The Federal Government has been trying to limit Free Speech since at least 1798. That year the federal government passed the Sedition Act in an attempt to remove the right of citizens to speak out against the action of the government. It was used to prosecute editors of Democratic-Republican newspapers. (For the record, that’s the party that later dropped the “Republican” part of their name and became today’s Democratic party.
It wasn’t morally right or legally Constitutional then, and it’s still not. The way to address speech that you disagree with is with your own speech. I’d like to think I’m pretty good at that. I’ve had lots of practice. I’ve been told that my speech is “chilling” and heard others complain that I was abridging their right to Free Speech by practicing my own, but that’s kind of beside the point.
What’s not beside the point is the law that just passed the House. The Anti-Semitism Act would place the definition of certain terms under the control of the Federal government. Per National Public Radio:
The Antisemitism Awareness Act would see the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism for the enforcement of federal anti-discrimination laws regarding education programs.
The bill passed with a 320-91 vote. Seventy Democrats and 21 Republicans voted against the measure.
The international group defines antisemitism as "a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews" and gives examples of the definition's application, which includes "accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagine wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group" and making " dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective."
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., introduced the legislation.
"Right now, without a clear definition of antisemitism, the Department of Education and college administrators are having trouble discerning whether conduct is antisemitic or not, whether the activity we're seeing crosses the line into antisemitic harassment," he said on the House floor before passage.
I get that things are out of hand on college campuses right now. I’ve written about it. The fact remains that precisely zero percent of that falls under the purview of fedgov, or any other government as far as I’m concerned.
And no, I don’t support Judeophobia. I never have. I know what Judeophobia causes. I have a degree in history. My capstone paper covered the involvement of the Nazi army, the Heer, in the Holocaust. It was the most disgusting semester of my life. The fact remains that these assholes have the right to say what they want despite the fact that I hate every putrid, vile, hateful word that comes out of their mouths.
I’ve been thrown out of my sister’s house for my support of Israel (she’s a Muslim). I take this stuff seriously. That much having been said I never told her that she wasn’t allowed to speak her hate of Israel. Not once. I disagreed with her. I argued passionately. But never once did I tell her she didn’t have the right to speak. Then again, she’s both a lawyer and a McCoy by birth if no longer in name. I’m pretty sure I know where she would’ve told me to put such a statement if I had and I’m not altogether certain that it would have fit.
She would’ve been right though and that’s the problem here. Congress needs to back off and let the colleges handle this. The speech is not the problem. The actual criminal activity is. Students who break into buildings are criminals, even if they’re doing it in protest of something. Trespassing may not exactly be a world-ending felony, but it is a crime. Assault is a crime. All of those should be prosecuted. Free speech should not.
So say what you will, Judeophobic assholes but understand that I have no more love for you than you have for Israel. I still don’t think you belong in jail for speaking your mind.
Our freedoms are certainly under assault. Time to make the fictional nation of Freelan a reality! https://accargillauthor.wordpress.com/my-works-in-progress-wips/#Freelan-Journals
I completely agree with this article. If I want my own freedom of religion and speech to be protected, if I want to be able to say what I wish to say and worship God as I see fit, if I want to have my yard and my house and my car the way I want them, I must respect the rights of my fellow citizens to do so as well, even if I completely disagree with their speech and see it as vile and disgusting, even if I disagree with their religion or lack thereof, even if they don't mow their lawn or have their house putrid pink and covered in rainbow flags or drive around with COEXIST bumper stickers.
I'm not so libertarian that I think anything should go in all cases in the name of freedom, but I also know how dangerous precedent can be, that government is made up of fallible human beings, and that power corrupts, and any law that is put in place to limit one group of people can be twisted to be used against another. The biggest example I can see now is all the censorship policies that were put in place decades ago when conservative, anti-communistic people controlled everything and how that precedent is now being used against those of us who value morality and conservative principles - the communist, socialist, marxists took note and learned that play very well and now that they have power, they are using the playbook against their enemies.
I completely believe we must have morality and a law code to protect citizens from the debased of this society and to promote order because I believe fully that humanity is twisted and fallen at its root and must have constraint placed on it to keep it in check, but I also believe that government, as a body made up of those self same fallen human beings, should also be kept in check and under control else it preys and consumes the very people it was meant to protect and encourage.