Free Speech Is An Illusion

[Joeve]

This is a transcript of Joe Vecchio's daily "Cup O' Joe Report" podcast, availaible via "screaming audio" here and posted with the permission of the author.

Earlier this week, activist Cindy Sheehan was arrested for wearing a T-Shirt to the State Of The Union address that announced the number of dead American soldiers and asked "How many more?". She was taken away in handcuffs and forced to sit in a cell. It's an experience she probably never thought she'd have when her son enlisted in the military. The wife of a Republican Congressman was also tossed out for wearing an "inflammatory" shirt, though she wasn't arrested like Ms. Sheehan was. All her shirt said was something like "Support The Troops" but I guess to the paranoid maniacs running the government now, it was best not to take any chances.

There are, and always have been, reasonable limits to free speech, but theoretically those limits should only involve issues of words that can cause immediate danger: yelling fire! in a crowded theater is the example most commonly used. But when it comes to political dissent, the only apparent danger is to the people whose policies made the protests necessary in the first place. Years ago, long before film or television, protesters were simply beaten with clubs and dispersed. Now, they're downplayed and ridiculed in the corporate media, or locked up in "free speech zones" that look remarkably like prison camps.

"Free Speech" is an illusion, and just because I and millions of others haven't been arrested for speaking out is only because we're still powerless to change things. People who are percieved as real threats to the corporate status quo, the ones who can really make a difference, are often killed outright. I wish things were different, but that's just the way it is. At least for now.

Click Here To Listen To The Podcast

Cup O' Joe - Blog Of The Working Man's Thinking Man!

The Cup O' Joe Report podcast is available free of charge to any radio show who wishes to use it. The views expressed by Joe Vecchio are entirely his own and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of any organization he belongs to.

Listen to the Cup O' Joe Report on these radio shows:
Head On Radio with Bob Kincaid
All Things Reconsidered
Fourth Estate Radio
Big Phil's Love Parade

Joe Vecchio is a proud member of the White Rose Society

[sharky]

1. and.................

you havn't been arrested for writing this because..............................

[mdmc]

2. Freedom of speech

Is some mother fucking bullshit! Just say something that they don't want to hear!

Anyone remember 2LiveCrew? My sister did a media project in h.s that started out with this song lyric. She was in 10th grade. It was awesome!

[Igel]

3. I didn't like them, but I remember they were around.

I wondered what happened to them. Executed in the GULag, were they, for what they said? Fined and bankrupted? Exiled?

[Trevelyan]

4. It was terrible what they did to Cindy but she is showing people how limit

limited our "free speech" is and does get MSM to report the facts even if they twist them -- it is becoming known... I would like to hear more about the Operation Viper with untrained guards who murdered the Hispanic man on a Miami plane. Infowars.com had a photo of barely controlled dogs held back by leash of paramilitary types in a subway and the article stated that train stations and airports are now being "guarded" and one woman was arrested for refusing to give her ID to one of these armed guards because she did not think that just using public transporation was a reason for the government to ask for ID...even walking down the street you need a picture ID license now. Governor Taft, though convicted by Fitzgerald is still in office and was going to sign legislation that made it a crime in his state to refuse to give ID to police or guards even if you are just walking and doing nothing illegal but did not hear any follow-up on whether Taft signed.

You are right that now utilizing free speech can lead to your death or in the case of the Hispanic man in Miami and Menedez in the London subway, just "being there".

I had read a while back that there had been several suspicious deaths among the soldiers at Guantanamo Bay, presumably for objecting to the torture they were expected to engage in and the example the article gave was a soldier that military officials claimed had died while mountain climbing on Guantanamo but his family didn't believe it and said he was afraid of heights.

Just came across this very suspicious death of a soldier stationed Guantanamo where there was not even a body to give his family.

http://www.FallenHeroesMemorial.com ===

Army Sgt. Ryan D. Foraker, 31, of Logan, Ohio.

Foraker was reported missing from his unit in Guantanamo, Cuba, on September 24, 2002. Exhaustive ground, sea, and air searches were conducted in an effort to locate him but were unsuccessful. Foraker's clothes and personal effects were found near the water's edge, leading the investigating officer, absent any evidence to the contrary, to determine that Foraker had died in the waters of Guantanamo Bay. An extensive criminal investigation uncovered no reason to suspect foul play. Foraker was assigned to the 342nd Military Police Company, U.S. Army Reserve, Columbus, Ohio. Declared deceased on November 1, 2002.

[Joeve]

5. There's A Lot I'd Like To Know

So many issues, so many "conspiracies", which IMO is a term that's thrown around just to keep us distracted. And it's all too likely that we'll never know the entire truth, or even enough of it to satisfy us.

I wish I had a better answer than that. I feel very inadequate to the task.

-Joe