Mesa Legend - ARCHIVES - Vol. 39, Issue 8


Volume 39, Issue 8. Today is .

You are viewing
Volume 39, Issue 8
January 15, 2002

To return to the current issue please click here.

Letter to the Editor
Agree or not, we have the ‘Right’ to say it

I read the Mesa Legend with interest every week. And, normally, I wouldn’t comment on editorial matter of comments.

However, I cannot, in good conscience, keep silence in this case.

Let me state up front, I am, politically, a conservative, and retired military. I dedicated a bit over twenty years of my life to the defense of the Constitution. Not a particular government or political party, but the Constitution. That’s how the oath, taken by every member of the Armed Services, reads. All parts of the Constitution, from the Preamble to the Twenty-seventh Amendment.

Having said this, let me, also, say that I support Mr. Reed’s opinion, and that of the students quoted, concerning Bill Maher’s "Politically Incorrect". This is a blatant attack on free speech. The action, by ABC, violates Maher’s Right of free speech. And shows gross cowardice, on the part of ABC.

Neither an individual, nor a corporation, should cave-in to pressure, from a majority, to silence anyone voicing an opinion. No matter how offensive, others may find it.

However, it should be recognized, that the environment, that allowed this to happen, has been built up on college campuses, across this country, for the last thirty years.

The men and women that are now in top political circles were the college students of thirty years ago.

Starting with the Vietnam War, liberals, on campus, began shouting down any who opposed them. It has since then declined to the point that anyone who voices a minority or "Politically Incorrect" opinion has been shouted down and chased from campus.

Any who tried to point out the denial of free speech were accused of being nazis, who couldn’t possibly justify their anti-Semitic views.

More recently it has been Second Amendment advocates. They, too, are called fascists and blocked from stating their views. Here, "Dr. Laura" was removed from a local TV station due to pressure from the campus liberals, among others.

Now, the right wing conservatives are in power. They remember being ostracized and silenced on campus. They feel that it is perfectly correct to do the same to their opponents.

Both sides must realize that silencing those you don’t agree with is not just wrong, it is dangerous. When you deny anyone of their rights, you lay the ground work to have your own denied.

Now, I disagree with Mr. Maher’s statement, but I’ll defend to the death his right to voice it. As will most of the military and ex-military I know.

And I intend to write ABC to state my objection to their action.

Freedom of speech, and the press, is one of our most important and precious freedoms.

But with it comes the duty to allow others, with whom we may disagree, to exercise the same right.

L.A. Keating
Resident - Chandler AZ