Posted by lil' jimi on April 17, 2003, at 16:07:50
Opinions?
Transcript of the speech given by filmactor/writer/director/producer Tim
Robbins to the
National Press Club in Washington DC on Tuesday, April15, 2003.
TIM ROBBINS: Thank you. And thanks for the invitation. I had originally been
asked here to talk about the war and our current political situation, but I
have instead chosen to hijack this opportunity and talk about baseball and show
business. (Laughter.) Just
kidding. Sort of.
I can't tell you how moved I have been at the overwhelming support I have
received from newspapers throughout the country in these past few days. I hold
no illusions that all of these journalists agree with me on my views against
the war. While the journalists'
outrage at the cancellation of our appearance in Cooperstown is not about my
views, it is about my right to express these views. I am extremely grateful
that there are those of you out there still with a fierce belief in
constitutionally guaranteed rights. We need you, the press, now more than ever.
This is a crucial moment for all of us.
For all of the ugliness and tragedy of 9-11, there was a brief period afterward
where I held a great hope, in the midst of the tears and shocked faces of New
Yorkers, in the midst of the lethal air we breathed as we worked at Ground
Zero, in the midst of my children's terror at being so close to this crime
against humanity, in the midst of all this, I held on to a glimmer of hope in
the naive assumption that something good could come out of it.
I imagined our leaders seizing upon this moment of unity in America, this
moment when no one wanted to talk about Democrat versus Republican, white
versus black, or any of the other ridiculous divisions that dominate our public
discourse. I imagined our leaders
going on television telling the citizens that although we all want to be at
Ground Zero, we can't, but there is work that is needed to be done all over
America. Our help is needed at community centers to tutor children, to teach
them to read. Our work is needed at old-age homes to visit the lonely and
infirmed; in gutted neighborhoods to rebuild housing and clean up parks, and
convert abandoned lots to baseball fields. I imagined leadership that would
take this incredible energy, this generosity of spirit and create a new unity
in America born out of the chaos and tragedy of 9/11, a new unity that would
send a message to terrorists everywhere: If you attack us, we will
become stronger, cleaner, better educated, and more unified. You will
strengthen our commitment to justice and democracy by your inhumane attacks on
us. Like a Phoenix out of the fire, we will be reborn.
And then came the speech: You are either with us or against us. And the bombing
began. And the old paradigm was restored as our leader encouraged us to show
our patriotism by shopping and by volunteering to join groups that would turn
in their neighbor for any
suspicious behavior.
In the 19 months since 9-11, we have seen our democracy compromised by fear and
hatred. Basic inalienable rights, due process, the sanctity of the home have
been quickly compromised in a climate of fear. A unified American public has
grown bitterly divided, and a world population that had profound sympathy and
support for us has grown contemptuous and distrustful, viewing us as we once
viewed the Soviet Union, as a rogue state.
This past weekend, Susan and I and the three kids went to Florida for a family
reunion of sorts. Amidst the alcohol and the dancing, sugar-rushing children,
there was, of course, talk of the war. And the most frightening thing about the
weekend was the amount of
times we were thanked for speaking out against the war because that individual
speaking thought it unsafe to do so in their own community, in their own life.
Keep talking, they said; I haven't been able to open my mouth.
A relative tells me that a history teacher tells his 11-year-old son, my
nephew, that Susan Sarandon is endangering the troops by her opposition to the
war. Another teacher in a different school asks our niece if we are coming to
the school play. They're not welcome here, said the molder of young minds.
Another relative tells me of a school board decision to cancel a civics event
that was proposing to have a moment of silence for those who have died in the
war because the students were including dead Iraqi civilians in their silent
prayer.
A teacher in another nephew's school is fired for wearing a T-shirt with a
peace sign on it. And a friend of the family tells of listening to the radio
down South as the talk radio host calls for the murder of a prominent anti-war
activist. Death threats have appeared on other prominent anti-war activists'
doorsteps for their views. Relatives of ours have received threatening e-mails
and phone calls. And my 13-year-old boy, who has done nothing to anybody, has
recently been embarrassed and humiliated by a sadistic creep who writes -- or,
rather, scratches his column with his fingernails in dirt.
Susan and I have been listed as traitors, as supporters of Saddam, and various
other epithets by the Aussie gossip rags masquerading as newspapers, and by
their 'fair' and 'balanced' electronic media cousins, 19th Century Fox.
(Laughter.) Apologies to Gore Vidal. (Applause.)
Two weeks ago, the United Way canceled Susan's appearance at a conference on
women's leadership. And both of us last week were told that both we and the
First Amendment were not welcome at the Baseball Hall of Fame.
A famous middle-aged rock-and-roller called me last week to thank me for
speaking out against the war, only to go on to tell me that he could not speak
himself because he fears repercussions from Clear Channel. "They promote our
concert appearances," he said. "They own most of the stations that play our
music. I can't come out against this war."
And here in Washington, Helen Thomas finds herself banished to the back of the
room and uncalled on after asking Ari Fleischer whether our showing prisoners
of war at Guantanamo Bay on television violated the Geneva Convention.
A chill wind is blowing in this nation. A message is being sent through the
White House and its allies in talk radio and Clear Channel and Cooperstown. If
you oppose this administration, there can and will be ramifications.
Every day, the air waves are filled with warnings, veiled and unveiled threats,
spewed invective and hatred directed at any voice of dissent. And the public,
like so many relatives and friends that I saw this weekend, sit in mute
opposition and fear.
I am sick of hearing about Hollywood being against this war. Hollywood's heavy
hitters, the real power brokers and cover-of-the-magazine stars, have been
largely silent on this issue. But Hollywood, the concept, has always been a
popular target.
I remember when the Columbine High School shootings happened. President Clinton
criticized Hollywood for contributing to this terrible tragedy -- this, as we
were dropping bombs over Kosovo. Could the violent actions of our leaders
contribute somewhat to the
violent fantasies of our teenagers? Or is it all just Hollywood and rock and
roll?
I remember reading at the time that one of the shooters had tried to enlist to
fight the real war a week before he acted out his war in real life at
Columbine. I talked about this in the press at the time. And curiously, no one
accused me of being unpatriotic for criticizing Clinton. In fact, the same
radio patriots that call us traitors today engaged in daily personal attacks on
their president during the war in Kosovo.
Today, prominent politicians who have decried violence in movies -- the "Blame
Hollywooders," if you will -- recently voted to give our current president the
power to unleash real violence in our current war. They want us to stop the
fictional violence but are okay with the real kind.
And these same people that tolerate the real violence of war don't want to see
the result of it on the nightly news. Unlike the rest of the world, our news
coverage of this war remains sanitized, without a glimpse of the blood and gore
inflicted upon our soldiers or the women and children in Iraq. Violence as a
concept, an abstraction -- it's very strange.
As we applaud the hard-edged realism of the opening battle scene of "Saving
Private Ryan," we cringe at the thought of seeing the same on the nightly news.
We are told it would be pornographic. We want no part of reality in real life.
We demand that war be painstakingly realized on the screen, but that war remain
imagined and conceptualized in real life.
And in the midst of all this madness, where is the political opposition? Where
have all the Democrats gone? Long time passing, long time ago. (Applause.) With
apologies to Robert Byrd, I have to say it is pretty embarrassing to live in a
country where a five-foot- one comedian has more guts than most politicians.
(Applause.) We need leaders, not pragmatists that cower before the spin zones
of former entertainment journalists. We need leaders who can understand the
Constitution, congressman who don't in a moment of fear abdicate their most
important power, the right to declare war to the executive branch. And, please,
can we please stop the congressional sing-a-longs? (Laughter.)
In this time when a citizenry applauds the liberation of a country as it lives
in fear of its own freedom, when an administration official releases an attack
ad questioning the patriotism of a legless Vietnam veteran running for
Congress, when people all over the country fear reprisal if they use their
right to free speech, it is time to get angry. It is time to get fierce. And it
doesn't take much to shift the tide. My 11-year-old nephew, mentioned earlier,
a shy kid who never talks in class, stood up to his history teacher who was
questioning Susan's patriotism. "That's my aunt you're talking about. Stop it."
And the stunned teacher backtracks and began stammering compliments in
embarrassment.
Sportswriters across the country reacted with such overwhelming fury at the
Hall of Fame that the president of the Hall admitted he made a mistake and
Major League Baseball disavowed any connection to the actions of the Hall's
president. A bully can be stopped, and so can a mob. It takes one person with
the courage and a resolute voice.
The journalists in this country can battle back at those who would rewrite our
Constitution in Patriot Act II, or "Patriot, The Sequel," as we would call it
in Hollywood. We are counting on you to star in that movie. Journalists can
insist that they not be used as
publicists by this administration. (Applause.) The next White House
correspondent to be called on by Ari Fleischer should defer their question to
the back of the room, to the banished journalist du jour. (Applause.) And any
instance of intimidation to free speech should be battled against. Any
acquiescence or intimidation at this point will only lead to more intimidation.
You have, whether you like it or not, an awesome responsibility and an awesome
power: the fate of discourse, the health of this republic is in your hands,
whether you write on the left or the right.
This is your time, and the destiny you have chosen.
We lay the continuance of our democracy on your desks, and count on your pens
to be mightier. Millions are watching and waiting in mute frustration and hope -
hoping for someone to defend the spirit and letter of our Constitution, and to
defy the intimidation that is
visited upon us daily in the name of national security and warped notions of
patriotism.
Our ability to disagree, and our inherent right to question our leaders and
criticize their actions define who we are. To allow those rights to be taken
away out of fear, to punish people for their beliefs, to limit access in the
news media to differing opinions is to acknowledge our democracy's defeat.
These are challenging times. There is a wave of hate that seeks to divide us --
right and left, pro-war and anti-war. In the name of my 11-year-old nephew, and
all the other unreported victims of this hostile and unproductive environment
of fear, let us try to find our common ground as a nation. Let us celebrate
this grand and glorious experiment that has survived for 227 years. To do so we
must honor and fight vigilantly for the things that unite us -- like freedom,
the First Amendment and, yes, baseball. (Applause.)
Event Date: April 15, 2003
Event Name: Tim Robbins
Event Type: NPC
Luncheon Time: 12:30 PM
Sponsored by: National Press Club (NPC)
Event Location: Ballroom
Details: Actor/Director Tim Robbins and Win Without War
-----(end)------i thank you for your patience.
Peace,
~ jim
poster:lil' jimi
thread:220134
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030414/msgs/220134.html