Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Freedom is Dangerous
I wrote a column once entitled "I Would Be a Liberal If It It Weren't For the Liberals." I have linked to a humorous fake article from a spoof website (caution advised) about how they seem to campaign on panic and despair.
Democrats Vow Not To Give Up Hopelessness
I am reminded of that today with all of the news here in Portugal. They are fighting over a number of interesting issues. Someone is trying to outsource the government telephone company. The newly elected president is personally congratulated by former US President Bush (twilight zone music please). Gay marriage and abortion are at the forefront on social fronts, with pending court cases and Hollywood productions influencing the ideas. This week, a television company (in which Viacom has huge influence) launched a new program for news and views in the morning. We are all going to die of bird flu. As different as American culture and Portuguese culture seem on the surface, they really deal with the same things: morality, society, and justice.
One thing that really hits home, though is the issue of freedom of the press. Last night, there was a national debate over the prosecution of journalists and confiscation of investigative reports. The whole issue of this continues to be borne out of an ongoing fiasco with the infamous "Islamic Cartoons." A columnist in Britain was jailed, and an immigrant was expelled for speeches they made. Libel and innuendo seem to end up in courts easily. Prosecution for the stealing of "intellectual property," whatever that may be, is more active than any other crime area. As an aside, Charles Dickens lost a court case to block third party printing of his books because of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
I defend the freedom of the press (even the right of Hollyweirders to make farces like "Brokeback Mountain" and "Transamerica") because I defend my own right to speak. The same power I would use to stop their anti-Christian messages could also be used to stop my Christian messages. At heart of the panic over issues and the freedom of the press is the heart of my disagreement with Democrats and Republicans and probably most other people is a fundamental disagreement over what society is itself.
A woefully poor use of language and logic is the ideal that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." This is so untrue that I am embarrassed to have to refute it. Whole is by definition the sum of its parts, nothing more, nothing less. The problem with society is that we band together to accomplish more, disagree, disband, fight, and fragment. Society only exists because of individuals. Without them it would not exist. Yet society by definition diminishes the role of the individual.
The idea that all of these issues but particularly the issue of the press is still being debated (will be after I am gone) is that people think that freedom is dangerous, and particularly freedom to inform or misinform. It is dangerous out there. Society has to protect us poor individuals from the liars and bad influences, from the mal-intented and the mis-informed?
People are saying all types of things. Christian speech has been progressively banned in America since before it began. Now, there is immense power being weilded to destroy any intellectual position that does not support the secularist religion. My response is not to ban secularism, as it seeks to ban Christianity, but to use my freedom of speech to speak out in favor of Christianity. The government cannot save us. Only the truth will set society free and protect it. Learn it, live it, give it.
I am reminded of that today with all of the news here in Portugal. They are fighting over a number of interesting issues. Someone is trying to outsource the government telephone company. The newly elected president is personally congratulated by former US President Bush (twilight zone music please). Gay marriage and abortion are at the forefront on social fronts, with pending court cases and Hollywood productions influencing the ideas. This week, a television company (in which Viacom has huge influence) launched a new program for news and views in the morning. We are all going to die of bird flu. As different as American culture and Portuguese culture seem on the surface, they really deal with the same things: morality, society, and justice.
One thing that really hits home, though is the issue of freedom of the press. Last night, there was a national debate over the prosecution of journalists and confiscation of investigative reports. The whole issue of this continues to be borne out of an ongoing fiasco with the infamous "Islamic Cartoons." A columnist in Britain was jailed, and an immigrant was expelled for speeches they made. Libel and innuendo seem to end up in courts easily. Prosecution for the stealing of "intellectual property," whatever that may be, is more active than any other crime area. As an aside, Charles Dickens lost a court case to block third party printing of his books because of the First Amendment to the Constitution.
I defend the freedom of the press (even the right of Hollyweirders to make farces like "Brokeback Mountain" and "Transamerica") because I defend my own right to speak. The same power I would use to stop their anti-Christian messages could also be used to stop my Christian messages. At heart of the panic over issues and the freedom of the press is the heart of my disagreement with Democrats and Republicans and probably most other people is a fundamental disagreement over what society is itself.
A woefully poor use of language and logic is the ideal that "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." This is so untrue that I am embarrassed to have to refute it. Whole is by definition the sum of its parts, nothing more, nothing less. The problem with society is that we band together to accomplish more, disagree, disband, fight, and fragment. Society only exists because of individuals. Without them it would not exist. Yet society by definition diminishes the role of the individual.
The idea that all of these issues but particularly the issue of the press is still being debated (will be after I am gone) is that people think that freedom is dangerous, and particularly freedom to inform or misinform. It is dangerous out there. Society has to protect us poor individuals from the liars and bad influences, from the mal-intented and the mis-informed?
People are saying all types of things. Christian speech has been progressively banned in America since before it began. Now, there is immense power being weilded to destroy any intellectual position that does not support the secularist religion. My response is not to ban secularism, as it seeks to ban Christianity, but to use my freedom of speech to speak out in favor of Christianity. The government cannot save us. Only the truth will set society free and protect it. Learn it, live it, give it.
