Free speech jokes

The sickest joke since the year 2026 has started is that so far all the wars waged around the world by various nations are at the behest of a foreign country asking the leadership of the war-waging country to launch the war. As ironic as it may sound, a natural and homemade organic war would bring a fresh hope of change.

President Trump has turned his image and that of his country into a joke by launching an illegal war against a country that did not threaten or attack America in any way whatsoever. He announced making peace talks with Iran in the middle of the war only to be refuted by Iranians. And the world trusts Iran's word far more than Trump's social media posts, which many argue seem to have been designed to manipulate the stock market in order for his family and his cronies to make a fortune overnight.

Speaking of jokes, I am reminded of a joke that President Reagan once told in a way only a Hollywood actor could tell, which he was in his previous life. He was trying to compare the free speech rights of the Americans with those of the Russians. The joke goes that an American and a Russian are talking to each other and bragging about their countries. The American tells the Russian that his country is so democratic that he could walk into the president's office, thump on his desk and tell him that he as an American citizen disagrees with how he is running America. The Russian muses and says he could do the same. He says he could also go into his president's office, thump on his desk and tell him how he as a Russian citizen disagrees with how the American president is running America. The allusion is that in Russia, the only critique allowed was to criticise America and that Russians couldn't criticise the Russian government without facing dire consequences.

I wonder how the joke would play out between an American and a Russian today over the issue of Israel. It is not the stuff of conspiracy theory to say that much of the West, especially America more than any other country, is in almost total control of Israeli chokehold. Countries that are not directly controlled by Israel are brought under control by US pressure acting on behalf of Israel. In a world like this, the freedom index of countries should be determined by how much Israeli influence exists over that nation.

The American and the Russian in the same joke would use that criterion in bragging about the extent of free speech in their respective countries. This time the Russian speaks first. He tells the American how he could go into his president's office, thump on his desk and register his complaint about the genocide and land grabbing that Israel has been doing using American money and arms. The American counters and says he could do the same. The Russian being very curious demands to know how the American would pull it off. The American says he could go to the Oval Office, thump on president's desk and tell him how he as an American disagrees with the genocide and the American support for it because he doesn't think it is a genocide and that the American support isn't strong enough and generous enough for all of us Christians in America to be in line with the teachings of the Holy Bible, which clearly says that supporting Israel would bless us.

Free speech may not be very impressive in Russia but it sure isn't so in America either. They say that in order to know who rules over you, pay attention to who you can't criticise. In Russia, it is the government. The conclusion that the Russian government rules over the Russians doesn't sound very worrisome. What worries me is the thought that a foreign country rules over the American people because that foreign country is the one Americans cannot criticise without some really bad consequences.