The freedom to speak. What a great gift it is to be able to say what you think wherever you are. Sometimes, I don't understand Americans. They say that they fight for the freedom of speech, but then again, they muzzle other people.

The baseball hall of fame has cancelled a showing of the movie "Bull Durham" because they were afraid that Susan Sarandon and her husband Tim Robbins would make a political statement. What is so bad about that? They actually use their brains and express intelligent opinion. In a world where everyone just believes what the media says, it is a pleasure to actually hear opinions. That's actually one sign that you live in a democracy. You can speak your mind and you don't have to get worried about being shot or disappearing.

I saw Michael Moore when he spoke after winning his Oscar. He criticized the war in Iraq. He got booed by the audience. I suppose people equate criticism of the war in Iraq with not supporting the troops. I suppose that stems from Vietnam. But to get back to the point, this is the stuff that democracy is supposed to do. You can speak your own mind. But hey, in return, if people don't like what you say, they can boo you off the stage.

I just go back to the first time I saw blacks demonstrating against segregation in the South. If you look at the old tapes, you will see them march and get beaten. Blacks would march in Freedom busses and get off the bus stations and they would be greeted by a mass of whites with hate-filled faces. The blacks would demonstrate and march in the middle of the road and the police would use fire hoses to stop them from demonstrating. Not only water was used, but German sheperds were also used to attack and intimidate the demonstrators. Oh, and of course, the usual array of batons and sticks were also used to beat people into submission.

Pretty much, anything was doable to the people demonstrating against segregation. The techniques of intimidation and force are much subtler nowadays. But the idea behind it is still the same. Ignorance.