R.I.P., Pete Seeger

Pete Seeger presents us with an interesting case: there is no doubt he was outspoken (but always seemed so soft-spoken--I could never believe he'd go after Bob Dylan's amp cables with an axe) and was a gifted and expressive songwriter and performer who showed you could do more with six-strings than six-guns, but I think the time he embodied what's best about the First Amendment was when he didn't speak (or rather, didn't let words get put in his mouth). His refusal to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee showed, I think, steel in the backbone, not just the banjo strings. And he was right about those questions being wrong--freedom of assembly and expression are right there in the Constitution, and HUAC were the ones not displaying particularly "American" activities.  The next time his silence was louder than words was when CBS cut his performance of "Waist Deep in the Big Muddy" from The Smother Brothers program (which got the song more attention than had it just quietly aired in the first place).

Charles Pierce's tribute is more eloquent about Seeger's activism and music than I am--you go read him.