Practicalmadness

I generally try to refrain from commenting on the comments posted to the site, but I'm sorry, I feel I must step in and address this one, which was left on my original reaction to the Oscar nominations:

I loved the Oscars except for the unintelligent way Sean Penn spoke. I am a US citizen and I respect my government and if I don't like what is being done, I voice my opinion in places I should. The night of the academies is not the place and it creates a bad taste for you to let that occur. Sean also feels free to send messages to Iraq running down our government. I have no respect for him, he should live in Iraq and see what their goverment is like. It is very sad for you to allow this on the Oscars night. I disliked everything Clinton stood for, but I would never show disrespect like this, as he our President and there used to be respect in this country. Some of the hollywood clan used to be people to look up to, now they are an embarrassment and are tearing down our establishment and teaching children to show disrespect. We have freedom of speech and that is privilege and I really don't care what they think politically, but some are carrying this too far. God Bless A!
Merica!!!

For one thing, you really ought to have left this comment on this post, which comments on the Oscar winners and show, as opposed to the nominations. But you know, whatever.

My real problem is this idea that people should be respectful to the President on awards shows, and especially the notion that Sean Penn was in any way unintelligent. I thought that given the man's history of political action (e.g., going to Iraq before the war), to make a snide remark about what may turn out to be the single biggest lie ever peddled by an American president was remarkably subdued and respectful.

That is to say, of course it wasn't respectful, but it wasn't an unshaven Minnesotan screaming about a fictitious war less than a week after American troops went into combat. And respectful or not, these things need to be said. Listen to me very carefully: there were no WMDs. We were sold a bill of goods that included images of Iraqi nukes showering down on Anytown USA, only to find that those nukes do not, did not and could not exist. The UN inspections and embargos worked.

If the government could prove that there were WMDs in a country that we've controlled for almost a year, don't you think they would have? When hunting down a lie, you should always look for inconsistency, and the Administration and Republican Party seem to have a new explanation or scapegoat for the WMD thing every week.

Look, the moment we start to second-guess our right to freedom of speech is the moment we lose it. It is not polite or in keeping with the spirit of excess and jubilation that surrounds the Academy Awards to use them as a political platform. However, if the man has something to say, let him say it. Then we can think ill of him, or cheer him on, or whatever, but if we refuse to let Sean Penn (or Michael Moore, or whoever) speak or prevent him from speaking then the discussion has ended before it's started. No civilization can survive if it lacks the freedom to question itself.

I leave you from this quote from Walter Lippmann:

There can be no liberty for a community which lacks the means by which to detect lies.