September 13, 2009 12:04 am

In a society that believes in free speech, the open discussion of ideas took several hits last week from local schoolhouses to the floor of Congress to some of our mailboxes.

School systems shutting down a presidential stay-in-school speech. A congressman heckling the president during a national address. The National Rifle Association targeting Valdosta Mayor John Fretti for participating in discussions on illegal guns.

Civil discussion has taken a backseat to audacity, rude behavior and intimidation.

School systems nationwide received calls or feared receiving calls from anti-speech parents when President Barack Obama wanted to address students about staying in school and working hard. So, many schools pulled the plug on a speech from the duly elected President of the United States, or gave parents the choice of opting their children out of the presidential speech. The Valdosta City School System opted out of the speech completely. Lowndes County schools allowed parents to opt their children out of the speech.

During a presidential speech to a joint session of Congress, a South Carolina representative loudly accused Obama of lying. An elected official essentially called the President of the United States a liar on the floor of Congress, during a televised speech to the nation.

Mayor Fretti says he joined the national Mayors Against Illegal Guns so he could participate in a discussion on how cities can better protect police officers and the public from criminals with illegal guns. The NRA has labeled MAIG as being anti-gun and sent flyers to cities across the nation demanding individual mayors withdraw from MAIG. Funny thing is Fretti isn't anti-gun. He's also an NRA member. But that didn't stop the NRA from targeting him, or demanding Valdosta-area NRA members to ask him why he wants to take their guns away. Fretti says he doesn't want to take away law-abiding citizens' guns; he just wanted to talk to fellow mayors about handling criminals with illegal guns.

He just wanted to talk.

Problem with just wanting to talk is there seems to be a lot of folks across the nation right now who don't want to civilly listen to anyone whose opinions differ from their own. Seems a lot of folks don't want anyone else to listen either.

Don't like what you hear? Shout someone down. Or call someone a liar. Or launch a campaign of intimidation to shut them up.

At a critical time in our national life, with our country in two wars, a battered economy, real health care concerns, and a battery of other issues, we should not seek to shut up or shut out fellow Americans.

We should seek as many ideas and opinions as possible. Shouting for someone to shut up may express the shouter's opinion, but it does nothing for a conversation of ideas.

Debate is healthy. Debate and disagreement are necessary in a free society.

But too many people have mistaken shouting and accusations for debate.

People can disagree. They will disagree. But disagreeing shouldn't be an excuse to be disagreeable.

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