Statecraft Informer

Sparxafire!

Time for a quick comment on censorship. In the U.S., we allegedly have freedom of speech, which is why I am able to jabber so carelessly here. But, and there’s always a but… not when the words could cause bodily harm to others, not in cases of state secrets, or slander or libel. The U.S. Constitution’s first amendment merely protects us from government censorship. “Congress shall make no law…”

It is perfectly legal for your boss to require you not to disclose trade secrets and to make rules about your communications as an employee. Just ask Don Imus how that works. Or Verizon, who refuses to allow a pro-choice organization run ads on its cell phone network. Nasty facists, but that is not new or surprising to anyone who understands we are living under a regime that is run by corporations.

So, on top of everything else, taking time to go out of its way to do so, your government is on a toot to sniff around the edges of “free speech” just to see how skittish it can make us.

First step: Surveillance of everybody, willy nilly. Well, hey! You have to listen in to know who to censor, right?

Second step: Start “denouncing” everybody. Even though it clearly states “Congress shall make no law” they’re getting around that, and trying to damage free speakers with denunciations. So that is why we have to watch jaw-dropping sessions of Congress denouncing MoveOn dot org’s “Petraeus/Betray Us” ad. In fact, Congress is finding denunciations of free speech to be a fun diversion. Last week, they denounced Rush Limbaugh, puffy radio host, for calling war veterans who have come home and spoken out against the war “phony soldiers.”

These are just denunciations, mind you… No jail time or fines… Effects on the denounced being incalcuable. Oh! Hold on….

We do have a situation where your president is pressing his case against the Fox Network for “fleeting profanity” on TV awards shows. I don’t know, maybe Cher dropped an f-bomb somewhere, or Sally Field cut loose with …”god dam wars…” Whatever. You see, the airwaves are theoretically owned by all of us. Ha. And the Federal Communications Commission regulates the airwaves on behalf of the people. And Bush already lost the case in a lower court, so we’re going right to the Supremes. Who knows, maybe Diana Ross can figure it out.

So in the wake of Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction at the 2004 SuperBowl, Congress gets its panties in a bunch and passes the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005, (under a huffy, narrow-minded Republican majority) raising the maximum allowable fine from $27,500 to $325,000 per violation. And Congress gets to decide, which is sweet because they seem to have a lot of spare time on their hands lately.

Now we have Bill O’Reilly on our airwaves, spewing insulting speech against an ethnic group. What do we think? Will he be fired or denounced or skate free?

Clearly, freedom of speech is no longer a simple, self-evident truth. These are dark times and they’re trying to take it away. Just a caution, folks, stepping up on the soapbox is turning into a slippery proposition.