Terry ＂Liberty＂ Parker & Jeff Davis Defend Alex Jones [uzjGva59Gsg]

00:00 January 27th, on Monday evening at 9pm one of the ACTV or public access TV producers named Alex Jones who happened to be a guest on one of the public access TV programs The Jeff Davis Show. That's just Jeff Davis over there left the program after being done and got into... was confronted by More than one person, the story varies between two to four people in the parking lot who were antagonized by his advocacy or style of advocacy or content of this advocacy. And unlike the way we normally handle this kind of stuff in Austin which is to make fun of each other and talk about it verbally abuse each other these people cross the line

00:53 and initiated a physical assault against that ACTV producer over his advocacy. My concern is less with, because that's now a police matter the Austin Police Department's Assault Division Officer Dusty Heskew is the investigator is pursuing the matter. Apparently, the particular people we're talking about have also abused other people harassed them made death threats and so forth and so now the police are pursuing that

01:31 My concern is not so much that ACTV per se is necessarily remiss in their security measures. As soon as they became aware there was a problem out the parking lot, they called 911 and police did come. The assaulters ran off. My concern and the concerns of other people is that there's, even after the perpetrators are caught that there is a chilling effect that will be left behind on freedom of speech in Austin Texas at public forums provided by public resources for the purpose of people coming and doing their advocacies. The chilling effect could be in the form of not only ACTV

02:16 talk show hosts and their guests, but anybody else showing up in a public forum. Will they think twice about what they're going to say? Will they moderate it? Will they self-censor out of fear that they might say something that could antagonize the person who was gonna confront them in the parking lot and violently assault them? There has even been some talk from some of the people who hadn't really thought this through, that perhaps Alex Jones should have been more responsible in the way he did his advocacy. Basically that's sort of like blame the victim I think it comes from the same spirit as the people who criticize the length of a skirt worn by female rape victims saying maybe she brought it on herself

03:06 There have actually been some people who have used that terminology about Alex. Maybe he brought it on himself? I think what is required is a countervailing advocacy from all the officials and unofficials in support of free speech. Uh, I am really concerned that there could be an official reaction in which uh...there's a leaning on-of the leaning upon the producers to sort of stifle what they say if they think it might antagonize somebody out in the audience. That would be a shame if that happens because that means we lose our commitment, our cultural value here in Austin, our traditional cultural value to sustain free speech

03:58 That sustenance is meaningless if the only free speech that we sustain is the speech that everybody's comfortable and happy with. The only way that free speech is meaningful, is when we are all willing to sustain the rights of somebody to say stuff that we might personally find repugnant We might personally be offended by but unless that person It's actually inviting somebody to come down and say, you know, come down and punch me in the mouth or come down and I will fight you physically. Unless they're doing that it is legally permissible speech and the only way legally permissible speech remains uncompromised is if

04:41 everybody in the community continues to intensively support free speech versus violence. So that's the reason that I did encourage a bunch of people or some people to show up at this particular commission, that we have a reaffirmation why we have things like ACTV, why we have things like the First Amendment it is to make sure that discourse continues to be in a form, if it's going to be abusive, that it continues to be in verbal form so we don't have the thing that happens when you don't have that which is people don't talk with each other. They don't argue with each other they don't passionately advocate the way that really bothers each other and what we have if thats gone is they misunderstand eachother

05:42 and they physically assault each other over those misunderstandings. I get the opportunity here, and really the reason why I was inclined to come down here is first off it's my program that... very in my program when the incident occurred And uh..the reason why this is important issue more than just a normal assault maybe that goes on throughout Austin is the fact that this is the first time I'm aware of in 23 years you may see TV, whether directly or indirectly. So like Terry was saying somebody's speech or style has provoked somebody, some individuals to physically come down to a known location and provoke

06:31 producer that they may have disagreed with or had problems with into ultimately and sold out of the parking lot. The reason why I'm up here, I think it's the most important is kind of where Terry was taking it. I happen to be one of those producers that has been directly and indirectly told by several people in this community that my program is one one of the culprits that initiates and creates reaction out of the public, that if I was to continue doing this and discussing the types of issues that I discuss, presenting the types of ideas that I present then I may face repercussion. And I need to be more responsible in my presentation and the issues that I'm addressing. Now my next question is for these people who are saying this

07:29 is it responsible to who? I mean, if we really cherish free speech here in Austin Texas and not just free speech for some but free speech for everybody then we need to keep those forms available uh...for everybody. And of course were not going provide a solution to what happened down there on this particular forum here but come collectively together as a community and decide how to best achieve this goal because by people telling me that I need to moderate my speech or be more responsible for my program, that's not free speech. So this is kind of the area where I think Terry was going with and then I happen to be at least one of the proofs that I know of when this was stated directly and indirectly by multiple people in the community. Yeah well it's a pretty grand question. I'm not sure if the city can ultimately

08:30 dictate to society its character. We are in times where probably people say that our dialogue is coarser than it used to be, I don't know if that's true or not but all those kind of things Well, what we can do as a city is to work on and fully cope it. We can talk about it a lot, we can emphasize and perhaps even do something regarding the official functions that are in place so we'll just have look at all of that see what we could possibly do In fact the implications are even beyond that for Stuart right? Because frankly anybody who's in front

09:09 you know, if this is tolerated against people like me and Alex then essentially this could expand into the regular news media that anybody that's basically in front of the public presenting ideas. So I think it needs to be a community-based solution if you will And I don't have it here tonight, but this is... and particularly with ACTV and the feelings that they, that many of them have presented to me. That basically that I need to be more responsible in the ideas that I raise. Quite frankly, I was stumped because I didn't know how to respond to that. That's really all I've got to say. But I do appreciate the work Terry is doing and your attention over here tonight. Okay, well thanks!