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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neocon who wrote (60681)	10/2/2002 2:25:59 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Free speech only exists at all if it exists at the margins. Nobody objects to mainstream speech, so the concept of free speech is meaningless there. It is only as we move outward that it becomes an issue. Once we accept the concept that the fringes of pure speech at the fringes can be restricted, the fringes will gradually start closing in more and more. You know the quote attributed to Niemoller: "First they came for the communists, and I wasn't a communist, so I didn't complain. ..." It's the same thing. Right now, they're coming for those who want to say that Hitler was right about the Jews. I deplore that statement. But if I let it be censored and its speaker punished because I deplore it, the time will come when some statement I DO want to make will be censored and I will be punished for it. And it will be my own fault for not speaking out when I had the chance. If you haven't read "Free Speech for Me but Not for Thee" by Nat Hentoff, do.