Speech Acts II

Speaking of free speech, has anyone noticed how the story about the Fred-Phelps-inspired ban on funeral demonstrations disappeared? The conspiracist who lives behond my right shoulder says it was about the same time as the Danish cartoons blew up.

Man, Phelps is a piece of work. No one can accuse him of red-blue partisanship now that he's protesting at military funerals, saying "God Hates America." He is in his own little world...

But the response to his latest insanely offensive activity is scary. Now people want to ban protests at funerals, which just goes to show that we are not really interested in free speech in this country. Not really. Nor in any limitation on government. At least those of us in the red states (I almost forgot which is which). No, what we want is theocracy. We want laws against bad stuff. You don't like something that Phelps spewed at a funeral? Let's ban all demonstrations. The legal moralizing this represents is totally over the top. It's like if kids get caught reading an Abbie Hoffman book about how to blow up the school: ulp, we better ban.... books.

Phelps needs to be shut down or drowned out, no doubt. But counter-Phelps actions in civil society are infinitely better than legislative ones.

With laws like these, there will be no need to complain about Jimmy Carter or Rev. Lowrey speaking the truth at Coretta Scott King's funeral-- you could just have them arrested.

This is another instance of an attempt to "depoliticize" American public life, which basically whitewashes the deeply political character of military funerals. Patriotism, warrior jingo, and all the rest is not politics, it is natural truth. Anti-war speech is the political speech. That can be excluded, but extolling the virtues of the Empire need not be disturbed.

The harder it gets to counter that idea, the deeper the trouble we're in.