I don't agree with every single aspect of how this is presented, but it is an overall good overview, especially if...
I don't agree with every single aspect of how this is presented, but it is an overall good overview, especially if you don't know about it at all. Short version is: Nazis tried to march in Skokie, IL when there were a lot of Holocaust survivors living there.
I bring this up because we are having problems with speakers at Universities, and similar. I may not like what they are saying (boy, do I not), but they have a right to say it. They may be being irresponsible, but they have a right.
The First Amendment is a tough one. It challenges everything people like to hang onto and it's easy to abuse the privilege and disavow the responsibility. I don't know how the courts and the legal community have determined when free assembly and free speech cross into not protected by the First Amendment, although I know that speech and assembly are not completely unbridled.
I do like the quote from Brandeis, though:
As Justice Louis Brandeis once explained, the Framers of our First Amendment knew “that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government; that the path of safety lies in the opportunity to discuss freely supposed grievances and proposed remedies; and that the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones.”
I do not accept that violence and anarchy and deliberate behavior that shuts down anyone is the best way to make a point. Unless you are trying to create a polarization with no middle ground, no one listening or hearing, and hoping to incite prolonged violence with plausible deniability.
Plus, the people taking their demonstrations to the point of risking other people's property and safety are feeding into the narrative of the people they oppose. They really don't need the help.
We can't refuse to allow discussion and debate. We can demand that it be civil. We can make sure the countering information and arguments are out there. We can even allow people to demonstrate outside a venue and make sure they are safe from people who want to use them to start a fight. But we can't let people use us to shut down opinions we disagree with.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-r-stone/remembering-the-nazis-in_b_188739.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-r-stone/remembering-the-nazis-in_b_188739.html
I bring this up because we are having problems with speakers at Universities, and similar. I may not like what they are saying (boy, do I not), but they have a right to say it. They may be being irresponsible, but they have a right.
The First Amendment is a tough one. It challenges everything people like to hang onto and it's easy to abuse the privilege and disavow the responsibility. I don't know how the courts and the legal community have determined when free assembly and free speech cross into not protected by the First Amendment, although I know that speech and assembly are not completely unbridled.
I do like the quote from Brandeis, though:
As Justice Louis Brandeis once explained, the Framers of our First Amendment knew “that fear breeds repression; that repression breeds hate; that hate menaces stable government; that the path of safety lies in the opportunity to discuss freely supposed grievances and proposed remedies; and that the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones.”
I do not accept that violence and anarchy and deliberate behavior that shuts down anyone is the best way to make a point. Unless you are trying to create a polarization with no middle ground, no one listening or hearing, and hoping to incite prolonged violence with plausible deniability.
Plus, the people taking their demonstrations to the point of risking other people's property and safety are feeding into the narrative of the people they oppose. They really don't need the help.
We can't refuse to allow discussion and debate. We can demand that it be civil. We can make sure the countering information and arguments are out there. We can even allow people to demonstrate outside a venue and make sure they are safe from people who want to use them to start a fight. But we can't let people use us to shut down opinions we disagree with.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-r-stone/remembering-the-nazis-in_b_188739.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/geoffrey-r-stone/remembering-the-nazis-in_b_188739.html
Ah yes, one of the ACLU's most controversial defenses.
ReplyDeleteIf nazis want to march in the streets, that's one thing. If they want to go to private institutions, be they corporate or education or whatever, that is an entirely different thing.
ReplyDeleteJasper Janssen And then you have state run universities and boom.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's a third thing which is in the middle.
ReplyDelete