While America moved towards war with Iraq we all heard celebrities voicing their opinions regarding the war and our President. When their political views started to effect their careers we heard from them about their free speech rights. They claimed that they have a right to voice their opinions regarding the government. They're right. They also said those rights were being trampled. There they're wrong. Artisits like Serj Tankian of System of a Down and Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks spoke out against George Bush and the war and often heard boos from their fans and took hits in records sales. My question is, when were their free speech rights violated? It sure sounded like they were being allowed to say whatever they wished. I didn't see any police officers or government agents stopping them. Perhaps they were just upset about the reaction they received from their fans, but aren't their fans just exercising their freedom of speech as well?

I think that these artists don't realize that when they air their political beliefs they do so to an audience, unlike most of us. So, of course, they're going to garner a reaction which can sometimes be harsh.

In the days leading up to the war in Iraq I heard artist after artist complain about not being able to express themselves. Just listen to Eddie Vedder in this interview in Rolling Stone.

Its to easy for these artists, and all of us generally, to get caught up in negativity. Its easier for us to believe something that is bad about a person then it is to trust that they are not bad. The media preys on this basic tendency in ourselves and uses it to sell newspapers and influence the direction our country is heading.

Our freedom to discuss and debate our laws and government policies is one of the greatest liberties we have. A problem arises, however, when people begin to get hysterical or start to protest just for the sake of protesting.

The human shields who wanted to place themselves between coalition forces and Iraqi forces in order to prevent the war are a good example of what I'm talking about. Even after most of them fled the area when the Iraqis themselves threatened their lives or tried to make them protect military bases and oil wells instead of schools or hospitals they still continue to decry the cause. On the webpage I linked to earlier in this paragraph you will see the following image:

It appear as though this organization is accusing the U.S. Government of being both Nazi's and hypocrites as well as terrorists. How can they call our government hypocrites after they were asked by the Iraqis to protect oil wells instead of children? Its like they are so set against protesting the war that they won't even stop to realize who it is they're trying to protect. The comparison to the Nazi's and to terrorists are completely unwarranted. Countless Americans died protecting the world from the Nazi's and more Americans are dying today to protect us from terrorists.

It happens like that a lot. Look at the abortion protestors. They say they're pro-life, yet the more extreme groups actually kill doctors and blow up clinics. They're doing that to save lives? It makes no sense.

These people are listened to, however, and not a day goes by that I don't hear somebody who I would not normally consider a radical echoing some of these extremist's views. The problem is that most of us are to busy with our day-to-day lives to really spend a lot of time researching the issues of the day so we tend to gulp down the headlines and soundbites we here on TV, accepting them as the truth. After a while, when all we here about our leaders and our government is negativity, we begin to believe it because we're not hearing anything positive. Its an easy thing to do. Its easy to be negative. Just like its easy for the protestors and the media to be negative. It takes guts to stand up and be positive and optimistic.

We all need to stand up for our beliefs. We all need to stand up and be positive about our government. Critical at times, yes, but not in the destructive way favored by many protestors.