|
Cindy Sheehan, the often controversial anti-war demonstrator, has announced that she plans to give up being the Face for the cause, and go home to her family. While I have not always agreed with Ms. Sheehan's positions or methods, I wish her well and I hope she finds the peace - both internal and external - she seeks.
This column isn't about the Iraq War, or the politics on any side of it, though. It's not about either lauding Ms. Sheehan or vilifying her. It isn't to support or refute any of her statements concerning the war, or whether the media should have paid her more attention or less. It's about Dissent (hence the title), and just how vital that right is to us here at Collector Times.
When the Founders of the United States framed our Constitution, one of the principles they felt was vitally important was recognizing the inherent fallibility of human governments. For all the best intentions a representative or party or administration might have, the simple fact is our government is composed of human beings, with all the flaws and limitations thereof.
It was therefore important to the Founders that the citizens of this country were free to voice their concerns over what the government was doing. The history of the world up to that time was replete with nations and cultures where disagreeing with the ruling class could result in forfeiture of property or even life. The idea of having a government of the people, for the people, and by the people had to be rooted in the practice of a government accountable to the people, from the lowest levels to the highest level. We had to retain the ability to tell everyone from the City Council member right up to the President that we disagreed with their decisions and that we thought they were wrong, without the worry of a visit by the enforcement arm of the State to silence us.
How does this apply to a magazine such as Collector Times, which tends to eschew political discussions and partisan affiliations? Simple; CT not only deals with just collectibles, it deals with artistic expressions that can be collectable. The artists of the world have often been the voice of dissent, using their vision and expressions to convey perceptions in creative ways.
Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland" was a commentary on the state of the Royal Family of his day. Jonathon Swift's "Gulliver's Travels" contains stinging allegories to various cultural practices he had encountered. The original "Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum was a parable calling for the Silver Standard as a method to help the poor farmers of his time (Dorothy's magic slippers were silver in the original, not ruby). Music; art; writing - all have served as platforms to raise awareness in the hopes of bringing about social change, and as such have been potent voices of dissent throughout history.
As a writer, I am especially concerned with the power of fiction to serve as allegory. Whether in a text novel or a comic book, we can address a situation without specifically tackling the exact circumstances; hence highlighting important principles hopefully without offending those who might support a certain official or party. By setting a story in a fictitious setting, we are free of concerns for historical accuracy and can manipulate the plot to bring about the best illustration of the point we wish to convey. It's more effective overall to create a fictitious president in a future setting than to deal with the debates over how we portrayed a real president from the past, even if said president was the ideal example of the point we wish to examine.
Without a freedom of dissent, though, we would still risk prosecution for the stories. In fact, we could be more at risk since people often read into something what they wish to read in, and while we might not have intended a slam on the current administration (whenever it is), if someone reads the offense into the text, what we say our intentions were doesn't matter much at all.
Whether we agree with her or disagree with her, Cindy Sheehan lived something that we all too often take for granted; the right to tell our government we think it is doing something wrong. If we wish to retain the right to do so in novels, in comics, in music, and in art, then we have to support her right to do so in person.
I am happy Ms. Sheehan is going home; not because I think she's long overdue to have been shut-up, but rather because she has decided it's time to go home. It gives me hope to know she was not hauled away and silenced in some gulag. She stood up to the government and said, "I think you're wrong." The government may not have listened, or it may have listened and just disagreed, but she had her say. It's good to know that's still the Law of the Land.
|