Thoughtcrime
It is unacceptable to think that there is any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists who kill innocent women and children [...] to achieve an objective. --President George W. Bush (emphasis added)In the video below, Keith Olbermann asks the question "Is it EVER unacceptable to think in this country?"
No. What is unacceptable is that anyone in our government -- particularly the single most powerful individual, by a rapidly widening margin -- would presume to dictate what is and is not acceptable to think. That is a duty reserved for fictional villains, the likes of Big Brother and the Though Police from George Orwell's 1984. The unrestricted right to think is not only the single most fundamental right of a democratic society, it is a basic human right. As Olbermann points out, it is not only the right, but the duty of every member of such a society to do so. As Olbermann says,
When a President says thinking is unacceptable, even on one topic, even in the heat of the moment, even in the turning of a phrase extracted from its context, he takes us toward a new and fearful path -- one heretofore the realm of science fiction authors and apocalyptic visionaries.
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2 comments:
Puh-lease.
Bush said "it’s unacceptable to think that there’s any kind of comparison between the behavior of the United States of America and the action of Islamic extremists." He's obviously not implying that it is unacceptable for people to think. The quote was taken completely out of context.
A straw man is a logical fallacy based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position. Example: "Apologize, sir, for even hinting at an America where a few have that privilege to think and the rest of us get yelled at by the President". I feel sorry for anybody over the age of 12 who's buying that argument.
Nobody is saying that he's saying that people are not allowed to think at all, the only way to prevent that would be to murder them all. What he's trying to do it limit the thoughts that we are allowed to have, which is exactly what was being done in 1984 (the book, not the year).
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