Why are so many Americans remaining silent?
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[this a great editorial from the newspaper in the town where I went to college along the coast of maine]
letters@TimesRecord.Com
08/07/2003
By E. Barton Chapin III, Times Record Contributor
A majority of the people in this country has been silent. Silent as their rights are subtly being eroded. Silent as humans living in this country and elsewhere are being arrested and put in jail by our government without proper representation. Silent as details of their personal lives are being recorded by the government as never before. Silent as our already flimsy laws to protect the environment are being eroded. Silent as our government systematically ignores the sentiments of the most of the rest of the world. Silent as dissenting opinions are being squelched by the government aided by a cowardly press. Why this silence? Are we too fat and happy? Are we too selfish to recognize what is happening to others? Are we afraid?
The people of this country continually do not act in their own interest. Big business does not have the same problem. They know what they want and they have the tools to get it. We also have the tools to get what we want, but the tools remain unused. Why would the average American, for example, support a tax cut that benefits only the very rich? Why do so many of us buy and drive SUVs and minivans when we are breathing foul air during most of the year? What benefit to the average American is there in the Bush administration not signing the Kyoto Treaty? Why would Americans want to develop oil resources in the arctic? Perhaps if we got out of our gas-guzzler vehicles and into more sensible transportation, the resource could be left alone.
It is sad that this country's direction is determined by the amount of money raised by political fundraisers. The upcoming presidential election is about to siphon $300 million and perhaps more out of special interests and most of all, big business interests. What chance does a single person have in the face of such a juggernaut?
One chance we have is to not believe everything we hear or see or read. Most media purveyors in the world are big businesses. Murdock, Disney, Clear Channel Communications and other large media companies control a huge amount of the information we see and hear. It is naive to think that large media companies are not broadcasting and printing news that benefits their own interests. We must get other sources of information. The Internet has opened up many possibilities; unfortunately, many people have only limited access to the Internet and little time to make use of the resource.
It is worrisome that present policy gradually is limiting the Internet. Libraries have been instructed to filter out pornographic sites. Who determines what is pornographic? A candidate's site might have a controversial word in it that would trigger that site to be labeled as pornographic and therefore filter it out. Do you want the government to decide what you can look at over the Internet? Do you want the government keeping a log of the books you take out of the library? They can do that already. Read the Patriot Act!
A few weeks ago a man was arrested for carrying a sign that read "No War for Oil." He was told to go to the location for dissenters as he was too close to where the president was about to pass. People with non-dissenting views were allowed to stay at the same location. He refused and offered the argument that the Constitution allowed him to hold up a sign. He was taken to jail and subsequently to court. The charge was endangering the president. Time will tell whether he will be convicted.
During the Academy Award ceremonies, pro-war demonstrators were bused in by Fox News and allowed to stand at the entrance while perhaps 100,000 or more anti-war demonstrators were subtly dispersed by thousands of police on motorcycles, on horseback and on foot. There was no violence as there was in the 1960s; the authorities have learned the harsh treatment of protesters brings negative publicity. The technique now is to fragment the demonstration and then influence the media to ignore the negative elements. Is this the kind of America the founding fathers had in mind?
Our schools do not often teach students to think for themselves. Divergent opinions are often silenced. This winter, students questioning the war were routinely labeled unpatriotic and out of line, while students wishing to express support for the administration's actions were regularly applauded.
If we as a nation are wedded to the likes of Fox News, CBS, NBC, ABC and Rush Limbaugh without additional sources of information, there is little hope for a just and accommodating society. We must think independently and make decisions that reflect a broad understanding of the issues. Where are the modern-day Jeffersons, Adams and Franklins? We need them.
E. Barton Chapin III lives in Arrowsic.
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