Let’s Stand up for Liberty

Who is Robyn Blumner? Perhaps she is simply your everyday editorialist for a daily newspaper. Or, as the former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida (ACLU), could she possibly have her own agenda? One of Blumner’s columns entitled “Let’s stand up for liberty” was published in a well known editorial writers magazine called “The Masthead”. In summary, it focuses on freedom of speech, and how we tend to lose sight of it, or even have it taken from us during national hardships. She feels that the government tends to deny us of these freedoms when we need them the most, during war. Blumner sturdily supports her claims throughout the course of her column. However, does the fact that she was once affiliated with the ACLU alter her credibility?

The ACLU is a non profit organization that supports and protests the rights of issues such as voting, abortion, gay marriage, and immigrants. They oppose capital punishment, and promote freedom of speech and religious beliefs. This organization has some good ethical intentions, but a majority of their focused causes would not be accepted by most. Gay marriage and capitol punishment alone are two very controversial subjects. The fact that Blumner held a leadership role in this organization could potentially hurt her reputation as an editorialist. If her readers were aware of this information, this could change their perception of “Let’s stand up for liberty”.

One way Blumner tries to influence us is by emotionally drawing us to her argument.

Blumner declares “free speech, privacy, due process, and equal protection are often seen as unaffordable luxuries, even unpatriotic nuisances during times of war or other national stress” [par.2]. She could have simply stated our freedoms were not priority to the government when under stress, but rather goes one step further to state they are “unpatriotic nuisances”. In this way she is convincing us to suspect the government is not always keeping the welfare of its people in mind, thus we should stand up and in a sense consociate to fight for our rights.

Her article consists of many claims, but backs it up with factual reasoning. Blumner claims “during World War I, few editorial boards stood up for civil liberties. Instead, they chose to reflect the xenophobic [anti-immigrant] views of their readership” [par.16]. In support, she quotes from a professor of journalism, Joseph McKerns, to back her statement. McKerns asserts “foreigners were the ones portrayed as a threat rather than merely exercising free speech” [par.18]. He also alleges “the daily press made a convenient separation, seeing the