> What (& how much) are you willing to sacrifice in order to defend the
> right to free speech of those who hold unpopular opinions?
>
> Yoshie
>
>
I am not sure I know how to answer this question. I find the "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to do so" line little more than melodramatic posturing. Nothing more than our political time and effort, as well as our financial support, are required of us in the US to defend freedom of expression. I do consider questions of freedom of expression to be high priority political issues for me, right up with the right to vote and freedom of association. Not all attacks on these rights pose threats to democratic rule that are of equal gravity, so I get a lot more exercised about the disenfranchisement of African-Americans in Florida than I do about Guiliani's posturing about art in public museums, but the greater the gravity, the more of my time and energy I would commit to the issue.
Leo Casey United Federation of Teachers 260 Park Avenue South New York, New York 10010-7272 (212-598-6869)
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never has, and it never will. If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. -- Frederick Douglass --
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