David Brooks wrote a fairly interesting article for the Sunday New York Times. I heard him making some of the same points on Friday’s PBS Newshour. Brooks is a good guy. I read his stuff. He’s a moderate establishment Republican, not one to cause a lot of stir, and he admits as much in the title of his piece: I Am Not Charlie Hebdo. He didn’t fly a ‘Je Suis Charlie Hebdo’ avatar last week, and you didn’t either.
Free speech has been under attack in America since before 9/11 and the Patriot Act (which one guy voted against). Maybe there’s never been a time in history when the government wasn’t trying to chip away at free speech. The attack on the Trade Towers was just an excuse to fire up an industrial sized free speech chipper.
Both parties are working to build the Surveillance State and to prosecute government whistleblowers. Today we have a government which; taps the phones of journalists to acquire sources; uses the IRS to harass opposition groups; has passed laws which make it technically illegal to protest in the vicinity of a politician or at a major sporting event; supports unconstitutional free speech zones on college campuses; encourages students to spy on parents; issues subpoenas for pastors’ sermon notes; pushes SOPA and PIPA. That’s a short list. If you support one of the major parties, that’s your platform.
David Brooks is a respected journalist. Charlie Hebdo was not respectable journalism. They are or were a piece of crap. Most conservatives would decry their cartoons as offensive to good taste. Most liberals, prior to this attack, would have denounced their cartoons as racist, xenophobic and sexist (collectively known as hate speech). Remember, you’re only seeing a select few cartoons in the media.
If you’re a libertarian, vous etes Charlie Hebdo. You are Charlie Hebdo, because you understand that offensive inappropriate speech is precisely the type of speech that needs protection. Libertarians understand that the necessary things that need to be said in a society are not uttered by respected prize winning journalists. The truths that need telling can only escape from the unguided un-respected unofficial politically incorrect journalistic dens of ill repute.
Free speech has been under attack in America since before 9/11 and the Patriot Act (which one guy voted against). Maybe there’s never been a time in history when the government wasn’t trying to chip away at free speech. The attack on the Trade Towers was just an excuse to fire up an industrial sized free speech chipper.
Both parties are working to build the Surveillance State and to prosecute government whistleblowers. Today we have a government which; taps the phones of journalists to acquire sources; uses the IRS to harass opposition groups; has passed laws which make it technically illegal to protest in the vicinity of a politician or at a major sporting event; supports unconstitutional free speech zones on college campuses; encourages students to spy on parents; issues subpoenas for pastors’ sermon notes; pushes SOPA and PIPA. That’s a short list. If you support one of the major parties, that’s your platform.
David Brooks is a respected journalist. Charlie Hebdo was not respectable journalism. They are or were a piece of crap. Most conservatives would decry their cartoons as offensive to good taste. Most liberals, prior to this attack, would have denounced their cartoons as racist, xenophobic and sexist (collectively known as hate speech). Remember, you’re only seeing a select few cartoons in the media.
If you’re a libertarian, vous etes Charlie Hebdo. You are Charlie Hebdo, because you understand that offensive inappropriate speech is precisely the type of speech that needs protection. Libertarians understand that the necessary things that need to be said in a society are not uttered by respected prize winning journalists. The truths that need telling can only escape from the unguided un-respected unofficial politically incorrect journalistic dens of ill repute.
