The Land of the Almost Free to Speak Up
I’d like to think it was the sangria talking.
But the plain truth is, when Anna said she doesn’t find this country to be especially free, it was Anna talking. Granted, her complaint is hardly new. People often grouse about the lack of freedom in the land of the free.
But you see, Anna is from Estonia, a former republic of the old Soviet Union. As in the Evil Empire, world’s leading exporter of communism. So when Anna says she feels less free in the United States where she now lives than in the once-totalitarian regime where she was born, well . . . it gets your attention. And when she says Americans sometimes remind her of the gray, fatalistic people who shuffled along under communism, unwilling to think too deeply, say too much or laugh too loudly for fear of offending the State, it is striking, to say the least.
You won’t know Anna from Estonia. She is a friend’s fiancé, and these insights were not part of some think tank paper but, rather, came in the ebb and flow of table talk one recent night at a Mexican restaurant. Still, I think Anna is onto something.
Americans, she said, love to trumpet their freedom. But it’s hard to square that with political correctness that straitjackets communication for fear of giving unintended offense, hair-trigger litigiousness that requires major corporations to treat customers (”Caution: Coffee is hot”) like idiots for fear of being sued, zero tolerance policies and mandatory sentencing guidelines that remove human judgment from human encounters for fear of rendering unequal justice.
You do not have to agree that Americans compare unfavorably with the dull and dispirited Party men and women of a generation ago — I don’t — to believe Anna has a point. A nation of iconoclasts and originals seems hellbent on becoming a nation of hall monitors. A nation born in revolution has lived to see revolution neutered and co-opted. So much so that even that which poses as a threat to the status quo (hip-hop, for example) nowadays has commercial sponsorship and corporate tie-ins.
It’s hard to imagine an Elvis Presley happening in such an era. Or a Malcolm X, a Miles Davis, a Marlon Brando, a Bob Dylan, a Walt Disney, a Betty Friedan or any of the other American originals who poleaxed the 20th century. After all, originality is anathema to uniformity and, make no mistake, uniformity is what we’re talking about here, the campaign to regulate language, law, culture and every other aspect of human intercourse in the hope of thereby removing from that intercourse every hint of risk or danger of unequal treatment.
To put it another way: You can hardly accuse the cashier of being rude to you because of your sexual orientation if the cashier is a keypad; you can hardly sue the maker of the vending machine you rocked until it fell over on you if it bears a sign that says rocking this machine will cause it to fall over on you; you can hardly say the judge gave you a harsh sentence because you’re Hispanic if the judge had no role in choosing your sentence.
And if this impulse toward uniformity sounds noble in theory, what it leads to in practice is kids kicked out of school because Midol violates the zero-tolerance drug policy, or a parolee getting 25 to life because the pizza slice he stole violates the three-strike law.
And, too, it leads to Anna from Estonia making it a point to show visiting friends a sight they could never see in the old country. They laugh, they point, they whip out cameras and take pictures. Of the Everglades? No. Of Mount Rushmore or Lady Liberty? No.
Anna said they take pictures of the idiot signs. These she said, crack her friends up.
”Caution: Coffee is hot.” Apparently, elsewhere in the world, you don’t need a sign to know this.
–Leonard Pitts Jr.
Copyright 2008 Miami Herald Media Co.
If you happen to look Arabic, take all the ‘Idiot’ photos you want, just don’t take pictures of monuments, anything military, or public buildings, or you’ll probably get reported as being a terrorist and locked up by the Homeland Security Police.
“Homeland Security”, the American version of ‘Protect the Fatherland” And a fine laughingstock it is, too.
Caution: Politicians Lie
Caution: Everybody lies
As a US marine in WWII, my scoutmaster fought to end fascism in the European theatre from the liberation of Sicily, D-day, Battle of the Bulge, and liberation of Germany in 1945.
Now in his 80’s my scoutmaster recently commented on how the US Government now operates like the WWII era fascist governments in Italy and Germany that he and his generation sacrificed so much to eliminate.
People who believe they are supporting the troops by supporting Bush Regime policy are actually not supporting today’s troops or the troops that fought in WWII.
There’s a line in “The Matrix:” Freedom is an illusion created by those who have power over those who have no power.
or something like that, hell, make up your own quote…
Originality, creativity, inventiveness… I recall these used to be “American virtues” you know, Thomas Edison, Booker T Washington, Mark Twain (wow, he even made up his own name.)
Creative non-conformity is a threat to Fascism and McMendacity. Let’s go do it. Woo Hoo!
The other day two officers from the Dallas Police Department pulled me over as I walked home from the grocery store in the middle of the afternoon.
“What are you doing!” the first barked, hand already on her holster.
“Looking for Osama. What the fuck are you doing?” I responded.
Things went downhill from there. First, I was threatened with arrest because of my “attitude.” I told them to knock themselves out, then asked when the “bad attitude” law was passed. Then I was threatened with arrest for not carrying official identification. I reminded them that we’re still living in a country that does not require its citizens to carry official papers to be presented upon demand. I also refused to allow them to search me, which led to more arrest threats, of course.
When I asked them how often the DPD makes them re-read the Constitution they’re supposedly protecting, they said “you’re free to go.” I answered that I was free to go before they decided to violate my civil rights. I added that they need to pay for my ice cream that had melted; they hopped into their prowlers and burned rubber - to show me how tough they were, I reckon…
Side note: I have one of those cardboard sun shields for my windshield. In the bottom left corner, it says, in bold red block letters:
WARNING: DO NOT DRIVE WITH SUN-SHIELD IN PLACE.
That’s pretty cool -frank1569- and a reminder for all of us.
Control requires Fear and Fear of Government Authority begins for most of us with Fear of the Police.
The Police, like the Politicians and the Bureaucrats are OUR servants, not the other way around.
Have no fear of arrest!
Relish your opportunity to assert you Natural Human Rights!
Oh and,
Live where you can WALK to get groceries!
That’s just as important.
-matti.
Well done, frank1569 3:44 pm.
I am occasionally confronted in our D.C. alley, several blocks north of the nation’s Capitol, on a regular basis by police who do not know me as I perform my daily feeding and care for 57 feral feline friends. This occurs every night from around 1 to 3 am. I am providing some of the background details to help illustrate the point I want to make.
There is a difference in how I am apporached. Sometimes it’s an officer in a cruiser who sees some guy kneeling down in front of a closed garage door, pulls up and politely asks me what’s going on. I usually have a nice conversation with such officers. (One cop has even adopted one of our fixed — and very lovable, if anyone out there is interested — furry friends.)
Then there are the SWAT-wannabe cops. They scream down the alley at high speed, cats at various feeding spots dashing every which way for safety. My teeth start grating, since cats are known to suddenly veer off into danger if the place-of-safety to which they are headed is suddenly found to be blocked or occupied by another cat. These cops are like the ones you encountered. Needless to say, the ensuing “conversations” are not pleasant.
I always try to be polite and not raise my voice (I have to worry about the cats’ welfare above my own smug sense of satisfaction), but - and here is where I (finally) return to your tale - one should never give in meekly to their bullying, testosterone-driven, revolver-supported tactics.
“I am not required to carry ID, but you, as a police officer, are required to do so. May I please have your badge number.” (One of my favorite responses)
“I am doing what I do every night, 365 nights a year, and have been doing since I moved to this block seven years ago. Is this your first night on patrol?”
There are several images that are almost iconic for me and have been much of my life. One is of WWI troops walking across no-mans land into devastating machine gun fire, time after time, to their inevitable deaths. I could never understand their motivation. The other is of lower-middle-class (in income terms) police officers bringing clubs and batons down onto the heads of people just like them (and believe me, I’ve suffered my share of such beatings through the late ’60s) as they protect the interests of the rich and powerful. Why?
How is the line crossed from protecting the public (in the beginning) to protecting the private property of the monied elite from the public?
Anyway, well done in standing up for your what remains of our rapidly evaporating civil rights.
Great article. I couldn’t agree more. Going to the US feels like trips to the East Bloc these days.
Including the way people over there are behaving. I.e. they meekly accept being harassed. They even expect it. Like in any dictatorship.
Where I live we have a ‘rapid transit’ system… in 2007, the oversight body for the transit system thought it to be a good idea to create their own Transit Police force that’s ARMED. So now, we have all these big, burly guys in paramilitary outfits and guns riding the trains to check people’s fares. Since their inception, these ‘transit cops’ have used tasers on ‘fare violators’ 10 separate times. Using a Taser on someone over a $2.50 train ticket??? These people were non-violent and were questioning or resisting the officer’s orders.
Meanwhile, a few days ago at one of the train stations, a 18 year old woman was surrounded, punched, robbed and threatened with a knife by a group of 6 teenagers. Where were the transit cops? Oh yeah, busy intimidating people into showing their fares.
Here are a couple of links to news articles relating to what I was talking about.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/05/02/bc-skytrain-girl-swarmed.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkPXmpaCcSM
Right On frank and kgarry !
elmysterio asks a valid question when he asks the question, “where were the cops?”.
the police is supposed to be a public service. it is only one among many. however, unlike all other public services, the police are given carte blanche to violate ANYBODY’s civil rights ANYWHERE and for ANY reason.
it can be viewed easier when put into proper context.
you must ask yourself these basic questions about OUR public services. do ambulances drive around looking for hurt people??? NO. and there are many good reason, not the least of which is that they don’t want to be in the wrong place when they get a call. Do firetrucks go around looking for fires? No. Now what if we became even MORE hysterical and in our rush to self preservation mandated that ambulance and fire services act the way the police do?
I can see it now. incidences of accidents will go up, regardless of whether they are really “accidents”.. there will also be more incidences of fires. For example, one fine day here in the united states of israel, our children will be pulled over by ambulances for not wearing a helmet. they might also pull someone over for smoking, although you might even be ticketed by the fire department for that. in other words, they will be doing their own policing.
this is our future until we put an end to state-sponsored gestapo nazi terrorism with badges and carte blanche to rape our civil rights.
When we look back to the McCarthyist 50s and the Cold War 60s as times when “we” were really free then “we” have certainly gone through the looking glass.
Sorry, but this article is way off of the mark.
America has never been the land of the free and the only freedoms ever won weren’t given but wrested from the rich, powerful, racist, misogynist, homophobic, militarist, WASP thugs that have always been the ruling class.
and Rock ON frank and kgarry indeed!!!!!!
frank1569, your post made my day. (“Looking for Osama. What the fuck are you doing?” = LMAO!)
kgarry, you too. I also have been clubbed in the head by cops (while handcuffed, natch) and while I’m sure there are a few “good apples” in the barrel, most of them seem to be well-armed thugs with severe personality disorders.
My rule for hiring cops is the same as for politicians: If you want to be one, you probably shouldn’t be one.
Americans, she said, love to trumpet their freedom. Itès hard to if you still have freedom if you donèt test it . This story about Anna reminds me of story in Tallinn about 19 years ago just before the retreat of the Soviet Army from the Baltic countries , Lithuania , Latvia and Estonia . When it was illegal under Soviet rule for Estonians to sing their national anthem , about three hundred thousand citizens sardined onto the university plaza , you guessed it , to openly defy the Soviet Army and sing the Estonian National Anthem . That doesnèt seem like that many people compared to a million Americans that initially paraded against the invasion of Iraq .
The population of Estonian , men , women , children is 1.7 million which is a show of defiance by 1 out of 6. Someone had to stay home and cook supper.
If 50 million Americans ( 1in6 )had tested their freedom by blocking all military bases defying the illegal decisionj to invade Iraq , (reader finish the story)
I wouldnèt be at all surprised if Anna was a toddler in Tallinn Square and sheès absolutely dead-on about blow-hard Americans .
Another story to denigrate American bugle-boys ( and girls ) . When Stalin set a figure for Finns to pay as war-loss reparations or face occupation , he obviously didnèt count on the fiercely independent nature of the Finns or their frugality-hard-headed generosity . Citizens turned over all personal gold to the Finnish government who promptly and very PUBLILY gave the money to Stalin probably accompanied with a thinly disgiused driving finger.
Estonia and Finland , ethnicly and linguisticly related , are two of the richest , freest and most SOCIALISTIC countries in the world . Russia is one of poorest for ordinary citizens .
It pays to test your freedoms once in a while instead of playinè on a tin horn
Elmysterio- DUDE! Greetings from a fellow Lower Mainlander!
Yeah, Elmysterio is dead on in what he said.
VYR, the Vancouver International Airport is the place where 6 armed, Taser wielding RCMP officers surrounded and then electrocuted a Polish national seeking to emigrate, all because he couldn’t speak English and had been held at customs for 6 hours with no aid or assistance and got understandably upset. The police’s first response, after trying to ‘talk’ to Robert Dzykanski for 30 seconds was to taser him and trigger a fatal heart attack.
Not to mention the so-called ‘free speech’ zones that pop up like weeds every time there is even a -minor- chance that a protest could possibly disrupt one of the ‘international trade conferences’ in North America. Or anywhere that Bush or his cronies will be speaking.
And then we have the whole massive intrusion of free speech and expression of mail inspections looking for anthrax, e-mail intercepts, warrant-less wire-tapping…the list grows larger, and our freedoms grow ever smaller. Even ‘public’ forums such as this are trolled by FBI and CIA goons looking for the next so-called ‘terrorist’ cell using the ‘Net to communicate.
Heh.
To use the term from the pop philosophy book ‘Matrix Warrior’, we are just ‘humatons’ waiting to be food for the machines, marking time pretending to be united in a purpose.
How about we get off our asses and actually LIVE our lives for once, and not the capitalist consumer ones we have been programmed for?
hellodarling, 7:00pm:
“this is our future until we put an end to state-sponsored gestapo nazi terrorism with badges and carte blanche to rape our civil rights.”
So how in the hell do you think that’s ever going to happen? Do you think you can write a letter to your Congressman and he’ll make it all better? Hold up a protest sign and it’ll all go away?
Thomas Jefferson once said:
“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
I doubt that there is a single whiner on this board who would dare take heed and action on Jefferson’s immortal words. But if we want to remain free, it’ll take just that. Blood must be spilled, whether it is by one or by an army. Anything less and we might just as well bend over and kiss our asses goodbye.
A lot of people think that the restrictions of freedom are the price we pay for vigilance, until it happens to them. Until they are the ones rousted and questioned, it never really is driven home how things have changed.
Israel is a prime example of a country under siege and living with it. They brought it upon themselves and have learned to live with it. Maybe we brought it upon ourselves too, but learning to live with it is another matter entirely. People do not want to live in fear all their lives. If that is the case, we need to address the root problems of those causing the fear.
Big deal, since I step my feet inside this country I realized Americans are so controlled, that made me sick! Their stupid attitude, but here you can do this.. you can do that, bla, blabla, but when you start discussing government politics your guests freak out and change subject!!!!! Too nationalist, to talk about your fucking mistakes!!!
Well, lets talk about American Foreign policies and Israel, or better I can believe this Jews are the same ones that suffer on the WWII, great!! Look now they think they can kill all the Palestinians and steal their lands and all back up with US economical fucking aid! Wake up America you don’t bring freedom, you bring destruction!
The last time I went to the US was 6 months BEFORE 911. 3 metal detectors in 50 feet. Custom people looking inside diapers, not allowed to even put a foot outside the line that was painted on the floor. I had a cop tell me to get back in line, I just said just like public school got to stay in line. I said to my wife this is our last trip here for a long time. I was taking my kids to Disney.
Now I just wave out the window as the plane flies passed Florida going to CUBA. You know CUBA for 800$ Canadian you get a week in the sun all the booze and food you can stuff in you face. That price is Air, Hotel, food, booze 24/7 and taxes included in mid winter. Try to do Florida on 800$ all inclusive. Thanks George for opening my eyes to any place but America for a vacation.
Yesterday my Son was in a jury pool being questioned by attorneys for the purpose of selecting a jury. One of the questions the group was asked is, “Do you think cops would plant evidence? Eighty percent of the group said yes, and were excused.
Have been a musician for fun over the years, and enjoyed playing on the street here and there (acoustic, Beatles etc.)—nothing anybody could call “loud/obnoxious,” in fact people gather round and enjoy. And every single time, within ten minutes of the music’s making people pause on their errands or sit down to enjoy, the freakin’ POLICE descend on me as if I’m a 1-man threat to civilization. “Can’t do that here, son….” “Have to pay a $50 license fee….” “You’re causing a disturbance, somebody [never specified] complained….” “Let’s move it along….” I’m sure it was never this bad in the USSR. After all, people might enjoy life rather than buy things; might TALK to each other rather than buy things; might FEEL something rather than buy things….
Now I think it’s time for some good news. For the first time in years of living In Portland, Oregon, I saw an Anti-Union Advertisement, that basicly said, If you join a Labor Union, that Union will take all your freedon Away from you, and control Life. I say thats good news, because for the first time years large Corporations, are afraid of Unions. I Made another observation, Republican Senator Gordon Smith, is So afraid that he well loose his Job, he has decided to run an Attack Ad Directed at the two Top Democrates, who could be runing against him. That’s Progress. We won’t count primary Votes Until May 20th.
Frank…
outstanding…
frank1569 - I lived in Dallas for five years and found it to be one of the most pedestrian-hostile places I’ve ever lived…many neighborhoods there don’t even have sidewalks…kudos to you, sir, and be careful; if the cops don’t get you, the bottle-blonde yakking on the phone in her Stupid Ugly Vehicle just might.
Humanity against The Corpirate Decepti-CONS!
FREE the MEDIA from CRASS GREEDIA!
All Media Conglomerates are
Complicit in The Deceit
Guilty as charged.
Disseminators of
Totally Improper
PROPAGANDA!
Corporate Deception and Delusion!
Separate Man from the machine.
Humans are people.
Corporations are Tools used by the Wealthy to subjugate the Poor.
Citizens have rights.
Machines have none.
Revoke their Licenses and
Dissolve their Charters
Break up
The FAUX MEDIA
One Channel in any market, period and
One market per Person
Take the profit out and put the Information back in.
This is about our Survival, Real Journalism,
America’s Future, Truth,
Freedom and basic Human Rights.
Information is the life Blood of Democracy
Right now it is Poisoned by Foul mouthed Bigots
Spewing lies, misinformation and worse.
Death and DESTRUCTION!
How do they get away with it?
Who pays these Bigots Millions to tell Lies?
Follow the money, Honey and the rest is easy.
They’re Corpirate Hand Puppets.
They focus your attention on anything but
The TRUTH while
The Corporations get away with MURDER!
We built the System, paid for it with our Blood, Sweat and Tears yet,
They Control it!
They get everything for free.
While you’re drowning in grief and being swept away in a tidal wave of debt
Works for them!
For you?
It Hurts.
Their Rovien Propaganda Ministry spins a Web of deceit
The Delusion that we live in a Free country run for and by The People.
It is a lie.
Nothing could be further from the TRUTH
We live in a FASCIST STUPID STATE
A BANANA REPUBLIC
With a petty Puppet DICTATOR
Where Politicians lie and The Media swears to it.
Garbage in, Garbage out!
End Corporate Hypocrisy now.
The World is going to Hell in a Hand Basket.
See any problems or similarities here?
We are the victims now!
The Chickens (hawks) have come Home to roost
Yet the Corporations take no credit for it
For any of the mess they’ve created with their
Unbridled Imperialism.
Why should they?
That is the Beauty of the plan.
The Plum/Patsy in the pudding
They always blame it on somebody else.
Meanwhile
The BU__! SH__! Gets even deeper and
Starts hitting the fan.
Take back the Airwaves.
And
FREE AMERICA
FIRST!
Start over.
Purge
Update then
REBOOT!
“What you represent to
them is freedom… It’s real hard to be free when you’re bought and sold in
the marketplace. Of course, don’t ever tell anybody they’re not free ’cause
they’re gonna get real busy killin’ and maimin’ to prove to you that they
are…”
Jack Nicholson in “Easy Rider” 1969
Good article. One thing that interferes with freedom is the illusion that everything should be 100% safe. Kids are not allowed healthful play in schoolyards, for instance, because they could skin a knee and parents would sue. Dammit judges, stop giving settlements for nonsense.
As an older white woman, my motto is “be difficult”. If police, mall guards, self-important film crews and others try to stop me from doing normal things that I have a right to do, I explain why they have no control over me and go about my business. So far no arrests, but as they used to say in South Africa “Oh we don’t care if we go to jail, It is for freedom that we gladly go.”
I would not necessarily give the same advice to a young African-American. It could be fatal. So I feel that “being difficult” is a public service for everyone. Besides it gives me energy.
The media is out of control this election has shown us just how far it has gone to dumb-down the public. The recent move by ABC to remove candidates from the debates was outrageous. They are trying to determine the fate of the country and the world being mouthpiece for special interests and the government and to silence dissent.
Media censure is unheard, the FCC should rule for the public but like the EPA its teeth are continually drawn. The media has no right to exclude any politician who is running for office as happened recently with the ABC debate. The only exclusion under the rules used by ABC should apply to a candidate not sitting in public office. The license of ABC would be lifted if the rules were changed but the congress, with the exception of a few pushes for more media conglomeration supported by special interests. I hope that someone picks up on this thought. We have seen the obsession by FOX and CNN, particularly in the form of Wolf Blitzer, and the FOX rabid journalists constantly referring to the Rev. Wright controversy.
Blitzer’s bias is clear. He is quick to use every possible negative he can against Obama from the Flag Pin to anything else he could get his mouth around. His support for Clinton has been clear and inappropriate, for CNN to call itself a “fair and balanced” news network. I quote Mr. Nichols: ” The media pretense of being a fly on the wall has often been preposterous. In the real world of politics — where power brokers and manipulators proceed with the cynical axiom that perception is reality — the fly on the wall is the wall. The political press corps is not observing reality as much as redefining it while obstructing outlooks and constraining public perceptions.”
As usual, few are able to see the stampede of the public sheep created by media. I support the change that Obama represents! He is intelligent and wants America once again to be looked upon as a great nation that it could still be and once was. The present “lack of experience” cry of Clinton is preposterous. Could anyone having been near the White house as long as Bush done as badly for the USA? There is experience! However, the discovery of a job approval rating for him at about 28% of the American people speaks volumes about experience. No one could have been as bad as the Bush team! There is experience!
A flight from entrenched American politics is necessary . . .it has ruined this country and made greed the single value of importance. The young people once again embrace hope as a result of the Obama campaign. The Hillary political group and entrenched politics have virtually destroyed America with its policies and exclusive power clubs. She has believed this form government is America.
Clinton recently morphed to the Obama populist message, it was called, “finding her voice” while at the beginning of her stump showing her Madeline Albright, bomb the children image. Can anyone truly think that change is unnecessary? I guess not since all the politicos have adopted his message including McCain? The mistakes that Obama may make as president cannot be greater than those of the past seven years. It is also necessary to give him a democratic congress to make certain that the programs that Americans want can be enacted.
Mr. Gore Vidal, has pointedly criticized mainstream media as one of the major problems, and what is wrong with the USA. The corporate media conglomerates control the message and that message is perversely distorted and panders to its advertising portfolio! Wolf Blitzer one of the glaring examples of this criticism and shows clearly those distorted ideas with his reporting, which is nothing more than partially factual opinion dictated by his bosses.
He is a person who has no right to shape public opinion far from being the “fly on the wall” he espouses to be. We must remember flies morph from maggots. He displays ignorance as a virtue for the entire world to see, an example of what is considered, by many in America to be news reporting. If Blitzer were billed as a CNN commentator, at least the public would not be hoodwinked to believe his reporting to be the truth, while it is lack of concern for accuracy, rectitude and fairness to be considered to be news rather than opinion.
______