Freedom of speech does matter

Our military, our elected officials and members of federal law enforcement agencies swear to "protect and defend the constitution." The words of our constitution define our nation and the rights of its citizens, and it is so important that we will risk all to protect it.

Words can be so powerful they can move people to action, and they can imprint themselves on our memories. "Remember the Alamo," "Four score and seven years ago*...," "Remember the Maine" and "A date that will live in infamy" are just some of the examples of words that inspired people to act.

Unfortunately, tyrants and extremists understand this and use words to fulfill their goals. Words can also be such a powerful weapon that the use of them can frighten tyrants and extremists. In military coups, revolutions and in totalitarian regimes control of the print and broadcast media is one of the first things accomplished to control the populations. Controlling access to words is controlling access to ideas.

Words are the reason that the French magazine "Charlie Hebdo" was attacked by Islamic extremists. These people cannot understand the right to free speech in democratic countries, and they believe that they can restrict this right with the fear of retaliation.

Fear is the real weapon of terrorists. The 9/11 attacks, the 2005 London bombings and the Boston Marathon bombings are only a fraction of the more recent terrorist attacks by Islamic extremists. None of the attacks were enough to cause a nation to collapse or to even be considered a military victory. We can and should respond militarily when possible, but it is even more important to not allow our laws and lives to be governed by fear.

The more than a million people who demonstrated after the Paris attacks are also a proper response to the terrorists, and it is not the censorship the attackers hoped would result. Censoring ourselves out of fear is cowardly, proves the effectiveness of terrorism, and invites even more attacks.

Jack Dragoni attended Boston College and served in the U.S. Army in Berlin and Vietnam. He resides in Chaffee, Missouri.