Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Offensive speech: Listening to NPR this morning, I heard the end of a story about Harvard's flirtation with a "speech code" to restrict speech that might be deemed offensive. Whatever that means. (Luckily, I didn't have to scream at the radio: Dershowitz was one of the interviewees, and he quickly eviscerated the pro-code argument.)

What astounded me, though, was what a proponent of the code said (I'll have to paraphrase, since the transcript isn't online yet) when asked what sort of speech would be banned: Well, she said, I guess we'll know it when we see it.

Dorothy Rabinowitz shudders. Mr. Justice Stewart, somewhere, nods.

Update: The Boston Globe's coverage includes some choice bits of the Dershowitz dissent.

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