Posted by pancho from pool0048.cvx20-bradley.dialup.earthlink.net (209.179.250.48) on Saturday, January 18, 2003 at 11:25AM :
You listen to Christians in Iraq say they are left alone to worship as they please, and we say they are forced into saying that...that they are afraid to tell the truth, what we think the truth is.
You watch a senator here on TV and you know damn well he or she doesn't agree with some policy yet he's just as afraid to come out and say so.
Just different reasons to be afraid. But at least you can understand people in a "brutal dictatorship" being afraid to speak up...but in America?
And then they make fun of the state sponsored TV news programs and newspapers. What has American Media been since 9/11 but a constant drum beat for this administration?
Once again, you can justify such things in a "brutal dictatorship" where the government owns the news sources outright and where there is no Constitution to protect "free speech".
How does that square with a Democracy...the greatest one ever, according to the "Free" press here...but is it free? It costs a bundle to speak "freely" in America. The Media doesn't HAVE to be owned by the government in America...the corporate world OWNS the government, and they own their own newspapers...they OWN the news just as much as any state run station in Iraq or Pkaistan.
America's most recent and powerful achievement is giving its people the "feeling" that they are free...the "sense" that this is a democracy...that's it's greatest single achievement in the last 50 years.
Like Republican Germany back in the 30's, we are going to "freely elect' those who will terminate our most cherished ideals...they're doing it already.
-- pancho
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