Speak up at your own risk
By The Associated Press,
freedomforum.org staff
09.26.01
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| University of Michigan student Ryan Ahlberg, right, of Minneapolis, walks ahead of anti-war protest on Sept. 20 at university's central campus in Ann Arbor. Anti-war protest drew about 100 people, plus Ahlberg and a few people in support of war against terrorism. Both protests, responses to Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, were peaceful.
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WASHINGTON — Uneasy with America's flag-waving fervor? Button up or risk being ostracized.
Expressions of patriotism are so fervent since the terrorist attacks that citizens who exercise their First Amendment rights and do or say anything against the tide risk suffering a public backlash.
After getting an earful from angry residents, school superintendent Louis Ripatrazone in Roxbury, N.J., rescinded his order to remove "God Bless America" from school signs. He thought a religious reference might be offensive at school.
University of Texas professor Robert Jensen received unfriendly e-mails and calls after writing a column in the Sept. 14 Houston Chronicle suggesting that the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon were "no more despicable than the massive acts of terrorism" committed by the United States.
Larry Faulkner, president of the university, dismissed suggestions that the tenured journalism professor be fired, but joined the criticism. Last week Faulkner published a letter in the Chronicle distancing the university from Jensen's views and personally denouncing the professor as "a fountain of undiluted foolishness on issues of public policy."
In New Mexico, a university president is considering what type of discipline to mete out to a tenured history professor who told students last week that "anyone who can blow up the Pentagon has my vote."
Peace activists in Buffalo, N.Y., say they were labeled "un-American" and "crazy communists" by hecklers.
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, some Americans have been pondering what it means to be patriotic.
Is it unpatriotic to sell stocks? Is it wrong to flip the channel when "God Bless America," not "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," is sung in the seventh-inning stretch? Is it un-American to criticize President Bush?
When it comes to being patriotic, "a lot of people are willing to talk the talk," says sociology professor Charles Moskos of Northwestern University. "But if you really want to walk the walk, then donate blood or enlist in the military."
On the other hand, Moskos says it's not unpatriotic to openly disagree with the president, refrain from flying the flag or sell stocks in a down market. "If I sold the stocks and sent the money out of the country, that would be unpatriotic," he adds.
And switching TV channels? "What's patriotic about watching flag-waving while 'God Bless America' is being sung?" Moskos asks. "A lot of this is make-believe patriotism — patriotism on the cheap."
To some people, patriotism is unquestioning loyalty of the my-country-right-or-wrong variety, says John Bodnar, chairman of Indiana University's history department. To others, patriotism celebrates the rights guaranteed by American democracy, including the right to dissent.
"People have carried the flag for many reasons," Bodnar said.
Since the attacks, some Americans, in the eyes of others, are failing the patriotism test. For example, a newspaper quoted Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., as saying he didn't believe Air Force One was targeted by terrorists, the reason the White House gave for delaying President Bush's return to Washington the day of the attacks. Meehan said his views were misrepresented, and that he believed Bush has done "an excellent job."
Meehan posted a police guard outside his congressional district office in Lowell, Mass., after receiving threatening phone calls.
Meanwhile in the New Mexico controversy, Bill Gordon, president of the University of New Mexico, said he would pursue disciplinary action against Richard Berthold for a remark he made in class last week.
Berthold, who has taught history at the university for 29 years, said that "anyone who can blow up the Pentagon has my vote."
Gordon said, however, administrators had made no decisions about the nature of the disciplinary actions they would pursue against Berthold.
Some, including UNM Regent Richard Tolivar and three state lawmakers, have called for Berthold's resignation.
"I believe the strongest actions possible should be taken to remove this influence from our classroom," Toliver said yesterday.
Berthold, who has apologized for the remark, said he enjoys teaching and has no intention of stepping down.
"I'm not going to resign, and the university will act as they will act," he said. The comment, he said, was "the worst attempt at an incredibly stupid joke, but I did not mean for it to be taken seriously."
"I don't advocate blowing up buildings and killing innocent people," he added.
In addition to the calls for Berthold's resignation, an Albuquerque man filed a lawsuit seeking the professor's firing. John Trainor's lawsuit claims Berthold was advocating violence and treason.
Rep. William Fuller, R-Albuquerque, is among those calling for Berthold's resignation. He said the First Amendment offers Berthold no protection because he is paid by the state and teaches at a public university.
"He can get on a soapbox in the middle of Central (Avenue), that's OK," Fuller said. "But when you do it in a classroom setting at a state-supported institution, that's crossing the line."
Peter Simonson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, said the First Amendment clearly protects Berthold's right to comment about any event, however tragic.
"We can't allow our fears surrounding the terrorist attacks to undermine our freedoms that this attack was intended to destroy in the first place," Simonson said.
The First Amendment doesn't protect speech that encourages people to commit acts of violence or terrorism, Simonson said. But the professor's comment was clearly an off-the-cuff remark and not a call for violence, he said.
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