Neil Gaiman on Freedom of Speech
Mr. Gaiman's most recent journal entry is a fantastic piece on Freedom of Speech, and why we should defend speech we do not like. His particular angle is obscenity in comics, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund's work to protect artists and publishers from having their work declared obscene. ("Obscene" here being the somewhat murky legal definition of the work having no redeeming artistic/political/social merit, not merely the use of four-letter words.)
The Law is a blunt instrument. It's not a scalpel. It's a club. If there is something you consider indefensible, and there is something you consider defensible, and the same laws can take them both out, you are going to find yourself defending the indefensible.
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I loved coming to the US in 1992, mostly because I loved the idea that freedom of speech was paramount. I still do. With all its faults, the US has Freedom of Speech. You can't be arrested for saying things the government doesn't like. You can say what you like, write what you like, and know that the remedy to someone saying or writing or showing something that offends you is not to read it, or to speak out against it. I loved that I could read and make my own mind up about something.
(It's worth noting that the UK, for example, has no such law, and that even the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that interference with free speech was "necessary in a democratic society" in order to guarantee the rights of others "to protection from gratuitous insults to their religious feelings.")
(Link in Mr. Gaiman's original post, goes to a 7-page lecture, which I have not yet read.) The European Court of Human Rights scares the crap out of me sometimes. Grown-ups do not need "protection from gratuitous insults to their religious feelings." Protection from harassment, absolutely. An essential component of Free Speech is that you cannot be arrested for saying offensive things. Getting in serious trouble for saying something rude is a playground rule. The consequence is getting a timeout, or staying in at recess, not jail time or a fine. Adults do not need to be protected from being offended. Another extremely important component to Freedom of Speech is the freedom not to read things that offend you. If it offends you, don't read it. If it really, really offends you, organize a boycott or a protest. As it happens, the First Amendment gives us that right, too.
Mr. Gaiman makes a lot of excellent points, and I don't have the time to spare right now to give the issue the attention it deserves. The piece is well worth reading. Also, he probably understands this aspect of the law better than I do, as he's been writing things others have found objectionable since before I could read.
The Law is a blunt instrument. It's not a scalpel. It's a club. If there is something you consider indefensible, and there is something you consider defensible, and the same laws can take them both out, you are going to find yourself defending the indefensible.
*********
I loved coming to the US in 1992, mostly because I loved the idea that freedom of speech was paramount. I still do. With all its faults, the US has Freedom of Speech. You can't be arrested for saying things the government doesn't like. You can say what you like, write what you like, and know that the remedy to someone saying or writing or showing something that offends you is not to read it, or to speak out against it. I loved that I could read and make my own mind up about something.
(It's worth noting that the UK, for example, has no such law, and that even the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that interference with free speech was "necessary in a democratic society" in order to guarantee the rights of others "to protection from gratuitous insults to their religious feelings.")
(Link in Mr. Gaiman's original post, goes to a 7-page lecture, which I have not yet read.) The European Court of Human Rights scares the crap out of me sometimes. Grown-ups do not need "protection from gratuitous insults to their religious feelings." Protection from harassment, absolutely. An essential component of Free Speech is that you cannot be arrested for saying offensive things. Getting in serious trouble for saying something rude is a playground rule. The consequence is getting a timeout, or staying in at recess, not jail time or a fine. Adults do not need to be protected from being offended. Another extremely important component to Freedom of Speech is the freedom not to read things that offend you. If it offends you, don't read it. If it really, really offends you, organize a boycott or a protest. As it happens, the First Amendment gives us that right, too.
Mr. Gaiman makes a lot of excellent points, and I don't have the time to spare right now to give the issue the attention it deserves. The piece is well worth reading. Also, he probably understands this aspect of the law better than I do, as he's been writing things others have found objectionable since before I could read.