Welcome to Operation "Shut up badmouthing US"
by Andrew Williams
I was thinking of titling this essay "Shut up badrapping US," but felt
that would imply that the people who think they run this country--and the
world--actually listen to Lord Buckley and have a real sense of humor. If
that were the case, pot would be sold in coffeehouses, there would be
24-hour comedy stations all across the US (not just on satellite), the
Muslim world would actually like or tolerate us, and the psychic stress
level in this part of North America would be almost non-existent.
Operation "Shut up badmouthing US" takes its name from this famous
exchange in a short story by Damon Runyan:
"Shut up," he explained.
It was also inspired by such exchanges as this one from an equally famous
Bugs Bunny cartoon:GANGSTER: Shut up.
BUGS: Oh, I will, I'll shut up! You don't have to tell me twice! When someone tells me to shut up, I shut up!
(GANGSTER sticks gun in Bugs' mouth)
GANGSTER: Shut up shuttin' up.
Whether you're John Ashcroft or Judge Neil Ross (the Manhattan Criminal Court judge who refused to dismiss the case against William Harvey, the man who stood on the corner of Nassau Street and Maiden Lane in NYC on October 4, 2001 saying, according to the arresting detective: "AMERICA IS GETTING PAID BACK FOR WHAT IT'S DOING TO ISLAMIC COUNTRIES"), that's the government and judicial response to anyone who is saying that Bush is the tool of oil companies and other such non-ass-kissing free speech.
Interestingly, the detective who arrested Harvey chose not to arrest any of the bystanders who were threatening to fuck or kill Harvey, though he noted their comments in his report.
It's the easiest response. You don't have to respond to your critics: you just keep telling them to shut up and, if they don't, you arrest them, take them to court and lock them up. It's certainly easier than letting them have their say or attempting to logically and rationally refute their arguments. And since your Congress has already passed laws allowing this to happen, like the so-called Patriot Act, you don't even have to make up the laws--it's all done for you. You just file the paperwork and let the courts do the rest.
If anyone wants documentation of what I'm saying, go to www.villagevoice.com and click on Nat Hentoff's column or enter "Nat Hentoff" in the search field. Nat is one of the most righteous civil libertarians in America. Of course, a lot of papers won't print his columns as a result, but that just goes to show how self-controlled the mainstream media is and how potent are his charges.
I'm sure John Ashcroft would like to shut Nat Hentoff up. The reason he hasn't--and probably couldn't--is that Nat Hentoff is so highly respected that millions of people read his weekly column in the Voice and also know him as a jazz critic emeritus. If the goverment took Hentoff to court, he'd have so many friends come forward with money, legal assistance and supporting testimony that the judge would have to disallow just about anything and anyone that would help his case.
Unfortunately, most of us who are against this "War on Some Terrorists" (which is conveniently dovetailing with the "War on Some People with Some Drugs who aren't, say, Afghani opium growers") don't have the same amount of exposure that Nat Hentoff has. So if a guy like Barry Reingold gets talking with people in a gym and says that the President is owned by the oil companies, and the FBI pays him a visit, then he has to hope that he can interest a reporter in his story. And for every Barry Reingold whose story gets printed, there are an untold number of others we never hear about.Every time the government tells someone to shut up--through psychological or physical force--we should ask these questions: "What are they really afraid of? How does speech do them harm? What are they hiding?" Of course, it takes courage to ask those questions. And even more courage not to settle for "Shut up" as a response. As Americans, we have inherited a birthright of courage. It is ours to use--or forfeit.
