"Don't Shoot the Messenger.
Because she can take it."
-Rev. Lainie Dowell
It happened like this --
I signed onto Free Republic (FR) in good faith and posted an excerpt from my first article on July 2, 2008. It is entitled, "Wake Up The White Folk." The FR-automated response said it was being sent for review. Later, I searched for it there but couldn't find it. I finally logged into my FR account without any problem. Then I found their message there that my account had been revoked.
No reason was given. No questions asked. No efforts made by FR to contact me, about any problems with my article. No available FR contact link.
My article at FR was about Americans, Obama, and the upcoming election. Moreover, another group had previously posted my articles at FR apparently without any problems, because they were well read by FR visitors.
Its hard to know what FR guidelines are, because I have come across many, many offensive posts that were allowed to remain on their site. I do not consider my article to have been in that category.
Since FR collects donations online and offline, from posters, as a private organization, it seems they should be held accountable for their business practices and ethics; namely to include access to a contact, an explanation about why they have taken certain actions against members, and making available to them some means of redress.
I can take it. And, apparently, the people who are running Free Republic must believe they are immune from citizens' responses to call them to be accountable for their responsibilities. And now that I am aware of the situation, I am involved, too, in calling for action against Free Republic.
However, that vile experience lets me know just how vulnerable all American citizens are, because it takes just one pull of whatever switch by any abusive person of any authority and oversight and Americans who are gathered around any issue either from over long distances or near to one another, would once again become an individual, isolated voice. And as an individual, they would be surrounded by big (or small) abusive people who have total control over every method of how people are able to exercise responsible (and even abusive) free speech.
Americans have too often taken this right for granted, because it is so liberally distributed to all by the United States Constitution. That is, until others arbitrarily determine for themselves they can take it away and the legal avenues of redress support them instead of those who have been deprived by them of those rights, with impunity.
I certainly hope and pray that I won't ever have that as a true charge against me.
Something to think about on the Fourth of July, 2008.
God bless you.
God bless America.
No comments:
Post a Comment