Today I read an article describing an incident involving the Kenyan immigration authorities and a man from the US who wrote a book criticizing Senator Obama. The author, Jerome Corsi, was scheduled to present his book "The Obama Nation" in a Nairobi hotel. The book questions whether the candidate may be using drugs or be lying about his faith while secretly a Muslim. However, before he was able to start his presentation, Mr. Corsi was escorted back to the airport by Kenyan police. Corsi apparently broke no immigration laws. Senator Obama's approval rating in Kenya is 89%, partially owing to his Kenyan heritage.
While I support Senator Obama in the presidential race, I also believe that the actions taken by the Kenyan government are slightly extreme. I acknowledge that Kenyan laws differ from those in the United States but as an individual I don't believe that Mr. Corsi had to be returned to the states, silenced. This article made me appriciate our first amendment freedoms and also made me wonder what kind of race this would be if the government had control over the media. As our current administration is quite conservative, I think that the question is begged as to how much the liberal opinion might be suffocated without these civil liberties. Personally I don't think that we would have the same sort of presidential race at all, so I'm very glad to feel like my news isn't being as filtered as it might be in another part of the world.
Kanina, Wangul, Humphrey Malalo. "Kenya to deport U.S author of critical Obama book." Thompson Reuters 7 Oct 2008 7 Oct 2008 http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-politics/20081007/POLITICS-US-USA-POLITICS-CORSI/.
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4 comments:
I think the government did what it should have. We learned last year in government about this kinda of thing; writing false things about someone, especially someone in power, is not only dangerous but against the law as well. I don't think they took him for the right reasons but someone who is going to publish lies about a presidential candidate should be removed. We have enough hoods to keep our eyes out from under as it is.
Of course it should be against the law for anyone to write and publish false things about someone, and if Mr. Corsi was lying about Senator Obama, the government did the right thing (maybe they could have used less extreme methods though). It really makes me angry when people lie about the candidates, and it certainly happens on both sides. I wish that the media could give us the whole truth and let us decide who the right candidate is based on solid, unbiased facts.
I find this story pretty funny. It gives us as Americans a very small glimpse into the lives we would lead were we not in the US, and shows the harsh response that is given elsewhere to seemingly trivial matters by American standards. With our freedom of speech, anyone can write whatever nonsense they want about anyone else, and I say let them. My only qualm is when the stories and fables spun about prominent people in our society become accepted as the truth, especially when they are mass-marketed to us through our huge media system.
Personally I agree that it was a bit extreme for the Kenyan government to send Mr. Corsi back to states silenced because, like you said the first ammendment is freedom of speech. But the first ammenment does not allow you to tell lies about people or slander people's good name and you can get sued for that so i understand why the kenyan police forced Corsi to leave silenced
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