Freedom of Speech?

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." - Thomas Jefferson. The ability to limit public information has always been at the forefront of freedom of speech lawsuits, and has been hard fought to ensure the liberty of the people. These rights are still challenged everyday through The Patriot Act, US vs. ALA and administration memos (Tedford). These are core fights, but there are clandestine limits on information that few ever notice. The use of the public relation firm Hill & Knowlton to create a propaganda video of the toppling of a Saddam Statue in Iraq for the American people to view (Saddam), which is in violation of the Gillet Amendment, but no one enforces it. These types of pro- war videos is exactly what limits us from knowing the truth. The mainstream media gobbles it up so they can make money off our amazement. The American Bias is created by a manipulating government and corporate news, which caters to narcissistic American culture, not the true distribution of unbiased world news.

I recently over Thanksgiving break traveled around Asia. This wasn't my first trip and is one I always look forward to because of the diversity not only in cultures but in world news coverage. The internet can only take me so far, its amazing to watch BBC World, CNN International, Al Jazeera, and local news. The frame in which news is presented is so raw and straightforward. I learned more in a few minutes about the world

then I would watching days of American mainstream news. CNN in the states is the only thing that comes close, but they cater to an American audience so a majority of the stories will be strictly about America. The only international coverage we get is about our troops in a foreign land. The rest of the world's perspective is rarely engaged. This news isolation contributes to our American bias. Watching the Evening World News its mainly about America. We have become engrossed in our power over the world. This superiority has made us seem arrogant, when in fact its really our ignorance. Some American people are smart and have seen the light that is alternative media. The internet has taken over and the information about the world is out there, if you look for it. It is easy to fall into the mainstream media, because it is so widely available and almost thrown in your face, but they give a very limited view of a very large world. The tools are there, but there is still one more obstacle the government.

The government is set up to protect people's rights not to limit or deceive them. Just recently did President Obama allow the video taping of deceased soldiers coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan. The realities of the world seem to be sugar coated for us. Many Americans were surprised at the attacks of 9/11, because they were not privy to our governments actions overseas and the reaction it caused around the world. America is a bastion of freedom, but our media is more selective then most state media. State media that we have vilified and even attacked. We attacked Al Jazeera many times in the Middle East because we don't believe in what they are reporting (Lecture). As this is going on the only news we hear about Al Jazeera is about their reports of postings from Osama bin Laden, which automatically make us assume they are sympathetic to his cause.

Not till I traveled and watched their reporting did I realize how much I had been brain washed to hate them. It was not our type of freedom because it challenged our ideals, which seems many Americans cannot have an open debate about without getting offended. The government does not trust parts of the world and limits their influence, but it's a slippery slope as they now start to limit our rights as citizens.. The Bush administration's AG sent out a memo reversing Attorney General Reno's memo stating the stance of the government about erring on the side giving out information when it come to Freedom of Information Act requests. This makes it that much harder to find out what our government is doing and is another blow to the First Amendment. The government through bullying of news agencies like New York Times, as highlighted on the countdown with Keith Olbermann(Crooks), further chills any reporting that contradicts the government. Fox News and other mainstream media have skewed and spun our news into their visions of what is news. The governments constant attempts to sugar coat war, as in the statue of Saddam toppling, and manipulating the press is misleading the public to live in a country of ignorance to the world, which does not protect them, but exposes them to heavy scrutiny in a real world politic.

The people can change things and demand more breadth and depth of coverage, but it is hard when you are sucked up in the ego massaging maelstrom that is mainstream media. The road blocks are firmly in front of you. The government wants compliancy while the media wants money these two forces work in harmony to present the hegemonies of American society. Keep you happy and consuming driving the economy and the world. We are more then just machines of consumption, and the networks know it, so they have 24 hour news networks to keep us constantly engaged. These too

massage the egos and ideologies, but polarize party lines instead of reporting on the world news. These networks in their attempts to undermine other parties come up with interesting stories from time to time, but again they are narcissistic pieces, that they know Americans will gobble up. Does the media share the blame for creating this celebrity gossip obsessed society or are they just giving the people what they want. These types of chicken or the egg questions are very destructive cycles as you can always scapegoat the other or mortify the self, not really moving the discussion forward. Either way we can disengage ourselves from the cycle entirely and start from a fresh empirical view of the world and its events.Now with the current economic crisis state governments in the red and unemployment spiking why should Americans even care about the world there are enough problem here. This is true we have issues of our own, but we are so interrelated into the rest of the world, that to underplay its existence is detrimental to our security and liberty. America has a way of isolating it self through out history and not until the world effects us do we respond to it. We must embrace the world as our own, so we are not ignorant it see it change. The first step is living up to our values of freedom of speech & press, to do the hard stories that are not about ratings, but because the story needs to be told. Once the population is immersed with the outside world they will be less likely to support attacking it. The mainstream media will continue their bias because it grabs ratings and dollars, but individuals through the internet can overcome those barriers, as we can not always visit these places we must try to understand them. The idea of a global citizen is very important and with the rise of independent voices of freedom I believe we can all be better humans in this community we call earth.