Shh, Don't Say a Word
Freedom of speech isn't exactly free. You can't yell "fire!" in a crowded room and you can't threaten the president of the United States - whether in anger or jest. But, what constitutes a "threat"?
Last month the Secret Services descended on a California high school to interrogate two students who, in an English class discussion, said "Bush is whacked." The students' teacher had called the SS.
A month earlier, other SS agents asked an American-Arab student if "he had ever dreamed or hallucinated about President Bush, and if he wanted to kill him."
There's more, too. Look at Houston's tiny Art Car Museum. The FBI showed up, looking into anti-American activities when Secret Wars, "an exhibit on US covert operations and government secrets, opened.
Lest we think this is all a result of our new need for a secure homeland, consider what occured before Septemeber 11.
The Secret Service investigated a college student "who wrote a satirical editorial asking Jesus to 'smite' President Bush.
They also questioned a man in Georgia whose truck has bumper stickers that say "hell with Bush" and suggest that Bush is a "two-faced murderer."
The Supreme Court, through myriad rulings, has said that U.S. government restrictions on free expression are valid if:
- "the regulation furthers an important or substantial government interest,
- the governmental interest is unrelated to the suppression of free expression, and
- the incidental restriction on alleged First Amendment rights is no greater than is essential to the furtherance of that interest."
Too bad we don't have much say in what the interests of our government are.
permalink posted by: jgh 8:44:35 AM
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