Posted on 02/25/2006 5:01:53 AM PST by rcocean
Speech that is not felt by some powerful group to be loathsome is hardly in need of protection. The value of an absolutist opposition to the censorship of speech, as enshrined in the US Constitution's First Amendment, is that it holds out the prospect that the right to speak will be honored even when the content of those utterances is not. What is disturbing in both the Irving and Muhammad cartoon situations is the stuttering hesitancy of many who claim to be committed to free speech to speak out in opposition to those--be they Muslim clerics or Austrian judges--who seek to limit the free expression of individuals expressing views they detest.
In both instances, the world has been presented with a teaching moment, in which the argument for free thought--that die gedanken sind frei ("thoughts are free") that the Nazis and every other absolutist dictatorship have excelled in crushing--was not advanced by those who know better. As a result, a world sorely in need of a crash course in the efficacy of free debate received nothing of the sort. Instead, the lesson has been that the suppression of ideas is valid, as long as the suppressors are convinced that they are in the right.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenation.com ...
Where are the freedom loving conservatives not speaking out on this issue?
I'm usually the one who asks that question, but in this case I have to ask, with respect, where have you been? Do a search and just look at all the conservative columnists who've written about this.
There is NOT an absolute right to Free Speech. The biggest problem in this whole debate is the utter ignorance of what Free Speech ACTUALLY means. You cannot yell "this is a hijacking" on an airplane. It is not a free speech issue for wacko protesters to go to a funeral and "protest".
Yeah. I had to look three times to see the byline of THE NATION. I am quite surprised that THEY would have this line.
Any time the far Left supports free speech over political correctness, something important is going on.
Did you read the column? He mentions the limits of free speech.
there are indeed sane leftists on this issue, though they are sadly few and far between. noam chomsky, normally delusional, is consistent and correct when it comes to free speech. heck, even the aclu defended the nazis right to march in skokie, illiois. but of course, the outcome-oriented folks -- the same ones who defend roe v. wade while decrying the "activism" inherent in assigning personhood to corporations -- seem to have the biggest bullhorns and the most sway among the liberal intelligensia.
For once I agree with Mr. Scheer. The complete abandonment of free speech by the Left has been truly amazing.
Of course free speech is not absolute, but our traditional First Amendment had specific narrowly tailored categories of exceptions, e.g., content-neutral time, place and manner regulations, obscenity, defamation, fraud, direct incitement to violence, fighting words, clear and present danger, etc., that protected the maximum amount of speech (especially political speech that is at the core amendment). No one has a right not to be offended, which is why outlawing so-called "hate speech" per se is utterly destructive of the First Amendment.
You've made a straw man - no one believes in an ABSOLUTE right to free speech.
There is rarely an *ABSOLUTE* right to anything.
In this case we talking about:
1) a cartoon in a newspaper; and
2) a 3 Year jail sentence for discussion of a 60 year old historical event.
Neither has anything to do with yelling fire in a theater, incitement to violence, treason, etc.
I find the silence of conservatives very disturbing. Even worse, is the kind of sniggering, well they deserved it, attitude.
There is a caveat built in to his argument in the first sentence. This not a free speech absolutist.
Still, we should honor those, at least on this issue, like Nat Hentoff, Nadine Strossen, and Scheer on this point, who have retained the courage of their convictions -- on this point, at least.
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