Michael Perelman writes: >> David, as a libertarian, I would expect you of all people to agree that >> people should >> not coerce others to prevent his views from being articulated. Should >> people have >> thr right to prevent others from saying anything good about Israel?
Of course they should. I can say that because I believe in the state/private distinction and support the 1st Amendment as a restriction on state action but not private action. I support the right of a Lefty dominated university department to decide not to hire a pro-Israel professor, and I support the right of pro-Israel supporters to make the decision public and try and convince alumni to withhold money from the university. Of course, the fact that I support somebody's right to say something doesn't mean I support them saying it. I did want to note the irony (if that's the right word) of Doug Henwood complaining when anti-Israel critics are accused of being Nazis, and Jim Devine contemporaneously calling Israel "one of the worst kinds of ethnic nationalist regimes currently on earth," which I think a reasonable reader would interpret as a Nazi analogy. So apparently it is unfair rhetoric for somebody to call your side Nazis, but okay rhetoric to call the other side Nazis, and if anybody calls you a Nazi for calling them a Nazi, that proves they are a Nazi. David Shemano
