On Freedom of Speech

Blitz Magazine

The cocktail talk is about John Ralston Saul. Saul, an established author on, among other things, political philosophy, is married to Canada’s Governor General, Adrienne Clarkson. And, in his latest book, he states that the western world is, in part, to blame for the events of September 11th.

Horrors! In the House of Commons, acting Reform Party leader John Reynolds rants about the fact that the Governor General’s husband could say this. Prime Minister Chretien was happy to point out that Saul is an individual who is a member of a free society and can, therefore, say anything he likes.

On October 1st, Sunera Thobani, Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of British Columbia, addressed the unfortunately-named Women’s Resistance Conference (I’m sorry I missed that shindig). In her speech, Thobani sharply criticized US foreign policy, including its policy regarding the Arab world. Kaboom! There were calls for her job, calls for her head, calls for cuts to the university’s funding—Thobani suddenly needed a security detail.

Back at the cocktail party, the guy next to me recalls how nonplussed David Letterman was after the September 11th attack. Of every pundit on his show, he asked: “Why would they do this? How could they hate us?’”

Hello, I say. Of course the western world bears some responsibility for this attack. Of course US foreign policy has been horribly wrong. Of course many Arabs deeply resent the western world. Every federal dollar that every western government has ever sent in support of Israel, while not providing equal support to the Palestinians, has been a drop of gasoline on the inferno has resulted in 9/11. Many people—of all religions and political stripes, cannot believe that democratic leaders support a government that treats human beings the way the Israelis have treated the Palestinians. I note to my martini-swilling pals, that I have a Jewish friend who sees no difference between the Israelis, the IRA, Al Qaeda and the goons in Somalia and the former Yugoslavia. Yet, she tells me, she can’t express her thoughts to any member of her family, including her husband.

“Shhhh!” my friends say. “Lower your voice! Someone might hear you!”

So? What the hell is going on here? We’re all of a sudden not allowed to say what we think? We all have to toe some line of political correctness? Whose apple cart are we not supposed to upset?”

People are going to read this and say “Oooh. You shouldn’t have said that.”

Why not? Does stating my opinion mean that I’m going to be called ‘stupid’ for blasting hypocrisy? Anti-Semitic for disagreeing with Israel? Sued for injuries to someone’s sensibilities? Or attacked in the name of someone’s god?

Dubya can’t say enough about the “boys overseas” who are “fighting to preserve the freedoms we hold dear.” Well, that includes freedom of speech. In this country, in the US—in all democratic nations, we’re all allowed to say what we think. To whomever we want. Wherever and whenever we choose. We’re allowed to print opinion, broadcast opinion, shout opinion. If someone doesn’t like it, he can argue back, voice his own views, open a debate. Free discussion leads to resolution.

If more of us had spoken our minds all along, maybe September 11th wouldn’t have happened. Maybe billions of dollars, which are much needed elsewhere, wouldn’t be going up in smoke over Afghanistan. Maybe some of the countless people who have died over the Israel/Palestine issue in last 50 years would still be around. And if more people start saying what they think, and telling the truth regardless of public relations, party position or political fall-out, maybe we could enter the new year with a little more optimism.



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Television & Another Summer of Discontent

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The Post-9/11 Plague