Free Speech Under Assault

It is a principle of Constitutional law that rights are not absolute. Sometimes one person's right conflicts with another person's right. This leads to a balancing of interests. Hence, the saying, "your right to swing your fist stops at my nose." And, more on point, O.W. Holmes' famous dictum re: free speech, "freedom of speech does not extend to a right to shout 'FIRE!' in a crowded theatre." Having said all that, I totally reject the thesis of the Slate.com article suggesting in the wake of the Middle East "unrest" that our First Amendment rights should be abridged so that we don't offend Islamists. First, the Muslim-mocking Internet film was, as even The White House finally acknowledged, the excuse for, not the cause of, the terrorist attack on our embassy and other violence in Africa and the Middle East. Did you hear about the mob of Mormons blowing up a theater which was showing the play, "The Book of Mormon," which ridicules Mormons and their religion? Of course not, because it didn't happen. Where were these high-minded, liberal hand-wringers then? Remember Piss Christ? The same moralists who defended a crucifix in a jar of urine as "art" have suddenly developed this sensitivity to offending religions. What started us down this dark road was the ominous discovery about twenty years ago of a whole new class of crimes - Hate Crimes. Anglo-American criminal law had always been about punishing behavior. Mental state was relevant only for establishing guilt of the crime charged. But now you can be punished for your thoughts and words. In the beginning political correctness was merely an annoyance: now it is a threat to our freedom.