2012 Bill of Rights Celebration Dinner, a Great Success!
Saturday, February 11, 2012. Glenn Greenwald delivered the keynote address at the 2012 Annual Bill of Rights Celebration Dinner. The successful event was attended by well over 200 participants, including individuals from as far away as Seattle, WA and Salt Lake City, UT. Greenwald, eloquently and convincingly delivered his 40 minute remarks that poignantly made the case for safeguarding our civil liberties amid the pervasive climate of fear that has existed post September 11, 2001.
In one example of how fear has intruded our civil liberties, he referenced a growing concern among his online followers to participate in political speech in the form of making donations. He pointed to the reaction he received when he urged his followers to make donations to WikiLeaks, a clearly independent and trusted news site; he received a barrage of emails where individuals would otherwise give, but did not for the fear of being place on a “terrorist watch list” or worse, be prosecuted for providing material support to terrorist groups. Greenwald’s point was to illuminate how fear has clearly become part of the mainstream to the point the individuals willingly participate in self-censorship.
