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Always amazing how quickly liberals become illiberal - often a
question of whose oxymoron ("free speech") is gored.<br>
<br>
The heckler's veto ("If you're allowed to say that publicly, then
someone might do something bad") is occasionally resisted by the
courts, as it should be.<br>
<br>
"A heckler's veto occurs when an acting party's right to freedom of
speech is curtailed or restricted by the government in order to
prevent a reacting party's behavior. The common example is that of
demonstrators (reacting party) causing a speech (given by the acting
party) to be terminated in order to preserve the peace. The term was
coined by University of Chicago professor of law Harry Kalven [in
regard to the Nazis in Skokie, perhaps]. In the United States, case
law regarding the heckler's veto is mixed. Most findings say that
the acting party's actions cannot be pre-emptively stopped due to
fear of heckling by the reacting party, but in the immediate face of
violence, authorities can ask the acting party to cease their action
in order to satisfy the hecklers."<br>
<br>
<br>
On 10/12/10 5:05 PM, David Green wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid:273080.12427.qm@web65413.mail.ac4.yahoo.com"
type="cite">
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<p>Subsequent to a recent letter in the DI and threatening phone
calls to my place of work, I was told by a co-worker that I
might have to accept responsiblity of something should result
from these threats--especially if these actions are provoked
by perceived insults, rather than--say--the truth. But it's
not clear to me that either Beck or me should be held to that
standard, and made responsible for the reactions of others. I
tend to think that in other case, violence or the threat of
violence needs to be explained in the larger context: the
economy, the wars, the perceived powerlessness of some
individuals vis a vis the state and the corporations that
constitute the centers of power.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>At any rate, when Goodman plays a "progressive," she loses a
lot of clarity and credibility, in my opinion.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>DG</p>
<blockquote>
<p><strong></strong> </p>
<p><strong><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/12/progressive_hunter_gunman_cites_glenn_beck">http://www.democracynow.org/2010/10/12/progressive_hunter_gunman_cites_glenn_beck</a></strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong></strong> </p>
<p><strong>AMY GOODMAN:</strong> Can you really hold Glenn
Beck, Michael Savage, responsible for this man’s violent
actions, who was violent way back?</p>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>JOHN HAMILTON:</strong> Right. Well, I think we
have to ask ourselves that. And again, I think we need to
return to the—to two major points here. One, many of the
conspiracy theories and the conspiracism that you find on
Glenn Beck’s program is simply not true. It’s easily
refuted. At Media Matters, you have teams of researchers
every day debunking many of the things that Glenn Beck says.
And, for example, the Petrobras conspiracy theory, the idea
that George Soros was profiting from the oil disaster in the
Gulf of Mexico simply wasn’t true. When you couple that with
the demonization of people like Soros, who when Glenn Beck
talks about him, he compares him to a gangster, he affects
his accent, he’s even insulted the man’s nose hair—I mean,
he says that he’s trying to bring—sometimes he says
socialism, sometimes he says fascism, to the United States.
</p>
<blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>GLENN BECK:</strong> How about Tides? How about
indoctrination? Forget God, it’s “In George Soros, we
trust.” Oh, he’s going to get his. He is going to get his.</p>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote>
<p><strong>JOHN HAMILTON:</strong> So, when you couple the
mistruths with the demonization, I think it is time that we
ask ourselves, do these media figures, do these demagogues,
bear some responsibility for the actions of their audience?</p>
</blockquote>
<p><strong>AMY GOODMAN:</strong> John Hamilton is author of the
piece "Progressive Hunter." It’s at <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://mediamatters.org/research/201010110002"><font
color="#0000ff">Media Matters</font></a>, and we’ll link
to it here at <em>Democracy Now!</em></p>
</div>
<br>
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