Quote of the Day (Mark Twain, on Murder and Free Speech)

“Murder is forbidden both in form and in fact. Free speech is granted in form, but forbidden in fact. By the common estimate, both are crimes. They're held in deep odium by all civilized people. Murder is sometimes punished, free speech always when committed, which is seldom.”—American novelist and short-story writer Mark Twain (1835-1910), “The Privilege of the Grave," The New Yorker, Dec. 22 and 29, 2008 issue

Quote of the Day (Carl Hiaasen, on the Growing Necessity for Reporters)

“People can’t get outraged [at the political arena] without rapid access to solid, useful information—what we used to call journalism. There’s so much garbage being disguised as fact and so many gasbags posing as sages; somebody has to cut through the crap. That’s the job of reporters, and their job will be more important than at any time in history. There’s been this great lamentation about the end of newspapers as we know them, the end of the era of the paper hitting your doorstep in the morning, but I don’t think the language or the craft of writing is dying. In the next 40 years, there’s going to be a larger demand than ever for people who can communicate with the written word, whatever format it takes.”—American crime novelist and retired Miami Herald columnist Carl Hiaasen, “Slipping Backward” (part of a “40 Things To Know” article cluster), interviewed by T. A. Frail, Smithsonian, July-August 2010

Fifteen years ago today, in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court opened the floodgates for unlimited campaign spending to corporations and other outside groups by ruling that any restrictions constituted a violation of freedom of speech.

In his Smithsonian Q&A, Hiaasen denounced the decision as “toxic to the whole democratic process,” and correctly predicted that “From now on, it’s basically going to be all the free speech that money can buy.”

Besides the communication skill that Hiaasen identified, more will be needed for the journalism of the present and future to affect the political process, however: the fearlessness of its practitioners and the open-mindedness of its readers. The portents for both these factors are deeply troubling right now.

While the Supreme Court’s conservative majority has twisted freedom of speech beyond recognition, it has permitted a lack of legal accountability for a President’s misdeeds and signaled, through Associate Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, that its landmark New York Times v. Sullivan freedom of the press ruling might be up for reconsideration.

Even with an unfettered press, there’s no guarantee that, in the present digital environment dominated by what Hiaasen calls “gasbags posing as sages,” their revelations will be acted upon. 

“Confirmation bias”—the tendency to seek out and accept anything supporting our beliefs and ignoring anything contradicting them—has only solidified in the current polarized environment.

I’m not sure that I am any more hopeful than Hiaasen was 15 years ago. I only know that not to push back against these troubling trends constitutes preemptive, unconditional surrender that will haunt the democratic process now and into the foreseeable future. 

(For more information on the baleful effects of Citizen United—including the influx of secret “dark money” into elections—and what can be done to bring about campaign finance reform, I urge you to read Tim Lau’s December 2019 report for the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice.)

Quote of the Day (John Milton, on the Need for Vigorous Debate in Speech and the Press)

“Where there is much desire to learn, there of necessity will be much arguing, much writing, many opinions; for opinion in good men is but knowledge in the making.” —English poet John Milton (1608-1674), Areopagitica: A Speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing, to the Parliament of England (1644)

Quote of the Day (Margaret Chase Smith, on How ‘Freedom Unexercised May Be Freedom Forfeited’)

“One of the basic causes for all the trouble in the world today is that people talk too much and think too little. They act too impulsively without thinking. I am not advocating in the slightest that we become mutes with our voices stilled because of fear of criticism of what we might say. That is moral cowardice. And moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character. The importance of individual thinking to the preservation of our democracy and our freedom cannot be overemphasized. The broader sense of the concept of your role in the defense of democracy is that of the citizen doing his most for the preservation of democracy and peace by independent thinking, making that thinking articulate by translating it into action at the ballot boxes, in the forums, and in everyday life, and being constructive and positive in that thinking and articulation. The most precious thing that democracy gives to us is freedom. You and I cannot escape the fact that the ultimate responsibility for freedom is personal. Our freedoms today are not so much in danger because people are consciously trying to take them away from us as they are in danger because we forget to use them. Freedom unexercised may be freedom forfeited. The preservation of freedom is in the hands of the people themselves — not of the government.” — Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995), Republican Senator from Maine, quoted in NEA Journal: The Journal of the National Education Association‎ Vol. 41 (1952)

Quote of the Day (Margaret Chase Smith, on ‘Americanism’ and Character Assassinations)

“Those of us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations are all too frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some of the basic principles of Americanism:

            The right to criticize;

            The right to hold unpopular beliefs;

            The right to protest;

            The right of independent thought.

“The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to know someone who holds unpopular beliefs.  Who of us doesn’t?  Otherwise none of us could call our souls our own.  Otherwise thought control would have set in.” — Margaret Chase Smith (1897-1995), Republican Senator from Maine, “Declaration of Conscience,” speech to the U.S. Senate, June 1, 1950

Speaking on behalf of herself and six other Republican Senators, Senator Smith warned fellow party members about abetting the tactics of GOP colleague Joseph McCarthy. Look in vain for her like among today’s Republicans on Capitol Hill. The only ones willing to denounce the reckless charges coming from a figure far more consequential than McCarthy are those who will not be facing primary voters. 

Read Smith’s words, then weep that her kind is no more.

Quote of the Day (Hanna Holborn Gray, on Free Speech on Campus)

“Education should not be intended to make people comfortable, it is meant to make them think. Universities should be expected to provide the conditions within which hard thought, and therefore strong disagreement, independent judgment, and the questioning of stubborn assumptions, can flourish in an environment of the greatest freedom." — Hanna Holborn Gray, former president of the University of Chicago, quoted in Geoffrey R. Stone, “Free Speech on Campus: A Report from the University Faculty Committee,” Huffington Post, Jan. 6, 2015

(The photo of Ms. Gray accompanying this post, taken in 1989, comes from the University of Chicago.)

Quote of the Day (Lee Bollinger, on Free Speech on Campus)

“Anyone with a voice can shout over a speaker. But being able to listen and then effectively rebut those with whom we disagree, particularly those who peddle intolerance, is one of the greatest skills our education can bestow.” —Columbia University President Lee Bollinger quoted in Aubri Juhasz, “At University Commencement, Bollinger Tells Graduates to Protect Free Speech,” Columbia Daily Spectator, May 18, 2017