How free is America?

From BadAstronomy

"For the record: yes, I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU. But the more important question is why aren’t you, Bob? Now, this is an organization whose sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the question: Why would a senator, his party’s most powerful spokesman and a candidate for President, choose to reject upholding the Constitution? If you can answer that question, folks, then you’re smarter than I am, because I didn’t understand it until a few hours ago. America 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”."

The Boiling Frog

For those of you who support the firing of Don Imus, please read the story of the boiling frog. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiling_frog

You will find that the story is that if you gradually implement something, such as the suppression of free speech, you will eventually succeed. You don't simply ban free speech, as the frog would leap out of the water. Rather, you slowly take away the rights of free speech little by little, until the water is boiling, and the frog didn't jump in time to escape the now boiling water.

Freedom of speech is important; important enough that the founding fathers made it the very first amendment to the Constitution, part of the Bill of Rights. Those who think Don should be fired, please travel to China and tell them that you disagree with Buddhism. You can be executed. Look at the middle east. Tell them that Muhammad is a queer; you will be executed.

You need to understand that your right to say what you want should be cherished. And you should fight to the death to protect that right, especially if you disagree with the speaker. Popular speech needs no champion; unpopular speech does. The first amendment protects unpopular speech, not popular speech.

Today, it was announced that some UK schools will no longer teach the Holocaust so as to avoid upsetting Muslims. Fuck Muslims, or anybody, upset by the teaching of the Holocaust. My guess is that the Jews are more upset about the Holocaust then are the Muslims or anybody else. Hell, the thought of it makes me sick and I'm an atheist. Human suffering must be retold. We have to know the travesties, often in the name of religion and god, committed to see how we must change our way of thinking.

Support the freedom of speech. Don't let one, ignorant Texan's administration ruin our freedoms. Don't let them lead by fear.

Don Imus in trouble...for nothing

I hate Don Imus; I think he's stupid, uneducated, and only good at running his mouth. He just called the Rutger's women's basketball team a bunch of "nappy headed ho's". That's a pretty disgusting statement to be honest. It's ignorant, backwards, racist, sexist, anything else you can lob at it. And it's also his right to say.

Yup, I support Don. He should not be fired or even reprimanded quite frankly. The fact is, we have the freedom of speech, something the Bush administration would love to do away with in favor of theocracy. I can say whatever I want to say; I have that right. Don can say whatever he wishes to say as well as he has that right. That right was fought for by those who gave their lives to form this great country. And now we want to piss on it because somebody's feelings are upset? Fuck Rutgers, fuck the overly sensitive basketball team, and fuck those who want to fire Don Imus. Freedom of speech and freedom of expression are more important than their feelings.

Now, the beauty of this is that this freedom applies to everybody. As I said earlier, I hate Don Imus. I hate him, Howard Stern, Bill O'Reily, Glen Beck, Nancy Grace, Montel Williams, the list goes on and on. So you know what I do about it? I DON'T FUCKING LISTEN TO THEM. Yup, can you believe it? I actually change the station and don't listen to the people I find offensive.

Freedom of choice folks. You may not like what Don Imus says, but you have the power to change the station. If enough people find him offensive, and if enough people change the station, he'll be out of work by losing his fan base. No law should ever be enacted to force people out of their jobs based upon what they say. This isn't China people, it's America. We are free here. You can say what you want. Try saying "Don, shut the fuck up you dumbass" instead of "Fire him for what he said!". Before long, something you say will be offensive, and it could be your ass on the line.