comment review: 05-06-09

Here is a good one... especially the last part.

13. bogie wheel:
The criminalization of political differences may be the worst structural effect of this Administration. Yes, the economy is being transformed and yes, our national security may be degraded, but without the ability to conduct open, honest, candid civil discourse the mechanisms for change are, to use a strong word, castrated.

Good observation, batman. And for those people (not most here) who insist that the worst that can happen under TOTUS is for America to become a socialist-democratic purgatory of strangling nanny-state regulations …

… this is a very bad sign.

Having a public space for political dialogue — which can get fierce, nasty, and quite personal (if you think contemporary presidential campaigns are rhetorically vicious, check out some of the ones from past elections) — is essential to our system of government. Hence the First Amendment.

Driving disagreement out of that public space — by mob ridicule (Miss California, anyone?) or by outright criminalization — does NOT eliminate the thoughts behind that disagreement. All it does is (1) ensure that expression of disagreement will seek other avenues, and (2) take TPTB, once committed to complete elimination of disagreement, down the trail of actually going after the “bad” thoughts themselves. At which point you get Soviet-style psychiatric abuse.

Totalitarianism seeks to control not just every sphere of the slave’s life, but every expression of the slave’s person as well.

First they came for the behavior …

Then they came for the speech …

And finally they came for the thoughts …

To say that this is the complete antithesis of the American citizen’s standing under the US Constitution would be putting it far too mildly.

May 2, 2009 - 3:02 am

Thoughts lead to speech, and then thoughts and speech lead to behavior (action). Freedom is bound to be collectively present or absent in these 3 spheres together. Because fewer and fewer people are willing or able to take the time and put in the WORK to think (due mostly to defective primary/secondary education and also economic pressures) the capability of our society in that sphere is less than it has been in generations past. Correspondingly our other freedoms are subject to decline, since thought is the wellspring of speech and action.

Its funny how freedom of speech (and even action) can be enshrined in law yet rendered moot by a subtle undermining of the ability to think. It also inspires a gentle revision of the old saying, from: "those who don't read are no better off than those who can't" into "those who don't think (or act) are no better off than those who can't." Motivation/incentive is as big a part of the problem (and solution) as is ability.


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here are some other rants/musings from Whiskey and Mongoose that I found interesting.