Free Speech Has Consequences
Freedom of speech is often tinged with pain, especially when the ideas expressed are repulsive and abhorrent and plainly outside of community standards, and often, simple decency. In a quiet, affluent neighborhood in Sacramento, CA, this freedom is being pushed to the very limits of tolerance, and a local couple are finding that regardless of the Constitution, actions bear consequences.
Last week, Steve and Virginia Pearcy, both lawyers and anti-war activists from Berkeley, decided it would be clever to hang a stuffed soldier from the eaves of their half-million dollar weekend getaway. For the face of the effigy, the two used a crumpled American flag, and hung a sign around the figure reading "Your Tax Dollars At Work". Since the intent was simple incitement, it is understandable that neighbors were not thrilled with this political display, including many who know or have relatives or friends serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the Pearcys escaped to their main home in Berkeley, distraught neighbors who were forced to live with this spectacle called the police, who arrived and promptly announced that since no law was being broken, there was nothing that they could do. However, within a day, the figure was cut down from the house, and layed on the couple's lawn.
Later, under police protection, the Pearcys hung another dead "soldier" by the neck from the eaves of their home, this time with a sign reading "Bush Lied, I Died". Within days, this was torn down as well. Many in the community have threatened to continue to take down any similar displays, but police were quick to counsel against such actions, as those responsible could be charged with numerous criminal acts, including vandalism, theft, and trespassing. In liberal Sacramento, you can count on it. The Pearcys have promised to vigorously pursue prosecution against anyone who brings down the displays. Since the first pillar of American liberalism is vengeful hatred, you can count on that, as well.
Such displays are not new to the two Berkeley lawyers. Previously, a Palestinian flag was hung in a large picture window, as well as the old Iraqi flag intended to show solidarity with the Iraqi people, presumably against American "aggression". In another neighborly gesture, the Palestinian flag was reportedly hung facing the home of a Jewish family. The Pearcys claim the flags and the hanging effigies are "political protest art", and note that the First Amendment is intended to protect unpopular speech, because such speech is the only kind in need of protection. "We are decent people," says Virginia Pearcy. "We have reasonable views".
While this statement certainly indicates a staggering level of self-delusion, it also highlights a serious flaw in left-wing political thought: blatant hypocrisy.
Would this call for tolerance be extended to a neighbor who, for the purposes of "political protest art", hung an effigy of a black Moslem bearing a sign that read "I murdered Sudanese Christians"? Or an overtly gay figure with the words "I died of AIDS, and now I am burning in Hell"? Or a figure dressed like a doctor with a placard that read "I killed babies"? After all, these would be no more distasteful than the political statement of a dead American soldier hanging by his neck from the roof, and just as heart-felt by many Americans who also believe they hold "reasonable views".
It is truly hard to imagine the level of hysterical protest that would fall on such displays, and on those responsible for them, led by the same people and groups that have voiced support for the Pearcys. And, it is hard to believe that these two particular activists would be out on the streets, with their neighbors, in support of "freedom of speech" under any of those conditions.
As these two Berkeley activists piously remind us about the right of free speech, they also conveniently forget about the flags they have chosen to wrap themselves in. There is no freedom of speech in the Palestinian-controlled areas of Israel, nor freedom to openly practice religions other than Islam, nor freedom of assembly, or any other First Amendment guarantee. Dissent is met with imprisonment or death. In Saddam Hussein's tyrannical mad-house, represented by the old Iraqi flag hanging in their window, people like the Pearcys would not have had the opportunity to exercise free speech for very long. The secret police would have quickly intervened, tortured and murdered them , their children, parents, friends and business associates. Embracing the national flags of these two regimes is tacit approval of both.
By choosing these reprehensible symbols of absolute despotism, they have illuminated their own hypocrisy, and discredited themselves from being taken seriously in the process. They are, in the end, simply irrational, angry radicals throwing a temper tantrum for attention, blinded from all reason by the commodity that leftist tend to have in abundance: rage.
What they do not apparently understand is that while they have the right to express themselves, they have no guarantee of an audience, and no dispensation from the consequences of their actions. Aversive "political protest art", intended solely to incite anger and garner attention, cannot be guarded twenty-four hours a day, everyday. There are those who see the removal of such symbolism, even at the risk of jail-time, as a calling to the higher good, and not as a free speech issue. If large placards covered with vile, disgusting and offensive sexual acts began appearing in public in the Land Park neighborhood, many would see it as a duty to the community to tear them down, and not rely on Supreme Court decisions to tell them when something is just not right. So it is with vile, disgusting and offensive political statements. The Pearcys would do well to remember this.
A group called Move America Forward has planned a candle-light vigil tonight outside of the Pearcys home in the Land Park area of the city. This event will serve only to bring even more attention upon these disaffected malcontents, and that is exactly what they want. A more effective tool against such individuals is to isolate them, completely and with overwhelming numbers. If the Pearcys put a single effigy on their house, the neighbors should exercise their own free speech rights and plaster every lawn and house with pro-soldier and pro-American symbols. Drown out the fringe view with the majority, over-power the negative with the positive, and render such political expressions irrelevant.
The Constitution guarantees the right to speech, but it does not guarantee the right to be heard, or accepted.
Last week, Steve and Virginia Pearcy, both lawyers and anti-war activists from Berkeley, decided it would be clever to hang a stuffed soldier from the eaves of their half-million dollar weekend getaway. For the face of the effigy, the two used a crumpled American flag, and hung a sign around the figure reading "Your Tax Dollars At Work". Since the intent was simple incitement, it is understandable that neighbors were not thrilled with this political display, including many who know or have relatives or friends serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. While the Pearcys escaped to their main home in Berkeley, distraught neighbors who were forced to live with this spectacle called the police, who arrived and promptly announced that since no law was being broken, there was nothing that they could do. However, within a day, the figure was cut down from the house, and layed on the couple's lawn.
Later, under police protection, the Pearcys hung another dead "soldier" by the neck from the eaves of their home, this time with a sign reading "Bush Lied, I Died". Within days, this was torn down as well. Many in the community have threatened to continue to take down any similar displays, but police were quick to counsel against such actions, as those responsible could be charged with numerous criminal acts, including vandalism, theft, and trespassing. In liberal Sacramento, you can count on it. The Pearcys have promised to vigorously pursue prosecution against anyone who brings down the displays. Since the first pillar of American liberalism is vengeful hatred, you can count on that, as well.
Such displays are not new to the two Berkeley lawyers. Previously, a Palestinian flag was hung in a large picture window, as well as the old Iraqi flag intended to show solidarity with the Iraqi people, presumably against American "aggression". In another neighborly gesture, the Palestinian flag was reportedly hung facing the home of a Jewish family. The Pearcys claim the flags and the hanging effigies are "political protest art", and note that the First Amendment is intended to protect unpopular speech, because such speech is the only kind in need of protection. "We are decent people," says Virginia Pearcy. "We have reasonable views".
While this statement certainly indicates a staggering level of self-delusion, it also highlights a serious flaw in left-wing political thought: blatant hypocrisy.
Would this call for tolerance be extended to a neighbor who, for the purposes of "political protest art", hung an effigy of a black Moslem bearing a sign that read "I murdered Sudanese Christians"? Or an overtly gay figure with the words "I died of AIDS, and now I am burning in Hell"? Or a figure dressed like a doctor with a placard that read "I killed babies"? After all, these would be no more distasteful than the political statement of a dead American soldier hanging by his neck from the roof, and just as heart-felt by many Americans who also believe they hold "reasonable views".
It is truly hard to imagine the level of hysterical protest that would fall on such displays, and on those responsible for them, led by the same people and groups that have voiced support for the Pearcys. And, it is hard to believe that these two particular activists would be out on the streets, with their neighbors, in support of "freedom of speech" under any of those conditions.
As these two Berkeley activists piously remind us about the right of free speech, they also conveniently forget about the flags they have chosen to wrap themselves in. There is no freedom of speech in the Palestinian-controlled areas of Israel, nor freedom to openly practice religions other than Islam, nor freedom of assembly, or any other First Amendment guarantee. Dissent is met with imprisonment or death. In Saddam Hussein's tyrannical mad-house, represented by the old Iraqi flag hanging in their window, people like the Pearcys would not have had the opportunity to exercise free speech for very long. The secret police would have quickly intervened, tortured and murdered them , their children, parents, friends and business associates. Embracing the national flags of these two regimes is tacit approval of both.
By choosing these reprehensible symbols of absolute despotism, they have illuminated their own hypocrisy, and discredited themselves from being taken seriously in the process. They are, in the end, simply irrational, angry radicals throwing a temper tantrum for attention, blinded from all reason by the commodity that leftist tend to have in abundance: rage.
What they do not apparently understand is that while they have the right to express themselves, they have no guarantee of an audience, and no dispensation from the consequences of their actions. Aversive "political protest art", intended solely to incite anger and garner attention, cannot be guarded twenty-four hours a day, everyday. There are those who see the removal of such symbolism, even at the risk of jail-time, as a calling to the higher good, and not as a free speech issue. If large placards covered with vile, disgusting and offensive sexual acts began appearing in public in the Land Park neighborhood, many would see it as a duty to the community to tear them down, and not rely on Supreme Court decisions to tell them when something is just not right. So it is with vile, disgusting and offensive political statements. The Pearcys would do well to remember this.
A group called Move America Forward has planned a candle-light vigil tonight outside of the Pearcys home in the Land Park area of the city. This event will serve only to bring even more attention upon these disaffected malcontents, and that is exactly what they want. A more effective tool against such individuals is to isolate them, completely and with overwhelming numbers. If the Pearcys put a single effigy on their house, the neighbors should exercise their own free speech rights and plaster every lawn and house with pro-soldier and pro-American symbols. Drown out the fringe view with the majority, over-power the negative with the positive, and render such political expressions irrelevant.
The Constitution guarantees the right to speech, but it does not guarantee the right to be heard, or accepted.
posted by Mark Outland at 12:15 PM
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