Will Hazlitt, Press Officer
North American ANimal Liberation Press Office
If we are not careful soon will be gone the days when absolute and
true free speech rules. In every way restrictions are being placed on
speech. Only political speech and language seems to be exempt from
these limitations. The political language of the elites seems to
entitle the speaker to engage in all manner of prevarication and
obfuscation. Imagine the Occupy Protestors being jailed for simply
protesting the crimes of the elite while the anointed continue spewing
their lies and practicing their vile form of enterprise. George Orwell
presciently noted that; “Political language is designed to make lies
sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of
solidarity to pure wind.” This brings us to the subject of this brief essay.
An animal liberation / animal rights activist of some note has recently been persecuted to the point where their vital message is in grave danger of being silenced. Such is the nature of the times when what was previously protected speech is being severely limited. This despite the fact that the United States Supreme Court has repeatedly come down on the side of all manner of speech being protected. Yes, even speech considered offensive. It is often difficult to be an absolutist in anything but in the matter of speech one must be an
absolutist.
There is a moral imperative to activism which can brook no criticism or obstruction. Whether it be Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Daniel Ellsberg or the activist which is the subject of this essay, all are outsiders, outcasts and rebels. As with the aforementioned the activist in question rose out of personal trials and tribulations to
question the dominant paradigm. And in this questioning responded as all rebels respond. With a fierce determination to right wrongs and change the world for the better. And for this the activist is persecuted. It has often been stated that they are mad, as in mentally unbalanced, but no person is pure. All humans are a mixture of
altruism and hubris, courage and cowardice, love and anger. However, there are individuals who summon, for reasons of conscience, the inner strength to challenge grave injustice at great personal risk. For this they are to be lauded not hounded.
As of late is often the case that the law seems to mean whatever some judicially appointed overseer decides it happens to mean. This is a dangerous state of affairs. While some people get exercised over their second amendment rights the first amendment is not often so heartily defended. Should this situation continue people will retain their second amendment rights but have nothing left to defend. It is called the Bill of Rights and not the bill of suggestions for a reason.
It must never be permitted that those with courage and conviction are treated as anything but the most noble example of the human race. To do otherwise puts us all in peril. We can never allow vital voices to be silenced. Courage and conviction must not only be celebrated but actively encouraged within the activist community. In the words of the great Elie Wiesel; ?There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.?