by Ronald Terry Constant © 1993
In 1939 Joseph Kennedy, Ambassador to England, offered Columbia Pictures $2 million not to release "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," a movie by Frank Capra starring James Stewart. Ambassador Kennedy insisted that the portrayal of venal U.S. politics would help the Nazi cause. Apparently he believed that the fiction of one author--if expressed--would unduly further fascism and thus subvert democracy. He was so convinced of the rightness of his belief that he was willing to pay a large sum to suppress the expression of fictional wrong doing in our nation's capital.
No matter how fervently someone believes in the justice of his cause, suppression of the free exchange of ideas is failure at best or downright wrong. The power or might behind an idea does not make the idea right. Many powerful people throughout history have been wrong. Few people, if any, would judge "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" to be subversive or wrong. In 1939 Ambassador Kennedy was so caught up in the fears of the times that he was willing to use the power of his money to protect the world against a film. When people are caught up in the movements of their time, all people must be extra zealous to guard and encourage freedom of expression. Otherwise, a mob mentality reigns, and people rush to do things that are not thought out and often regretted later.
The founders of our country knew from experience how important free expression of ideas is. Many of them, along with popular demand, insisted that the Constitution immediately be amended by the Bill of Rights. The first article of the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of expression:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Without freedom of expression, no people are truly free. Sometimes a person will hide repression by telling people under his authority that they are free to believe anything they want--they just can't voice their beliefs. They are free to think anything, but aren't allowed to say what is on their minds.
What are some examples of this mentality? For decades people in the Soviet Union were free to believe anything about God that they wanted to, but they weren't free to fully express their religious beliefs. Prisoners of war have described the mind control techniques of their captors, and the techniques center around allowing the prisoners to express only acceptable things. In fact, mind control is essentially controlling what a person says. George Orwell wrote a classic book, 1984, in which the plot revolves around the mind or expression control techniques of "Big Brother." People who are not free to express fully what they are thinking are not free in their thoughts or lives. After all, don't we often form and solidify our thoughts as we express them? What is the counseling process except people finding personal freedom by expressing thoughts and feelings that have been repressed?
How do people hide their repressive actions? They confuse such things as patriotism, loyalty, or duty with repression. Would a patriotic person ever knock his commander or the commander-in-chief, the President? They use legitimate exceptions such as national security to squelch the proper spread of information. Any time someone's God given right to express himself is abridged, the people abridging that right better have clear and universally accepted reasons. Even God Himself does not abridge a person's right to express himself. Too often rulings from agencies such as the Pentagon for stated reasons of national security or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to protect the rights of a group do far more damage to the people they are supposedly protecting by trampling the more basic and important right of free expression. The long term effects are insidious.
It is easy to have good goals and to fall into poor methods to achieve the goals--a variation of the adage "the end does not justify the means." Let me use EEO as an example. I agree that we have a real problem with sexism that needs to be corrected. I have a wife and daughter in the workplace and I want them to have every opportunity that I do. Plus, I want my grand-daughter who has stolen my heart to have every opportunity also. Though I completely agree with the goals of EEO, I believe many of its methods will make life worse for the three treasured women in my life.
I went to a training course on EEO. I will never forget the feeling that we were practicing mind control as I was told how to speak according to EEOC guidelines. Here is an example scenario that was used in those training courses.
Two people are having a private conversation in their own work area. A third person walks by and overhears the conversation and is offended, believing that sexist statements were being made. It would not matter if the statements were not in actuality sexist, were not intended to be sexist, and were a private conversation. If the third party were offended, even if based on misunderstanding, then an EEOC violation would have occurred and the original people having the conversation would be in violation though they had done nothing wrong.
I remember the general dread I felt as I heard mind control techniques out of a totalitarian mind-set being espoused that day. Then to cap the instruction with the above illustration! I expressed my beliefs and feelings in a manner consistent with classroom procedure. In a threatening manner, the instructor told me that since I was a supervisor I was in violation of EEOC for expressing my beliefs in the classroom setting and could be filed on if someone in the room chose to do so. How horrible! Now we can't even discuss the best ways to achieve goals of equal opportunity. Discussing the goals, if you have other ideas, is a violation with sanctions.
During the next break several people expressed sentiments similar to: "I'm afraid to say anything. The safest thing is not to say anything at all at work unless you have to." What an evil and horrible situation in America, the land of the free. People at work live in fear and feel like they can't have normal conversations. The only other places I know of with feelings like that are totalitarian regimes and prisoner of war camps. Remember, all totalitarian regimes ultimately end, usually with bloodshed, because the human spirit cannot be repressed forever. Is this fear in living what we want in America?
I want life and opportunity to be better for the three treasured women in my life and people everywhere. I support the goals of EEO, but I believe that some of the methods being used will not attain the goals and in fact will make the situation worse. I want to find and use methods that will work--not ones that are counter-productive. I want to achieve the goals of Equal Employment Opportunity, but I don't want to condemn future generations to worse problems because my generation was too lazy to find solutions and succumbed to seemingly simple and expedient solutions of repression and restriction.
Suppression of ideas occurs when expression is outright denied or delayed, when pertinent information is withheld or hidden, or when details are slanted to obscure the truth. We must always strive to encourage free expression at all times and in all situations. Any freedom has inherent responsibility. Free speech carries the dual obligation of zealously guarding it and of exercising it responsibly.
Ensuring freedom of expression is like tending a garden. After a person has carefully tilled a garden and planted flowers, he must be continually vigilant, or weeds will ruin his efforts. When a person plans a garden, he has a vision of a small, verdant paradise brightened by a rainbow-array of saturated colors giving momentary bliss, a taste of beauty, and respite from the ugliness of life. If the vision is to be more than a fleeting dream, the gardener must constantly tend the flowers and guard against weeds. When the gardener is diligent, he will appreciate the beauty he has conserved more than anyone. If he falters, weeds will soon choke the flowers, overrun the garden, and proclaim the result of negligence.
The founders of our nation planned and started the garden of freedom of expression which still grows and inspires the peoples of the world by its beauty and splendor. The weeds of suppression are always near, finding root in the garden, but for two centuries people have been vigilant enough to keep our freedom alive and to root out suppression. The job of gardener now belongs to our generation and we, the police, are the head gardeners. We took an oath to uphold the Constitution as the supreme law of the land with freedom of expression being its most important provision.
Of all people--even more than journalists--police officers should be the most zealous to guard and exercise freedom of expression in all forms. We understand that only a free community freely sharing information will keep us free and eventually allow us to free ourselves from the tyranny of crime. We, the police, simply can't control crime by ourselves. We must cooperate with citizens in our battle, and citizens must have accurate information to contribute. In all our contacts with the community and the news media, we need to help the flow of information and only hinder it for the most compelling reasons such as protecting the life of a witness.
Police commanders should never instruct subordinates to change reports or recommendations to fit the commander's wishes. Valid decisions up the chain of command must be based on open and honest information at all levels. No police officer should ever feel pressured not to express the truth in reports of any kind.
When any person insists that free expression be hindered or feels that his own expression must be altered, then true freedom has momentarily been lost. A weed has taken root. These examples are only a few among a multitude. There are many ways in which we abridge freedom of expression or allow our freedom to be abridged, and we must be ever diligent for the cause of freedom.
All freedoms have inherent responsibilities, and free expression is not an exception. We must always express the whole truth, being as open as circumstances allow. Free expression of ideas and facts must always have growth and encouragement for ourselves, people, and our community as its goal. Malicious destruction is never acceptable. We all agree with laws against slander and libel. We must never hide our maliciousness behind the guise of frankness. If we share openly and honestly with others, there is no goal that a free people cannot attain by free, earnest cooperation. A police agency as a community is no exception.
No matter how fervently a person believes in a cause, if she represses free expression of ideas, she has chosen a poor, lazy, and self-defeating method to further her cause. The best weapon against the expression of false and bad ideas is eloquent expression of true and good ideas. Everyone knows how she feels when she has been stifled in expressing an idea that burns in her. The need to express herself doesn't go away. The idea simmers in the subconscious and breaks forth in seemingly irrelevant symptoms or inappropriate outbursts. It is far better to deal directly with an openly expressed idea than to struggle with the symptoms of a repressed idea, since we never know what we are really dealing with.
What to do? Always encourage people around you to express themselves openly and honestly. Always express yourself honestly and openly. Resist any improper infringement on your innate right to express yourself, and guard that same right for others. If we do these things, then perhaps America will never know a long winter of repression such as the one from which the Russian people are now thawing.
I have a motto that I say some times for fun. "Everyone has a right to their own opinion--no matter how wrong or misguided that opinion may be. When they want to know the truth, they can ask me." As I intend, I generally get a chuckle when I say the motto. But there is important truth here. I truly allow and expect people to have their own opinions. I respect the opinions of others even while I vigorously and freely express my thoughts. I think about my opinions thoroughly since I can only live by my beliefs, not the beliefs of another person. If a person expresses better ideas than I hold, I will change. I often do change because the free expression of ideas is the best way to learn and grow.