Yackety Yak, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise

August 15, 2009 Martha Thomases 13 Comments

The news this week – print, Internet, broadcast and cable – has been obsessed with the town hall meetings that members of Congress hold with their constituents during the summer break.  The topic this year is most frequently health care, specifically the Obama plan for reform, and it’s a subject of real interest to many in our country.

As with so many issues, this interest extends beyond the individual citizen (with or without health insurance) to many groups who feel they have a stake in the campaign.  I understand this.  I understand why unions, small business owners, insurance companies, health care professionals, and the pharmaceutical industry want to contribute to the national conversation.  Even when I don’t agree with their points of view, or their conclusions about the facts as they see them, I agree with their right (in fact, insist upon) to make their voices heard.

I have less sympathy with those who use their highly paid skills as lobbyists and marketers to masquerade as a grassroots movement.  Free speech means they have the right to mislead us, but there is no honor in it, and they deserve to be humiliated when they are caught.

As Mark Twain once said, “As an active privilege, it (freedom of speech) ranks with the privilege of committing murder; we may exercise it if we are willing to take the consequences.”

The First Amendment is one of my favorites, right up there with freeing the slaves and giving women the vote.  It says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”  

You’ll note that people have the right to assemble “peaceably.”  This becomes especially important when we consider the Second Amendment:  “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

As a pacifist, I’m not a big fan of the Second Amendment, but I acknowledge that it’s an important element of the law of the land.  However, I think that the Founders, when they were drafting the Constitution and, then, the Bill of Rights, knew how they felt about guns (they liked them!) and knew what they were doing when they used the word, “peaceably” in the First Amendment.

I’ve been part of a lot of demonstrations.  I’ve been on a lot of marches.  I’ve had fun chanting (really, try it:  1,2,3,4/We don’t want your fucking war!) and I’ve felt creepy chanting (my friend, Howard Cruse, said it made him feel like he was in Animal Farm, where they changed, “Four legs good/Two legs better.”).  I’ve booed speakers, hissed at speakers, and walked out on speakers.  Mostly, I hate speeches at demonstrations because they are rarely any good, and my feet hurt when I stand a lot.

But I’ve never shouted anyone down.  I’ve never seized a microphone.  I’ve never prevented another person from speaking.

I don’t think the Founders were in favor of that.

I also don’t think they’d be in favor of people bringing weapons to these town hall meetings.  Perhaps, because the country was more rural and more dangerous in the Eighteenth Century, they would have understood bringing a gun, just in case there were wolves in the woods, but I have to believe they’d have some kind of coat-check situation for their guns once the meetings started.

If, like me, you’re disgusted by our level of discourse, do something about it.  When someone presents a lie as a fact, object.  When someone uses a vague antecedent (e.g. “Some Democrats/Republicans have said that _____”), ask who it was.  Remember, there’s a big difference between a statement from someone with a blog on the Internet, someone with a job in the media and an elected official.  All are citizens, but one represents the Government, one is probably making a lot of money, and one is a person with a blog.

Remember, freedom of speech works best if you study first.

Media Goddess Martha Thomases probably can’t be on a Death Panel because of the pacifism thing, but just in case, she’s making a list.