The jaws of power are always open to devour, and her arm is always stretched out, if possible, to destroy the freedom of thinking, speaking, and writing.
~John adams.
It is the duty of the officials to prevent or suppress the threatened disorder with a firm hand instead of timidly yielding to threats…. Surely a speaker ought not to be suppressed because his opponents propose to use violence. It is they who should suffer from their lawlessness, not he.
~American Bar Association
I thank God, we have not free schools nor printing; and I hope we shall not have these hundred years. For learning has brought disobedience, and heresy and sects into the world; and printing has divulged them and libels against the government. God keep us from both!
~Sir William Berkely
If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.
~George Washington
I have always been among those who believed that the greatest freedom of speech was the greatest safety, because if a man is a fool the best thing to do is to encourage him to advertise the fact by speaking.
~Woodrow Wilson( this one is funny)
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3 comments:
I love this quote from Beyond Mere Dissent. It reminds me of the importance of multiple positions:
"Uniformity of opinion is unattainable, and the effect of coercing it is to make one half of the world fools, and the other half hypocrites."
Thomas Jefferson
SO if the authoities should use a firm hand to keep order and allow others to speak--according to the Bar Association, then the claim of the movie we saw the other night is invalid. I did not really see any harsh use of force. They looked like they were trying to maintain order. I think their protest was ignored because they lacked a cohesive message. It was like we are all mad but they were not really specific about what. I have seen alot of protesting oaver the last few years that really doesn't send one message it sends so many about so many issues it is like well we are just mad about everything and it becomes exhausting listening to every special interest group try to stand up and be heard. Contrast these, I guess war protests, that do not give us a full scope of solutions and look at the civil rights movement that did.
I also heard alot of comments about hte make upof our military forces and recruiting policies. I really wish people would look at the statistics and not make comments and site opinions they have heard from their friends or even blogs or newspapers. I think if people would actually look at the facts and statistics they would have different opnions on our military and who they are. I did alot of research on the military when my son wanted to join and even though I tried to disuade him he wanted to serv eour country and did as an infantryman. By the way most soldiers i know hate war and they usually hate military order. They understand why they need it and are proud of their service and the good they see happening. They also are embarrassed by the bad things they see but keep in mind in order to survive they have to mentally tough. I have sat around and listened to young soldiers talk and have talked with them before after and during their war
deployments. When asked about all the talk about the war etc. I swear they just smile and say thats what they are fighting for so all of us can continue to do this. I should post some of their my space stuff.
Man, that was a great idea for a blog. My favorite is George Washington's. It's cool knowing that our "founding fathers" realized the importance of free speech in our society.
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