Well, there's been a lot of people expressing a lot of opinions about this war in Iraq. Many are for it, but many are against it. I've been noticing several incidents recently where various people have spoken out against the war or against George Bush and had faced rather dire consequences.
Martin's Sheen's Visa commercial (the one that he did with his son Charlie) has been pulled from teh air due to his real-life anti-war comments.
That woman from the Dixie Chicks said in a concert in London, "I'm ashamed that the President of the United Stateds is from Texas.". The Brits cheered, but as a result, all of their U.S. fans dumped them and are currently smashing their CDs. Hell, on the news last night someone was steamrolling a pile of Dixie Chicks CDsin the street. Heh, I would have done that regardless...they suck. ;)
Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle told unionized public employees Monday that he was "saddened that this president failed so miserably at diplomacy that we're now forced to war." Now congress is totally against him and is demanding he retract his statement, which he is refusing to do.
Of course, there's plenty of other examples out there.
You know, perhaps some of the comments people are making are ill-timed, but, goddamn it, this is America, and these people have the right to say whatever the fuck they want to about the war, Bush, or anything else they want. That's the difference between us and a country like Iraq. Of course, you can't put a limit on people's reactions to those comments, either. If you say something unpopular, people are going to react poorly. But when simply saying your opinion starts affecting your ability to get work or be safe in the street, well, that just brings up memories of that whole Hollywood blacklisting thing from the 1950's where innocent people were being accused of being commies and sent to jail.
Of course, I can understand people being against the war. And I can understand people being against Bush. There would be fewer wars, after all, if the politicians that started them actually had to go out there to fight themselves. What I can't understand, however, are the anti-war people that don't support our troops at the same time. They're out there, under orders, fighting and dying for us. They deserve our upmost respect. There's such a thing as free speech, but at the same time, there such a thing as being a thoughtless retard.
But as the saying goes, "I may not agree with what you say, but I will fight to the death your right to say it."
