Censorship on the Local Level

Censorship happens at every level--federal, state, local. It is carried out by government agencies, corporations, political officials, and the media. Sometimes it's subtle, sometimes blatant.

My most recent experience was with the Grunion Gazette, a weekly community newspaper that claims it "encourages letters to the editor, and will try to print all letters received." Except those that take issue with the opinions of the editor, that is.

In the June 16 edition, the editor proposed that surveillance cameras be installed in public places and on residential streets throughout the city in order to cut down on rowdy behavior outside bars. Boy, did I take issue with that suggestion, sending the following email to the paper the same day the paper was published:

Dear Editor:

It was with horror that I read the June 16 editorial "High-Tech Solution May Help Bar Issue" in which the writer advocated the installation of surveillance cameras in public places and on residential streets. It is a continual source of amazement to me how easily Americans give up their constitutional rights.

The writer even "supported" his case with the argument "If you aren't doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about." The airline passengers who are groped and porno-scanned aren't doing anything wrong either, and yet their Fourth Amendment right to be free of warrantless searches without probable cause is violated countless times each day. And the so-called Patriot Act allows for the collection and storage of some 1.7 billion cell phone calls and emails (no doubt this one) every day, as well as the indefinite detention of persons who have not even been charged with a crime.

If this kind of anti-democratic, police state thinking goes on much longer and people fail to wake up to government intrusions into their lives, I suspect that next year the Gazette will be making a case for the microchipping of all citizens. That way, the authorities will know exactly where everyone is at any time. But of course if you're not doing anything wrong, what's the big deal!

My letter was never published, though another writer's letter was published this week--two weeks after the original editorial. A letter that felt that the editor had not gone far enough and which suggested further intrusion by the police.

I wonder how many times each day the media are preventing citizens from airing their concerns about the erosion of constitutional rights and other issues that question the status quo. A friend of mine who lives in Tucson was barred from online discussions at the local paper's web site because he voiced his pacifist concerns and made note of a major employer in the area, Raytheon, one of the key players in the killing--oops, defense--industry.