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Freedom
Of Speech, an Inherent Right?
Sandra Hartle
1/22/2003
We
Live In America
Along
with living in America comes certain unalienable rights that we are
granted as citizens of this country by our Constitution, one of which
is the Freedom of Speech. But is this Freedom all
encompassing? Some people, especially our youth seem to think
so, are they right? Or is this a sign of their lack of education, and
world experience that allows for the blurting out of information that
perhaps would best be kept to oneself.
This
morning I was reading through my emails and one that arrived was a
message posted on a group that I belonged to that indicated some
young man, who by his own admission is 23 years of age, had written in
his online journal calling for the demise of our President. The post included a
link, and upon arriving at the site I found a rather nice letter of
apology, that was when I first visited the site.
Open Apology
I understand that my website has caused some serious unrest within the past day or so. Let me explain my motivation and reasoning behind this posting.
I, first, would like to say that I do not advocate k*lling George W. Bush, or any other living being. I am not a fan of the man, but I do not really think he should die. I have to utmost respect for all forms of life, and I really cannot imagine being responsible for the death of another. I understand that my comments have made me sound like a monster, a political idealist gone crazy... This could not be further from the truth. I, in no way, want to see the leader, or any member, of this amazing political organization harmed in any way.
In Mr. Reynalds' article he states of me, "he gives the impression of being a washed out disgruntled Berkeley liberal who still thinks he's living in the 1960's." Unfortunately, he is pretty much correct. Aside from the fact that I am only 23 years old, Mr. Reynalds has hit the nail right on the head.
I must say, I am quite shaken up by the recent storm of emails and threats I have received. I did not expect anything I said on that site, or in any other mode of communication, to get that much attention. And in a sense, I probably took the Freedom of Speech we all enjoy so much a bit too far. I agree with Mr. Reynalds when said in an email to me, "It way transcends the limits of acceptable free speech." It did, and still does.
Please allow me to apologize to President George W. Bush, Mr. Jeremy Reynalds, and the entire United States of America. I, in no way, want to see anything life-threatening happen to anyone. Since this issue has been brought to my attention, I have removed my entire site from the Internet except for a statement (this statement in fact) apologizing for my actions.
Thank you,
Rich Blacker
rich@2forty.com
The
site itself was no longer accessible so I did a bit of research and
came up with the archived version of what he was apologizing
for.
Apparently,
prior to having closed the site, this young man had used it as a
method of making journal entries, entries that anyone can
read. This site was just one of many, that have a very anti-Bush
administration tone, run by those in our country who are so far to the
left that they are somewhere between California and Hawaii on the map,
right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
What
follows is his journal entry with some minor clean-ups, but in raw
enough form for you to get the general gist of the content.
Journal Entry: Someone K*ll This Man - November 29, 2002
Someone please k*ll George W. Bush - as soon as possible. He must die. If for nothing else, he makes our country look stupid on an hourly basis. How does he do it? How could someone possibly be that stupid and still be president? Wait, what the
f*** am I saying? How could someone be that stupid and even get elected president? Wait, what the
f*** am I saying? How could someone be that stupid and still be alive?
I remember, a few years ago when the country was on the rise, a man named Bill Clinton was in charge. This man was quite the president, keeping our wonderful country in the grip of an economic ascent, and even had the time for some
f****-s**** on the side! What a great guy!
But now, not 5 years later, we're experiencing a recession, on a certain path to nuclear war and
f****** ourselves in the a** the whole way. And for some strange reason, this is A-Ok with much of the American public. What the
f***?!?
As far as I am concerned, we need to kill George W. Bush and use his dead, bloated, stinking
f****** corpse to fuel our collective S.U.V. and ride off into the figurative sunset. Like in those old John Wayne movies...
So, until at least 2004 we are stuck with this bumbling, studdering,
f*** head dip-sh*t a** licker as a president. Someone kill me now.
Better yet, someone kill that mother f***** George W. Bush.
Well now, that was quite a
mouth full. This is not uncommon these days in our society, it
seems for some that it has indeed become the norm.
Analyzing why this young
person who has his entire life ahead of him would have such a negative
outlook on life today, is something that could never be
figured out for certain. I see this rage in lots of our young
people these days. Not directed at our president necessarily
either, but at anyone that happens to think different than they do, or
just makes the mistake of getting in their way.
What this young person has
not been taught is that along with the "Freedom" we have in this country
comes some "responsibilities". First of all I will start out by
saying that the language he used, is what my dear mother would call
"Ignorance attempting to express itself". The content
of the remainder of the journal entry speaks for itself.
He is neither old enough,
educated enough or mature enough to understand that his idol Mr.
Clinton rode out on an economy set up on 12 years of hard work, and
the ground work put into effect after Jimmy Carter had devastated our
economy with inflation, and cost running rampant. The persons
who laid this groundwork was not Bill Clinton it was Ronald Reagan and
George H. W. Bush.
During the Carter reign, I
lived to see housing interest rates as high as 21% in some
states. If ever we had a president that ruined our economy
it was Jimmy Carter, but at 23 years of age, this young man was not
around during those years now was he? Or if he was, he was
so young he could not possibly comprehend what a mess Carter left to
be repaired.
In fact when Bill Clinton
took office nearly the first thing he did was raise both the income
tax, and the amount everyone needed to pay into their Social Security
account each year.
So he inherited a rising
economy, and on top of that raised taxes, so his administration reaped
the benefits of both the increased revenues of a rising economy and
his increased taxes, that few complained much about since they were
also riding on the high wave created by the groundwork left to Clinton
by both Reagan and Bush.
I understand that in an
age of instant gratification, our young people think that one
president or another has a magic wand that makes things work.
But sadly that is not how it happens. The economy has gone in
cycles since I can remember, it goes up and it goes down. Some
of the driving factors are what makes our economy what it is, supply
and demand. For instance all during the 90's the Airline
manufacturer's were rocking and rolling. Why, well the last time
that had happened was in the early 60's when the Boeing company
released a few new, and larger versions of transportation.
Airlines bought up these airplanes, and proceeded to use them.
But by the early 90's the main fleets were 30 years old, and most
needed to be replaced.
The 90's also carried with
it an explosion of new technology. Technology that did not start
being developed on January 21, 1993 when Clinton took office but years
and years before. In the Aerospace industry for instance much of
what they develop is in the research and development stage for up to
two years before the first prototype is ever developed. Then in
some cases it will take up to 5 years of engineering to get it out
onto the market.
The PC became a reality in
the late 80's, not suddenly when Clinton took office. The
internet was developed by the Military to replace the outdated
teletype systems, long before it became a public medium, and it was
not until 1995 that major corporations began using it seriously.
So that means that this young man was 10 when Clinton took office, and
probably does not have a clue as to what developments from the 80's
hit the market while he was in office.
I don't mind people not
knowing something, but my mother once said that "ignorance was
not the lack of knowledge, it was the failure or refusal to acquire
it". That is what I see in this young man.
Ignorance that seems to be impenetrable in this age of instant
everything.
But sadly he is not
alone. This attitude that he expresses in his journal is
not something unique to him. No indeed. I have been
participating in political debate groups for the past two years, since
George Bush was elected. At first I was outraged that he did not
allow the recount, but then after reading the replies of the liberals
who were posting on the message boards, I suddenly realized that I was
not a liberal. They were angry, filled with venom and frankly so
disrespectful of everyone else's opinions I was sadly surprised.
Instead of providing facts for people, so that they could support
their argument, they instead would change the topic of the debates by
attacking the person who had started the post, or others who thought
differently than them. In fact they were often quite vile about
their attacks.
If you responded in kind,
they would accuse you of making a personal attack, when in fact you
were trying to defend yourselves.
Then I started watching
the debates on TV between the conservatives and the liberals.
The one thing I notice time after time, is that the liberals are
rude. The talk over the other person, ignore the questions they
are asked, and launch immediately into their pre-programmed talking
points. They are nothing more than ideological robots.
The mainstream media is
slightly less offensive than this young man in their writings, but
they are indeed the reason for writings such as his. They
disrespectfully say and write things that attack the person, ignoring
the policies, and the programs he is attempting to work. Even
Tom Daschle has slipped into sarcasm and personal attacks against the
Bush administration. I wonder if he realizes what a complete
turn off he is when he does that.
Yes I used to be a
Democrat, but there has never been a time in my life that I was this
kind of Democrat. As a voter I did not know my vote was
supporting abortion, and reengineering of our children in controlled
schools where the child has no options but to obey. I did not
know that we were purposely turning out products like his young man.
Libel
Recently there have been
several cases lost at the US Supreme Court level regarding libel and
slander. It appears if you are a public figure you may have to
endure the wrath of those
who will attack you at will, both verbally and in writing.
Several well known people have had their suits for slander rejected by
the courts. But does that mean that the person doing the
slandering is right?
When I was growing up,
there were certain things my parents censored me from saying. If
I persisted I could end up with one of their hands firmly placed on my
mouth. Now days I guess that would be called child abuse, but in
those days it was a matter of showing respect for your parents,
adults, and teachers. If you chose not to show that respect
there were consequences that you got to pay for the
offense.
Today no one is made to
pay for their bad behavior.
Treason.
It is obvious this young
person has not served his country. I don't agree with the
reason's Mr. Rangel and other's are trying to reinstate the draft, but
I think it should be reinstated. Indeed I think it should become
a requirement that every boy and girl that graduates from high school
in this country should serve their country in the military for two
years before going on with their education. One thing I can
guarantee, more young people would then be leaving college educated,
because the military would teach them something their parents are
not. Self discipline, and respect.
If this young man had
served in the military, he would know that calling for the death of a
president is treason. It is the highest crime you can
commit. I suspect he will get away with his stupidity, but if it
were up to me he would not. I think it is long past time that a
few examples were made in this country, to bring it back to
center. Because despite the fact many feel there is no
bottom in this race to the bottom, I think we have long since gone too
far. And this journal entry is definite proof that we are
not teaching our children, that with freedom comes
responsibilities.
He has since replaced the
nice apology above with a vile attack on those who he perceives
attacked him, you can read that here, http://www.2forty.com/journal/112902.htm.
It is bad enough that I had to reinforce this article with the
original post, and the apology that gave this young person at first
glance the appearance of having some civility. That appearance
you will find is wrong after reading his replacement apology.
We need to enforce the
laws we have, and if we did this, young people would soon learn that
"Freedom of Speech" does not mean you have the right to say
anything you want to say.
Sandra Hartle
Email: sandrahartle@juntosociety.com
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