(no subject)
Feb. 1st, 2006 10:01 amIn case you missed it, Cindy Sheehan was arrested during the SOTU last night for the crime of wearing a t-shirt that read "2245 Dead. How many more?". That's right, she was arrested for wearing a t-shirt. She didn't disrupt anything, didn't yell fire in a crowded theater, didn't unfurl a huge banner...she wore a t-shirt.
Glenn Greenwald waxes eloquent on the event:
This is nothing more than a naked attempt to stifle dissent and to create a criticism-free bubble around George Bush. Presidents routinely use all sorts of propagandistic imagery at the State of the Union to decorate their speeches with an aura of regal patriotism. We always see weeping widows and military heroes and symbolic guests of all sorts who are used as props and visuals to bolster the President's message both emotionally and psychologically. The State of the Union speech is hardly free of visual messages and propaganda of that sort; quite the contrary.
But we apparently now have a country where the only ideas allowed to be expressed in our Nation's Capitol while the President is speaking are ones which glorify the Government and its Leader and where dissenting views are prohibited and will subject someone to arrest. Message cleansing of that sort belongs at a political rally in North Korea, not in Washington, DC.
( More behind the cut )
And just think, if the new Patriot Act goes through she could be thrown in jail on a felony charge for up to 5 years for wearing that t-shirt.
Edit: Police have dropped all charges and are issuing an apology, damn straight they'd better. Sure it's mostly spin control, but it's nice to see an obvious miscarriage of justice righted before it went any further.
On a lighter note, check out Homer J. Simpson's response to the SOTU.
Glenn Greenwald waxes eloquent on the event:
This is nothing more than a naked attempt to stifle dissent and to create a criticism-free bubble around George Bush. Presidents routinely use all sorts of propagandistic imagery at the State of the Union to decorate their speeches with an aura of regal patriotism. We always see weeping widows and military heroes and symbolic guests of all sorts who are used as props and visuals to bolster the President's message both emotionally and psychologically. The State of the Union speech is hardly free of visual messages and propaganda of that sort; quite the contrary.
But we apparently now have a country where the only ideas allowed to be expressed in our Nation's Capitol while the President is speaking are ones which glorify the Government and its Leader and where dissenting views are prohibited and will subject someone to arrest. Message cleansing of that sort belongs at a political rally in North Korea, not in Washington, DC.
( More behind the cut )
And just think, if the new Patriot Act goes through she could be thrown in jail on a felony charge for up to 5 years for wearing that t-shirt.
Edit: Police have dropped all charges and are issuing an apology, damn straight they'd better. Sure it's mostly spin control, but it's nice to see an obvious miscarriage of justice righted before it went any further.
On a lighter note, check out Homer J. Simpson's response to the SOTU.