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Pickens County
Editorial
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January 22, 2015
Freedom of speech
Charlie Hebdo and The Interview
Since December, the world has witnessed
two high-profile cases of freedom of speech
being played out. First, with The Interview, to
a befuddling wince-inducing whimper and,
second with the Charlie Hebdo attack, to a vi
olent conclusion.
Make no mistake, freedom of speech must
be defended in all instances. And not just for
poorly-made movies and scathingly offensive
cartoons; and not just for journalists.
Freedom of speech is for all the public. The
right to criticize government as well as insti
tutions and even churches/religions is funda
mental to righting wrongs, furthering
democracies and is the underpinning of all
other freedoms. If something can’t be ex
pressed openly, then it can’t be protected, cor
rected, changed or stopped.
Most Americans would be
offended by the cartoons that
the French newspaper regu
larly featured. In a particularly
French tradition, the people at
Charlie Hebdo set out to
shock with work that left noth
ing private or sacred.
Satire can be defended as
humor with a purpose. By
making readers look from a
different perspective, a work
that is at first glance only hu
morous or may lead the
reader/viewer to a deeper un
derstanding or expose an underlying
hypocrisy. Satire dates back to ancient Greece
and certainly has a place in modem discourse.
Polls show that for political news, Americans
under 30 rely on the Daily Show (a “fake”
news show”) at about the same rate as network
news. The news from host Jon Stewart is real,
just with an angle that skewers the subjects.
There is value is satire and occasionally
poking a thumb in the eye of the powerful is
useful. But, and here’s the “but” that must fol
low, Muslims weren’t reading Charlie Hebdo.
And North Koreans weren’t watching The In
terview.
The cartoons were so shocking that rather
than engaging any Muslim who might be open
to critical thinking, they were immediately re
pulsed and enraged by the depictions of the
prophet Mohammed -much like many of us
would be had we seen the cartoons from the
same publication depicting Jesus.
The Interview for those who have forgotten
the gist of the story was the comedy movie
where two talk show hosts were recruited to
kill North Korean Dictator Kim Jong-un.
Threats of violence were made against any
theaters that showed the movie and the com
puters of Sony Entertainment were hacked.
The U.S. government has tied the hackers back
to North Korea.
Theaters at first caved in to these demands,
but then the movie (likely to the chagrin of
those who saw it) was released at some loca
tions and online.
It would have been much easier to cham
pion the directors and studio had the movie
been a documentary on conditions in the failed
state of North Korea. But the plot is banal. In
stead of making shrewd political satire, the
movie just makes fun of North Korean people.
According to a New York Times article, North
Koreans who have
watched smuggled copies,
found the movie degrading
to all their country.
It’s as hard to defend
a movie that heaped
ridicule on the most op
pressed people on the
planet as it is to defend
some of Charlie Hebdo’s
content.
If North Korea had
responded by producing a
picture (perhaps called Re
turn of the North Korean)
that portrayed The Interview actors Seth
Rogen and James Franco as evil incompetents
then showed their characters being killed in a
degrading manner, it would be fair to group
both films together for a double feature.
While neither Charlie Hebdo nor The Inter
view are products many of us would choose to
champion, not defending their creators’ free
dom to speak lessens the protection that any of
us may choose to exercise one day.
Eroding freedoms are a slippery slope and
when you allow others to be deprived of anti-
religious cartoons today, you find yourself si
lenced on development issues or taxes or
school conditions here in Pickens County in
the future.
One final note: Jon Stewart from the Daily
Show criticized France for arresting a virulent
anti-Semite performer who voiced support for
the attacks. Stewart posited that wouldn’t it
have been better if his shows were cancelled -
- for lack of attendance?
If something
can’t be expressed
openly, then it
can’t be protected,
corrected,
changed or
stopped.
AGREE OR DISAGREE? Tell us your thoughts on this week’s editorial either with a letter to the editor
that will be published next week. Letters may be e-mailed to news@pickensprogressonline.com. All let
ters must have a valid e-mail address, full name and telephone number for verification. We still take
them by regular mail at Pickens Progress, P.O. Box 67, Jasper, GA 30143
The Essential Bad Attitude
By Alan Gibson
Talk to strangers
whenever you feel like it
Don’t Talk To Strangers we
tell one another, suspending the
mle when we’re angry at the
stranger (HEY! MOVE IT!) or
want to sell him something. The
thought of inspiriting a stranger
with civilized words - also free
speech - risks all kinds of deco
rum violations.
My friend Julia is a free
speech pioneer and it’s rough
going sometimes. In a store’s
checkout line, she was cooing to
a babe in its mother’s arms be
fore musing to the mom, I won
der what your baby’s thinking?
He’s probably thinking, I
don’t talk to strangers, came the
retort.
Julia soldiers on, her free
speech gentle and non-invasive.
She is not brash; she would not
interrupt a celebrity’s dinner with
an autograph request. But neither
will she wear the mask of impla
cability. Her demeanor invites
strangers to speak. Risky? Non
sense, she says. We’ll not treat
one another as aliens. Not with
all that free speech stuff in the
Constitution. I don’t think Amer
icans have the knack of free
speech. If we truly used it, would
there not be the implied social
permission to strike up a deco
rous conversation with a com
pelling stranger? The stranger
may accept or decline the over
ture, but either way the request
is not considered an invasion of
privacy.
My friend Max is a free
speaker, offering strangers a
Good Morning with such pre
sumptuous glee that they per
force have one. His free speech
may consist of Tough day, huh?
to a beleaguered waitress or a
thumbs-up to a highway worker
sweating in the sun. “My goal in
every encounter is to leave the
other enhanced,” he tells me.
Don’t talk to strangers!? It’s a
warning for kids, not a rubric for
discerning adults.
Even deep conversation may
be possible. Waiting for a busi
ness appointment, I noticed a
gentleman at an adjacent restau
rant table whose face bespoke of
prepossessing intelligence. He
was alone, playing with a swiz
zle stick, and through some pre
text which I engineered, we
began to talk. He was black and
I asked how he felt about the
racial climate in our locality. Im
politic? Insensitive? He didn’t
feel that way and he spoke with
articulate candor, imparting in
sights I’ll retain all my life. And
he smilingly assured me that he
didn’t mind the questions. There
was grace in the little encounter,
and the speech had been free and
understated and even gentle.
Free speech isn’t only about
shouting slogans. It’s also the
right of one stranger to say to an
other, Would you like to have a
cup of coffee?
[For more of the same, visit
Alan’s blog, essentialba.com]
gidiiMs ftiwwti foynp
(USPS 431-820)
Published by Pickens County Progress, Inc.
94 North Main St. P.O. Box 67 Jasper, GA 30143
(706) 253-2457 FAX (706) 253-9738
www.pickensprogress.com
JOHN A. POOL DAN POOL
Publisher Editor
WILLIAM E. POOL
Managing Editor
Published each Thursday at Jasper, Pickens County Georgia. Entered
at the Post Office at Jasper Georgia 30143 as Mail Matter of Second
Class. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to THE PICKENS
COUNTY PROGRESS, P.O. Box 67, Jasper, GA 30143.
One Year’s Subscription: $29.96 in Pickens County and in Gilmer,
Cherokee, Dawson and Gordon Counties. $39.59 in all other Georgia
Counties; $44.94 out of state.
OTHER VOICES
State-level revenue needed
for transportation
By Robert Reichert
Mayor
Macon-Bibb County
I have served 10 years in the
Georgia General Assembly as a
member of the House of Repre
sentatives and 11 years in local
government, the last seven as
mayor of Macon, now Macon-
Bibb County, and it is my privi
lege to be the current Chairman
of the Transportation Policy
Committee for the Georgia Mu
nicipal Association (GMA). My
experience and familiarity with
transportation leads me to be
lieve that our failure to provide
necessary transportation infra
structure funding is false econ
omy.
My opinion is shared by many
who are currently serving in po
litical office across this state;
there is consensus on the need;
the dilemma is finding the neces
sary funds today, to invest in our
transportation infrastructure for
tomorrow.
In an effort to address this
issue, a joint study committee
was established by the General
Assembly to investigate and rec
ommend specific ways to ad
dress "Critical Transportation
Infrastructure Funding," and
their findings and recommenda
tions are forthcoming.
In the 2015 Session of the
General Assembly, legislators
will struggle to choose designat
ing additional sources of revenue
or taking funds away from other
entities or programs to invest in
transportation spending. Al
though the Joint Legislative
Study Committee on Critical
Transportation Infrastructure
Funding has completed its series
of hearings, it is unlikely that
there will be a clear legislative
path to correct the state's inability
to meet future transportation
needs.
I attended several of the trans
portation funding meetings and
suggested an additional 1-cent
sales tax, with an eight-year sun
set, statewide, except in regions
that already voted for the Trans
portation Investment Act (TIA).
The proceeds from this addi
tional sales tax would be desig
nated exclusively for
transportation improvements,
and all modes of transportation
could compete for funding. The
Georgia Department of Trans
portation could select projects,
based on a set of specific project
criteria such as return on invest
ment, job connections and reduc
tions in commute time. GDOT
could also set clearly-defined
goals and metrics that can be
measured in an objective fashion.
The sunset would end the ad
ditional tax at the same time as
the current TIA is set to expire in
those three regions that adopted
it. Therefore, it provides a lim
ited time in which to collect ad
ditional sales taxes that would be
designated specifically for trans
portation infrastructure, in effect
establishing a "special purpose,
state option, sales tax."
This is the time for state lead
ers to be bold, yet some advocate
for a counterproductive scheme
of repurposing or taking sales
taxes away from local communi
ties to pay for state projects. This
proposal would re-direct sales
taxes, which are currently levied
by local governments and the
state on motor fuel purchases,
away from local government and
the state general fund, and pro
vide them to GDOT.
Such a redirection of existing
sales taxes is poor policy that
would reduce dollars coming in
for cities, counties and schools
for voter-approved capital proj
ects approved in Special Purpose
Local Option Sales Taxes
(SPLOST). Removing motor
fuel from the base collection of
Local Option Sales Taxes
(LOST) would also require a re
duction in property tax rollbacks
and cause service cuts or prop
erty tax increases. A reduction in
revenue for Education-SPLOSTs
would mean that school systems
would struggle even further in
meeting their capital funding
needs.
Atlanta's Municipal Option
Sales Tax (MOST) would bring
in less money to pay for the city's
sewer fix, which could cause our
capitol city to fail to meet the
federal judge's consent order re
quiring repairs, and the state gen
eral fund would also have a
significant reduction.
There are two bitter ironies in
the idea of a state-led redirection
of local government sales taxes.
First, data shows that city and
county governments invest sig
nificantly more on transportation
than is collected by the various
distinct local sales taxes on
motor fuel. Total local taxes on
motor fuel, total dedicated
SPLOST funds for transportation
projects and total general-fund
investments in transportation
from local governments amount
to $1.33 billion annually.
Spending on transportation
projects solely using SPLOST
dollars is $224.6 million higher
than the total amount of revenue
collected by all tax revenue from
local sales taxes applied to gaso
line. In addition to SPLOST ex
penditures, city and county
investment in transportation for
the year 2012 was $596.9 mil
lion, which is the total annual
general fund expenditures by
counties and cities on highways
and streets (source: FYE2012 re
sponses from cities and counties
to the DC A Report of Local Gov
ernment Finances. Reflects ex
penditures for operation only;
local maintenance & improve
ment grant funds are not in
cluded).
The second irony is that local
governments, even without a
specifically-dedicated revenue
source solely for transportation
projects, have for the past 10
years consistently outspent the
state on transportation infrastruc
ture. Georgia's local govern
ments are already carrying their
freight, as the expression goes.
It is time for our state's leaders
to find new, state-level revenue
to fund the transportation infra
structure investments. This is the
time for Georgia's leaders to be
strong and to take aggressive ac
tion for the future. I hope they
will implement a "special pur
pose, state option sales tax" that
is necessary for Georgia to com
pete in a global economy while
maintaining our cherished qual
ity of life.
Have you spotted an
error in our pages?
Let us hear about it.
706-253-2457 or
dpool@pickensprogress.com
Weather
By William Dilbeck
Jan. 13 - Jan. 19
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