Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/693732
SomeoneneedstotellFacebook,Twitter, Microso , YouTube and the European Union that the only way to stop a bad guy's speech is to counter it with a good guy's speech, not censor it. Recently,theinternet gi- ants took on the role of inter- net speech police when they agreed to monitor and com- bat so called "hate speech" for the EU. No word on how they define hate speech. I suspect the whole EU hate speech argument is less about preventing terrorist at- tacks, as they propose, and more about culling criticism of their immigration and ref- ugee policies. Oh, the hypocrisy of those who brag about their "open- mindedness" in one breath and cry about censorship in the next. The only acceptable speech is that which is pleas- ing to their ears or palatable to their particular ideology, while supporting the prose- cution of people for their per- sonal opinions or religious beliefs, especially if those opinions and beliefs do not fall in line with theirs. It sure sounds an awful lot like totalitarianism to me. It takes you back to a quote from George Orwell's novel, "Nineteen Eighty-Four." "There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Po- lice plugged in on any indi- vidual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But any rate, they could plug in your wire when- ever they wanted to. You had to live — did live, from habit that became instinct — in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized." Here in the U.S., the First Amendment covers all speech. Yes, folks, even hate speech. Speakers shouldn't be banned from universities un- less a university's intention is to ban free thought. The same goes for talking about climate change, Californians. And what the Bible says about marriage, liberals. It's pretty telling that you rarely find conservatives, known for their deep respect for free speech, charging liber- als with "Constitutionphobia" or "Christianphobia" or "baby- phobia" or whatever phobia might be applied to those with whom they disagree. The way I see it, the dan- gers of censorship far out- weigh the dangers of hate speech. Even still, we march closer to it every time we bend a knee to political correct- ness. You don't have to live in a totalitarian state to be con- trolled by totalitarianism. We're not there yet, but we're sure headed in that direction. If we believe in the right to free speech, we also must be- lieve in the right to offend. That means that building a wall isn't xenophobia. Believ- ing in traditional marriage is not homophobia. And fun- damentally disagreeing with President Obama's policies is by no means racism. By the way, the Bible is pro- free speech too. But, it's also about accountability. Jesus said in Matthew 12:36 that "ev- ery careless word" we speak we will "give an accounting for it in the day of judgment." So maybe we should oc- cupy our time considering our own words rather than censoring others'. SusanStamperBrownlives in Alaska and writes about culture, politics and current events. She was selected as one of America's 50 Best Conservative writers for 2015. Contact her by Facebook or at writestamper@gmail.com. SusanStamperBrown Censorship is more dangerous than a bad guy's hate speech Cartoonist's take As we are often reminded these days, the Second Amend- ment of the United States Con- stitution reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." This is, of course, the motto of the National Rifle Associa- tion. However, we have expe- rienced another mass killing, this time in Florida, where one nut case, employing an as- sault rifle, managed to kill 49 people and wound as many more. Is it reasonable to as- sume that a moral society would at some point say to the NRA, "Please reconsider your advocacy of an amendment formed at a time when there were no assault rifles, and al- though 'people kill people' is your creed, that you will urge Congress to ban the manufac- ture of assault rifles as they appear to be used to slaugh- ter people rather than provide game for your tables." ••• If one has pets, it is only natural to wonder what they are thinking and how they perceive life. In so doing we imbue in them certain hu- man traits and characteris- tics. Hence, we talk to them in lengthy sentences which they cannot possibly comprehend and we even manufacture what we see as their response in order to convey to others. I am not referring, at this moment, to the discussions I have had with our pets that is, our bullmastiffs in sequence, Murray, Murray Clyde and now, in current position of au- thority, All That Jazz. No, I am reacting to an article in The New Yorker in which au- thor Joshua Rothman asks and speculates, "What is it like to be an animal?" What caught my attention was that Rothman chose as his subject a goat. We have affinity with goats. When we first moved to the ranch in Antelope circa 1958, we had goats and thrived on goat milk. We found goats to be taciturn, inquisitive and smarter than their cousins, the sheep. My father, ostensi- bly immune to emotional rela- tionships with animals, ran a slaughter house in which many an animal made one way trips up the ramp. However he was inexplicably taken by a very small kid goat who followed him up and then back down the ramp, until he looked at me and said, "Maybe he was some child's pet. You may want to take him to the ranch." I did, we named him David, and he was a fixture there for many a year. More about goats later when space allows. ••• Clever cartoon by Wiley Ink: On a mountain side sits a lonely wise man in front of his little cave. His sign reads, "En- lightenment." On another side of the mountain, sits a smiling fellow at a desk with stacks of money at hand and a canopy overhead with lights. His sign reads "Entitlement." ••• The Daily News reports that Red Bluff's newest sworn po- lice officer, Colin Dahlberg, is a record breaker in that he scored 679 out of a possible 700 in a physical agility test thereby breaking a 137-year academy record. This is quite an accomplishment, and when photographed with fellow of- ficers, he will be the one with no belly hanging over his belt. His story reminds me of my own experience with record breaking — unlikely as that may sound. Many years ago I was drafted into the army, wound up at Ft. Benning , Geor- gia and in Officer Candidate School in which candidates were required to take such tests. It was called a "physical fitness test" as opposed to an "agility test" as in the case of C. Dahlberg. It consisted of 5 events each worth 100 points: pull ups, sit ups, squat jumps, pushups and a 200-yard dash. Never much of an athlete, I nevertheless trained assidu- ously for the events, and after scoring the maximum points in each of the first 3 events, the word got up to headquar- ters that record breaking might be in the making. The Commanding Officer of the area was notified and he hus- tled over to the site along with a staff photographer. By then I had just cooled the push- ups event and my score sat at 400 points out of a possible 500. Everyone was impressed. The cameraman set up his tri- pod as I prepared for the 200 dash. Unfortunately, I was not a fast runner, plus, to increase the degree of difficulty, we had to run in combat boots across a field filled with sand. When my score was announced as 30, making my total 430, the Commanding Officer quickly departed without further ac- knowledgement, and the cam- eraman had folded his tripod. Fame had eluded me and the prospect of conducting physical fitness classes state- side was substituted for the prospect of shipment to Ko- rea where my test results would not be appreciated. That event, over 65 years ago, is now just a dusty memory suitable for relating to my grandsons or to a real record breaker like Colin Dahlberg. ••• I found, in my highway 99E mailbox, a 2-sided tract, in- serted not by the mail man but by a zealot promoting sal- vation for those who pay at- tention to such matters. It was headed, An Invitation to Heaven on one side and ad- vised that "if God is speaking to you, one needs to believe, ask for forgiveness, read the bible and find a church that 'still preaches and teaches from the Bible.'" The other side of the tract emphasized the Ten Commandments and listed 10 such current ones. The tract does not mention the fact that they have all been altered over the centu- ries to reflect changing times. ••• A football fan had a seat at the stadium with a really bad view. He then spotted a very good empty seat some dis- tance away. He walked over and asked a man next to it, "Is this seat taken?" The man responded sol- emnly, "This was my wife's seat, but she passed away." "I'm sorry to hear of your loss, but why didn't you give the ticket to a friend or relative?" "Because they're all at the funeral." Robert Minch is a lifelong resident of Red Bluff, former columnist for the Corning Daily Observer and Meat Industry magazine and author of the "The Knocking Pen." He can be reached at rminchandmurray@ hotmail.com. I say Second Amendment is subject to historical context Sounding off Alookatwhatreadersaresayingincommentsonourwebsiteandonsocialmedia. OhI'msogladthisisfinallyoverandher family finally got justice for their little girl's murder. All the evidence was there. Laura Stevens: On the guilty verdict in the Quentin Bealer murder trial Such a sweet lady. And such a nice way to remember her. Cheryl McMillan: On construction starting at Sher Wintle Memorial Dog Park Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. When several letters address the same issue, a cross section will be published. Email: editor@ redbluffdailynews.com Fax: 530-527-9251 Mail to: P.O. Box 220, 728Main St., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ Senator Jim Nielsen, 2634 Forest Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator. nielsen@senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558-3160, governor@governor. ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S. Senator Dianne Fein- stein, One Post St., Ste. 2450, San Francisco 94104, 415 393- 0707, fax 415 393-0710 U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer, 1700 Montgomery St., San Fran- cisco 94111, 510 286-8537, fax 202 224-0454 Local Tehama County Supervisors, 527-4655 District 1, Steve Chamblin, Ext. 3015 District 2, Candy Carlson, Ext. 3014 District 3, Dennis Garton, Ext. 3017 District 4, Bob Williams, Ext. 3018 District 5, Burt Bundy, Ext. 3016 Red Bluff City Manager, Rich- ard Crabtree, 527-2605, Ext. 3061 Corning City Manager, Kris- tina Miller, 824-7033 Your officials By Susan Stamper Brown The way I see it, the dangers of censorship far outweigh the dangers of hate speech. Even still, we march closer to it every time we bend a knee to political correctness. You don't have to live in a totalitarian state to be controlled by totalitarianism. We're not there yet, but we're sure headed in that direction. Robert Minch OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, June 17, 2016 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6