in leading that fight.
Something which seems to have escaped your attention is that the "extreme right" you complain about, has acquired that power by winning a majority vote. It hasn't been by backroom deals with evil business barons, it's been in the voting booth.
I admire your ambition to encourage other people to contact their legislators. That's what makes the system work. Just remember that it's called "majority rule".
-- KVK
Anonymousalmost 19 years agoAnd if you think for one minute that this applies only to the US of A, then you are sadly mistaken. This is fast becoming a major concern world wide with the advent of the global community and large corporations amalgamating into a very few global behemoths.
Wake up America. Wake up Canada.
Wake up United Kingdom and Europe
Before it is truly too late.
rgraham666almost 19 years agoUnfortunately, Americans are very frightened. And as all people do they reach out for something that will reassure them, that will protect them from the fear.
And if they give up their freedom to do so, many regard that as a fair trade. It's happened many times before.
angelicminxalmost 19 years agoWell written and so truthful it's scary, as it should be. Totalitarianism in the makings. ~Minx
