Post by PamIsMe on Oct 15, 2014 16:32:49 GMT -6
by Jim Wright, AK
Freedom.
Liberty.
Inalienable rights.
We Americans are big on these things, aren’t we?
We like to thump our fleshy chests and proclaim our superiority over other, lesser nations. Oh, well, sure, yes, you might have higher standards of living, longer average lifespans, lower infant mortality rates, a higher percentage of education, higher median income, universal healthcare, a functioning government, insignificant gun violence, a drastically lower percentage of incarceration, okay, sure, you’ve got those things, fine, but America has freeeeeeeeedom! And that makes us exceptional – not that any significant fraction of us can spell exceptionalism or find the United States on a map, but trust me, we’ve got you beat.
And you know why? Freedom, that’s why.
See, freedom in America is different from freedom elsewhere.
In America, freedom means rights without responsibility.
In America, freedom means the right to the most vile of hate speech without consequence or penalty.
In America, freedom means the right to publish provable falsehoods and gibbering panic and drooling conspiracy theories as fact for profit.
In America, freedom means the right to utterly ignore science and just substitute in whatever magic fairy dust you like regardless of the consequences to future generations.
In America, freedom means the right to violent religious extremism without restriction of any kind, tax free in fact.
In America, freedom means the right to beat the drums of war without having to go yourself, or send your children.
In America, freedom means the right to gather together under the guise of political assembly and openly plot to take away the freedoms and the liberty of those with different political beliefs, or religions, or skin colors, or sexual orientations.
In America, freedom means the right to profit hugely without taxation, to take without return, to destroy entire industries without a second thought, to pollute the environment without personal consequence, to grow wealthy beyond dreams while impoverishing millions of your fellows, to benefit enormously from the nation’s protection and prestige without having to give back in any way.
Why, here in America we are so free that we can openly engage in war against our own nation.
That’s right.
We can wallow in our sullen liberty like fat feral hogs in the mud while complaining bitterly that we don’t have enough.
In America, that’s what we call freedom.
Why, here in America, we can actually point guns at our own government and threaten to shoot down our neighbors, and we can do it free of any consequence … and others will inevitably rally to our cause in the name of liberty.
Here in America we can publicly declare war on our own nation, engage in open sedition and treason writ large, offer a reward for the capture and execution of our own democratically elected president, publicly promote the overthrow of the very Constitution which guarantees our freedoms, and loudly declare our intention for violent installation of a religious theocracy made of up of extremists who would execute and imprison any American who does not subscribe to this murderous lunacy.
We Americans put up with a lot of nonsense in the supposed name of liberty.
We put up with raging hate, blatant bigotry, threats of violence, obvious insanity, and foamy spittle-flecked ignorant stupidity - all because we're afraid that if we restrict those things in even the slightest way, if we hold the perpetrators to account to even the smallest degree, well then we won't know where to draw the line and then we'll end up under the jackboot of tyranny.
By way of example, meet the Christian Taliban of the Facebook Group Reward For Capture of Obama.
The group, founded by one Reverend Everest Wilhelmsen, is your standard issue howling mob of frothy Birthers, stubbornly clinging to their guns and bibles and thoroughly discredited conspiracy theories. More, Wilhelmsen is openly using social media to solicit donations for the overthrow of the government of the United States. The group openly, publicly, offers a reward for the “capture” and “arrest” of President Obama.
These people, led by Everest Wilhelmsen, have declared war on the United States.
For all practical purposes, Wilhelmsen is indistinguishable from the Ayatollahs who burned down their country’s legitimate government and set about arresting and executing those that didn’t agree with their particular murderous fanaticism.
If you want to know what America under the control of Evangelical Christianity will look like, you need look no further than Iran – change the names and the God, and the bloody intolerant rest remains the same.
This week, Wilhelmsen added a caveat to his group page, asking people not to post overtly racists comments – despite the fact that the entire page is a study in unhinged xenophobia writ large and designed specifically to pander directly to racists, bigots, haters, and fanatics.
A rather large number of people, including myself, have complained to Facebook about Reward for Capture Of Obama. I specifically reported the group for hate speech. Reward For Capture of Obama is not freedom of speech, it is abuse of the 1st Amendment and it is sedition. These people are not just talking, they are actively soliciting funds for the stated purpose of overthrowing the government. This group is hate for hate’s sake and nothing more – and I would point out that I would respond in exactly the same way if Wilhelmsen was calling for the capture and arrest of George W. Bush.
Facebook responded to my complaint via the boilerplate above.
“Reports like yours are an important part of making Facebook a safe and welcoming environment.”
A what now? A safe and welcoming environment, you say? Oh, so is that what Reward For Capture of Obama is? Safe and welcoming?
“…and we found that it doesn’t violate our community standards.”
Racism. Xenophobia. Bigotry. Sedition. These things don’t violate our standards.
But a picture of a mother breastfeeding? That does, right? Facebook will take that down in a second and suspend your account. But proclaim your intention to overthrow the US government by force of arms and violent revolution and kill the president? And Facebook is good. Freedom, you know.
Facebook is so afraid of offending the religious right, and likely with good reason, that they will turn a blind eye to open sedition.
And that, right there, is the perfect metaphor for America.
We’re willing to put up with any degree of rage, hate, and insanity, up to and including allowing crazy people to buy guns and use them to shoot down our children in their own homes and theaters and schools, we will stand by and let raging madmen like Everest Wilhelmsen openly call for the destruction of our nation, just to prove we’ve got more freeeeeedom than everybody else.
www.stonekettle.com/2014/10/self-abuse.html
Freedom.
Liberty.
Inalienable rights.
We Americans are big on these things, aren’t we?
We like to thump our fleshy chests and proclaim our superiority over other, lesser nations. Oh, well, sure, yes, you might have higher standards of living, longer average lifespans, lower infant mortality rates, a higher percentage of education, higher median income, universal healthcare, a functioning government, insignificant gun violence, a drastically lower percentage of incarceration, okay, sure, you’ve got those things, fine, but America has freeeeeeeeedom! And that makes us exceptional – not that any significant fraction of us can spell exceptionalism or find the United States on a map, but trust me, we’ve got you beat.
And you know why? Freedom, that’s why.
See, freedom in America is different from freedom elsewhere.
In America, freedom means rights without responsibility.
In America, freedom means the right to the most vile of hate speech without consequence or penalty.
In America, freedom means the right to publish provable falsehoods and gibbering panic and drooling conspiracy theories as fact for profit.
In America, freedom means the right to utterly ignore science and just substitute in whatever magic fairy dust you like regardless of the consequences to future generations.
In America, freedom means the right to violent religious extremism without restriction of any kind, tax free in fact.
In America, freedom means the right to beat the drums of war without having to go yourself, or send your children.
In America, freedom means the right to gather together under the guise of political assembly and openly plot to take away the freedoms and the liberty of those with different political beliefs, or religions, or skin colors, or sexual orientations.
In America, freedom means the right to profit hugely without taxation, to take without return, to destroy entire industries without a second thought, to pollute the environment without personal consequence, to grow wealthy beyond dreams while impoverishing millions of your fellows, to benefit enormously from the nation’s protection and prestige without having to give back in any way.
Why, here in America we are so free that we can openly engage in war against our own nation.
That’s right.
We can wallow in our sullen liberty like fat feral hogs in the mud while complaining bitterly that we don’t have enough.
In America, that’s what we call freedom.
Why, here in America, we can actually point guns at our own government and threaten to shoot down our neighbors, and we can do it free of any consequence … and others will inevitably rally to our cause in the name of liberty.
Here in America we can publicly declare war on our own nation, engage in open sedition and treason writ large, offer a reward for the capture and execution of our own democratically elected president, publicly promote the overthrow of the very Constitution which guarantees our freedoms, and loudly declare our intention for violent installation of a religious theocracy made of up of extremists who would execute and imprison any American who does not subscribe to this murderous lunacy.
We Americans put up with a lot of nonsense in the supposed name of liberty.
We put up with raging hate, blatant bigotry, threats of violence, obvious insanity, and foamy spittle-flecked ignorant stupidity - all because we're afraid that if we restrict those things in even the slightest way, if we hold the perpetrators to account to even the smallest degree, well then we won't know where to draw the line and then we'll end up under the jackboot of tyranny.
By way of example, meet the Christian Taliban of the Facebook Group Reward For Capture of Obama.
The group, founded by one Reverend Everest Wilhelmsen, is your standard issue howling mob of frothy Birthers, stubbornly clinging to their guns and bibles and thoroughly discredited conspiracy theories. More, Wilhelmsen is openly using social media to solicit donations for the overthrow of the government of the United States. The group openly, publicly, offers a reward for the “capture” and “arrest” of President Obama.
These people, led by Everest Wilhelmsen, have declared war on the United States.
For all practical purposes, Wilhelmsen is indistinguishable from the Ayatollahs who burned down their country’s legitimate government and set about arresting and executing those that didn’t agree with their particular murderous fanaticism.
If you want to know what America under the control of Evangelical Christianity will look like, you need look no further than Iran – change the names and the God, and the bloody intolerant rest remains the same.
This week, Wilhelmsen added a caveat to his group page, asking people not to post overtly racists comments – despite the fact that the entire page is a study in unhinged xenophobia writ large and designed specifically to pander directly to racists, bigots, haters, and fanatics.
A rather large number of people, including myself, have complained to Facebook about Reward for Capture Of Obama. I specifically reported the group for hate speech. Reward For Capture of Obama is not freedom of speech, it is abuse of the 1st Amendment and it is sedition. These people are not just talking, they are actively soliciting funds for the stated purpose of overthrowing the government. This group is hate for hate’s sake and nothing more – and I would point out that I would respond in exactly the same way if Wilhelmsen was calling for the capture and arrest of George W. Bush.
Facebook responded to my complaint via the boilerplate above.
“Reports like yours are an important part of making Facebook a safe and welcoming environment.”
A what now? A safe and welcoming environment, you say? Oh, so is that what Reward For Capture of Obama is? Safe and welcoming?
“…and we found that it doesn’t violate our community standards.”
Racism. Xenophobia. Bigotry. Sedition. These things don’t violate our standards.
But a picture of a mother breastfeeding? That does, right? Facebook will take that down in a second and suspend your account. But proclaim your intention to overthrow the US government by force of arms and violent revolution and kill the president? And Facebook is good. Freedom, you know.
Facebook is so afraid of offending the religious right, and likely with good reason, that they will turn a blind eye to open sedition.
And that, right there, is the perfect metaphor for America.
We’re willing to put up with any degree of rage, hate, and insanity, up to and including allowing crazy people to buy guns and use them to shoot down our children in their own homes and theaters and schools, we will stand by and let raging madmen like Everest Wilhelmsen openly call for the destruction of our nation, just to prove we’ve got more freeeeeedom than everybody else.
www.stonekettle.com/2014/10/self-abuse.html
