Even Joy Must Be Silenced For the Sake of Control?

As you read today's recommended news article, I would like to suggest that it may be enlightening to ponder these thoughts that have gone before:

"If large numbers of people believe in freedom of speech, there will be freedom of speech even if the law forbids it. But if public opinion is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them."--George Orwell

"None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free."--Goethe

"It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have these three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence to practice neither."--Mark Twain

"Dissent is the highest form of patriotism."--Thomas Jefferson

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25083792/

Arresting people for a public display of joy is disgraceful. It is a clear violation of constitutional rights and should be stopped immediately. Public schools especially are subject to the mandate of public ownership, which means that basically the owners of that school are the very people who are cheering. A private school may have grounds for ejecting people, but as long as public funds are being used to pay for the ceremony, then anyone should be able to go and cheer as much as they like. At the very least there is no excuse for actually arresting people and carting them off for clapping or cheering. The government should put a leash on its goons.