It’s not enough that competing in online poker may result in imprisonment, now we have to worry about the fate of a team of female bridge players who had the audacity to criticize the president.
From The New York Times: “… A team of women who represented the United States at the world bridge championships in Shanghai last month is facing sanctions, including a yearlong ban from competition, for a spur-of-the-moment protest. At issue is a crudely lettered sign, scribbled on the back of a menu, that was held up at an awards dinner and read, “We did not vote for Bush.” … By e-mail, angry bridge players have accused the women of “treason” and “sedition.”
Treason and sedition? How ironic that this happened in China.
Robert S. Wolff, one of the country’s pre-eminent bridge players, who has served as an executive and board member of several bridge organizations, said that he understood that the women might have had a legal right to do what they did but that they had offended many people.
“While I believe in the right to free speech, to me that doesn’t give anyone the right to criticize one’s leader at a foreign venue in a totally nonpolitical event,” he wrote by e-mail.
He believes yet does not understand.
I’m going to boil it down for him: Except as applies to censorship by the government, free speech has never come with a guarantee of freedom from consequences. And, of course, a private organization has the right to impose conduct restrictions on its members and determine the consequences for violating those restrictions (whether that applies in this situation will likely be determined by a court).
However, what the bridge authorities are doing to the sign holders is simply wrong because it violates the principle of free speech. That they may have the right to do punish these women is immaterial. Doing so is un-American.
