Contract with the Devil

Theoretically, I have some sort of marginal limited facsimile of something that could pass for “freedom of speech.” Yes, I’ve been allowed to upload my cartoons and articles on social media without having the C.I.A. or F.B.I. coming here to arrest me in Kiev, YET. Yes, I’ve been allowed to upload my films on YouTube without getting arrested. But let’s face it, YouTube is not exactly CNN, BBC, ABC, NBC, or CBS. Whatever little scraps of freedom they grudgingly throw at me, comes at a very VERY HIGH COST.

As long as I stay here in Kiev, I can get away with this limited “freedom of speech.” The C.I.A. is not sailing a submarine under the Dnipro River watching me cross the bridges or making my films at Hidro Park Island. (Although my mother thinks they are.) The C.I.A. is not watching me from a spy satellite out in space as I walk on Khreshchatyk Street. (Although my mother says “Well, they could be. You never know.”) So that’s why “freedom of speech” is something I have here; not in the U.S.A.” Freedom of speech” is limited to crossing the Atlantic. As soon as I set the first step at a U.S. airport, all hell breaks loose. It’s like opening Pandora’s box. All kinds of devils pop out of hell like bees swarming out of beehive. Either they arrest me right there at the airport or they arrest me later when I get too close to a mental hospital or just because I’m walking down the street with my 6-year-old niece. Travon Martin was killed for being black or for walking in a white neighborhood without a car. There are many towns in the U.S. that have no bus or rail system. People there never walk to the corner store. Even if the corner store is 20 yards away, people prefer to drive their cars 60’ to the corner store. The police have never seen anybody walking down the street without a car. The police can only see Osama Bin Laden walking down the street with an atom bomb in his backpack. You will be arrested or killed like Travon Martin.

Yes, the U.S. has something that sort of looks like “LIBERTY.” But is it worth it? Is “liberty” or “freedom of speech” worth the hell of being arrested just for walking down the street with a little child? Yes, as long as I stay in Kiev I have the freedom to publish my political articles and broadcast my films through the internet. But what happens when I visit the U.S., I pay for this freedom of speech” by sitting at a mental hospital. Is it worth it? It’s like signing a contract with the devil. Yes, I enjoy having thousands of readers and viewers who listen to me. But at what price? The top line is that I become charismatic with thousands of followers. But what’s the bottom line? What price do I have to pay the devil for this pathetic ration of freedom? Yes, I have some sort of nominal freedom through the internet. But then it’s time to pay the devil when I visit the U.S. The bottom line in the devil’s contract is that the cops hate my guts. The cops slice up my backpack with a knife and scatter my kidney medication all over the bottom of my suitcase or they just “liberate” my medication without paying for it. Then they commit me to a mental hospital. The psychiatrists hate my guts. They torture me with such horrible medication. The judges hate my guts. They refuse to listen to my eyewitnesses. Is it worth it? Freedom of speech in the U.S. is never “free.”