In ‘the Land of the Free’ Dissent Can Be Dangerous
It may have been three years since Sept. 11, 2001 but its effects are still being felt within America’s borders. Some are complaining that an atmosphere of fear melded with a liberal pinch of nationalism has eroded civil liberties, not to mention plain old-fashioned common sense.
Recently, the comic strip Doonesbury was dropped from 38 US publications because its characters criticized the American president. That same month, singer Linda Ronstadt was forcibly ejected from the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas for dedicating a song to award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, while actress and comedienne Whoopie Goldberg received her marching orders from both Slimfast and Celebrity Squares for making a crude anti-Bush joke.
Also in July, Clear Channel Communications — which last year was accused of banning the Dixie Chicks from the air over anti-war remarks made by the group’s lead singer — attempted to block a billboard from being hoisted above New York’s Times Square. The board read: “Democracy is Best Taught by Example, Not by War” and became the subject of litigation.
Last November, CBS banned a documentary, which was less than flattering about the life and times of Ronald Reagan — one of two former presidents George W. Bush most admires. In it, Reagan was portrayed as cold and unfeeling while his wife Nancy depicted as the real power in the White House. As CBS had initially approved the script, critics alleged the network had bowed to political pressure. Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle said: “It smells of intimidation to me”.
Earlier last year, Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon had a speaking engagement cancelled due to her anti-war views and her flashing of peace symbols.
Actor Tim Robbins, whose anti-Bush play and film “Embedded/Live” have riveted audiences from Los Angeles to Venice, received a letter from president of the Baseball Hall of Fame Dale Petroskey, canceling an anniversary celebration of the movie Bill Durham. It read: “...we believe your very public criticism of President Bush at this important — and sensitive — time in our nation’s history helps undermine the US position, which ultimately could put our troops in even more danger”.
In this topsy-turvy world, advocating peace puts a nation’s troops in danger, while rooting for war does not, it seems.
There are elements throughout the US who view the purveyors of peace as a threat to the culture of endless war they obviously hold so highly. After all, when the nation’s president cries “bring ‘em on” and warns ominously that his creation “the war on terror” may never be won, the peacemongers are marching out of step.
T-shirts printed with “Give Peace a Chance” are a definite ‘no-no’, as lawyer Stephen Downs discovered firsthand. Downs was arrested, handcuffed and charged with trespassing at a New York mall after refusing to remove the offending item, just purchased in the same shopping precinct.
In Dearborn, 16-year-old Bretton Barber was sent home from high school for wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt bought on the Internet. When told to turn it inside-out, take it off or go home, as it might inflame the school’s Arab-American students, Barber walked out of class, supported by his parents.
Those who want an end to war find themselves in the sights of the FBI, which was questioning political demonstrators prior to this year’s Republican GOP. Sarah Bardwell, a 21-year-old member of a Denver anti-war group described a visit by six FBI investigators. “...They were trying to intimidate us into not going to any protests and to let us know that, ‘hey, we’re watching you’.”
In the event, hundreds of protestors were held without charge for more than 40 hours, which a criminal court judge pronounced illegal, before ordering their immediate release. It gets even more serious for Florida trainee policeman Joseph Chiejina Mazagwu. He was recently indicted on charges of threatening the president. If convicted, he could be jailed for up to five years and fined $250,000. His lawyer insists it has all been a huge misunderstanding. The day before Bush was due to visit Tampa, the owner of a dry cleaners asked Mazagwu whether he would be part of the president’s security detail.
Mazagwu then launched into a criticism of the Iraq war and loosely said: “The president needs to be shot. His father needs to be shot. If someone gave me bullets, I would do that”. His outburst was reported and for shooting off his mouth he stands to lose everything.
Paul Krassner in his article “Threats against the President” points out that comedian Groucho Marx told Flash magazine in 1971: “I think the only hope this country has is Nixon’s assassination.” Yet the Marx brother wasn’t questioned or arrested. But those were very different times.
Cartoonist Michael Ramirez was, however, visited by a Secret Service agent after publication in the Los Angeles Times of a cartoon depicting a gun being pointed at the president’s head — a spoof of a 1968 Pulitzer Prize-winning photo. The agent asked: “Do you think Bush’s security detail should have felt threatened by your cartoon?”
Ramirez was merely inconvenienced but another man Richard Humphreys joked about a burning bush in a bar and ended up being sentenced to three years for threatening the president.
The moral is this. Freedom comes with caveats nowadays. Americans should not be surprised if their phones are tapped, their e-mails intercepted, their homes searched without their knowledge, and their reading habits monitored thanks to the rushed through, post-Sept. 11 Patriot Act.
Visitors to the US risk being jailed for months for photographing the wrong building, as was a Nepalese who inadvertently took holiday snaps featuring a tall structure, which housed a secret service office. Arabs, many of whom were incarcerated for minor visa inconsistencies, have got the message and are staying away in large numbers.
The “Land of the Free” is suffering from a fortress mentality where snitches are encouraged. It is up to the brave majority to knock down the walls and encourage their nation to rejoin the community of nations when the world is sure to, slowly but surely, open up its arms. The alternative means Osama and Co. are surely laughing up their sleeves.
— Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback at solitairemedia@yahoo.co.uk
Recently, the comic strip Doonesbury was dropped from 38 US publications because its characters criticized the American president. That same month, singer Linda Ronstadt was forcibly ejected from the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas for dedicating a song to award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore, while actress and comedienne Whoopie Goldberg received her marching orders from both Slimfast and Celebrity Squares for making a crude anti-Bush joke.
Also in July, Clear Channel Communications — which last year was accused of banning the Dixie Chicks from the air over anti-war remarks made by the group’s lead singer — attempted to block a billboard from being hoisted above New York’s Times Square. The board read: “Democracy is Best Taught by Example, Not by War” and became the subject of litigation.
Last November, CBS banned a documentary, which was less than flattering about the life and times of Ronald Reagan — one of two former presidents George W. Bush most admires. In it, Reagan was portrayed as cold and unfeeling while his wife Nancy depicted as the real power in the White House. As CBS had initially approved the script, critics alleged the network had bowed to political pressure. Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle said: “It smells of intimidation to me”.
Earlier last year, Oscar-winning actress Susan Sarandon had a speaking engagement cancelled due to her anti-war views and her flashing of peace symbols.
Actor Tim Robbins, whose anti-Bush play and film “Embedded/Live” have riveted audiences from Los Angeles to Venice, received a letter from president of the Baseball Hall of Fame Dale Petroskey, canceling an anniversary celebration of the movie Bill Durham. It read: “...we believe your very public criticism of President Bush at this important — and sensitive — time in our nation’s history helps undermine the US position, which ultimately could put our troops in even more danger”.
In this topsy-turvy world, advocating peace puts a nation’s troops in danger, while rooting for war does not, it seems.
There are elements throughout the US who view the purveyors of peace as a threat to the culture of endless war they obviously hold so highly. After all, when the nation’s president cries “bring ‘em on” and warns ominously that his creation “the war on terror” may never be won, the peacemongers are marching out of step.
T-shirts printed with “Give Peace a Chance” are a definite ‘no-no’, as lawyer Stephen Downs discovered firsthand. Downs was arrested, handcuffed and charged with trespassing at a New York mall after refusing to remove the offending item, just purchased in the same shopping precinct.
In Dearborn, 16-year-old Bretton Barber was sent home from high school for wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt bought on the Internet. When told to turn it inside-out, take it off or go home, as it might inflame the school’s Arab-American students, Barber walked out of class, supported by his parents.
Those who want an end to war find themselves in the sights of the FBI, which was questioning political demonstrators prior to this year’s Republican GOP. Sarah Bardwell, a 21-year-old member of a Denver anti-war group described a visit by six FBI investigators. “...They were trying to intimidate us into not going to any protests and to let us know that, ‘hey, we’re watching you’.”
In the event, hundreds of protestors were held without charge for more than 40 hours, which a criminal court judge pronounced illegal, before ordering their immediate release. It gets even more serious for Florida trainee policeman Joseph Chiejina Mazagwu. He was recently indicted on charges of threatening the president. If convicted, he could be jailed for up to five years and fined $250,000. His lawyer insists it has all been a huge misunderstanding. The day before Bush was due to visit Tampa, the owner of a dry cleaners asked Mazagwu whether he would be part of the president’s security detail.
Mazagwu then launched into a criticism of the Iraq war and loosely said: “The president needs to be shot. His father needs to be shot. If someone gave me bullets, I would do that”. His outburst was reported and for shooting off his mouth he stands to lose everything.
Paul Krassner in his article “Threats against the President” points out that comedian Groucho Marx told Flash magazine in 1971: “I think the only hope this country has is Nixon’s assassination.” Yet the Marx brother wasn’t questioned or arrested. But those were very different times.
Cartoonist Michael Ramirez was, however, visited by a Secret Service agent after publication in the Los Angeles Times of a cartoon depicting a gun being pointed at the president’s head — a spoof of a 1968 Pulitzer Prize-winning photo. The agent asked: “Do you think Bush’s security detail should have felt threatened by your cartoon?”
Ramirez was merely inconvenienced but another man Richard Humphreys joked about a burning bush in a bar and ended up being sentenced to three years for threatening the president.
The moral is this. Freedom comes with caveats nowadays. Americans should not be surprised if their phones are tapped, their e-mails intercepted, their homes searched without their knowledge, and their reading habits monitored thanks to the rushed through, post-Sept. 11 Patriot Act.
Visitors to the US risk being jailed for months for photographing the wrong building, as was a Nepalese who inadvertently took holiday snaps featuring a tall structure, which housed a secret service office. Arabs, many of whom were incarcerated for minor visa inconsistencies, have got the message and are staying away in large numbers.
The “Land of the Free” is suffering from a fortress mentality where snitches are encouraged. It is up to the brave majority to knock down the walls and encourage their nation to rejoin the community of nations when the world is sure to, slowly but surely, open up its arms. The alternative means Osama and Co. are surely laughing up their sleeves.
— Linda S. Heard is a specialist writer on Middle East affairs. She welcomes feedback at solitairemedia@yahoo.co.uk
posted by R7 | 9/15/2004 05:46:00 PM
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