| http://www.tomgrossmedia.com/TheForgottenRachels.html
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14936-1571035,00.html
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1433402/posts
From former presidential speechwriter David "axis-of-evil" Frum:
I have to admit being grimly amused by this, from this week's edition of the newsletter of James Zogby's Arab American Institute: a bold rallying
http://www.aaiusa.org/countdown/2006/c030706.htm
to the defense of unfettered free speech, which has come under assault from ... oversensitive Jews.
"Freedom of Speech, As Long As I Like What You're Saying…
"The much-anticipated New York debut of the London hit 'My Name is Rachel Corrie' has been put on hold due to concern from the New York Theater Workshop, which was to stage the production. The play tells the story of the American peace activist who was killed in 2002 by an Israeli bulldozer trying to save a Palestinian home. The piece was written by British actor Alan Rickman and The Guardian's Katherine Viner and uses letters and e-mails from Corrie to tell her story. According to the New York Times, NY Theater Workshop artistic director James Nicola 'said he had decided to postpone the show after polling local Jewish religious and community leaders as to their feelings about the work.' He later said, 'It seemed as though if we proceeded, we would be taking a stand we didn't want to take.' By not preceding, Nicola is taking a stand as well…"
You can read a more honest assessment of the Rachie Corrie play here, here, or here. But leave that aside for the moment.
You might ask whether the Jewish theatergoers of New York had threatened to burn down the theater and murder the playwright. But leave that aside for the moment too.
More striking is AAI's bold assertion that plays and other forms of speech must proceed at all costs. A valiant principle! Do you suppose it applies to Danish cartoons? Ah well, that's different. The cartoons you see represent "racist"
http://www.aaiusa.org/countdown/2006/c030706.htm
speech. And that's completely different!
Or, as James Zogby himself puts it: "To declare, as some have, that such freedom is absolute is, of course, nonsense since every culture, by definition, has its taboos. The measure of a civilization is not the freedom it provides to defile taboos, but how respectful and sensitive it is to the taboos of diverse cultures, especially those within its midst."
But some cultures in our midst are more "diverse" than others--and it is their taboos that some would impose by violence on everybody else. Quite successfully too, so far. Let's see if this blogspot can help over the coming weeks to shake things up.
swhitebull - welcome back, David.
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