I live in a country which celebrates freedom of speech as a most basic right. Given that Constitutional reality, it is odd how many, particularly in artistic fields, have been harmed through guilt by association, damned by demagogues and denied fair compensation or job opportunities over the years. The McCarthy era, of course, is the obvious high-water mark in the public mind, but I still hear some people automatically linking folk musicians with communism, anarchy or ill-defined counter-culture movements.

Pete Seeger and Tom Paxton are just two prominent examples of those who have significant dossiers in the FBI archives simply for saying, or singing their beliefs openly. Neither, so far as I know, ever advocated the violent overthrow of the government - a small point.
I don't happen to agree politically with a lot of entertainers, but I absolutely defend their right to speak - or sing out. Voltaire had a point.

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Thanks.
-Joe Offer-