Say Anything Blog

From Fox News:

High school students performing a play they saw as a pro-democracy tale were disqualified from a theater competition for a flag-cutting scene that judges say broke Florida laws.

The troupe was performing a 1963 James Clavell (search) play called "The Children's Story." In it, a class of U.S. third graders cut up the flag after the country is defeated by a powerful enemy. Illustrating how easily minds can be molded, their new teacher tells them that if the flag is so good, everyone should get a piece.

Judges at the Florida State Thespians District 13 (search) one-act play competition said cutting up the flag was illegal, and disqualified the group from the competition earlier this week.

First, the judges obviously didn't get the point of this play. The play in question is very pro-democracy and pro-America. Yes, a U.S. flag gets cut up during the course of the play, but you'd think the judges could look beyond that to see the larger message the play has to offer.

Second, cutting up the flag shouldn't be illegal anyway. I don't enjoy seeing people destroy the flag my father fought for, but when I see it being done I remember that their right to do so was one of the reasons why my father was fighting in the first place.

The funny thing is, the people destroying the flag are exercising one of the very freedoms the flag stands for, but I digress.

Free speech means free speech. In order for us to have truly free speech we must allow speech which we totally do not agree with. What kind of a democracy would this be if the only speech allowed was the speech only one side agreed with? Justice Anthony Kennedy said it best: "The First Amendment is often inconvenient. But that is besides the point. Inconvenience does not absolve the government of its obligation to tolerate speech."

Indeed.