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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Ohio State Graduation: If You Disagree, You'll Be Expelled and Arrested |
Current rating: -1 |
by kevlarlover
(No verified email address) |
15 Jun 2002
Modified: 18 Jun 2002 |
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It's a sad, sick day for our nation when the mere act of turning around to face away from the president is cause enough to threaten someone with arrest. |
It is a sad, sad day for democracy and for the First Amendment. Bush spoke at the Ohio State commencement ceremony this afternoon, but immediately before the students filed into the football stadium for the ceremony, they were instructed that all the university's speakers deserve to be treated with respect and that anyone demonstrating or heckling would be subject to expulsion and arrest, (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020614/ap_to_po/bush_7). The announcer urged that Bush be greeted with a "thunderous" ovation. And he was. When university President William Kirwan saluted Bush's response to Sept. 11, the crowd of thousands stood to applaud, whistle, and cheer.
This is bad, folks, really bad. And let's even go below the surface story on the popular news sites to get to the sewage and slimy hypocrisy that are flowing beneath this one.
First of all, Bill Clinton spoke there six years ago, (http://www.usatoday.com/elect/ep/epd/epdc097.htm), and instead of silencing all dissent with threats of expulsion and imprisonment, Clinton withstood heckling by some student s and onlookers like a man and continued on with his day. That's the nature of being a politician - you take the good with the bad.
Not our dear King Bush though (or his handlers - I doubt Bush actually has the capacity to make such a decision on his own).
As is their right (or was their right, anyway) in this country, a group of students was planning to offer peaceful (and even silent) protest in the way of turning their backs to Bush while he was taking. But no, apparently the right to dissent, the right to disagree, has been sacrificed on the alter of.....something, either the "police action" on terror (it's not a war - Congress hasn't declared war, and the Constitution, the document dearest to my heart, says that only they can declare war), to Bush's thin-skinnedness, or whatever - to me, it doesn't matter, as I'd sacrifice my life before I sacrificed that right.
Anyway, on with the story: while lining up to enter, graduating students were told that they would be expelled and arrested if they turned their backs, (http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=27823&forum=DCForumID35). They were alerted that dozens of staff members and police officers would be watching the stands, as well as the Secret Service. A few students asked for the definition of expulsion....did it mean removal from the stadium or refusal of their diplomas, or both? One of the persons at the front said "Both. And what will your parents do when they are paged from the crowd to bail out their son?"
So, resolute in their faith in the 1st Amendment, some students turned their back on Bush despite the threats against their entire futures. And they were immediately led out of the stadium by the cops. During the walk, the cops refused to say whether or not the students were under arrest. At the exit, the cops informed the students that they were being charged with disturbing the peace, but if they left (and this is THEIR GRADUATION, mind you), the charges would be dropped.
So, prepare yourselves, if you love the Constitution and the rights it holds dear - because apparently this new administration and attitude of the US - that it's ok to give up our right to dissent - is much stronger than I thought. I would have expected for the crowd to start booing, for people to take to the field and protest this blatant attack on the First Amendment - but no, nothing.
If we don't protest the loss of our rights, then we are the enablers and we allow this to happen. It's a dumb highschoolish concept (and I'm only now realizing years after high school that I'll never get away from it) that has WAAAAAY to much power: peer pressure. Well, everyone else is giving up their rights and blindly following their leaders, being good, and doing what they're told. HEY PEOPLE, get up and DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS! Call your Congressmen and women! Get arrested and spend a night in jail! Call the White House! Wear a muzzle with a sigh that reads, "Silenced by the "war" on terror! Something! Anything! Don't be silent! Because if you don't start now, while there's still time to do something, it WILL be too late later.
Some great examples in history include the Nazi genocides and a rrests of dissidents (e.g. the poem "First They Came for the Jews" by Pastor Martin Niemoller), the atrocities committed by the Japanese during the Sino-Japanese War (e.g. the movie "Japanese Devils"), and the murders of the "Cultural Revolution" in China under Chairman Mao. Being afraid to speak out and allowing others to have their rights stripped from them - this is a treacherous, dangerous road to go down - but apparently people have already resigned themselves to it.
"When university President William Kirwan saluted Bush's response to Sept. 11, the crowd of thousands stood to applaud, whistle, and cheer." It's begun.
And a final personal side note: I am very active in community service and social activism in general, and the hypocrisy of Bush's speech itself made me almost vomit. The topic of the speech given by this pampered rich boy who in his life has only done 7 months of community service (and that was only to expunge a cocaine possession conviction from his record - if you don't believe me, go read "Fortunate Son" by J.H. Hatfield) was none other than the creation of a "culture of service" in America. Come on, that would be like Clinton giving a speech criticizing all the American husbands who have cheated on their wives. Do as I say, not as I do.
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See also:
http://www.morons.org/articles/2/1691
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my message to OSU |
by Joe Futrelle
futrelle (nospam) shout.net (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
16 Jun 2002
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The AP reports that students who planned to silently protest George W. Bush's commencement address were threatened with arrest and expulsion.
This is absolutely appalling.
How can Ohio State University claim to be empowering students to think critically and comport themselves as responsible, engaged citizens of our democracy while at the same time creating a climate where the peaceful expression of their deeply held convictions is grounds for punishment?
Ohio State University would do well to remember the lesson of the Kent State shootings, where repression of dissent in this country took on an extreme and deadly form.
What is happening in this country is profoundly disturbing. Democracy itself is under attack by narrow-minded people such as those responsible for this anti-heckling policy and its disproportionate punishment. The message Ohio State students have gotten from this commencement address is that free speech is a privilege, not a right, and that people in positions of authority may revoke that privilege whenever they please.
Perhaps one day, some of these graduates will assume positions of power, and they will arbitrarily revoke some of your rights. Maybe then you would begin to understand why, in this country, we once had a document called the bill of rights, which protects those rights with a guarantee. |
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good try |
by Warren Feist
Warfeist (nospam) aol.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
18 Jun 2002
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"This is just the kind of thing I would expect to hear from you blinkered Philistine pigs with your Tony Jacklin golf clubs and your colour tv's. You wouldn't let me join would you, you blackballing bastards! Well I wouldn't join now even if you went down on your knees and begged me." Good try. of course I'm no John Cleeves, but you're no Woodward and Bernstein. I don't believe it. |
