Re: Re: Freedom to Spew

A key point occurs to me, and I'm embaress to have niether thought of nor
expressed before: A lot of this rests on the assumption that the
protesters are *morons* and can't see the consequences of thier actions
(ok, ok, "young" :))

If I were a pro-Horowitz student, one slimy but tempting tactic would be
to take the papers. Aside from the effect of smearing opponents, it has
*enormous* publicity value.

Now, let's assume, for a moment, that the protesters know this. They know,
as a consquence of their actions, that Horowitz's ideas will get *greater*
circulation. In this scenario, it's hard to see their action as or *even
intended* to suppress his ideas. They might express the *wish* that
Horowitz would shut up, or even that he be suppressed. The latter wish is
worrisome, truely, but it's worrisome *content*. (Thus, I think I would be
amenable to an argument that the protesters don't sufficiently "respect
freedom of speech" because of what they *say* by their actions, not
because their *actions* themselves directly suppress ideas.)

From the charge of theivery to the charge of thuggary to the charge of
Talibanism...a slipperly slope of "T"s :)

Oh, and *clearly* the folks who had nothing to do with the ad
(directly) but who wrote aritcles, or were covered in the paper, or placed
ads, or *wanted* ads all have suffered harm of various sorts. But
presumably those were secondary effects. A large boycott or march can
inconvenience me in all sorts of ways without wronging me or violating my
rights (even if illegal). Or may be justifiable.

I'll also note (again) that there are many, many ways to frustrate the
*protesters* without either endorsing Horowitz or criminalizing them. The
website, passing out papers...the university could *pay* for an augmented
print run and for people to pass them out *with* flyers about exchange of
ideas or critically responding to Horowitz. The papers could have refused
the ad and run the op-ed *as* an op-ed, with surrounding commentary, etc.

More speech? Better speech?

Cheers,
Bijan.