ND blogger banned
Fellow North Dakota blogger Rob Port, whose Say Anything blog is one of the most popular blogs in this state, has been banned from the Turtle Mountain reservation. Why ban Rob? Because in a recent post on his blog he was critical of some aspects of life on the reservation. Yes, the reservation has actually banned Mr. Port simply because he said things that the tribal leaders did not like.
Free speech may be a right in America, but I guess that's not the case on the reservation. I don't agree with much of what Rob says on his blog, but the outrageous nature of this incident infuriates me. Rob was pointing out problems that he saw on the reservation. Instead of choosing to address those alleged problems, the tribal leaders ban Rob from their lands and try to discredit his statements. I guess Orwellianism is alive and well on the reservation. If you don't like what someone says, just pretend the problems don't exist and ban them from your lands.
Like Tu-Uyen Tran, I stand shoulder to shoulder with Rob on this matter. What a sad day it is when we remove dissenting voices instead of listening to those voices.
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14 comments:
Can you say "communism"?
Socialism is exactly the problem on the reservation. That was the thesis of my original column.
Thanks for the support, Grand Forks Guy. I appreciate it, though I'm sorry you don't agree with more of what's on my blog.
Still, reasonable people can disagree. Banning isn't in that equation.
I posed this question: I am serious when I aske this question.
So let me get this right. Say Rob wants to drive to Canada through the Dunseith Port of Entry, it (would make sense because it is close to Minot to go to Canada) am I reading this right that Rob wouldn't be able to the Dunseith POE because he is Banned from the Reservation for writing an article on a Blog?
Ok lets pose this question: Say if Rob was speeding and got picked up by the cops on the Turtle Mountain Reservation and they realized that it was rob from running a registration check on his plate number what crime would they actually punish him with.
What Rob wrote was hostile and abusive. How dare he be so insensitive to a minority group that has been so historically oppressed. He may have thought he was helping them - but he needs to ask permission to even comment about their condition. The NCAA would have understood this issue.
Local Boy said...
Can you say "communism"?
Sounds more like good old fascism to me.
Reservations, I believe (please correct me if I'm wrong) are sovereign nations unto themselves within the US. Federal and state laws still apply, but to what extent I have no idea.
I keep thinking about how South Dakota wanted to ban almost all abortions, and how reservations did not have to follow that law because of their sovereignty.
I need to catch up on some reading.
I can totally agree that banning him for something he blogged about (although he calls what he writes 'articles') is bogus.
It is, however, a difficult concept to make an opinion about. I do think that people should work for what they receive, whatever that work should be, but I also think it's rather high and mighty of him to start deciding what is best for everyone else.
He rather loves throwing the kids in there, doesn't he? The thing is, Rob, that kids are kids, and kids playing (regardless of the circumstances) is better than kids working, whether you grow up with a brand-new swingset or a junkyard full of old cars.
My point, Matthew, was where were the parents? Why were these kids outside in winter in inappropriate clothes? Why were they being allowed to play on rusted car heaps without any supervision?
It's not high-and-mighty to call for something better.
well dickens wouldnt be please
The US government does this stuff all the time... they just declare a person a terrorist and strip them of their rights... thanks to Cheney & Bush.
The US government does this stuff all the time... they just declare a person a terrorist and strip them of their rights...
Or they declare a citizen's speech as hate speech, criminalize it, and inprison them, which seems the intent of recent "hate" laws that the current Congress wants enacted.
The U.S. Government most certainly does NOT do this sort of thing "all the time". Give me documented proof of a declaration of banishment by the U.S. government based on an op-ed piece in a magazine, and I don't mean some BS hearsay you read on a friend of a friend's website. Or something you heard Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert say on TV either.
The fashionable thing to do these days is to knock the government down with lies like this. It's the Liberal Left making excuses for the atrocities committed by left wing darlings like Al Sharpton, Liberal Arts universities or, in this case, an Indian reservation.
Secular Progressives run to the shelter of the first amendment whenever they are called to task for any of the myriad foolish and downright stupid things they say on a daily basis, but will not even consider open debate when they are handed a percieved slight against them.
It's just plain easier to make the problem go away then to face it. They couldn't fire Rob like Don Imus, so they turned to good old fashioned subversion to get what they wanted.
Pathetic.
Goon - Dunseith isn't technically on the reservation...it is just to the west of it
This story is currently on the front page of Yahoo.com
Hmmm, somebody needs to stop getting their "news" from Randi Rhodes.
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