Thursday, September 10, 2009

Dangerous Speech

On this day in 1863, freedom of the press took a major drubbing in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Confederate troops, irate over pro-Union editorials in the Raleigh Standard, went to the offices of the paper and ransacked them. Only the personal intervention of Governor Vance prevented the torching of the building.

On the same day, another crowd in Raleigh, angry over the strident yet pro-secessionist editorials of the Raleigh Journal, attacked the offices of that paper. The governor again had to employ his peacemaking services and the crowd left.

As 21st-century people, we should applaud the fact that no opinion was left out and that all were included. The people and soldiers in Raleigh embraced diversity in destruction.

In our time, critics of the current and previous Administrations have been left unmolested even though we have been and are at war in two countries. We have progressed as a democracy.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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