Outlawing Fascistic Racist Speech: Biblio-fetishism

Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com
Thu Mar 23 12:43:03 PST 2000


Charles Brown wrote:


>I sure like the record of the USSR better than that of the USA.
>Americans who think they are so free are so self-deluding.

Let's not re-fight the either/or's of the Cold War. Nothing would be more tedious.


>I own a copy of Mein Kampf. I quoted from it in Wall Street. I would
>be very pissed off if someone tried to deny me the right to read it.
>
>___________
>
>CB: Sorry. Your not being pissed off about owning a copy of _Mein
>Kampf_ is not as important as me not having to worry about the
>existence of fascistic racists. That's how the balancing of the
>scales comes out to me.

I read the damn book and it didn't make me a "fascistic racist." You think people are that stupid and gullible that they have to be kept from noxious stimuli?


>But actually, you could read it. It would just be through a complex
>registration and regulated process.

Gee, thanks.


>Why don't you tell me what you think is the rationale underlying
>freedom of speech ?

I don't trust states or any other agglomerations of power (e.g. capital) to be the arbiters of what I should be allowed to read, think, or say. Call me a bourgeois liberal if you like, though your average bourgeois liberal wouldn't include capital among the potential censors.

Doug



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