ZGram - 10/8/2002 - "Stifling Free Speech Is an Un-American Act"

[irimland@zundelsite.org]

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

10/8/2002

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Always timely, this one:

[START]

Stifling Free Speech Is an Un-American Act

By David A. Harris

David A. Harris is a professor at the University of Toledo College of 
Law and author of "Profiles in Injustice: Why Racial Profiling Cannot 
Work."

October 7, 2002

When a lady at a restaurant in Georgia recently overheard three 
Mideastern men talking about "bringing it down" around Sept. 11, she 
called police. The men turned out to be medical students heading for 
a hospital in Miami, and the object they were going to "bring down" 
was a car.

No harm done, perhaps. And despite considerable inconvenience and 
national television exposure as suspected terrorists, the men seemed 
not to hold any grudge. But the real danger here is not unwarranted 
investigation. It's the chill that actions like these put on free 
speech and the free exchange of ideas. It shows us what can happen 
when we begin to regard speech, even speech that is supposedly about 
a very sensitive topic, as suspicious.

=46ree speech and the privilege of expressing our beliefs have long 
served as the cornerstones of our society. For Americans, openly 
criticizing our government seems as natural as breathing - no big 
deal.

But, in fact, the freedom to say what we want has always been 
fundamental to our democracy. We depend on a free exchange of ideas 
to assure the health of our government and our institutions, and to 
generate the best policies and choices. We cannot keep the government 
accountable to us without the ability to speak freely and to listen 
to and think about what others say. Anything that chills our ability 
or our willingness to speak openly about the important issues of our 
day is a danger to this fundamental principle.

And we need open, robust debate now. The president wants Congress to 
give him the power to go to war with Iraq. Going to war - especially 
unilaterally and preemptively - is surely the biggest decision a 
nation can make. At the same time, we have been asked, repeatedly, to 
sacrifice some of our liberties so that we might become more secure 
from terrorism. It seems absurd to think that we wouldn't discuss the 
wisdom of these sacrifices. But if speaking about controversial 
topics can get us into the kind of trouble that the three medical 
students faced, we may begin to be too careful and start to censor 
ourselves.

This is especially important now, because the Bush administration 
seems intent not on encouraging healthy discussion, but on stifling 
it. In the last month, high-ranking members of the administration, 
including the president, have said or implied that anyone who 
disagrees with administration plans, proposals, or policies is 
somehow less than patriotic. Attorney General John Ashcroft has, of 
course, been the standout performer in this category. Those who raise 
questions about Justice Department actions, he said, only aid the 
terrorists. In other words, dissent is treason.

This is a truly chilling vision of America. That is why it is more 
important than ever for citizens to engage in free and open 
discussion about these issues, even if these discussions expose us to 
unpopular, even unpalatable, sentiments. That is why discussing Sept. 
11 or its aftermath in ways that most of us would think downright 
disrespectful or even hateful should not be the basis for a report to 
the police. And that is why we need to take care that we allow 
ourselves to be suspicious of people based not on their beliefs or 
opinions or looks, but only on their actions. Otherwise, no one will 
feel safe speaking.

The woman who reported the men was almost surely mistaken about what 
she overheard, but given what she thought she heard - words about 
real and imminent danger - she did the right thing. But the result 
teaches us a lesson: We need to be more discriminating when we begin 
to regard words as suspicious, especially when part of the reason is 
that those speaking them look like they might be from the Arab world.

But there is another, more important lesson here, too. Let's assure 
that our drive for security does not rob us of our American heritage 
by making us too fearful to say what we think. If we start to report 
our neighbors to the authorities every time they make a remark that 
seems somehow threatening or "un-American," we'll have lost something 
important about what it means to be an American. And losing that 
valuable liberty may prove impossible to recover once it's gone.

Copyright =A9 2002, Newsday, Inc.

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(Source: 
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vphar072955040oct07,0,5369275.story 
)