16 November 2018 — 1236 mst

Hate speech and free speech

Whitefish, and the reprehensible conduct of an online right wing provocateur, are the subject of a story in today’s New York Times, Neo-Nazis Have No First Amendment Right to Harassment, Judge Rules. U.S. District Court Judge Dana Christensen, a former Flathead resident, denied the provocateur’s attempt to have a Whitefish resident’s lawsuit against him dismissed. The provocateur had argued he was exercising his First Amendment rights. The ruling clears the way to a trial, with the outcome far from certain.

The ruling has provoked cries of “hate speech is not free speech,” the mantra of human rights activists who want to compel everyone to say only nice things. Who gets to decide what’s nice and what’s not? Presumably, the government, with guidance from the activists.

I recommend reading Christensen’s ruling. I also recommend reading Nadine Strossen’s new book, HATE: Why We Should Resist It with Free Speech, Not Censorship. Strossen, who led the American Civil Liberties Union for 17 years, is a Harvard educated professor of law at New York Law School. Her father was a Holocaust survivor.