Free Speech
I don't usually spend too much time expounding on political or social issues here. This is my journal, and most of what I post is, thus, related to me. So yeah, it'd be hard to read this journal for long without realising that I'm a liberal lesbian pagan geek with mental and physical health issues, but only because those things bleed through when I'm talking about, well, me.
But every now and then, the soapboxes gather. They're tricky things, soapboxes. They like to hide in closets and ambush you at your most unsuspecting.
So here it is.
I complain about America. I do. There are a lot of things about this country and this society that I don't like. I'm a cynical, glass-is-half-empty kinda person. And I've seen far too much social injustice to have a rosy view of our society. People could get the idea that I'm unpatriotic. But I'm not. I complain and I bitch and moan and get cynical *because* I believe in this country. I believe in the ideal of America. I believe in what this country *should* be, and so I am far too frequently disappointed by what it is.
And one of those things I believe in is free speech. Free speech is one of those things everyone says they believe in until they hear something they don't like. And both sides of the political divide are guilty of this. Free speech, *true* free speech, is tough. "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.[ *]"
I am a librarian in an academic library at a state university. I am the selector for Biological Sciences, which means I choose which books to buy in that subject area, and I approve the addition of gift books in that area. Yesterday I approved the addition of a book to our collection that was donated by the author. It was a treatise on Creationism. The author has a Ph.D. The book itself was well-written and erudite. The science was a total crock. Personally, I view creationists like those little children who dance up and down with their eyes closed and their fingers in their ears singing "Na na na na, I can't heeear you!" when a parent says something they don't like. But I approved the book anyway.
Why? Because I am a librarian, and this is a library. Free speech means this author can publish his book of fundamentalist religious pseudoscience, and the principles of librarianship means that I cannot, or rather *should* not, censor materials based on my own opinions. I don't agree with a word that is written in that book, but if I had to agree with every book we had in this library it would be a much *much* smaller building. As a librarian, I have to make this person's views as accessible as any other, and trust the students to form their own opinions.
Today, I saw a tweet urging people to report the Westboro Baptist Church's Facebook page for abuse. If you're not familiar with them, these are the "God hates fags" folks, the ones who picket funerals. They are some of the most hate-filled despicable specimens of human beings I have ever been made aware of, and I despise everything they stand for.
But I did not respond to the call to pressure Facebook into taking down their page. Would I like to blot every shred of their existence from the face of this earth? Yes, definitely. Do I have a right to?
NO.
The Westboro Baptist Church has as much right to have a Facebook page as the Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU, Focus on the Family, the NAACP, and yes, even the KKK. Because that is what free speech is all about. It means that if you want the right to stand up and voice your opinion, you have to allow others to stand up and voice theirs.
Now, excuse me while I go herd this soapbox back to its closet.
EDIT: It has been pointed out to me that the profile pic on the Westboro Baptist Church Facebook page is offensive. It definitely is, and it clearly violates Facebook's terms of service. I support their right to *have* a Facebook page, not their right to the offensive profile pic.
[ *]Michael Douglas, "The American President" Great movie. Go watch it.
But every now and then, the soapboxes gather. They're tricky things, soapboxes. They like to hide in closets and ambush you at your most unsuspecting.
So here it is.
I complain about America. I do. There are a lot of things about this country and this society that I don't like. I'm a cynical, glass-is-half-empty kinda person. And I've seen far too much social injustice to have a rosy view of our society. People could get the idea that I'm unpatriotic. But I'm not. I complain and I bitch and moan and get cynical *because* I believe in this country. I believe in the ideal of America. I believe in what this country *should* be, and so I am far too frequently disappointed by what it is.
And one of those things I believe in is free speech. Free speech is one of those things everyone says they believe in until they hear something they don't like. And both sides of the political divide are guilty of this. Free speech, *true* free speech, is tough. "You want free speech? Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours.[ *]"
I am a librarian in an academic library at a state university. I am the selector for Biological Sciences, which means I choose which books to buy in that subject area, and I approve the addition of gift books in that area. Yesterday I approved the addition of a book to our collection that was donated by the author. It was a treatise on Creationism. The author has a Ph.D. The book itself was well-written and erudite. The science was a total crock. Personally, I view creationists like those little children who dance up and down with their eyes closed and their fingers in their ears singing "Na na na na, I can't heeear you!" when a parent says something they don't like. But I approved the book anyway.
Why? Because I am a librarian, and this is a library. Free speech means this author can publish his book of fundamentalist religious pseudoscience, and the principles of librarianship means that I cannot, or rather *should* not, censor materials based on my own opinions. I don't agree with a word that is written in that book, but if I had to agree with every book we had in this library it would be a much *much* smaller building. As a librarian, I have to make this person's views as accessible as any other, and trust the students to form their own opinions.
Today, I saw a tweet urging people to report the Westboro Baptist Church's Facebook page for abuse. If you're not familiar with them, these are the "God hates fags" folks, the ones who picket funerals. They are some of the most hate-filled despicable specimens of human beings I have ever been made aware of, and I despise everything they stand for.
But I did not respond to the call to pressure Facebook into taking down their page. Would I like to blot every shred of their existence from the face of this earth? Yes, definitely. Do I have a right to?
NO.
The Westboro Baptist Church has as much right to have a Facebook page as the Human Rights Campaign, the ACLU, Focus on the Family, the NAACP, and yes, even the KKK. Because that is what free speech is all about. It means that if you want the right to stand up and voice your opinion, you have to allow others to stand up and voice theirs.
Now, excuse me while I go herd this soapbox back to its closet.
EDIT: It has been pointed out to me that the profile pic on the Westboro Baptist Church Facebook page is offensive. It definitely is, and it clearly violates Facebook's terms of service. I support their right to *have* a Facebook page, not their right to the offensive profile pic.
[ *]Michael Douglas, "The American President" Great movie. Go watch it.