No, Christopher. I would not say it. For three reasons:
1) The first part -- "I disagree with what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it" -- has nothing to do with the issue. Besides, it can sound rather absurd, in the context, say, of "The Onion" piece about the ACLU that Terrence posted.
2) The second part -- "I may admire your style if you say it beautifully while still loathing what you said" -- IS on the issue. But I would not say that either, for a variety of reasons, but primarily, because:
3) It is unlikely that a piece of expository prose extolling Nazism WOULD be beautiful, anyway. The argument for that is put (briefly) in my post, and there is no point in repeating it here.
Finally, Leni Reifenstahl has nothing to do with the point we were originally discussing. She did not write expository prose, which is what we were talking about.
Joan |
