Re: U. of Michigan pressured to halt publication of Joel Kovel book

["David B. Shemano" <dshemano@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael Perelman writes:

>> David, as a libertarian, I would expect you of all people to agree that people should
>> not coerce others to prevent his views from being articulated.  Should people have
>> thr right to prevent others from saying anything good about Israel?

Of course they should.  I can say that because I believe in the state/private distinction and support the 1st Amendment as a restriction on state action but not private action.  I support the right of a Lefty dominated university department to decide not to hire a pro-Israel professor, and I support the right of pro-Israel supporters to make the decision public and try and convince alumni to withhold money from the university.   Of course, the fact that I support somebody's right to say something doesn't mean I support them saying it.

I did want to note the irony (if that's the right word) of Doug Henwood complaining when anti-Israel critics are accused of being Nazis, and Jim Devine contemporaneously calling Israel  "one of the worst kinds of ethnic nationalist regimes currently on earth," which I think a reasonable reader would interpret as a Nazi analogy.  So apparently it is unfair rhetoric for somebody to call your side Nazis, but okay rhetoric to call the other side Nazis, and if anybody calls you a Nazi for calling them a Nazi, that proves they are a Nazi.

David Shemano