When I began following free speech controversies, I was a First Amendment absolutist. Now I’m something less comfortable. I still think free speech is a good idea, certainly better than alternatives I’ve come across, but I’ve learned that everyone has a line that can’t be crossed, a word that sticks in the craw, an image that feels like a kick to the gut. The First Amendment, bless its little heart, always eventually lets us down (self-protection is innate, tolerance an acquired taste), so how can I not be bothered by its limitations?

This is a running log of arguments over free speech – some silly, some funny, some hard -- because free speech is all about argument. Being able to speak our mind makes us feel good and it's essential to real democracy and fairness. Yet, in the end, one of the best reasons to keep our speech rights intact is that we miss them when they’re gone.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Oh, for christsake, give peace a chance!

National Security! Terrorism! Lock up the children!  Or, in the to-the-point words of David Cole, a lawyer for the plaintiffs in the case,“This decision basically says the First Amendment allows making peacemaking and human rights advocacy a crime,”

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Is there a more effective conversation killer than invoking the Holocaust?

 Even indirectly, as Helen Thomas found out. 
Her much-quoted-out-of-context Jews go back to the shetl was a dumb thing to say and it obscured her larger point that Israel is occupying Gaza (this is the original interview; commentary is too voluminous to include). So people who say dumb or shameful things should be shamed. But shunning & banning & make it clear that certain ideas are beyond the pale, a very effective way to shut people up.