Friday, August 10, 2007

Marker In The Sand



Where do you draw the line on censorship? Does a phone company have the right to censor something that even the FCC would consider a breach on freedom of speech? The internet, which is not monitored by the FCC (yet) is truly the last safe haven for the first amendment. So when Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder changed some of the lyrics of their song "Daughter" to make an anti-Bush statement at Lollapalooza, why was that portion of the song censored by AT&T? For those who have not heard about it, here are the lyrics that were censored, as stated on the band's website;

During the performance of "Daughter" the following lyrics were sung to the tune of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" but were cut from the webcast:

- "George Bush, leave this world alone." (the second time it was sung); and

- "George Bush find yourself another home."

The website also goes on to state the disapproval of the band, much to no one's surprise at all. You can read the article and see the actual clip here. Now I know how most people are going to react, and they can generally be sliced into two groups; the first group, who say that slandering Bush and the administration helps terrorism somehow, although they can never explain how, and the second group, who just don't care. To the first group, I pose this question; have you heard of the American Revolution, and if so, why did it happen? To the second group, I pose this statement; you somehow manage to piss me off more than the first group. I can understand the first group's stance; they're ignorant and possibly stupid and would follow their leaders into hell blindly without so much as stopping to ask themselves why they were doing it. But to not see this as just another cog in the censor machine makes me sick. How much of our personal freedom has to be stripped away from you before you open your eyes? We have people being called traitors simply because they want nothing more than what is guaranteed to them by the Constitution. You know, the document that all those old guys wrote way back when, the one that grants you the right to worship who you choose to worship, and say what you want to say and all that good stuff we used to have. I know it's hard to actually read the damn thing, especially with all the words bleeding through after how much the current administration has pissed on it, but it is there for a reason. And if you think that something so small and trivial could not matter in the larger scope of things, think about this; the American Revolution was started over some fucking tea.

-B
there is a sickness, a sickness coming over me, like watching freedom being sucked straight out to sea


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