Sunday, August 31, 2008

Freedom of Speech, Just Watch What You Say

One of the main criticisms of the Beijing Olympics was China’s intolerant attitude towards political dissent.  The government claimed that anyone who wished to stage a protest had to first file a request with the police.  The police subsequently denied all of them on bullshit legal grounds, thus claiming that they tolerated dissent while in reality not tolerating it.

Pretty good political stunt, isn’t it?  Nice verbal trickery, a country which doesn’t tolerate dissent claims to tolerate dissent but doesn’t.

The last few days have seen the Democratic National Convention in Denver.  Since the Clinton administration these events, in the name of “security,” have relegated protesters to free speech zones, which are basically barbed-wire cages surrounded by police, far away from politicians and TV cameras, where those pesky First Amendment rights are reduced to the point of uselessness.  Via The Agitator comes this astonishing photograph.

Land of the free, home of the brave.  Absolutely fucking pathetic, isn’t it?  China has no right to free speech and they don’t allow demonstrations They use tricks and semantic bullshit to pretend that they respect the right to free speech while subsequently suppressing it.  Americans have the right to freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and freedom to petition the government with grievances guaranteed by the Constitution.  It’s right there in black and white, guaranteed in writing.  And our government uses the goon squad to make sure that those rights are “respected” in such a way that they are essentially useless. 

Tell me, in practical terms, what’s the fucking difference?  Power for power’s sake.  The US is becoming more and more like China every day.  It’s the frog in the pot of boiling water.  What good is the right to free speech if you’re only allowed to exercise it in a place nobody can hear you?

I was at the Beijing Olympics.  The security there wasn’t even as brazen as this.  Can you imagine the international outrage if this picture had been Chinese riot police surrounding a group of Tibet protesters?  It would have been on the front page of every newspaper in the world.  But in America?  Meh.

Wake up.  Open your fucking eyes, folks.  If you want to appreciate just how much of a police state the US is becoming, try living in China.  The similarities become more and more disturbing every day.