At 01:38 PM 1/30/2007, Joseph Riggs wrote:
Apparently there was a little bit of a misunderstanding. Despite
the carried over title, my e-mail was meant to be a response to Dr.
Core's comments regarding V for Vendetta. There's actually nothing
in there that applies to Letters from Iwo Jima. My apologies for
the resulting confusion.
Ah, sorry. My mistake.
With regards to free speech - I don't think people would have been
annoyed so much if the Dixie Chicks had made some private comments,
or mentioned their opinions in an interview. It's when celebrities
decide to use their status to make public pronouncements on issues
as if they were experts that people start to get riled up.
They didn't do that, though. The comment that started the controversy
was something along the lines of "we're embarasses the president's
from Texas." That's it. There's no claim of expertise there, just a
personal opinion. They deserved a certain amount of flak for it --
they are Americans in a foreign land, and thus de facto
representatives of their country, so badmouthing the president under
such circumstances is not a good idea -- but the response was way,
way, way out of proportion to the actual offense.
I know I personally get annoyed when I see stuff like that
regardless of which side the celebrity is supporting (though I
suspect that not many people follow that philosophy - I'm certain
there would have been a lot less of a commotion if the Dixie Chicks
had come out in favor of the war).
Only in the U.S. The rest of the world would have panned them, but it
wouldn't have been so bad because they'd be lumped in with the rest
of idiot America. But frankly, there's so much wrong with the war
(and there has been from the get go) that the only reason to ever
support it has been fear of being labelled un- or anti-American if
you don't. But since free speech is the very cornerstone of the
American identity going that route doesn't make much sense.
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