FREE SPEECH AND POLITICAL REALITIES
Hyman, Lawrence W.
A few years ago, extremists on the campus were trying to prevent students from listening to anyone who would defend U.S. policy in Southeast Asia. More recently the chief targets of such...
...nor do we want our cause to suffer martyrdom on a cross made up of the First Amendment and the Aero-pagetica...
...For can anyone believe that American support for Israel can be gained by the threat of violence against Arab spokesmen...
...But I am not so sure, or at least have become less confident, that our traditional defense of free speech is effective or cogent...
...To take the first incident, that of Dr...
...I share this traditional belief in the value of an open encounter among all opinions and have participated in faculty efforts to uphold the principle of free speech for all...
...No one could expect this particular argument, or any similar argument, to affect a mob of enraged partisans...
...And it would be naive to suppose that these appeals to reason can be made by groups that try to intimidate opposing speakers...
...Or the right of Dr...
...In the other case, we see and hear a vituperative attack upon not only Israel but on all Jews and their American supporters...
...For even when most of our listeners understand and even sympathize with the principle, principle is never as strong as one's immediate interests...
...Obviously not...
...Such actions have, of course, disturbed believers in civil liberties...
...The same situation confronts those who are convinced that Dr...
...But how can allowing our opponents free speech help us...
...How can the attack on the right of Jews to hold on to Israel help the cause of those who want to protect Israel...
...We all know what to say: that much as we deplore the views of the speakers and sympathize with the feelings of the two minority groups (both of which have suffered enough), we must uphold the principle of free speech, since this principle is one that we all depend on—including, of course, the minority groups...
...and I am certainly not basing my support of free speech on any Miltonic confidence in the power of Truth to defeat Error...
...More recently the chief targets of such harassment have been speakers who claimed a genetic basis for academic failure and success...
...AND IT SHOULD BE...
...or would suppression convince most Americans that his argument is so strong that those who proclaim racial equality are afraid to let the argument be known...
...Or that people can be prevented by force from listening to doctrines of white superiority...
...The defense of free speech for our opponents must be seen not as a cross to bear but as another weapon in our efforts to realize our political goals...
...Shockley's viewpoint on race and intelligence is inaccurate and immoral...
...Mehdi, I would argue that to suppress him would create the impression that the Arab position is so strong that it might convince people if they were allowed to hear it...
...Which scene is likely to win more sympathy for the Arab cause...
...If the speech is allowed, however, the arguments presented by a speaker like Mehdi can be refuted...
...When you confront people who feel that their basic values, and in some sense their survival, are threatened by a speaker, a sermon on free speech tends to sound a little like a sermon on turning the other cheek to people facing a gun...
...What good is it to uphold a principle if we (whoever "we" are), are destroyed in the process...
...To weaken the democratic fabric of our society would make it almost impossible for any group to sway people by reasoned arguments...
...Self-preservation is the first rule...
...Shockley's argument cannot be refuted, it is often said, because many people have such a strong emotional need to believe in something that they are (continued on page 412) 404 NOTEBOOK NOTEBOOK (continued from page 404) not influenced by facts or by reason...
...In fact, suppression of opposing viewpoints would only serve to strengthen the conviction of many people that only the force of numbers or lung power (and ultimately firepower) can determine which side will win...
...Our immediate fears and interests, whoever "we" may be, will always come first...
...I would not disagree...
...Most of us are not cut out to be martyrs...
...Freedom of speech is of no use if we are destroyed...
...Shockley, who supports the view that the poor academic record of many black students is genetically determined, encountered even more hostility...
...The only way that liberal or radical causes can win support is by appeals to reason and morality...
...These people, who may need to believe in the genetic superiority of Caucasians, or in the aggressiveness of all Jews, cannot be depended on to weigh the evidence of both sides...
...Is suppression of his viewpoint likely to convince most Americans that he is wrong...
...We would be foolish if we allowed abstract principles to take precedence over concrete realities...
...He was almost prevented from speaking by a small group of Jewish students...
...Let me illustrate by referring to two incidents at my own campus...
...In the one case, we have a picture of a lone, courageous Arab jeered by a mob...
...And once this principle is established, all is lost for any cause that is liberal and humane...
...Surely it is the latter impression that will get across...
...The political arena would then be open only to those who have the guns...
...For if his argument is so illogical, why can't it be refuted rather than suppressed...
...But if such pragmatic arguments are used, instead of appeals to abstract principle or to tradition, we can, I believe, gradually get most people, at least most liberals, radicals, and minority groups, to see that free speech for our opponents is not a quixotic gesture but a weapon that is indispensable in any political effort to advance our interests...
...If we are to make a strong case for free speech we must build our arguments not on noble abstractions but on our need to do whatever is necessary to advance our political interests...
...I would insist, however, that the suppression of opposing viewpoints would do nothing to counteract this tendency to believe what people would like to believe...
...But although we know what to say, those of us who have tried to say it in actual situations also know how ineffective these arguments are...
...Shockley to "prove" that blacks are genetically inferior in intellectual capacity help those who look to better education as an avenue of escape from the poverty and degradation encompassing so many blacks...
...Mehdi, a representative of the Arab governments (and a strong opponent not only of Israel but of American Jews who would like our country to support Israel), was invited to speak at a campus of the City University...
Vol. 22 • September 1975 • No. 4
