December 17, 2002
VACCINE OR FIRST SYMPTOM? (via Barry Meislin)
At the Corner of Hate and Free Speech (Ted Gup, December 15, 2002, washingtonpost.com)I would like to have lunch at Grandpa's Kitchen, a convenience store and deli on East 55th and Chester. But despite its warm and fuzzy name, I fear that I would not be entirely welcome there. I say this because of the huge mural on the side of the building that depicts Jews as monkeys wearing yarmulkes. The owner, a Mr. Brahim "Abe" Ayad, has made it pretty clear that he is none too fond of people of my faith. He has his reasons, many of them involving his father, a Palestinian who he says was driven from his land to make way for the state of Israel. Today, Grandpa's Kitchen is a kind of local landmark, a testament to unmuzzled anti-Semitism. But the fact that this animosity has been allowed to fester publicly is one that I, the grandson of a rabbi, applaud without reservation.I am drawn to Grandpa's Kitchen because it is contested ground between those who argue that they have a right to be rid of such venomous expression and those who say it is a vital exercise of free speech. It is a debate being carried on not only on this seedy Cleveland corner but also by the Supreme Court, which last week heard arguments on whether cross burning should be considered protected free speech.
Even Harvard Law School, where generations of students have been trained to defend the First Amendment, is now weighing a speech code targeted at the lexicon of hate. In this it is hardly alone. Corporations, clubs, elementary schools and universities have convinced themselves that the enlightened thing to do is to declare that "Hate speech is not free speech," to quote Robert A. Corrigan, the president of San Francisco State University.
I believe they are not only wrong but dangerously wrong. Any effort to stifle hate speech is a betrayal of democratic values -- the very ones that ultimately protect diversity and dissent. It seems to me that unfettered speech is to bigotry what a vaccine is to smallpox.
It's one thing to say that the government must allow hate speech, another thing to say we should all accept it. It seems like a healthy dose of what was called "Jewish Lightning" in our unenlightened youth, would be a more effective treatment for Abe's disease. Ideas should have consequences. Posted by Orrin Judd at December 17, 2002 9:28 AM
It is one of the oddities of American history that the only effect the free speech clause has is to protect hateful "unAmerican" speech. We had, depending on how you count, between 70 and 120 years in which the states were more of less free to regulate speech. None of them became controlled, highly censored societies; the ideal of free speech is too central to the American consciousness. But they did regulate pornography and fringe political speech in ways that are considered unconstitutional today. The effective result of incorporating the First Amendment into the 14th has been to allow Nazi's to march in Skokie and protect virtual child porn.
Posted by: David Cohen at December 17, 2002 8:50 AMWhen the world of political correctness allows us to attack the Muslems verbally then and only then should we allow the Muslems to attack us. It has to cut both ways.
On the other hand the acceptance of Arab vitriolic against Jews paves the way for greater abuses such as boycots and physical attacks. Gone are the days when you were punished for being overtly antio-semetic. Too bad.
Okay, what is "Jewish Lightning?"
Posted by: at December 17, 2002 10:12 PMTwo old men were lying on the beach in Miami. They introduced themselves and then Moe asked Abe what he did before he retired. Abe said he used to run a bakery, but he retired after they had a flood. Moe said that was quite a coincidence, as he ran a haberdashery, but retired after they had a fire. The men were silent for a minute, and then Moe turned to Abe and asked "How do you start a flood?"
Posted by: David Cohen at December 18, 2002 7:59 AM