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Political |
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We are fortunate to live in a society that
allows us to speak freely, express our opinions, and have no fear for
speaking out for, or against, a cause, or a person. We can express our
opinions without fear of retribution, harm, or imprisonment. There are places on this planet where people
cannot speak their minds, they live in fear of expressing political
opinions, they live in fear of speaking out against their leaders, and
they live in fear of practicing their religion. In these places, there
is no right of free speech—a right that we, in America, often take for
granted. This morning, a political cartoon appeared in
the Chattanooga Times Free Press. The cartoon depicted a scene in Iraq.
A man and woman are standing in a window with the man stating, “Now
that Saddam is gone, Iraqis can finally express themselves freely…”
To the right of the window is an Iraqi painting these words on the wall:
“Yankee go home.” The caption above the cartoon reads “Thanks!” Recent reports from Iraq mirror the image in the
cartoon; Iraqis are protesting the American presence in their country.
Iraqis are freely speaking out against the American presence. Iraqis are
demanding that America pull out of Iraq. In contrast to those demanding, “Yankee go
home,” There are Iraqis asking the Americans to stay, to help rebuild
their country, to help establish a new government. Iraqis, for the first
time in many years, are expressing their beliefs, freely and openly.
They are doing so without fear of retribution—retribution from their
government. Regardless of whether we support the war, or
question the war—one good thing has come out of this war--Iraqis are
now free to express their opinions without fear of retribution.
Obviously some of those opinions will support the United States, other
will oppose the United States, and some will demand: “Yankee go
home.” Regardless of the opinion, there is nothing wrong with the
Iraqi people expressing those opinions—openly, honestly, and without
fear. We live in an open society. We are blessed with
the liberty to express ourselves—we have the right to free speech. Our
freedom to speak takes many forms—the written word, the illustration,
the spoken word—regardless of the form, we can express our opinions
without fear. During this war with Iraq, we had the right to
speak out for, or against the war; we had the right to speak out for, or
against, our President—it is a right that we should not take lightly.
It is a right that we should exercise often. The cartoon in the morning paper is condemning
the Iraqi for his lack of appreciation for the US liberation of Iraq.
Despite this lack of appreciation, the one good thing this war produced
is the ability of Iraqis to express their opinions, something they have
not been able to do for years. All of us should be thankful that Iraqis are
free to say “Yankee go home”—that freedom makes the war, in part,
worth the effort. Stuart James
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