Since the attacks on U.S. soil Sept. 11, there has been much discussion about the failure of American intelligence at home and abroad. How could hundreds of people slip through the cracks of national security? Nevermind the blame-game that Bush is playing ( so many administration officials allude to the fact that Clinton cut budgets ) ; Bush has been in office long enough to have his own people in place, and his intelligence online. After all, Daddy was once head of the CIA, and most of Bush's guardians at the gate have served in previous administrations. If the Supreme Court-appointed Bush was not up to the task from Day One, maybe he should have stayed governor.
No, what I really do not understand is the failure of our society itself. Let me explain.
Some of these accused individuals were strangers among us for several years. They were part of our society whether they wanted to be or not. They trained at flight schools alongside us; they pumped iron alongside gym bunnies; they shopped, they walked, they drove, they flew alongside us. They had to have interacted with thousands of people, men, women and children who are the fabric of our society.
Did none of these thousands of people have enough of an impact on even one of these terrorists to change their view? To cause them to blow the whistle, to stop the madness?
Picture your life prior to Sept. 11. If you live or work in a multicultural neighborhood, walk yourself through a day. You probably come across many people who are "different" from you. You may even live in the same building for many months with a person of another race, ethnicity or religion, and not even know their names. In America, we have a potent mix of "isolationalism" and "distrust of others." People want to be alone to do their own thing, and some have been raised to fear those who are not "like us." That could be a white person fearing Blacks, a Latino person fearing Koreans, a Black person fearing Pakistanis, a straight person fearing gay people, or even a gay person misunderstanding their transgendered co-worker. The "other" means many things in this country.
This of course is not to blame any one person, or even to put the blame on our society. Nobody asked to be attacked by commercial jetliners, just as we are not asking for further attacks by the followers of any terrorist.
The events of Sept. 11 should cause us to reach out to speak to the "other," to break down our isolation one stranger at a time. If someone had managed to penetrate the extremist identity of one of those terrorists among us, who knows: one might have stepped forward to change the course of history.
The Words You Save May Be Your Own
Bill Maher has always been the annoying kid brother willing to say anything to get a rise out of his guests or audience. But that's not to say that he doesn't have beliefs. He is an extremely intelligent man, probably closest politically to a Libertarian from the way I read his comments. Maher is not afraid to tackle tough issues, and that's the reason his show went network a few years ago.
But now Maher is the first post-Sept. 11 victim of rabid American patriotism, a flag-on-your-car-SUV-home-garage-tree-dog-kid-job nationalism that is in danger of running us all over like a ten-ton truck. I do believe that America is the best country in the world. But the reason it has been is because of the freedoms most of us enjoy...you know, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And, of course, Freedom of Speech.
Maher did not cry "fire" in a crowded theater. He didn't even tell anyone how to build a nuclear bomb, or encourage an attack on the White House. No, all Maher said was that it was wrong to call the terrorists "cowardly"...because, he reasoned, they gave their own lives for their cause. Maher did also say he believed those who lob cruise missiles "from 2,000 miles away" are cowardly. Author Susan Sontag said the same things in the New Yorker magazine...but since her audience is far smaller ( and perhaps more intellectual and less knee-jerk ) she received no condemnation from the White House.
Maher did not call any U.S. solders cowards. He clarified this in an apology. He said he was calling into question the U.S. government, politicians, and Bush's missile-defense plan.
Whether you agree with Maher or not, Maher has a right in this country to say it. The White House, by issuing a statement even responding to a late-night commentator, shows that this will be not just a war of weapons, but a war or words. They will make it OK for U.S. citizens to attack their fellow citizens, simply because they may say something different, something controversial. By not putting a flag on that pickup truck or taxi cab, will someone be asking for trouble? Will criticizing a long, drawn-out war against terrorists be grounds for a verbal or physical bashing?
Maher's Politically Incorrect show is in danger of being axed. After all, it is owned by ABC, which is owned by Disney, which is afraid of alienating viewers and advertisers ( Federal Express and Sears have already cancelled ads on Maher's show ) . As media watchers have been saying for years, the ever-shrinking pool of mass media ownership will lead to censorship and a "one-voice" mentality.
We must be vigilant in our defense of this nation from the attacks of terrorists. But we also must be vigilant in our effort to keep this country on course. The Freedom of Speech, like so many other freedoms we enjoy, is a critical part of this American quilt. Maher has every right to speak his mind. As do Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Laura Schlessinger, and all of our right-wing foes. Of course, given that the mass media is controlled by so few rich power brokers, only certain views ever make it into the mainstream. But that's a separate issue...because with the internet, more people can take control of their own foot-in-mouth disease.
The real issue is not access, but being allowed to speak at all. Do not scapegoat Bill Maher. He deserves a forum to air his own controversial views, and he has always provided a forum for people who disagree with him to speak their own truths. In fact, we should take our lesson from Maher and allow this country to continue to serve as a bastion for freethinkers who are not afraid to put their own necks on the line by stating out loud their own passionate, perhaps unpopular beliefs.
We are, in the end, one big nation of late-night, let-it-all-hang-out talkshow guest commentators spanning the spectrum from far left to far right. We all deserve our Freedom of Speech, and we all must exercise it now, or risk losing it forever. The words you save may be your own.
