[Vision2020] Disturbing trends

[Troy Merrill]

I agree with Mr. Danahy that Scott Dredges' comments are disturbing.  But it
took me a while to work through exactly why I found them troubling.  I
frequently choose to not do business with people I feel are in opposition to
me on various environmental/social issues.  That, as Mr. Dredge points out,
is what happened in the baseball hall of fame case.  Why do I find it
troubling when someone else does what I routinely do?  First, I find my
choice to withhold business or other forms of support troubling in itself.
I do not make those choices lightly because I do in fact think that
diversity is socially valuable.  Are not boycotts simply a means to reduce
diversity?
My personal angst is not sufficient explanation for my reaction to Mr.
Dredges' comments.  What I find troubling is the lack of thought behind
those actions.  The angry intolerance of blind patriotism and the acceptance
of that intolerance by, apparently, the majority of the population is what I
find frightening.  If the majority is willing to accept the thoughtless
labeling of fellow citizens who question the actions of their government as
UnAmerican we are approaching a chasm.  We may stop or we may fall in.  We
can refuse to yield civil rights, we can refuse to structure of society of
fear; or we can demand that all kowtow to the strong ruler, the protector of
the homeland.
Remember Hitler was elected.

Troy Merrill

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Danahy" <jdanahy@turbonet.com>
To: <vision2020@moscow.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 4:35 PM
Subject: RE: [Vision2020] Disturbing trends


> In all the discussion so far on this list there has been no more
> frightening statement than that of Scott below.  The very idea that
> anyone could pay a price for saying anything that is politically
> unpopular is to desecrate the very patriotism that the voluntary
> military has fought and died for.  It is such statements, and the vile
> corruption of patriotism that has been co-opted by the Bush
> administration, that I am, not anti-war, but anti-Bush.
> John
> jdanahy@turbonet.com
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: vision2020-admin@moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-admin@moscow.com]
> On Behalf Of Scott Dredge
> Sent: Tuesday, April 15, 2003 1:45 PM
> To: vision2020@moscow.com
> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Disturbing trends
>
> The government hasn't done anything to limit their
> speech.  These people have said things that are
> policitically unpopular and now they're paying a
> price.  The same thing happened to Dr. Laura when she
> made unpopular statements about homosexuals.
>
> -Scott
>
> --- Carl Westberg <carlwestberg846@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > Last week, the president of the baseball Hall of
> > Fame cancelled a planned
> > 15th anniversary celebration of the movie Bull
> > Durham because he did not
> > like the fact that Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon
> > have spoken against the
> > war.  Never mind the fact that, according to
> > Robbins, all he planned on
> > talking about was baseball and the making of the
> > film.  He had no intention
> > of saying anything about the war.  In today's
> > Spokesman is a report that
> > actress Janeane Garofalo's scheduled new television
> > series may be doomed.
> > She has spoken against the war and criticized
> > President Bush, and the
> > network appears to be folding to pressure to keep
> > her show off the air, due
> > to her audacity.  A couple of pages later in the
> > same section is the story
> > of Ed Gernon, the producer of the CBS miniseries
> > "Hitler, The Rise of Evil."
> >   After more than a decade with the company, he's
> > been fired for statements
> > he made regarding the project and President Bush.
> > His crime?  This quote:
> > "It basically boils down to an entire nation gripped
> > by fear, who ultimately
> > chose to give up their civil rights and plunged the
> > whole world into war.  I
> > can't think of a better time to examine this history
> > than now."  And one of
> > the presumed rights our troops are fighting for in
> > Iraq is the freedom of
> > speech.
> >
> >
> >                 Carl
> > Westberg Jr.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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