FREE SPEECH: HITS AND MISSES
By Harmony Grant
9 Jul 07
Bad news first. The Supreme Court ruled against freedom in the case
commonly known as “Bong Hits 4 Jesus.” They said a public
school could punish a student for displaying those four words on
a large banner on public property during a school event, because
the sign might be seen as promoting drug use. Dissenting Justice
John Paul Stevens stood up for the First Amendment and accused the
majority of discriminating against speech based on the viewpoint
it expresses, which is forbidden by our Constitution.
Conservatives and Christians had joined with leftists to defend
the student’s right to hold that banner; they knew a ruling
against this student could be used to censor other students’ religious
and political expression. Unfortunately, they lost. It was one defeat
in the ongoing war for freedom of speech, the lifeblood of our unique
nation.
We can pray this life blood will look a little more precious
to the Supreme Court when and if they hear another recent case, an
appeal of a ruling by the liberal 9 th Circuit Court of Appeals.
In this case, the Circuit Court also ruled against free
speech, upholding the action of Oakland, CA to forbid two Christian
women from circulating a flyer supporting the “natural family.” The
women’s government workplace was simultaneously allowing gay
activists to use workplace facilities to advocate homosexuality!
The incident occurred in 2002 when two black Christian women who
worked for the Oakland government sought permission to circulate
an email which described the “natural family” as the
foundation of society. Other workers had used workplace facilities
to promote the gay pride parade, but the women were forbidden from
circulating the email, and their printed flyers were removed from
the municipal bulletin board as "homophobic," "disruptive," and
intended to "create a hostile environment.”
The 9 th Circuit Court’s decision to uphold this blatant discrimination
against pro-family speech is a devastating judgment. In 1897, an
American publisher named DeRobigne Bennett spent 11 months in jail
for his anti-marriage pamphlet which was ruled to be “obscene.” Today,
you are more likely to land in jail for supporting traditional
marriage! Calling a traditional nuclear family “natural” can
now be called “hate speech.”
Defenders of a federal hate crimes law—which Congress is
currently trying to pass—say it won’t be used to punish
religious or political speech. But do we need any further proof than
Oakland ? The US government doesn’t even have a federal hate
law yet and legislative radicals are already punishing the expression
of traditional morality. Yes it can happen here.
Breaking Even?
But liberty lovers won some battles too. The House has overwhelmingly
voted to ban
revival of the Fairness Doctrine which would have shattered
talk radio by requiring “equal viewpoint expression.”
Senators Dianne Feinstein and John Kerry had both recently expressed
hope of resuscitating this bad legislation and forcing right-leaning
radio hosts to air their opponents’ viewpoints. The House squashed
their dictatorial plan by a vote of 309-115.
That’s good news for free speech, but it will mean a lot more
if talk radio audiences demand broadcasts that actually use that
freedom to speak truth. At present, mainstream AM radio (like FOX
and other non-liberal venues) is largely pro-Israel. This isn’t
accidental and it isn’t the result of critical thinking; it
results from focused efforts by Zionist opinion-makers.
The Jewish Week recently reported on the careful efforts
of American Zionists to keep talk radio pro-Israel. The
article
notes that the top five hosts on talk radio are all right-wing Israel-firsters:
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Dr. Laura Schlesinger
and Laura Ingraham. Two of the five are themselves Jewish.
“If some are perplexed about the Zionist-tilt on talk radio
in defiance of what is found elsewhere in the media, perhaps some
credit belongs to the persistence of Harrison, Hoenlein and the ongoing
educational efforts of their America’s Voices for Israel,” reports Jewish
Week.
Who are these men we should thank for the Zionist bias on talk radio?
The article explains that heavy influence comes from Michael Harrison,
who publishes the leading industry magazine for talk radio (Talkers)
and America’s Voices for Israel (AVI). AVI is led by Malcolm
Hoenlein, executive vice chair of the one of the most powerful leadership
bodies of organized Jewry, the Conference of Presidents of Major
American Jewish Organizations. The groups led by the two men “have
been shepherding more than 50 talk show hosts to Israel” for
the past five years, teaching them to see the Mideast through Zionist
eyes.
Is there any hope that mainstream talk radio can change? That depends
on you! Listeners must demand truth on the subjects of Israel and
Jewish anti-Christian activism. Jewish activists like Feinstein,
thank God, have been prevented for now from determining what can
be said on talk radio. But Jewish big money will do it, unless audiences
stop listening and thus deprive biased broadcasters of advertising
revenue. Instead, they should listen via internet and short wave
to alternative talk radio, especially Genesis and Republic Broadcasting
Networks.
We’ve Still Got the Web!
The internet still remains the most heartening source of free thought.
In the last year a string of shockingly mainstream voices and articles
exposed the power of the Israel lobby and criticized fascist policies
in Israel. Think Jimmy Carter, the Economist, Walt and Mearsheimer,
and more. This may largely be thanks to the internet, where salty
truthtelling provides unprecedented competition to TV and print media.
Not only did the internet become a forum for unspoken truths, but
its explosive and free-wheeling discourse probably encouraged public
opinion-makers about the limits they could push even in traditional
media.
In fact, criticism of Israel on the internet is so powerful that
Jewish activists are seeking to curtail even its small and surprising
places. The World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS) launched a campaign
last August to try to control the content of “talkback” forums!
The Jerusalem
Post
reported that WUJS sees these forums, where readers comment on news
articles or commentary, as a “neglected battlefield” which “really
[does] have the ability to change opinions.” WUSJ activist
Sarit Felder said some 25,000 people were involved in the first month
of the project, which uses Israeli-made technology to spot and forward “problematic” articles
so Jewish activists can add good spin to the talkback forum.
But this campaign was launched almost a year ago and from my regular
and thorough sessions online, I can report that talkbacks do not seem
more Israel-appeasing! Instead they reflect so many readers’ outrage
at Zionist foreign policy and Israeli injustice.
In this month of our nation’s independence, we should thank
God for the continued liberty of talk radio and the internet! There
is every reason to take heart. Who foresaw the revolution of the
web, this amazing, global frontier of free speech?
We don’t know what else God might provide if we encourage
His mercy with our own concerned action and prayer. In our nation,
the scene may be dark but the end of the play hasn’t yet been
read.
Harmony
Grant writes and edits for the National Prayer Network, a Christian/conservative
watch dog organization.
Let the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith teach you how they
have saddled 45 states with hate laws capable of persecuting Christians: http://www.adl.org/99hatecrime/intro.asp.
Learn how ADL took away free speech in Canada and wants to steal
it now in the U.S. Congress. Watch Rev. Ted Pike's Hate
Laws: Making Criminals of Christians at video.google.com. Purchase
this gripping documentary to show at church. Order online at www.truthtellers.org for
$24.90, DVD or VHS, by calling 503-853-3688, or at the address below.
National Prayer Network, P.O. Box 828, Clackamas,
OR 97015
