Bridging Free Speech

Seems that the womens U.S. Bridge team that won the women's title, the Venice Cup, created a controversy by holding up a sign that said, "We didn't vote for Bush" while accepting their award.

Suddenly folks are calling them traitors and they face a possible 1 year ban and 200 hours of community service, etc., for...FREE SPEECH!

And what is amazing me about this issue is there are suddenly thousands of different definitions of what free speech is, and all the ones I read in the common dreams article seem to state that freedom of speech shouldn't apply in certain situations and thus, there really isn't such a thing as free speech.

To tell others when they can and cannot express an opinion IS NOT FREE SPEECH! That has another name for it. It is called CENCORSHIP!

These women who attempted to exercise their free speech alleged rights now face lots of sanctions. What this is an attempt to tell folks who participate in such events or in events of a similar nature is, "You best keep your mouth shut or you will face our wrath." The wrath of whatever organzation has control of these types of events, that is. In this case it's the United States Bridge Federation.

This action can also be seen as an act of low level terror. You see, people must be CONTROLLED by FEAR! What the USBF is saying (and other organizations as well) is that they control the speech of their players. They are the kings, queens, lords and masters. They will tell you what you can and cannot do and right now, they don't want their players saying anything bad about the Bush administration or YOU WILL BE PUNISHED! That is not free speech. The USBF obviously does NOT SUPPORT FREE SPEECH! They support controlling the speech of others through fear, in this case using banishment and community service.

So you see, in the land of the alleged free, you are free to do things like: shop, watch TV, drive your car, not speak out, be complacent, not to think critically, to be afraid of things that have no real effect on your life, to support the death and destruction of nations of people and the theivery of the resources to create wealth for the already wealthy, say nothing as the bombs fly, etc.

So I guess I'm wrong. We all really are free...with limitations, that is.