POLITIX
Hypocrisy
is abundant
when the
self-righteous pontificate.
Goose or gander,
the pot & the kettle, and the good old silvered mirror - you do
not have to go far
to find it.
When the
"other guy" gets upset over some seemingly inconsequential issue we
must look in that mirror before
we laugh or throw stones.
Just a few
months ago we were all astounded
at violent and seemingly absurd reactions by
Muslims in Europe and then elsewhere to the
satirical cartoon depictions of Mohammed in
a Danish newspaper.[]
When will they catch on to this freedom thing?
We thought.
This democracy thing that we have and we enjoy.
We expressed superior attitudes over the great unwashed.
We talked about how great freedom was, and that the sometime burden of the brunt of satire is something to accept and shrug off.
The price of freedom is that we should be able to disagree with or poke fun at someone or some idea and be prepared to be on the receiving end of that as well.
This is what it means to have freedom of speech in a democracy.
The Constitution[], the Bill of Rights. These are our sectarian holy documents.
They are documents of reason and we put our faith into them.
Faith into the words of reasoned thought that the amazing founders of our great country created.
Not faith in faith, but faith in reason.
And these reasonable men, these founders, could understand and appreciate a complex situation and not embellish their text with unnecessary and reactionary verbiage.
These concepts are the difficult ones for people in the old worlds, from dictatorial subjugation,
from religion-dominated-thought-control styled governments, from non democratic traditions.
How will they ever get it, we smugly thought.
I mean a cartoon is just a drawing on a piece of paper. And they are so upset.
Now, come forward to the present.
There are people in our own government who wish to sell out the principals and the words in our wonderful Constitution.
They are willing to screw up the divine guidance of this sublime document.
For some very similar reasons as the Muslims being upset about cartoons on paper.
The flag. Our flag. The flag of the United States of America.
A symbol of what we stand for, yes.
An icon representing the summation of all we consider the greatness of this nation.
But it is really just a piece of cloth. Probably even manufactured in China.
What is truly our greatness is our reasonable faith in the principals of this sacred sectarian contract with it's citizens.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to to the death your right to say it."
Voltaire's famous and prophetic statement was one of the influences on Jefferson as he was writing the Declaration of Independence.
And it seems the very essence of American freedom and tolerance.
We are willing to let others be critical and make derogatory remarks about our country, our government, our policies, right in front of us because our true strength is respect for the law that let's us disagree civilly.
America is not a flag. Not a piece of cloth. America is an idea and a promise.
Just a few ideas on my mind with all the silly talk about a flag amendment.
Amendments are serious things.
They should be expansive toward freedom.
Not restrictive.
by steven bolstad
at violent and seemingly absurd reactions by
Muslims in Europe and then elsewhere to the
satirical cartoon depictions of Mohammed in
a Danish newspaper.[]
When will they catch on to this freedom thing?
We thought.
This democracy thing that we have and we enjoy.
We expressed superior attitudes over the great unwashed.
We talked about how great freedom was, and that the sometime burden of the brunt of satire is something to accept and shrug off.
The price of freedom is that we should be able to disagree with or poke fun at someone or some idea and be prepared to be on the receiving end of that as well.
This is what it means to have freedom of speech in a democracy.
The Constitution[], the Bill of Rights. These are our sectarian holy documents.
![[]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/19/Constitution_Pg1of4_AC.jpg){kind=link}
They are documents of reason and we put our faith into them.
Faith into the words of reasoned thought that the amazing founders of our great country created.
Not faith in faith, but faith in reason.
And these reasonable men, these founders, could understand and appreciate a complex situation and not embellish their text with unnecessary and reactionary verbiage.
These concepts are the difficult ones for people in the old worlds, from dictatorial subjugation,
from religion-dominated-thought-control styled governments, from non democratic traditions.
How will they ever get it, we smugly thought.
I mean a cartoon is just a drawing on a piece of paper. And they are so upset.
Now, come forward to the present.
There are people in our own government who wish to sell out the principals and the words in our wonderful Constitution.
They are willing to screw up the divine guidance of this sublime document.
For some very similar reasons as the Muslims being upset about cartoons on paper.
The flag. Our flag. The flag of the United States of America.
A symbol of what we stand for, yes.
An icon representing the summation of all we consider the greatness of this nation.
But it is really just a piece of cloth. Probably even manufactured in China.
What is truly our greatness is our reasonable faith in the principals of this sacred sectarian contract with it's citizens.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to to the death your right to say it."
Voltaire's famous and prophetic statement was one of the influences on Jefferson as he was writing the Declaration of Independence.
And it seems the very essence of American freedom and tolerance.
We are willing to let others be critical and make derogatory remarks about our country, our government, our policies, right in front of us because our true strength is respect for the law that let's us disagree civilly.
America is not a flag. Not a piece of cloth. America is an idea and a promise.
Just a few ideas on my mind with all the silly talk about a flag amendment.
Amendments are serious things.
They should be expansive toward freedom.
Not restrictive.
by steven bolstad