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Mr. Moose and Company
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Date Posted: 17:03:41 11/27/02 Wed
In reply to:
Sad Mr. Kangaroo
's message, "And then, Mister Moose, Mister Green Jeans, and the Dancing Bear after a deep discussion with themselves, all thought they could say anything they wanted, because it was free speech." on 16:15:55 11/27/02 Wed
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
Francois Voltaire
Here's a nice article for you, Cap'n!
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
UNDER SIEGE
by Jarret Wollstein
Revised June, 1996
No right is more fundamental than freedom of speech. Without freedom of speech you can’t communicate your ideas
and feelings, decry a social injustice, pursue an artistic vision, investigate scientific truth, practice a religion, or criticize
government. If freedom of speech is destroyed, self-development is crippled, social progress grinds to a halt, and
official lies become the only "truth."
Although freedom of speech can be inhibited by intolerant people, it can only be destroyed by brute force,
particularly government force.
If fundamentalists demand that Playboy magazines be removed from store shelves, that is not censorship. Others are
free to demand – just as forcefully – that Playboy be kept on shelves. And merchants can reject the fundamentalists’
demands. But when government sends in police to close down bookstores, arrest musicians, artists, and
photographers, burn videotapes, or shut down computer networks, that is censorship.
Censorship is the handmaiden of a police state.
Censorship is the use of force to control what you can say, read, or see. Although occasionally private individuals and
groups engage in censorship – for example by stealing "insensitive" newspapers (which has occurred on several U.S.
college campuses) or threatening to kill "indecent" artists, like Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie – the primary
agent of censorship is government.
In Nazi Germany, the works of Jewish writers were seized and burned by storm troopers. Resisters were beaten and
shot. Merely criticizing the government could mean being sent to a concentration camp. In the Soviet Union and
Communist China, the government burned bibles and churches, as well as unapproved books and art.
But censorship does not only exist in police states. In England, since 1974, 6,246 people have been imprisoned
without trial under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, for such "crimes" as suspicion of supporting an illegal
organization or providing a forum for banned ideas. That hasn’t stopped IRA bombings. But it has made the people of
England much less free. In Panama, after the U.S.-sponsored overthrow of dictator Manuel Noriega, journalists were
rounded up, shot and killed (see the film "The Panama Deception").
The Rise of Censorship in America
Censorship has been growing in the United States as well. The First Amendment to our Constitution unequivocally
states that "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press."
Yet during the last decades, with ever-growing zeal, our legislatures have been censoring books, films, photography,
art, music, news, and even scientific information. And our courts – all the way up to the Supreme Court – have said
it’s legal.
"Dirty" pictures. On November 2, 1995, Toni Marie Angeli was arrested at Zona Photo Labs in Massachusetts.
She was picking up pictures of her 4-year-old son Nico in their bathtub. The photos were for a photography course
she was taking at Harvard.
Detective W. Phillips of Cambridge accused her of being a child pornographer and threatened: "if you don't cooperate,
I will take that kid away from you on the spot."
Under the 1990 Comprehensive Crime Act, nude pictures of your own children can be prosecuted as "child
pornography." U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brennan warns that the law is so broad, you could even be prosecuted for
having "pictures of topless bathers at a Mediterranean beach."
Burning books. In June of 1993, the Supreme Court said it was constitutional to destroy over 100,000 books and
tapes, and seize all of the assets of a chain of bookstores without trial because eleven of the books and tapes sold by
the chain were judged obscene. (Alexander v. United States). Under this decision, federal police could destroy the
entire inventory of every major chain of bookstores in the nation – like Crown or B. Dalton – if only a few of the items
they sell are judged obscene.
Politically-correct speech. If freedom of speech means anything at all, it means the right to express ideas others
disagree with. Yet the political-correctness movement has resulted in thousands of students and workers being
punished for such "offenses" as the use of derogatory names, inconsiderate jokes, "misdirected" laughter, and
"conspicuous exclusion" from conversation. Punishments for saying the wrong thing include expulsion, loss of jobs, and
mandatory "sensitivity" indoctrination classes.
Health Police armed with machine guns. In 1991, an FDA magazine warned, "the agency will not tolerate the
practice of promoting drugs and medical devices for unapproved uses . . . [the] FDA is prepared to enforce this law
through legal steps such as seizure, injunction and prosecution."
On May 6, 1992, heavily-armed police and FDA agents kicked down the door of Dr. Jonathan Wright’s Tacoma
medical clinic in Washington State. For 14 hours, employees were held at gunpoint while FDA agents smashed
medical equipment and ransacked the offices. Dr. Wright’s "crime"? Making unapproved claims about high-potency
vitamins.
In 1994 alone, the FDA launched over 200 violent raids on vitamin stores, clinics, and doctors for such "crimes".
As a result of FDA policies, the free flow of medical information has been reduced to a trickle. According to former
Federal Trade Commission official and Boston University professor John Calfree, "Cancer newsletters have been shut
down. Symposiums have nearly been brought to a halt . . . Press conferences announcing new applications . . . are for
the most part eliminated." Hundreds of lifesaving uses for existing drugs and devices have been banned, and medical
manufacturers have begun to leave America.
Indecent" speech could land you in prison. Under Section 223 of the new Communications Decency Act, indecent
speech via a telecommunications device (including your telephone, fax, computer and the Internet) is punishable by up
to 2 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.
But just what is "indecent speech"? No one knows. Congress didn't bother to define it. However the language of the
Decency Act is so broad that it could include an explicit love note e-mailed to your spouse, or even saying one of
"seven dirty words" banned by the FCC on the telephone .
Even worse, human-rights groups say electronic reporting of prison rapes or international atrocities such as massacres
in Chechnya, could be a crime under this act.
The Decency Act is being challenged in court and will be reviewed by the Supreme Court. But if it is upheld,
thousands of journalists, human-rights activists, and ordinary citizens could face imprison-ment or a $100,000 fine for
a slip of the tongue.
Criminalizing political speech. Enacted one year after the Oklahoma City bombing, the Omnibus Counterterrorism
Act does a lot more than go after terrorists. Its "conspiracy" provisions are a threat to any American who has anything
to do with a foreign or domestic political organization the government dislikes.
Under this law, any individual or group in America can be branded "terrorists" by the Attorney General. Then the
government can seize all of the assets of the banned group, as well as the assets of anyone who contributes to it. If
you pay $5 to attend a lecture by a Middle Eastern group, and the Attorney General later decides that they might have
terrorist links, your home and business could be seized.
Government news management. Increasingly, the government is controlling the news. According to the watchdog
group Accuracy In Media, over 87% of national network news comes either from government bureaucrats or
consultants.
Each year, government controls more of the news you hear, sometimes with deadly results. During the Gulf War,
reporters were forced into carefully-controlled press pools and all images of dead soldiers and civilians were
prohibited. Years later, how many Americans know that at least 6,000 Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. "smart"
bombs?
The same news control is now being used in the U.S. In Waco, Texas – where 86 innocent men, women and children
were shot or burned alive by the FBI and BATF – all contact between the Branch Davidians and the press was cut
off. The few reporters who tried to enter the Davidians’ property were turned away at gunpoint by armed troops and
told if they persisted, to expect "tragic consequences." As a result, to this day, not one American in 10,000 knows that
close to half the Branch Davidians were black or that the CS-gas the FBI used is lethal in enclosed buildings.
Reclaiming our freedom of speech
For the last 50 years, government assaults on freedom of speech in the U.S. have been growing. Today, not just
sexual images, but health information, critical news reports, and even political expression are being censored.
People whose only crime is that they hold unpopular ideas or expose government lies, are being harassed, imprisoned
and even killed.
In America, censorship is not only wrong, it is illegal. Our Bill of Rights is unmistakably clear. "Congress shall make
no law abridging freedom of speech." It is time our legislatures and courts obeyed their own laws.
To preserve our freedom of speech, we must fight for it. Support groups like ISIL, the Electronic Frontier Foundation,
the American PEN Society, and the ACLU, which are fighting for your freedom of speech. Challenge campus and
office speech codes. Subscribe to independent newsletters and share them with others. And encourage others to do
the same.
For over 200 years American has stood for liberty and freedom of speech. Today we can no longer take them for
granted. We must act now to restore our heritage of liberty – or risk losing it forever.
Libertarian World has reprinted this article with the permission of the International Society for Individual Liberty.
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