From: manis@cs.ubc.ca (Vincent Manis)
Subject: Re: The Mythical Marketplace of Ideas
Organization: Institute for Pure and Applied Eschatology
Date: Sat, 11 Apr 92 01:26:52 GMT

In an insightful article, Anthony Berno
<aberno@godel.questor.wimsey.bc.ca> writes: 
>Personally, I am a believer in the marketplace of ideas. As such, I oppose  
>censorship of all kinds, even the censorship of my enemies. As such, while  
>I might engage in counter-protests, the call to "drown out" the KKK  
>strikes me as reprehensible.
>
>But believe me, I am in no way comfortable about it.

Unfortunately, I've come to a different conclusion than Anthony. While I
still very strongly believe in freedom of speech, I have concluded that
there are times when there are values which cause us either to refrain
from expressing speech, or to prevent others from doing the same. 

Understand clearly that I do not believe in censorship, other than some
exceptional cases which I'll describe below. Whenever governments have
been in the position of regulating expression, they do so in ham-fisted
ways which do nothing to advance a liberal democratic society. For
example, in Canada, the Supreme Court has upheld the position that it is
constitutionally legal to suppress material which is violent or degrades
people, and has no redeeming artistic or scientific merit. I have an
open mind on that subject (see the next paragraph), but I was appalled
to hear a Toronto police officer, the day the judgement was handed down,
explain how this law allowed him to arrest purveyors of material
involving consensual S&M, and even non-violent sex (this officer was
something of a film critic, and objected to videos which didn't develop
the performers' character.). 

The only kind of censorship I can see as legitimate would be of something
which genuinely harmed national security or created a panic, or where
the expression itself was contrary to other laws. The former is
self-explanatory (though very limited: Western democracies mostly
classify things on principle or to avoid embarrassment rather than
because the information is actually dangerous to national security). The
latter covers such things as conspiracy (under Canadian law, it is not
only illegal to rob banks, but also to get together to plan to rob
banks), or threats.

Threats are the category which concern me here. When the KKK parades
(and I think they have the right to do so), their goal is to show their
force, and to induce fear. The KKK, the Nazis, and similar organizations
are not committed to the sort of free discussion upon which we've based
liberal democracy for the last couple of hundred years. They proclaim
their opposition to liberal democracy, and then take advantage of it.
(Hermann Goering used to say that he was a member of the Reichstag in
the Weimar Republic not so that he could express a point of view, but
because as a member he got free rail travel all over Germany to perform
in Nazi rallies. He was quite amused that the Republic would subsidize
its enemies this way.) 

It seems to me fair to treat the Klan or similar groups in the same way
that they would wish to treat others. They are entitled to express their
views, but are not others entitled to express their views LOUDER? (Let
me emphatically state that this does not include violence, other than in
self-defence against an unprovoked attack.)

There's another issue about the marketplace of ideas. Anatole France
said `The law in its infinite majesty allows rich and poor alike to
sleep under bridges.' A free marketplace of ideas is a wonderful thing,
but should not be confused with a shopping mall in which all the stores
are owned by the same company, and which sell the same products. The
problem with `Basic Instinct' isn't its content, but the fact that being
a bisexual rapist, an AIDS victim [sic], or a screaming queen is the
only way to get into the movies. 




--
\    Vincent Manis <manis@cs.ubc.ca>      "There is no law that vulgarity and
 \   Department of Computer Science      literary excellence cannot coexist."
 /\  University of British Columbia                        -- A. Trevor Hodge
/  \ Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1W5 (604) 228-2394