Letter to the Editor 11-07-08

Issue of Nov. 7, 2008 / 9 Cheshvan 5769

Tolerating intolerance

To the Editor:

A recent article in The Jewish Star (We should only tolerate tolerance; Oct. 31, 2008) made a surprising claim: some speech is not as free as other speech. Speech, of any form, including that of discrimination or hatred, so long as it is non-violent, is protected under the First Amendment. Naturally, if the hanging is forerunner to a real lynching or other harmful act, the law must respond. The public display of a noose is the same as the public display of a cross, a Jewish star, or a Menorah. It is a proclamation that we have some specific belief.

Making an exception to free speech for someone’s opinion is a slippery slope. What’s next? Banning the Jewish star because it’s a symbol of killing Jesus? Jailing those wearing a cross because they disrespect Jews?

The greatness of America is the absoluteness of the First Amendment. Censorship of any kind of speech, hateful or otherwise, shows that we cannot trust people to think for themselves. When each of us walk past a noose, do we instantly want to kill blacks? No. Banning the noose has been thought of before. It is called thought crime.

History has shown repeatedly that the only way to counter a false or hateful belief is to proclaim the opposite in speech or writing, not censoring the idea from public view.

Eitan Adler