Oppression and Expression
When I read an article like this one from CNN.com about the arrest of a poet in Myanmar (also sometimes referred to as Burma) I cannot help but feel grateful to be living in a nation that has a constitution whose first amendment protects my freedom of speech. On the other hand I am saddened that even in the 21st century there are still many places in the world where voices are silenced by the will of oppressive governments. Very often it seems that it is the voices of great minds that get smothered out in places in which a dictator or other figure holds absolute power. With such consideration I have always been very anti-censorship and am disturbed when I hear cases of attempts at silencing expression here in this country. Expression does certainly have the potential to upset from time to time and it is easy to think that allowing this or that to be silenced we are not really hurting anything, but if we decide that it is okay to prevent one form of expression how long before we deem another of also being dangerous or unsavory? For me the stifling of freedom of expression is one of the most oppressive things that a government can do. I urge people everywhere to fight for the freedom of their voices and ideas. In the pursuit of a better world we need the power to express ourselves and our beliefs because it is in that way we begin to enact change.
~Nathaniel
Tags: CNN, expression, freedom, Myanmar, Poet
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January 25, 2008 at 12:31 am
I’m on the side of oppression.
#1. Everyone wants to fight for freedom. It’s like, cliche and stuff or whatever.
#2. In a numbers’ world, oppression always gets better odds.
#3. The banks back oppression. I side with the banks cuz they gots my benjamins.
#4. Freedom isn’t free. See #3.
#5. Poetry is cool, but bad poetry should be punishable by fines… and really horrible poetry should be punishable by jail.
#6. Censorship works. Especially with Indian Agarbatti. (Makes my house smell like a Hindu temple. Awesome.)
#7. Ideas are dangerous. I had one once, and it was horrible. I don’t even want to talk about it.
#8. Ideas are contagious. Holy crap!!! How dangerous is that?! Now that people fly on airplanes and send emails, one person could infect the whole world. That’s scary as crap.
#9. I tried fighting for my voice once, but I just got sore. It was not fun.
#10. The Patriot Act makes the 1st Amendment subject to change without notice. Please allow one refund per household. The Justice Dept. reserves the right to terminate all civil and human rights at will. Odds of winning are approx. 1 in 56,764,932,172.