Word: ben-shachar
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...Ben-Shachar's editorial, "Freedom to Limit Freedom" (Nov. 29), relies on a multitude of factual misrepresentations and dubious assertions in its advocacy of restrictions on freedom of speech. Ben-Shachar argues that voices that "exploit" free speech to argue against the predominant values of a "free" society should be silenced. Free speech, however, is not a means but an end in itself...
...First Amendment recognizes that a democracy cannot dictate what is the truth. Attempts to do so often bring about the exact opposite (witness the rise of neo-Nazis in Germany, despite stringent censorship). If Ben-Shachar considered the implications of his argument, he would realize that it could have been used to silence the opponents of slavery in the 19th century and campaigners for civil rights in the 20th century. Those individuals who disagree with the "core values" of a society are in fact those most in need of the protections of the First Amendment. If the protections of free...
Indeed, the examples cited by Ben-Shachar if anything contradict his argument. Fore example, he claims that the Oklahoma bombing of last spring was the end result of the "continuous denigration of government officials." In Ben-Shachar's ideal word, political criticism apparently is not protected speech. Explosives and a deranged disregard for human life--and not words--destroyed the federal building...
...alleged bomber, Timothy McVeigh, was reportedly motivated by the mishandling of the federal government assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. If Ben-Shachar is to eliminate the possibility of speech ever causing violence, all sources of news therefore should have been censored, even before anyone was aware of how the siege would end. It is difficult to see how any communication at all could take place in Ben-Shachar's regime, as someone somewhere might take some element of some speech as a reason to engage in some act of violence. If this is Ben-Shachar...
...kept the ball going for a long time," Ben-Shachar said. "Every game I won by one or two points only, so I just stuck in there for the very important points. Otherwise, it was very evenly matched...