General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Do you support laws against Holocaust denial? [View all]True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)France and Germany learned that maxim from the ashes of WW2, and implemented controls where they discovered they were no longer culturally capable of managing themselves. They decided - and the world insisted, really - that they had proven they couldn't control their anti-Semitism by a free exchange of ideas, so it had to be a matter of law.
It's a sad day for any country - for any individual, really - when you confront and accept your limitations.
America has confronted many other kinds of limitations, but this one we've decided to make fundamental. We've decided to put it all on the line for free speech. We will either remain free with free speech, or we will fall completely because of it. Constitutional M.A.D.
I'm on board with that, in our case. I'm willing to make it work, or accept armageddon if we can't live in both peace and freedom.
Let the voice of the most despicable bigot ring out alongside the voice of the most august philosopher, and let their ideas do battle.