Stern vs. Powell: Free Speech and Other Contingent Issues

I woke up to some interesting news this morning about Howard Stern confronting Michael Powell as a caller on a San Francisco radio show. Stern has of course had a lot to say about Powell over the past several months as talk of high indecency fines has caused considerable anxiety among broadcasters of Stern's show. Particularly, it seems that Clear Channel dropped him from its stations soon after such talk began. So this confrontation had been a long time coming, since Stern claims Powell has been unreachable and that the FCC has used racketeering-type tactics to avoid lawsuits. On the call-in show, Stern made such accusations as well as charges of nepotism (Powell is of course Colin's son) and selectivity in fining him and not other similar offenders. The climate during the past four years has been hostile to free speech, as this is an example.
I was surprised during the final debate when Bush sought to defend the Patriot Act. As viewers of Fahrenheit 9/11 know, this has been used to infiltrate rather innocuous meetings, something supposedly protected by the Constitution. Further, there's another story today about a Bush event disallowing anyone with any Kerry sign or shirt from attendance. We must value free speech. This is a difference between liberals and conservatives--conservatives believe we must value the free market. Free speech they are not so keen on. They of course treasure the right to bear arms and believe that that is a freedom that if taken away will surely lead to government control. They say, "Hitler took away guns." Well, Hitler took away speech, too. Controlling speech is a way of giving the appearance that everyone is in agreement with government actions. I think we have seen that. That might be why, as my previous post states, Bush supporters think the rest of the world is largely in agreement with our actions.
We must value free speech even when we disagree with it. Most would agree with this. Why did the Bush administration want one fewer debate? What were they afraid of? If they were certain of the purity of their actions, they could stand to have them questioned. A Saturday Night Live skit in which Bush begs the media not to let anyone know we are debating does not seem far from reality. We must have faith that if we allow free speech, good ideas will hold and bad ideas will fall away. Yet you will hear more and more stories within the coming weeks of attempts to stifle the vote--in one community, Republicans were to destroy new registrations of Democrats. It has been found out, but only after it is too late for those voters' registrations to be instated. Who's afraid of free speech, and who champions it?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bible School Chronicles – Cleaning Up (Chapter 3)

My first job at the school was in its Physical Plant department. My first job overall was as a paperboy. I’ve nearly always held some sort of job—at most fast food restaurants you can name, with a disreputable operation to collect money for veterans, at a bucket factory, and in securing appointments for cemetery plot sales. I felt like something of a sucker as I observed some of the more well-off students who had never held a job. The student population was largely divided between children of the wealthy and those less well provided for. It was tuition-free but as such relied heavily on donations. Anyway, my deeply-established work ethic came to appear as more of a sham. I was told that you work hard to prepare yourself for adulthood and foster independence. For others, though, they focused on their academic lives until they graduated, perhaps took a brief detour, then entered the workforce in the capacity for which their education had prepared them. Through our way, we lost a...
Read more

Bible School Chronicles - Barista! (Chapter 4)

At some point during my formative years, I posited that being a clerk at a record store would be the best possible job. I never had luck securing such a position (now, record stores hardly exist), but I did procure an interview at a coffee shop. This was before Starbucks entirely monopolized this market. I applied and interviewed at a location just a block or two from my school (this was a small local chain). The manager, Sue, introduced herself. She had cuffed jeans, boots, and short hair, with a Clash pin on her bag. Through some small talk, I learned that she was in a band that was influenced by Gang of Four. She left me with a handout concerning how coffee is grown and prepared and told me to return for a quiz within a week. Upon being hired, I was told that I would also have to work at three other locations regularly. This was okay; I can’t say no to much anyway. All of my co-workers were of course very hip. Two of whom were also in Sue’s band, one with short pink hair (...
Read more

The Chronics

I will be glad when I am through II Chronicles. Such a considerable portion of what I've been going through lately has been recording history of wars and kings' rule. So many portions are phrased in exactly the same way. Most often, the record is that a particular leader did not please God, usually because he let idols to other gods stand and/or worshiped them himself. David is one of a handful of exceptions. He was a man of war, it to me he seems a womanizer, but many times he is depicted as trying to act rightly despite some of his subjects or those around him acting outside of God's will (through killing someone or trying to kill him). Something humorous that is repeated over and over is to the effect of, "As to the rest of King _____'s reign, is it not recorded in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel?" I respond to this immediately with, "I don't know," and then by wondering, what has become of this book? Was it decided that ...
Read more