Stalinism (or new McCarthyism?)

[Alina Israeli]

John Mackay <john.mackay at YALE.EDU> wrote:

>        Is "kill whitey" (!!!!!!) an actual quote? Or are "we" supposed to
>just
>"get
>the point" without any actual citation? And why hasn't THIS inspired
>missive from Mr. Levin  elicited the yelps of protest that greeted
>Ushakin's mail a few weeks ago?

1. You obviously did not read Bilenkin's missive, while Jules Levin did:

Recently, Moore was told that his publishers at HarperCollins (which is,
like Fox News Channel, owned by Rupert Murdoch) would hold off on
distributing his newest book. Entitled Stupid White Men and Other Sorry
Excuses for the State of the Nation -- with such chapter titles as Kill
Whitey, A Very American Coup and Idiot Nation -- the book was supposed to
hit stores a few days ago in a sizable print run of 100,000. Last he heard,
Moore said, the company is considering pulping the books.

2. Jules Levin, whether you like his opinion or not, was responding to the
CONTENT of the previous posting. Ushakine, on the other hand, used the
listserv to INFORM us of opinions of people he obviously liked (to put it
mildly), while it was not relevant to the mission of the listserv.

Kat Tancock <kat at INTERDESIGN.CA> wrote:

>Is it free speech when there is nowhere from which to speak? Where must the
>line be drawn?

3. The Constitution does not state that the State or any particularly
platform holders are obliged to provide the platform.

As far as I can tell, the dissenting speech has somehow reach you and the
fact that Bill Maher's show has been cancelled has been openly discussed in
various media. So far neither Sontag nor Maher had to go abroad to publish
their views and in doing so fear for their lives, nor did they have to go
abroad to be able to speak. They are excercising their First Amendment's
right and are doing so in this country while not being arrested by the
government for it. The fact that there are vigilaties is a separate subject
altogether.

The US Government hasn't issued a death threat (unlike for the head of
Salman Rushdie) or an arrest warrant (Sinjavsky and Daniel come to mind).

Alina Israeli

**************************************************************
Alina Israeli
LFS, American University                phone:  (202) 885-2387
4400 Mass. Ave., NW                     fax:    (202) 885-1076
Washington, DC 20016

aisrael at american.edu

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