Better And Better

If you don't draw yours, I won't draw mine. A police officer, working in the small town that he lives in, focusing on family and shooting and coffee, and occasionally putting some people in jail.

Saturday, July 19, 2008

54 years and some months and days ago, a brave man took a stand.

No, this is not an anniversary date. But back in March of 1954, a man who happened to make his living as a journalist voiced an editorial, and risked his career. He said, of a popular senator:

His primary achievement has been in confusing the public mind, as between the
internal and the external threats of Communism. We must not confuse dissent with
disloyalty. We must remember always that accusation is not proof and that
conviction depends upon evidence and due process of law. We will not walk in
fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason, if
we dig deep in our history and our doctrine, and remember that we are not
descended from fearful men. [...] We proclaim ourselves, as indeed we are, the
defenders of freedom, wherever it continues to exist in the world, but we cannot
defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. The actions of the junior Senator
from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad, and given
considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his. He
didn't create this situation of fear; he merely exploited it -- and rather
successfully.


Don't forget these things. They are yet true. Oh, swap some pronouns here and there. Maybe swap the threat of "Communism" with the newer threat of "terrorism."

Don't you forget: declaring something "good," "bad," "patriotic," or "hating our freedom" doesn't actually make it so.

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5 Comments:

At Saturday, July 19, 2008 7:56:00 AM, Blogger JPG said...

Edward R. Murrow was the Real Deal. He set standards for broadcast journalism and credibility to which others in the field could only hope to aspire. Long before his critique of Joe MacCarthy, Murrow’s credentials were firmly established. They were founded on going where the action was, and pioneering on-the-spot broadcasts. He did live broadcasts from London while the German bombs fell within sound of his microphone. He went with the 8th Air Force on bombing missions over Europe. He hunkered down in the bitter cold of Korea with U.S. troops to bring us the voices of our service personnel on the front.

If anyone has the opportunity to listen to recordings of on-the-scene news, please do so. And examine other detailed accounts of how Murrow went head to head with powerful men of the time. He died in 1965, age 57, leaving a benchmark legacy for news reporting and editorializing for all time. In a way, I’m glad he’s not here today to witness and comment upon some of the current events.

Excellent post, Son.

 
At Saturday, July 19, 2008 8:42:00 AM, Blogger SpeakerTweaker said...

Finally, someone other than Obama mentions a comparison between today's Big Eeevil and the Big Eeevil of the Cold War days.

Only this time, it was properly. You really nailed it on this one. It's deja vu all over again. To hell with the Constitution and all civil liberties, and anyone who doesn't like it isn't patriotic, and probably supports terrorists!!!

I'm just waiting for Charlie Daniels to re-remake "Uneasy Rider" starting right after he kicked 'ole green teeth right in the knee;)



tweaker

 
At Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:05:00 AM, Blogger Comrade Misfit said...

Bravo!

 
At Wednesday, July 23, 2008 10:11:00 PM, Blogger Rogue Medic said...

Excellent post.

So many are polarized by the idea of terrorism. Maybe they could get a nuclear weapon or two and set them off. Of course, in the cold war we were worried about nuclear weapons on a scale hundreds of times greater.

This is just another enemy. Are terrorists worth ripping up the Constitution?

No. Neither were the communists.

Too many have died for those rights. No enemy is worth allowing the fearmongers to betray those who have fought and died to protect those rights.

 
At Thursday, July 24, 2008 12:22:00 AM, Blogger J.R.Shirley said...

You called it, brother.

We will soon be back at our own modern-day Alien and Sedition Acts.

 

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