In Support of Freedom of Anti-Semitic Speech
January 7, 2010 at 21:01 2 comments
Terry Glavin, if I understand him correctly, thinks that this sort of thing should be outlawed. I do not. Glavin ends his post with this: “No to racism. Zero tolerance. No excuses. No exceptions.” Well, who can disagree with that — as far as it goes. But it only goes so far. Me, I’d rather have some anti-Semitism in my environment than see freedom of speech restricted even more than it already is.
UPDATE: Terry has clarified. Happily it turns out I didn’t understand him correctly. His remark in the comments. Thanks Terry.
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1. Terry Glavin | January 8, 2010 at 02:45
I’m afraid you don’t understand me, Primavera. My point is that I’m normally an abolitionist on the matter of free-speech codes, but sometimes, I despair. I’ll admit to having despaired before, and to having come around. But a case like this is such a grotesque incitement, built upon an earlier incitement (the Aftonbladet libel), ad naseum, and it is producing real-world, horrific consequences, that I honestly don’t know which is worse – state intervention or something, em, else.
Part of the problem may be that a well-regulated “marketplace of ideas” (i.e. wiht free speech laws) doesn’t really exist in much of the Arab world, and barely exists in the Ukraine.
2. Comments Roundup « Primavera | January 24, 2010 at 12:56
[...] Freedom of Anti-Semitic Speech, Terry Glavin says: I’m afraid you don’t understand me, Primavera. My point is that I’m [...]