Steal the Pen While They Watch Their Swords

My last post was about how completely China controls its people. Today, I was distressed to see how many other countries are headed in the same direction. Britain has banned Michael Savage. Home Secretary Jacqui Smith explained:

"I think it's important that people understand the sorts of values and sorts of standards that we have here, the fact that it's a privilege to come and the sort of things that mean you won't be welcome in this country."

Seriously? People who don’t agree with your values are not welcome? Doesn’t that sound a lot like some Muslim nations? Women who wish to show their hair will be stoned? My first reaction to this was to chuckle. I saw it a lot like the Department of Homeland Security telling Americans to watch out for Veterans because they are likely to become domestic terrorists. I assumed some rogue government official had been making a list of people to ban and just threw Michael Savage in. I was wrong.

The bottom line is that I really don’t know what this man talks about on his radio program. My husband used to listen to him, occasionally. But, right after Elizabeth Smart was rescued and returned to her family, Savage said some pretty disrespectful things about the young kidnap victim. My husband didn’t tell me what they were. But, he sat down that afternoon and wrote a letter to the producer of the show, explaining that he felt the dialogue was ridiculous and he would be showing his displeasure with his radio dial. This is the way freedom works. He hasn’t listened to the program since. I must assume that the man is pretty distasteful. We won’t be inviting him to our home. But the thing about freedom is that you have to allow the idiots to have their freedom so you won’t lose yours.

This morning I read commentary by a British Journalist explaining that it was wrong to ban people for what they say. It was very well written, you can read it here. The writer eloquently explains that it is a new tactic for the government of Britain to ban someone simply because it does not like their views. In other words, this is another step toward more-fully controlling the people’s views. This made me think that I was correct about it being some silly government officials.

Then, I started reading the comments from readers. That’s when I saw the poison that is seeping into democratic systems for what it truly is. The readers were saying things like:

“Ban those American and other ecclesiastics who have expressed racist views about Africans and others who do not share their liberal sexual morality.”

And

“Banning a few people with extreme views from setting foot in the country does not curtail freedom of speech by any perceptible amount.”

And

“if you listen everyday to the preacher of hate Michael "weenie" Savage then you should also be banned from the UK ; clearly by listening to hate radio everyday you are of a racist disposition - you should stop polluting English blogs with your racist drivel and go and post instead on the forums of your Klan leader Michael "weenie" Savage.”

You see, the poison is not that the government will try to restrict the rights of the people. The real poison is when the people start willingly giving up their rights because they believe that doing so will allow them to force others to their “correct” way of thinking. The poison is a collective morality dictated by collectivism. The poison may come from the political leaders, but it is only effective when it infects the people.

I want to end these thoughts with a quote from one more poster on the commentary. He seems to say the facts better than I ever could.

“Anybody who uses the pen and not the sword, should be welcome on these shores!”